Nick Mdika Tembo, a PhD candidate in English Department at Stellenbosch University (SU), is this year's co-recipient of the Timothy Dow Adams Award along with two other recipients, Fethiye Çetin and Orly Lael Netzer.

The prize was awarded to him at the Tenth IABA World Conference at the University of Cyprus, which ran from 26-29 May 2016. The award is made in honour of Timothy Dow Adams, one of the founding editors of a/b: Auto/Biography Studies journal, which is owned by The Autobiography Society and is part of the Routledge Literature Portfolio of journals.

Prof Ricia Anne Chansky presented the award to Tembo on behalf of the editors of a/b: Auto/Biography Studies, in anticipation of his paper Writing the Self, Writing Human Rights Violations in Two Post-1994 Rwandan Testimonios. The paper will appear in the next issue of the journal. Besides the award, Tembo and Netzer were given monetary support to cover their expenses at the conference, and an essay mentorship with the journal editors.

While at the conference, Tembo presented sections of the paper to delegates in attendance.

"Soon after the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) is alleged to have carried out what the draft UN High Commissioner for Human Rights report suspects to be 'systematic, methodological and premeditated attacks against the Hutus' in eastern Zaïre (now the Democratic Republic of Congo)," explains Tembo as he reflects on his paper and his doctoral research in general.

"These widespread attacks 'reveal a number of inculpatory elements that, if proven before a competent court, could be characterised as crimes of genocide.' The basis of the report is the more than 200,000 refugees, most of them Hutu, who were either unaccounted for or perished on Zaïrean soil, especially between October 1996 and September 1997. Although not discussed in the same breath as the 1994 Rwandan genocide, these pogroms are quite fresh in the minds of so many Rwandans today. There are then many compelling reasons for examining testimonios that mourn and memorialise this 'major human event that is rarely discussed or even acknowledged' in most post-1994 discourses on Rwanda."

His paper, he says, drew on key debates on literary representations of truth and reconciliation, and examined Marie Béatrice Umutesi's Surviving the Slaughter (2004) and Pierre-Claver Ndacyayisenga's Dying to Live (2012) as narratives that destabilise and deconstruct the claim of genocide in Rwanda today.

"To illustrate the ideological purpose at work in the two narratives, I anchored my paper on three interrelated concepts – Michel Foucault's notions of parrhesia, (the concept of speaking truth to power), John Beverley's theorisations on testimonio, and Judith Butler's work on violence and mourning – as interpretive frameworks for understanding how the authors contest genocide memories in Rwanda."

Tembo was also one of the panellists for the Round Table Refugee Life Writing at the conference, a session that brought together various academics to share ideas, experiences and projects that involve stories of escape and migration.

Back home, Tembo is once again focusing on his research which looks at the  representations of trauma in selected East African fiction and life writings on civil wars.

"Since the mid-twentieth century, most countries of East Africa have experienced a spate of armed conflicts often leading either to civil or interstate wars. My research offers a critical study and analysis of the specificity of civil war traumas and the narrative representations of these traumas in fiction and life-writings that emerge from countries such as Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.

"In what ways do survivor testimonies as well as imagined narratives of pain and suffering interrogate social crises and how do representations of these experiences function in contexts of conflict and their aftermath? How do they retrieve, relieve and re-evaluate contexts of violent crisis and displacement and their continuities in East Africa today? What do they tell us about the place of East Africa in the world, and about the nature of East African literature of civil wars and/or armed conflicts? And lastly, how – and to what extent – do the texts articulate the notion of those displaced by the violent conflicts as traumatised subjects? These are some of the broader questions I explore in my project,' explains Tembo, who teaches in the Department of English at Chancellor College at the University of Malawi.

Since starting his PhD via the Graduate School in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at SU in 2014, Tembo has been invited to speak about his research at three other international conferences.

While he specialises in teaching African and European Literature in the University of Malawi, Tembo decided to expand his research interests by focusing on trauma studies for his doctoral degree. "Like most colleagues back home, I wanted to conduct an interdisciplinary research. I thought an interface between literature and history, politics, psychology and the medical humanities would provide interesting results. I believe the field of trauma studies will help me get there, as well as understand how different disciplines dialogue with each other."

