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Faculty of the Humanities: Engaging and empowering local Soutpan community

24 April 2023 | Story Anathi Nyadu and Avela Ntsongelwa | Photo Supplied

Humanities Soutpan community outreach — Collaborating to uplift the community of Soutpan. Staff members from the Faculty of the Humanities met with representatives of the Soutpan community to engage in community-enriching projects.

Universities have an important role to play in the healing of communities by engaging in initiatives that address social ills such as drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, violence against children, women, and the elderly.

This is according to Prof Mogomme Masoga, Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities at the University of the Free State (UFS). Prof Masoga was addressing guests, including faculty staff members and community members of Soutpan, at the launch (18 April 2023) of the faculty’s community engagement partnership with the community of Ikgomotseng in Soutpan, some 40 km outside Bloemfontein. He informed guests that the partnership was the first of many initiatives that the faculty will be engaging in with the community of Soutpan.

Flagship partnership

The flagship partnership will see participation by various departments within the faculty, including a parenting project with carers at day-care centres and in the communities, led by students from the Department of Psychology. The Department of Drama and Theatre Arts will stimulate the children’s minds through puppet shows, while the Department of History will collaborate with the community on heritage issues. During the engagement with the community, the Department of Sociology also indicated that it is launching an engaged scholarship month project for their honours and second-year Social Movements modules, where several guest lecturers will engage with students to bring stronger social context to sociological discussion. The faculty is also exploring a literacy project where it will contribute books and inculcate a culture of reading among community members.

Talking about the origin of the collaborative engagement, Dr Rosaline Sebolao, Teaching and Learning Manager in the faculty, says “the partnership emanated from a visit by the faculty to a day-care centre called Halaletsang, founded by a community leader, Belina Nhlapo, who demonstrated her passion for empowering communities. With the intention of expanding the faculty’s engaged scholarship programme, the team entered into a number of engagements that led to the identification of potential collaborative projects by departments and the community”.

Maximum societal impact with sustainable relationships

This partnership is one way in which the Faculty of the Humanities hopes to contribute to the UFS’Vision 130. The faculty aims to bring Vision 130 to reality by conducting community research and establishing quality relationships that will yield sustainable results. These results will not only impact communities but also our students who, through their engagement, will become globally competent and competitive graduates.

According to Israel Mawoyo, First-Year Success Programme (FYSP) coordinator in the faculty, the partnerships involve a working relationship for the Faculty of the Humanities and the community of Soutpan. “This partnership will create a platform for staff and students to engage in the scholarship of community engagement practices within the community. Ultimately, the Soutpan and the faculty community are to work together so that they both benefit from this partnership.”

News Archive

UFS receives R13,7 Million for Research into Prehistoric Organisms

2007-03-27

Some of the guests attending the launch of the research contract are: Dr Siyabulela Ntutela (Deputy Director: Biotechnology at the Department of Science and Technology), Dr Godfrey Netswera (Manager of Thuthuka and the Support Programme at the National Research Foundation (NRF)), Dr Esta van Heerden (Platform Manager and lecturer at the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology at the UFS), Mr Butana Mboniswa (Chief Executive Officer of BioPAD), and Mr Vuyisele Phehani (Portfolio Manager for BioPAD).
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

The University of the Free State (UFS) has been awarded a massive R13,7 million contract to conduct research into prehistoric micro-organisms which live under extreme conditions, for example in mineshafts.

This is one of the biggest research contracts awarded to the UFS in recent years.

The biotechnology research contract was awarded to the UFS by BioPAD, a South African biotechnology company that brokers partnerships between researchers, entrepreneurs, business, government and other stakeholders to promote innovation and create sustainable biotechnology businesses.

The project is endorsed by the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation (NRF), which contributes to the bursaries of the 17 postgraduate students on the programme.

The contract involves the establishment of a Platform for Metagenomics - a technique which allows researchers to extract the DNA from microbes in their natural environment and investigate it in a laboratory.

“Through this platform we will be able to understand deepmine microbial populations
and their potential application in the search for life in outer space. It is most likely
that, if life were to be found on other planets in our solar system, it would probably
resemble that which existed millions of years ago on earth. Apart from all this, these
organisms have unique properties one can exploit in biotechnological application for
South Africa and its community,” said Dr Esta van Heerden, platform manager and
lecturer at the UFS Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology.
She is assisted by her collegues, Prof. Derek Litthauer and Dr Lizelle Piater.

“The platform aims to tap into the unique genetic material in South African mines
which will lead to the discovery of new genes and their products. These new and unique products will find application in the medical field (anti-cancer, anti-bacterial en anti-viral cures), the industrial sector (nanotechnology, commercial washing agents and the food industry), environmental sector (pollution management, demolition of harmful metals and other toxic waste),” said Dr Van Heerden.

According to Dr Van Heerden, the Metagenomics Platforms stems from the Life in
Extreme Environments (LExEN) programme which was started in 1994 by Princeton
University in the United States of America (USA) in South African mines with grants
from among others the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and
the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the USA. Other international collaborators
on the project include Geosynec Consultants Inc. (USA), Oak Ridge National
Laboratory (USA), the University of Tennessee (USA) and in South Africa the
Universities of the Witwatersrand, North West and Limpopo and companies like BHP
Billiton, MINTEK and mining companies like Harmony, Gold Fields and AngloGold
Ashanti.

The research field laboratory of the Metagenomics Platform, which was situated in
Glen Harvey, was moved to the Main Campus of the UFS in Bloemfontein. “In this
way the university has become the central hub for all research programmes. We are
also the liaison between the LExEN programme and the various mining companies
involved,” said Dr Van Heerden. The new laboratory was introduced during the
launch of the research contract.

“Our decision to commit BioPAD to this project stems from the company’s commitment to advance human capacity development to strengthen South Africa’s research infrastructure. It is also part of our aim to create and protect intellectual property,” said Mr Butana Mboniswa, Chief Executive Officer of BioPAD.

Talking on behalf of the UFS senior management, Prof. Teuns Verschoor, Vice-Rector
of Academic Operations, said that the university shares the excitement to be part of
the exploration of unknown forms of life, the discovery of new genes and
their products and in applying newly gained knowledge to better understand our
universe.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl@ufs.ac.za
27 March 2007

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