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08 May 2024
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The Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Prof Paul Oberholster, has the pleasure of inviting you to the inaugural lecture of Prof Dirk Opperman.
Date: 21 May 2024
Time: 17:30
Venue: Equitas
Click here to RSVP before Wednesday, 15 May 2024. Alternatively, contact Christelle van Rooyen on +27 51 401 9190.
About Prof Dirk Opperman
Prof Dirk Opperman obtained his PhD in Biochemistry at the University of the Free State in 2008. This was followed by postdoctoral research on directed evolution with Prof Manfred T Reetz at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research (Germany). In 2010, he was appointed in the Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry. He subsequently established structural biology at the UFS, and his current research focus lies at the interface of evolutionary and structure-function relationships of biocatalysts, and their application in green chemistry. He is an NRF B-rated researcher with co-authored papers in Science, Nature Communications, and Angewandte Chemie.
His research has been funded by both local and international organisations, ranging from industries such as SASOL to the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF, UK). He has a long-standing collaboration with researchers at the Delft University of Technology (TUDelft, the Netherlands) and is currently part of a European Research Area Network Cofund (ERA-NET Cofund) partnership on Food Systems and Climate (FOSC) that develops biocatalysts for upcycling waste.
Prof. Van Coller elected to panel of the Humanities
2008-12-04
 Prof. Hennie van Coller, Head of the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French at the UFS, was recently elected to the consensus panel of the Humanities, under the guidance of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa (Assaf). The panel will investigate the situation in the Humanities that resulted from the perception that it is experiencing crises worldwide. In certain circles it is not regarded as a science, remuneration systems within the Humanities compares poorly with other sectors and funding is difficult to obtain. This whilst issues pertaining to humanities are in the foreground in South Africa, such as the issues regarding the handling of Aids, crime, illiteracy, violence and unemployment.
The panel’s work will stretch over the next 18 months and a report will be handed to government. The panel of experts from across South Africa is under chairmanship of Prof. Jonathan Jansen, former dean at the University of Pretoria, and also includes among others two international experts.
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