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UFS hosts first-of-its-kind webinar on Environment and Biosafety Research Ethics

13 August 2024 | Story André Damons | Photo Supplied

Maricel-van-Rooyen — Maricél van Rooyen, Project Manager for Research Information Management System (RIMS) and Research Ethics Adviser in the Directorate Research Development (DRD) at the University of the Free State (UFS), is the Programme Coordinator for a first-of-its-kind Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA)/ COP webinar on Environment and Biosafety Research Ethics.

The University of the Free State (UFS) is playing host to a first-of-its-kind webinar on Environment and Biosafety Research Ethics later this month with Maricél van Rooyen, Project Manager for Research Information Management System (RIMS) and Research Ethics Adviser in the Directorate Research Development (DRD), playing a pivotal role.

The webinar, which is part of the Eastern Region Community of Practice (COP), is taking place on 20 August. The target market for this virtual workshop is Biosafety and Environmental Research Ethics Committee (REC) chairpersons and members, professionals including research management professionals, administrators, research compliance managers and advisers, and research directors in Southern Africa and beyond.

Van Rooyen will be the Programme Coordinator for this Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA)/ COP Research Ethics Webinar, while Prof Robert Bragg, chairperson of the UFS Environmental and Biological Research Ethics Committee (EBREC), will give a presentation on the establishment of an EBREC.

The UFS, Stellenbosch University and the University of the Witwatersrand, form part of the COP which is a SARIMA (Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association) initiative to assist and share research ethics questions between institutions to empower research management and ethics compliance. SARIMA assisted with the online hosting and advertising of the webinar.

Purpose of the webinar

“Environment and Biosafety Committees in South Africa are a new idea, and only a few institutions in the country have such a committee. The UFS and the other institutions that will present at the workshop, take a leading role because they have already registered committees in place. We want to share and assist with establishing and operating such committees,” says Van Rooyen.

According to her, the need for the webinar arises from the upsurge of research and innovation in biotechnology and related fields over the past two decades that has led to exciting new discoveries in areas such as the engineering of biological processes, gene editing, stem cell research, CRISPR-Cas9 technology, Synthetic Biology, recombinant DNA, LMOs and GMOs, to mention only a few.

These advances, however, have generated concerns about biosafety, biosecurity and adverse impacts on biodiversity and the environment, leading to the establishment of Research Ethics Committees (RECs) at Higher Education and Research Institutions dedicated to reviewing research with implications for biosafety and the environment.

These EBRECs are in the early stages of their establishment and formalisation in South Africa, and there is much uncertainty about their composition, scope, procedures of decision-making and the principles that should guide their deliberations and assessments.

Leading the charge

The UFS took the lead in South Africa in ensuring international ethical compliance in this extended area of research, by establishing its own Environmental and Biological Research Ethics Committee (EBREC) six years ago. The UFS EBREC is one of only two such ethics committees at a South African university that combines the biosafety committee with environmental and biological research ethics to ensure ethics compliance in these fields. The initiative started with Van Rooyen and her RIMS EthicsTeam, (Willem Kilian and Amanda Smith). The university is again taking charge with this webinar, which is a first of its kind.

News Archive

UFS experimental farm to be redesigned as a training facility

2004-10-25

Back fltr:
Dr Léan van der Westhuizen, Manager: UFS Sydenham Experimental Farm; Prof Herman van Schalkwyk, Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS and Councilor Thami Stander, Chairperson: Mangaung Municipal Portfolio for Agriculture and Rural Development

Front fltr:
Mr Hanz Nketu, Chairperson: Free State Legislative Committee on Agriculture and Mr Peter Frewen from the Free State Legislature

The Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences of the University of the Free State will soon sign a tri-partite cooperation agreement with the National African Farmers Union (NAFU) and the Mangaung Local Municipality with the aim of providing training and mentorship to small-scale and emerging farmers, including those recently settled under the on-going land redistribution programme.

The agreement is part of the Faculty’s strategic plan to support the on-going reform process in the country, of which Black Economic Empowerment in Agriculture (Agri-BEE) is an important part. The Free State Provincial Department of Agriculture is also actively supporting this initiative.

Under the plan, the Faculty is redesigning its experimental farm, located about 12 kilometers south of Bloemfontein, as a training facility to build up skills in among others broiler and egg production, dairy farming, animal husbandry, piggery, sheep and goat production. The idea is to introduce a comprehensive package that empowers the small and emerging farmers and the local communities adjoining the farms through simultaneous investments in research, extension, and practical agricultural training.

Learnerships are also being drawn up to provide productive skills in order to contribute to addressing the national skills gap and enhancing opportunities for both self and wage employment.

The residents of the adjoining informal settlement known as Mangaung Phase II where unemployment is currently at extremely high levels are primary targets of this component of the project. The Faculty intends for this project to service the farming communities of the Free State Province and gradually spread to other Provinces in the country.

Having recognised this training programme as a potential instrument for achieving “a united and prosperous agricultural sector”, the Free State Legislature has shown considerable interest in the programme.

Following a preparatory visit to the farms by the Agriculture Committee of the Free State Legislature a request was made to the Faculty to host a larger visit by the Legislative Committees of the Free State, North West and Eastern Cape Provincial Legislatures on Monday 25 October 2004 and present details of the training programme.

The President of NAFU in the Free State Province, Mr Nox Nonkonyana, the Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Prof Herman van Schalkwyk, the Chair of the Mangaung Municipal Portfolio for Agriculture and Rural Development, Councilor Thami Stander, and the Chairperson of the Free State Legislative Committee on Agriculture, Mr M Nketu, will address the Legislators during the occasion.

Prof Herman van Schalkwyk

Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences

University of the Free State, Bloemfontein

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
25 Oktober 2004

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