Tembo is analysing 12 texts that evoke civil war traumas. Asked about how he has experienced the process of reading such painful testimonies, he says: "When I read about these narratives, especially the memoirs and autobiographies, the first thought that comes to my mind is: 'how can a human being do this to another'? This cannot be mere stories, something must be horribly wrong somewhere. The more you read these texts, the more you start asking yourself 'where have we failed as human beings'? So my focus is on what is going on in our society and what it is that we should be doing differently so that our societies are better places to be.'

He hopes his own success is not only a testament that hard work pays off, but that this will inspire other postgraduate students in the faculty.

"I thank God for letting my light shine. I'd also like to thank my mentors in the English Department at Stellenbosch University, especially Prof Grace Musila, Prof Annie Gagiano, Dr Tilla Slabbert, Prof Sally-Ann Murray, Prof Louisie Green, Prof Tina Steiner and Dr Kylie Thomas. These are friendly, selfless and academically engaging senior colleagues who always renew my academic hopes. The entire department deserves special mention too, for the moral and financial support they always give me during my endless quest for knowledge and networking with international scholars through conference attendances and presentations.'

Reflecting on his time in Cyprus, Tembo says: "It was a very humbling experience for me. I interacted with a number of scholars. I also received a number of business cards from book publishers and journal editors asking me to publish with them. This shows that someone out there believes in my work, and I don't take that for granted. Currently, I am working on three journal articles, to be sent to some of these editors."

Photo: Nick Mdika Tembo (third from the left) was recently awarded the Timothy Dow Adams Award and was able to participate in a panel discussion  at the 2016 International Auto/Biography Association conference held by the University of Cyprus, Greece, at the end of May. With him are fellow Award winners Fethiye Çetin (left), Orly Lael Netzer (middle) and a/b:Auto/Biography Studies editor, Ricia Anne Chansky (far right).

The first poetry manuscript to be penned by Ms Sindiswa Busuku-Mathese, a doctoral candidate of the Graduate School of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch University, has been published by Botsotso.

Busuku-Mathese, who is originally from Durban North in Durban, is currently completing her first year of PhD studies in the English Department via a three-year, full-time scholarship offered by the Graduate School. She is being supervised by Prof Sally-Ann Murray, an academic and poet whose work she says she has greatly admired.

Loud and Yellow Laughter, says Busuku-Mathese, is a personal reflection on childhood.

"There exists a tension between truth-telling and truth-testing in the poetry."

The poems in the collection are woven together with archival materials such as letters, photographs, scraps of conversations recorded verbatim and found notes. Busuku-Mathese also uses dramatic techniques such as character lists and stage directions, highlighting the texts' re-enactment of pre-existing events between the main characters: The Mother, The Father and The Girl Child.

As the adopted daughter of a man from Yorkshire, Britain and the biological daughter of a woman from Mt. Fletcher, Eastern Cape, her childhood was anything but normal if measured against traditional standards. Her poetry collection is also a creative memorial to her adoptive father, she says, who passed when she was only 13 years old.

"The poetry collection looks at family and intergenerational discussions about parenting and childhood in South Africa, as well as topics of adoption and (un)belonging, and generational slippages that arise within families," she explains.

"It is linked to my own background and very personal."

By delving into her mother's and father's pasts and growth of their relationship – a parenting relationship between two friends – Busuku-Mathese explores her own identity as a South African through her writings by mixing auto/biography, elegy and documentary collage to explore the intersections between history and fiction.

"My parents were two friends who decided to co-parent a child. It definitely did not reflect the relationships I saw between the parents of my own friends, who were involved in romantic relationships and parented their children in those relationships. That being said, I am writing about fragments of several lives over four generational lines, it's a multi-voiced meditation on loss and hope – a renegotiation and sometimes even a reversioning of history. There is a slipperiness to the collection, a kind of zigzaging between the person and the persona, a conflation between history, memory, myth and documentary, all woven together in the poems, which is important to remain aware of," she says.

