Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

Pursuing people-powered change: Global Social Innovation Indaba sparks action

07 October 2024 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo Stephen Collett

Insightful, thought-provoking and inspiring: These were some of the words used to describe the 2024 Global Social Innovation Indaba, which took place at the Centenary Complex on the University of the Free State’s (UFS’s) Bloemfontein Campus from 30 September to 2 October 2024.

The three-day conference was hosted by the global Social Innovation Exchange (SIX) in collaboration with the UFS, under the theme ‘People Powered Change’. The conference brought together leaders and innovators from South Africa and several other countries, including Louise Pulford, CEO of SIX; Markus Lux, Senior Vice-President at Robert Bosch Stiftung, and Desmond D’Sa from the South Durban Community Environment Alliance (SDCEA), among others.

In her opening address, Acting UFS Vice-Chancellor and Principal Prof Anthea Rhoda welcomed the guests and described the conference as an opportunity to “deliberate, debate, and dissect ideas around the all-important topic of harnessing people-powered change in order to build successful societies”.

Powering social change

As part of the conference guests engaged in a series of panel discussions and activities, and attended presentations on various topics.

D’Sa was one of the first speakers, delivering a keynote address titled ‘An activist guide to people-powered change’. He referred to moments throughout his career in which he has actively worked towards change in his community and beyond, and highlighted some of the work the SDCEA continues to do. Guests were also treated to a spoken word performance by Napo Masheane, Artistic Director at the Performing Arts Centre of the Free State (PACOFS).

Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi touched on several points in his talk, such as what the law meant or means to indigenous people. He explored this by referring back to the colonialist era. Ngcukaitobi, who described law as the most ubiquitous and most stable concept that European settlers brought, indicated that it was brought in two faces: the face of justice, and the face of violence. Therefore, he said, “… the future of law that has been most enduring is the ability of the law to transform itself from violence to justice.”

Guests said they regarded the presentations and dialogues as insightful, and also highlighted their appreciation for being able to interact with the campus itself. This sentiment in large part stemmed from the attendees being split into smaller groups and taken to see different parts of the campus. They also got to see an exhibition exploring the role of art in social justice at the Department of Fine Arts.

Lessons from the conference

The last day featured a panel discussion titled ‘Challenging power dynamics and redefining global exchange’, which included an engagement session with the audience. Guests were able to reflect on the information they had acquired at the conference and challenged themselves to continue working towards change and innovation.

“What I learnt from these three days is that since we all want to do the right thing, we all know what the job that needs to be done is,” said Michael Ngigi, CEO of Thinkplace Africa. “As such, we need to be bold in going for that, and really push back on the status quo that is formed by the places we represent.”

News Archive

UFS receives R13,7 Million for Research into Prehistoric Organisms

2007-03-27

Some of the guests attending the launch of the research contract are: Dr Siyabulela Ntutela (Deputy Director: Biotechnology at the Department of Science and Technology), Dr Godfrey Netswera (Manager of Thuthuka and the Support Programme at the National Research Foundation (NRF)), Dr Esta van Heerden (Platform Manager and lecturer at the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology at the UFS), Mr Butana Mboniswa (Chief Executive Officer of BioPAD), and Mr Vuyisele Phehani (Portfolio Manager for BioPAD).
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

The University of the Free State (UFS) has been awarded a massive R13,7 million contract to conduct research into prehistoric micro-organisms which live under extreme conditions, for example in mineshafts.

This is one of the biggest research contracts awarded to the UFS in recent years.

The biotechnology research contract was awarded to the UFS by BioPAD, a South African biotechnology company that brokers partnerships between researchers, entrepreneurs, business, government and other stakeholders to promote innovation and create sustainable biotechnology businesses.

The project is endorsed by the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation (NRF), which contributes to the bursaries of the 17 postgraduate students on the programme.

The contract involves the establishment of a Platform for Metagenomics - a technique which allows researchers to extract the DNA from microbes in their natural environment and investigate it in a laboratory.

“Through this platform we will be able to understand deepmine microbial populations
and their potential application in the search for life in outer space. It is most likely
that, if life were to be found on other planets in our solar system, it would probably
resemble that which existed millions of years ago on earth. Apart from all this, these
organisms have unique properties one can exploit in biotechnological application for
South Africa and its community,” said Dr Esta van Heerden, platform manager and
lecturer at the UFS Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology.
She is assisted by her collegues, Prof. Derek Litthauer and Dr Lizelle Piater.

“The platform aims to tap into the unique genetic material in South African mines
which will lead to the discovery of new genes and their products. These new and unique products will find application in the medical field (anti-cancer, anti-bacterial en anti-viral cures), the industrial sector (nanotechnology, commercial washing agents and the food industry), environmental sector (pollution management, demolition of harmful metals and other toxic waste),” said Dr Van Heerden.

According to Dr Van Heerden, the Metagenomics Platforms stems from the Life in
Extreme Environments (LExEN) programme which was started in 1994 by Princeton
University in the United States of America (USA) in South African mines with grants
from among others the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and
the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the USA. Other international collaborators
on the project include Geosynec Consultants Inc. (USA), Oak Ridge National
Laboratory (USA), the University of Tennessee (USA) and in South Africa the
Universities of the Witwatersrand, North West and Limpopo and companies like BHP
Billiton, MINTEK and mining companies like Harmony, Gold Fields and AngloGold
Ashanti.

The research field laboratory of the Metagenomics Platform, which was situated in
Glen Harvey, was moved to the Main Campus of the UFS in Bloemfontein. “In this
way the university has become the central hub for all research programmes. We are
also the liaison between the LExEN programme and the various mining companies
involved,” said Dr Van Heerden. The new laboratory was introduced during the
launch of the research contract.

“Our decision to commit BioPAD to this project stems from the company’s commitment to advance human capacity development to strengthen South Africa’s research infrastructure. It is also part of our aim to create and protect intellectual property,” said Mr Butana Mboniswa, Chief Executive Officer of BioPAD.

Talking on behalf of the UFS senior management, Prof. Teuns Verschoor, Vice-Rector
of Academic Operations, said that the university shares the excitement to be part of
the exploration of unknown forms of life, the discovery of new genes and
their products and in applying newly gained knowledge to better understand our
universe.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl@ufs.ac.za
27 March 2007

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept