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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.
Colloquium on legal ethics
2006-03-22
The Department of Constitutional Law and Philosophy of Law at the University of the Free State (UFS) presented a colloquium on legal ethics. The topic was The churches and the legality of abortion in South Africa.
Some of the speakers at the colloquium were front from the left Cardinal Wilfrid Napier (Head: Roman Catholic Church in South Africa), Mr Jeffery Ventrella Esq (guest speaker and Deputy Director, Alliance Defence Fund, United States of America) and Mrs Miranda Pillay (representative of the Anglican Church of South Africa and from the Faculty of Theology at the University of the Western Cape). In the middle from the left were Dr Michiel du Rand (General Surgeon, School of Medicine, University of Pretoria), Ms Jeanine McGill (Abortion Activist and Secretary of the ACDP, Western Cape), Prof Etienne de Villiers (representative of the Dutch Reformed Church and from the Faculty of Theology at the University of Pretoria) and Prof Jakobus Vorster (Dean: Faculty of Theology, University of the North West). Back from the left were Mr Shaun de Freitas (organiser of the colloquium and senior lecturer at the UFS Department of Constitutional Law and Philosophy of Law) and Mr John Smyth QC (legal representative of 'Doctors for Life', South Africa).
Photo: Stephen Collett