The manuscript for her collection, she explains, developed from the poetry work included in her MA thesis in Creative Writing, which was supervised by acclaimed South African poet Prof Kobus Moolman at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Before being published, her work was also circulated in local poetry journals like New Coin, New Contrast, Prufrock, Ons Klyntji and Aerodrome. In 2015, it was shortlisted for the prestigious Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award and Busuku-Mathese was selected as runner-up for the Award.

In 2016, Botsotso decided to publish her poetry – a major feat considering that unsolicited submissions from unknown poets and writers are often ignored.

"I won't lie and say it was easy. What I experienced is that there is a strong resistance to new poets and often the response that you will encounter from most poetry publishers is that unsolicited manuscripts are not welcome. It's a frequent response and it can be frustrating when the few poetry publishers we have in this country will not look at new material from new poets, so when Botsotso said yes to my unsolicited publication, it was very exciting. While it is even more difficult to get poetry work published, I do believe that the more unsolicited work is accepted for review, the more publishers will start discovering interesting poetry that may have been overlooked because of exclusionary thinking."

Her work, she hopes, will contribute to discussions around various forms of identity in South Africa and help introduce alternative narratives and voices in that space, making them more visible.

"Issues of identity are real and personal, I think it is an important discussion to have in this country in particular considering how diverse our country is and how varied our experiences are of what it means to be South African. That is a conversation that I believe we are still grappling with and watching unfold as South Africans as we are pulled in different directions. My poetry explores what it means to be brought up in a home that is not stereotypical and to be young and struggling with the liminal space between two parents who represent radically different worlds."

The collection however does not treat the alternative to traditional family structures as abnormal or as a spectacle.

"That was always my intention, to present an alternative to the traditional and a view of a different form of parenting and not to make it seem different. The collection affirms that normal is not always traditional and that there are different distinctions of that. At the end of the day, it is my hope that my collection contributes to conversations about our various forms of South Africanness."

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Loud and Yellow Laughter at R80, you can contact Botsotso at botsotso@artslink.co.za or Busuku-Mathese at sindi.busuku@gmail.com.

Photo: Ms Sindi-Busuku-Mathese with her first poetry collection, Loud and Yellow Laughter, which was recently published by Botsotso. (Anton Jordaan, SSFD)

​Several Matie athletes and a Stellenbosch University (SU) alumna have accepted roles as Stellenbosch Sport Ambassadors.

The Stellenbosch Sport Ambassadors (SSA) programme aims to empower local athletes with all the tools and support they need on their journey of excellence.

This programme is the brainchild of world-renowned athletics coach and SU lecturer Dr Suzanne Ferreira. 

“A good family helps you know your purpose and develop your potential, and helps you enjoy the journey along the way with an intensity that isn’t possible otherwise. Let’s create a Stellenbosch family,” said Ferreira. 

The programme is a working partnership between Stellenbosch Municipality, Stellenbosch Academy of Sport and Maties Sport. Caylix Sport is managing the project.

The vision is to empower Stellenbosch Sport Ambassadors on their journey of excellence by bringing the abilities of the town into their dreams. Their empowerment will market Stellenbosch as a town of excellence and inspire the immediate community. The first marketing campaign will focus on the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio during August and September 2016. 

The aim is to give the athletes the best possible support and exposure during their preparation and competitions. All of them have been selected to represent SA at either the Olympic or Paralympic Games.

The first wave of Stellenbosch Sport Ambassadors are Ilse Carstens, Fanie van der Merwe, Dyan Buis, Arnu Fourie, Roxy Burns, Anruné Liebenberg, Hendri Herbst, Zanele Situ, Charl du Toit, Mari Rabie and Justine Palframan. 

The criteria for being a Stellenbosch Sport Ambassador are: The athlete must live in Stellenbosch, be registered at a sport club in Stellenbosch, and must accept their role as ambassador.

There will be opportunities for the ambassadors to connect with the Stellenbosch community. They are also encouraged to share real experiences with the Stellenbosch community through social media channels.

Follow the Ambassadors on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @SboschSA.

​Maties Sport is committed to promoting opportunities for positive interaction between SU students, staff and local communities. 

In June, a group of 42 learners from schools in the Stellenbosch community attended a 4-day holiday programme hosted by Maties Sport in collaboration with the Department of Chemistry and Polymer Science and Maties Gymnasium. 

The theme was “Holistic development with sport as medium”.

