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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.”
Golden strains: Hansgeorg Schmeiser (flute) and Albie van Schalkwyk (piano)
2008-04-15
Hansgeorg Schmeiser – an Austrian flautist and Albie van Schalkwyk – a lecturer in piano at the UFS, captivated concert-goers on Thursday evening with a virtuoso performance. This was the second time that Hansgeorg has given a performance in Bloemfontein accompanied by Albie. Despite the Easter weekend and the holiday period, the concert was well supported by the public.
With his solid gold Muramatsu flute and a celebrated pianist before the keys plus a varied programme, the two artists had the audience poised on the edge of their seats – beginning with the Sonata in G minor by J.S. Bach and followed by Franz Schubert's Theme and Variations on Trock'ne Blumen for flute and piano. After the interval they performed the Sonata for flute and piano by Martinù – a composition that is seen as one of the most important 20th century works in the flute repertoire. Schmeiser's performance of the solo piece for flute by the Japanese composer Fukushima where modern playing techniques require the achievement on various tone colours and fluctuation intensity was especially impressive.
The demanding programme was concluded with the Hungarian Fantasy for flute and piano by Albert Franz Doppler. It was no surprise that the audience demanded the two back onto the stage for an encore for which they played the second movement (Siciliano) of J.S. Bach's Flute Sonant No. 2 in E minor.