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Launching the South African Chapter of the SANRAL Chair alumni programme

25 October 2023 | Story Dr Kwazi Magwenzi | Photo supplied

SANRAL Chair launch — The SANRAL Chair in Mathematics and Science , Prof Loyiso Jita with the Programme graduates, the PhD and Masters SANRAL Alumni at the event held on 28 September 2023 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The South African Chapter of the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) Chair alumni programme at the University of the Free State (UFS) was recently launched at the Silverstar Hotel and Casino in Johannesburg. The event aimed to showcase and celebrate the achievements made and lessons learnt in the programme, highlight the key elements and outputs to the Faculty of Education stakeholders and reimagine the future. The Faculty of Education has increased its footprint in Engaged Scholarship activities, aligning itself with the UFS Vision 130. Multiple stakeholders and community partners were invited to witness the outstanding achievements of this programme.

Since its inception in 2014, the SANRAL Chair has produced over 40 PhD graduates in three countries, namely South Africa, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe. One of the key goals of Vision 130 is for the UFS to be regionally engaged and to contribute to pressing societal needs. This involves knowledge generation that contributes to local and regional development and building sustainable partnerships. The PhD and Masters graduates have become a highly valued human resource in the South African education system and the region, and are now positioned as leaders in Institutions of higher learning in South Africa, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe.

The SANRAL Chair currently supervises a cohort of doctoral and master's students, providing guidance in mathematical research and publications. The internship programme represents SANRAL's commitment to building skilled capacity in communities, along with driving social and economic transformation. SANRAL has also identified common challenges faced by Small, Medium, and Micro-sized Enterprises (SMMEs) in its projects and has implemented training programmes to address these issues.

South Africa has implemented a range of programmes designed to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 1 (SDG 1), which includes land reform, agriculture, free higher education and growth. Despite the significant progress made on South Africa’s developmental journey since the advent of democracy in 1994, the country remains one of the most unequal societies in the world. Achieving the SDGs is, therefore, in South Africa’s best interest as the country pursues the vision of a united, non-racial, non-sexist, and prosperous nation living in harmony with itself and the rest of the world.

As South Africa looks ahead to 2030, it seeks to build on the substantial progress achieved thus far, and on the robust policy, legislative, and planning foundation. The focus will be on consolidating and expanding the many areas where public welfare and development are at the forefront.

News Archive

Four modernised controlled environment cabinets inaugurated

2006-07-27

Photographed in a controlled environment cabinet were at the back from the left: Mr Adriaan Hugo (head of the UFS Electronics and Mechanisation Division), Prof Herman van Schalkwyk (Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS) and Prof Koos Terblans (lecturer at the UFS Department of Physics). In front is Mr Koos Uys (engineering consultant from Experto Designa who helped with the cooling systems of the cabinets).
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

Different look for research in controlled circumstances at the UFS

Research in controlled circumstances at the University of the Free State (UFS) turned a new page today with the inauguration of four modernised controlled environment cabinets of the Department of Soil, Crop and Climate Sciences.

“The controlled environment cabinets, which are situated next to the glass houses on the eastern side of the Agriculture Building on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein, were installed in the early 1980’s. The cabinets, used for research purposes in controlled circumstances by the UFS for many years, became dysfunctional and needed to be repaired and put into use again,” said Prof Herman van Schalkwyk, Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS.

“The cabinets are used by the agronomics, horticulture and soil science divisions of the Department of Soil, Crop and Climate Sciences to control factors such as the temperature, the intensity and quality of light, synthesis and humidity. This is done 24 hours a day, with hourly intervals,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.

The cabinets are ideally suited to determine the joint and separate effects of these factors on the growth of plants. The adaptability of plants to climate can also be investigated under controlled circumstances. All of this leads to a better understanding of the growth and development process of plants, more specifically that of agricultural crops.

“The effect of these environmental factors on the effectiveness of insect killers such as fungus killers, insecticide and weed killers can also be investigated and can help to explain the damage that is sometimes experienced, or even prevent the damage if the research is timeously,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.

A new cabinet can cost between R2-3 million, depending on the degree of sophistication. “Although controlled environment cabinets have been used for agricultural research for a long time, it has become costly to maintain them and even more impossible to purchase new ones,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.

According to Prof Van Schalkwyk the cabinets were re-built by die UFS Electronics and Mechanisation Division. Some of the mechanisms were also replaced and computerised.

“The re-building and mechanisation of the cabinets were funded by the faculty and because the work was done by our own staff, an amount of about R1 million was saved. The maintenance costs will now be lower as the cabinets are specifically tailor made for our research needs,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.

Where all monitoring was done manually in the past, the cabinets can now be controlled with a computer. This programme was designed by Prof Koos Terblans from the UFS Department of Physics.

According to Prof Van Schalkwyk the modernisation of the cabinets is part of the faculty’s larger strategy to get its instruments and apparatus up to world standards. “With this project we have proved that we can find a solution for a problem ourselves and that there are ways to get old apparatus functional again,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
26 July 2006

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