The learners participated in the following activities: a chemistry class in which they made their own play dough; various sport codes (netball, football, basketball, badminton), a drumming session and a hike in the mountain behind Coetzenburg. They also visited Maties Gymnasium, the Stellenbosch Museum and Pulp Cinema in the Neelsie where they were treated to a movie.

Staff and students at Stellenbosch University proved this past week (18-22 July) that even the smallest good deed can make a huge difference in somebody's life.

Staff, students and partners of the University took part in various activities that was planned for its University's Mandela Week.  These activities were part of the national 67 Minutes for Mandela campaign in which South Africans participate every year to commemorate the life of President Nelson Mandela.

On Monday (18 July) staff from the University's Centre for Student Counselling and Development and the division Social Impact painted the interior walls of the Stellenbosch Work Centre. This work centre offers skills development classes to adults with disabilities.

"I enjoy witnessing how one good deed can have an impact on the lives of many people," Michelle Willems from the University's Unit for Disabilities said.

Staff at the Tygerberg campus collected personal hygiene products for several weeks to distribute to mothers of babies who have been admitted to hospital. A lot of these babies are patients in the neo-natal unit and their mothers often have to stay at the hospital with their babies for days on end. With the help of members of public and students, each baby could also receive a knitted beanie, a blanket and a teddy bear.

On Wednesday the campus community collaborated with Stellenbosch businesses to make more than 10 000 sandwiches for the Toasties for Tummies campaign. These sandwiches were distributed at schools and charity organisations in Stellenbosch.

Various organisations helped to illustrate the meaning of 'community' in a tangible way. One often forget that one sandwich can be a building block to help build someone's future," says Dr Antoinette Smith-Tolken, acting Head: Social Impact

The Postgraduate & International Office used their time and initiative to highlight the importance of education. They held a fundraising to buy stationary for learners at Vlottenberg Primary School in Stellenbosch. Our international students support this initiative greatly.

 Various departments of the University collected non-perishable consumer items (canned foods, dried foods, soap, toothpaste etc) to donate to students in need.

The Student Council's Social Impact portfolio launched their project to donate low cost, safe stoves to families in and around Stellenbosch. These stoves, the Cleancook, are a safer and cheaper alternative than open fire or paraffin stoves which is still being used in many households to cook food.

On Friday staff and students encouraged a culture of reading amongst the learners at Lückhoff Primary where they read stories to the learners. Learners also had to take part in reading activities. The day was concluded with a soccer match at the school on a field that has been prepared for future use by the school.

Last year, the first South African Sign Language (SASL) curriculum was rolled out nationally in South Africa after it had first been piloted as a project at the De la Bat School for the Deaf in Worcester from 2011 to 2013. Now, thanks to three short courses of the Department of General Linguistics that focus on language teachers, including sign language teachers, those who have to implement this curriculum will also have the necessary skills to do so effectively.

According to Dr Frenette Southwood of the Department of General Linguistics of Stellenbosch University (SU), the department has been offering shorts courses in the Foundations of Linguistics, Sign Language Linguistics and Literature of SASL to teachers of Deaf learners since the beginning of 2015.

"South African Sign Language is now acknowledged as a first language by the Department of Education, just like Afrikaans and English, and is also taught in schools," says Southwood. SU is one of three academic institutions in South Africa that offers these types of courses.

"The courses are intended for language teachers who do not have a sufficient background in linguistics or literature and helps these teachers to interact optimally with the curriculum they have to teach."

The three courses were created after the department presented the first intensive five-day Foundations of Linguistics course to 31 teachers of Deaf learners and staff of the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) in June 2015.

According to Ms Minna Steyn of the WCED, who also was the project manager of the pilot project at De la Bat, teachers in the Western Cape were provided with basic training by the WCED to implement the new curriculum. A year later, training was done at the national level.

"During the training at national level we realised that there was not enough training that focused on literature and poetry, although these form part of the new curriculum. The idea therefore was to show teachers and teacher assistants how to teach poetry and literature in sign language. I thus was keen to offer our teachers who teach Deaf learners more in-depth training and then discussed the possibilities with the Department of General Linguistics. The ETDP-SETA was then approached to find funding for 30 students to undertake training at Stellenbosch University," says Steyn.

