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02 May 2024 | Story Dr Nitha Ramnath | Photo right
UFS - Thought-Leader Webinar

2024 UFS Thought-Leader Webinar Series

PRESENTS

a webinar titled

2024 Elections: Promises, Perils, and Delivery: What the Future Holds After 29 May 2024?


The University of the Free State (UFS) is pleased to present its first webinar for the year, titled 2024 Elections: Promises, Perils, and Delivery: What the Future Holds After 29 May 2024? – which is part of the 2024 Thought-Leader Webinar Series. As a public higher-education institution in South Africa with a responsibility to contribute to public discourse, the university will be presenting the webinar as part of the UFS Thought-Leader Series, which is in its sixth consecutive year.  The aim of the webinar series is to discuss issues facing South Africa by engaging experts at the university and in South Africa.

 

Webinar presented on 23 May 2024

On 29 May 2024, South Africans will go to the polls. This election is considered by South Africans as significant and much needed since the end of apartheid in 1994. South Africa is plagued by record power cuts, poor service delivery, and high levels of unemployment, with drastic effects on businesses and the local economy. Coinciding with the celebration of 30 years of freedom and democracy, this seventh democratic election is a turning point for South Africa to determine the desired future for all South Africans.

Date:   Thursday 23 May 2024

Time: 12:30-14:00

RSVP:  Click to view document HERE no later than 22 May 2024.

Some of the topics discussed by leading experts in 2023 included, among others, Threats to South Africa’s stability and security challenges; The need for a global and regional plan / approach to respond to the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine war; and Student protest action, politics, and higher education.


Facilitator:

 

Prof Francis Petersen

Vice-Chancellor and Principal, UFS

 

Panellists:

Prof Bonang Mohale

Chancellor, UFS

 

Dr Ebrahim Harvey

Political writer and commentator

 

Bios of speakers:

Prof Bonang Mohale

Prof Bonang Mohale is the Chancellor of the University of the Free State, former President of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), Professor of Practice in the Johannesburg Business School (JBS) College of Business and Economics, and Chairman of two listed entities – the Bidvest Group Limited and ArcelorMittal, as well as SBV Services and Swiss Re Corporate Solutions! He is a member of the Community of Chairpersons (CoC) of the World Economic Forum and author of two best-selling books, Lift As You Rise and Behold The Turtle! He has been included in the Reputation Poll International’s (RPI) 2023 list of the ‘100 Most Reputable Africans’. The selection criteria are integrity, reputation, transparency, visibility, and impact. He is the recipient of the 2023 ME-Vision Academy’s ‘Exclusive Recognition in Successful Leadership’ Award for consistently leading self successfully, consistently leading people successfully, successfully leading as a senior executive and CEO, successfully leading society in various impactful roles, and his contribution to mentoring and inspiring future successful leaders.

 

Dr Ebrahim Harvey

Dr Ebrahim Harvey is a political writer, analyst, commentator, former Cosatu trade unionist, and Mail & Guardian columnist. He is currently a News24 columnist. He also wrote the authorised biography of former president, Kgalema Motlanthe (2012), and The Great Pretenders: Race and Class under ANC Rule (2021), which won the 2022 SA Literary Award for Non-Fiction. He holds a master’s degree in Public and Development Management and a PhD degree in Sociology, both from the University of the Witwatersrand.

News Archive

UFS academic appointed to prestigious academy (ASSAf)
2014-10-07

Another academic of the University of the Free State (UFS), Prof Jeanet Conradie, professor in Chemistry, was invited as newly elected member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).Science and research, by which new concepts are discovered, is her great passion.

Her PhD degree in Chemistry, together with also a strong background in Physics, Computer Science, Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, influenced Prof Conradie’s choice of research interest and expertise to develop gradually in the direction of computational chemistry, which is a beautiful combination of chemistry and physics.

Computational chemistry uses quantum physical principles and mathematical methods to solve chemistry problems via high-performance computerised calculations. Results obtained can be used to predict and understand the behaviour of atoms and molecules in the real world. Chemical reactions and phenomena that are impossible or too dangerous to study experimentally, can also be studied by computational chemistry. Her research team also does experimental laboratory work to combine and compare with the computational analysis. Based on these results, new materials with specific properties are developed.

The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) aspires to be the apex organisation for science and scholarship in South Africa, recognised and connected both nationally and internationally. Through its membership which represents the collective voice of the most active scholars in all fields of scholarly enquiry, ASSAf aims to generate evidence-based solutions to national problems.

Prof Corli Witthuhn: Vice-Rector: Research at the UFS said: “The UFS is very proud of Prof Conradie, who is also the first female professor in the Department of Chemistry.  Jeanet is a highly productive researcher publishing in high-impact journals.  She has extensive international networks and collaborations, increasing the impact of her work even more.  We are currently awaiting the outcome of her application for NRF rating and believe that she will receive an excellent rating.”


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