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06 November 2023
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Story MBALI MABOEA
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Photo SUPPLIED
The Department of Geography on the UFS Qwaqwa Campus recently played host to the Society of South African Geographers Conference (SSAG 2023), which gathered more than 100 students over three days.
Fostering academic growth, collaboration, and inspiration among students and researchers in the field of geography, the Department of Geography on the UFS Qwaqwa Campus recently played host to the Society of South African Geographers Conference (SSAG 2023), which gathered more than 100 students over three days.
Following a five-year hiatus, the three-day conference comprised student proposal presentations in different fields: human geography, environment geography, geoinformatics, and physical geography, divided into breakaway sessions over two days. Furthermore, day three of the annual conference included an excursion to the Basotho Cultural Village and Clarens.
The three-day annual student conference focused on different themes presented by two main speakers. The topic of the first keynote speaker, Dr Mahlomola Daemane, General Manager of the SANParks Arid Research Unit, focused on the contemporary conservation, transition, and relevance of science in policy and decision making.
The second keynote speaker was Dr Felicia Akinyemi, a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research Fellow affiliated with the Institute of Geography at the University of Bern in Switzerland. Her work focuses on the intersection of geoinformatics, global change, and sustainability. Dr Akinyemi focused her talk on the integrative geospatial methods and metrics for sustainable land use. She introduced different techniques and metrics and gave students insight in early-career African research.
Speaking about the success of the conference, Nthebohiseng Sekhele, Geography Lecturer on the Qwaqwa Campus and chair of the organising committee, said, “The local organising committee was also very impressed with the quality of presentations from our postgraduate students in Geography, as well as the robust discussions that happened during the parallel sessions in the two days of the conference. We had a positive response of physical and online participation from many universities across South Africa. We are pleased that we have achieved our goal with this conference, which is to inspire the next generation of geographers.”
dti announces nominees for 2008 Science and Technology Awards
2008-10-03
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At the announcement of the nominees for the 2008 dti Technology Awards were, from the left: Prof. Schalk Louw, Department of Zoology and Entomology, Mr Sipho Zikode, Deputy Director General at the Department of Trade and Industry (dti), Dr Romilla Maharaj, Executive Director: Human and Institutional Capacity Development at the National Research Foundation (NRF), and Mr Ephraim Baloyi, Director: Innovation and Technology at the dti.
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Mr Michael Chung, master’s student in Plant Pathology, explaining some of the research conducted in the Centre for Plant Health Management (Cephma).
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Prof. Schalk Louw, Department of Zoology and Entomology, and Mr Ephraim Baloyi, Director: Innovation and Technology at the dti in the Cephma laboratory.
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dti announces nominees for 2008 Science and Technology Awards
The Department of Trade and Industry’s (dti) Deputy Director-General, Mr Sipho Zikode, yesterday announced the nominees for the 2008 dti Technology Awards which will take place on 30 and 31 October in Bloemfontein.
The purpose of these annual awards is to recognise those researchers, private institutions and students who performed well in terms of innovation and technology development, says Mr Ephraim Baloyi, Director: Innovation and Technology at the dti.
The awards are a combination of the Annual Awards of the different dti programmes supporting technology in industry. They are the Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme (THRIP), administered by the National Research Foundation (NRF), the Support Programme for Industrial Innovation (SPII), administered by the Industrial Development Corporation, and seda Technology Programme (stp), administered by the Small Enterprise Development Agency.
The dti delegation also visited the laboratory of Prof. Schalk Louw of the UFS to view the work of this former dti Technology Awards recipient. Prof. Louw is a member of the UFS Centre for Plant Health Management (Cephma) team that won a 2007 Technology Award for groundbreaking research work on kenaf (a South African commercial fibre crop used, amongst others, in the automotive industry). The research of the Cephma team is supported by the NRF’s THRIP programme.
The awards are hosted in a different province each year to increase awareness around the dti’s technology support for researchers, small enterprises, large industries and business incubators.
Media Release
Issued by: Leonie Bolleurs
Tel: 051 401 2707
Cell: 083 645 5853
3 October 2008
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