Steyn has been involved with the education of Deaf people for the past three decades and was head of the Thiboloha School for the Deaf and Blind in Qwaqwa in the Free State before being seconded to De la Bat for the launch of the SASL curriculum. She also completed her MA in the SU Department of General Linguistics in December 2015, focusing specifically on language and literacy acquisition by Deaf Foundation Phase learners in her thesis. In a report of the WCED in 2015, she said the following about the implementation of SASL as a first language: "Deaf children who are born into hearing families do not have the privilege of learning language in a natural manner from birth. It is only when they go to school that a Deaf child is exposed to Deaf adults and friends and that they learn sign language. South African Sign Language is the first language of Deaf people in South Africa and is equivalent to any spoken language. It has been proven scientifically that a child's mother tongue must be established firmly and be in place before an additional first language can be mastered."

During her time at De la Bat she noticed how Deaf learners in the pre-school classes started participating more in lessons because they now had sufficient Sign Language vocabulary to participate more easily thanks to the pilot project. Previously, sign-supported Afrikaans or sign-supported English (these are spoken languages that are converted into signs word for word, some of which were artificial, non-SASL signs) were used as language of teaching and learning in schools for the Deaf. This deprived learners of exposure to SASL in the classroom. With the rolling out of the SASL curriculum, SASL is also implemented as language of learning and teaching in schools for the Deaf – as early as in the preschool classes. Deaf learners' SASL skills therefore are being improved from early on and they have the opportunity to receive their school training in a natural language.

The courses of the Department of General Linguistics accommodate 30 people at a time, who complete the Foundation and Sign Language Linguistics courses over six weeks, with one week of lectures on campus and the rest being done by way of directed self-study and distance teaching. The course on the Literature of South African Sign Language runs over two days and comprises lectures that are presented on the SU campus. According to Southwood, the purpose of the training is to sharpen teachers' knowledge of language and sign language as a language so that they can be better language teachers.

"This is not a sector that received much attention in the past and the quality of teaching therefore is not up to standard. There also are some teachers who cannot use sign language fluently but who have to teach in sign language.

"So besides for teachers' sign language skills needing to be improved, they also need to have knowledge of this first language of their learners so that a teacher can be better able, for example, to teach their sign language-using learners English or Afrikaans as language of literacy. Through these courses we help our teachers to do the latter by helping them to understand what language is, how it works and how it is learnt. Our courses cover concepts such as the nature, function and structure of human language, how human languages are used and understood, how they are processed and produced, and how these aspects are applicable to sign language."

Steyn believes that the courses will not only lead to better equipped SASL teachers, but also will raise the profile and visibility of sign language.

"South African Sign Language is a stigmatised language, with rules and principles such as any other language. It therefore helps the image of the language if academic institutions such as Stellenbosch University offer courses on it."

Steyn has herself completed three courses to gain a better idea of the type of training that teachers received by way of the courses.

"There is no other way to describe it other than to say that it is really wonderful for me to know that teachers are now empowered to implement this curriculum with the knowledge that they have received from SU."

Thus far, a total of 61 teachers completed the three courses in June to October 2015, with a further 36 who started training in April 2016.

Steyn is now encouraging other provinces to build up similar co-operation with local universities in their environment and to ensure that teachers are empowered in this manner.

For Southwood and her colleagues, this co-operation with the WCED also offers many other exciting opportunities for the training of students at US.

"Our department is very grateful to be part of this. Sign Language Linguistics is now a section of our second-year module in General Linguistics and we will also offer it as a third-year module from next year. We are also planning to offer Sign Language Acquisition to students as a subject in 2017. We therefore are not only busy strengthening the expertise of current teachers, but also preparing a new generation of students to qualify themselves as teachers of Deaf learners."

For Steyn, the broader impact of the project, which they started in 2011, is the most important result of a longstanding aim of ensuring that SASL is recognised as a fully-fledged language.

"The Deaf child now receives the type of education that prepares him/her academically. My dream is to have SASL as a subject in our mainstream schools and that hearing people are also given an opportunity to learn sign language."

