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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

The Shepherd Centre celebrates decade of empowering spiritual leaders
2016-08-01

The Shepherd Centre functions under the auspices of the Faculty of Theology at the University of the Free State (UFS), and arose out of a need for non-denominational adult-learning programmes for those actively involved in the ministry. According to the director, Dr Gerhard Botha, the centre came into being to assist spiritual leaders: “The Shepherd Centre takes on the shepherding responsibility for spiritual leaders of all Christian churches.”

Planning started in 2005, when the need was identified for foundation-phase education in the wider church community. Dr Botha was appointed as the director of the centre in 2006, and given the task of compiling a suitable curriculum. The aim of the curriculum is to enable spiritual leaders to provide current interpretations of scripture for a modern society. From the first handful of students a decade ago, The Shepherd Centre has grown by mid-2016 to 300 adult learners enrolled in the short learning programmes, many of which are catered for at the satellite sites in Kimberley, Koffiefontein, Kroonstad, Qwaqwa/Kestell, Thaba Nchu, Zeerust, and the South Campus of the UFS.

This initiative has extended its reach even further than the boundaries of the Free State. In 2014, Dr Botha and Prof Fanie Snyman, Dean of the Faculty of Theology, visited Ethiopia, and signed an agreement of mutual collaboration with the Full Gospel Church there. In addition, a Shepherds4Africa programme is involved in Christian communities and with Christian religious leaders in several other countries, providing training opportunities to various indigenous churches, with the greater vision of spreading the Word to all countries in Africa and beyond. Dr Botha states that their hope is to provide the tools needed in order to make the community of faith as healthy so as to build its moral fibre.

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