Photo: Nine Deaf students (of whom seven are teachers of Deaf students) completed the courses in Foundations of Linguistics, Sign Language Linguistics and Literature of SASL in March and received a certificate from Stellenbosch University. Mr Christopher Dontsa (fourth from left) completed all three courses. In front, from left, are Prof Johan Oosthuizen, Ms Annette Humphrey-Heyns, Nodumo Same, Christopher Dontsa, Phumla Mosia, Ncumisa Loliwe, Andiswa Fayindlala, Lazya le Roux, and Dr Frenette Southwood. At the back are Christoffer Galada and Simon Ndaba.

A microbiologist from Stellenbosch University (SU), Prof. Alf Botha, has been honoured for his contribution to the study of yeast ecology with a newly-discovered yeast species named after him.

Saturnispora bothae species nov., a yeast isolated from samples of rotten wood collected in an Atlantic rain forest in Brazil, has been described as a new species in a research article published in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology this month.

Two of the scientists responsible for describing the new species, Prof. Carlos Rosa from the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil and Prof. Marc-André Lachance from Western University in Canada, are considered world leaders in their respective fields.

In the article they state that the new species have been named "in honour of Alfred Botha, in recognition of his contributions to the study of yeast ecology".

Prof. Botha says while there are probably still millions of undiscovered yeast species, he certainly feels honoured to be recognised in this way.

While yeast ecology is usually associated with the fermentation process in wine, beer and bread, these unicellular fungi occur commonly in all kinds of environments, such as mosquito guts, fynbos roots and even the skin of whales. Prof. Botha's research group at SU's Department of Microbiology has been focusing on the interactions of these yeasts with the environment since 2000.

During that time they have made several major contributions to the understanding of, for example, the symbiosis between the yeast Cryptococcus laurentii and the roots of plants such as lupins and the medicinal fynbosplant, buchu.

In 2006 Prof. Botha was invited by Prof. Rosa to contribute a chapter on yeasts in soils in The Yeast Handbook. A 2011 article, The Importance and Ecology of Yeast in Soil, published in the journal Soil Biology and Biogeochemistry, has to date been cited 64 times.

As far as pathogenic yeasts are concerned, research from his laboratory showed how some yeasts could be utilised by mosquito larvae as food and impact on the life cycle of these insects. Prof. Botha's research group has also done extensive work on the natural habitat of Cryptococcus neoformans, a pathogenic yeast producing infectious airborne spores that causes thousands of HIV-AIDS-related deaths in Sub-Sahara Africa every year.

Currently his research group is involved in a major international research effort to search for the natural habitat of a novel Emmonsia-like opportunistic pathogenic fungus that is causing disseminated infections among HIV-infected individuals in South Africa.

More about Prof. Botha

Prof. Botha completed his BSc Agric in biochemistry at Stellenbosch University in 1978, followed by a BSc Agric honours also in biochemistry. In 1986 he joined the CSIR in Pretoria, where he was first introduced to the field of yeast biology by Prof. J.P. van der Walt, himself a student of the well-known Dutch microbiologist Prof. Albert Jan Kluyver. While working at the CSIR, he completed his MSc in 1989 at the University of Pretoria under the joint supervision of Prof. Albert Eicker and Prof. van der Walt. He received his PhD in 1993 from the University of the Free State and in 1998 he was appointed as senior lecturer at SU and promoted to associate professor in 2003 and full professor in 2011.

Dr Eric Decloedt of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology received the award as Educator of the Year in recognition of his contributions to excellence, expertise and demonstrable achievement in pharmacology education. He received this prestigious award from the South African Society for Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (SASBCP).

Decloedt is the coordinator of undergraduate clinical pharmacology teaching at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) of Stellenbosch University (SU).

His innovative and popular teaching methods are testament to his enthusiasm for teaching. "My teaching approach is to convey passion and enthusiasm, to provide direction to students and to allow them to explore, grow and thrive in the comprehensive discipline of Clinical Pharmacology."

"Clinical Pharmacology is applicable in every discipline of medicine as all medical doctors are required to write a prescription during their working day," he explains. "However, it is well known that ill-considered prescriptions can adversely affect the health of patients and lead to hospital admissions and even death. The beneficial impact on the healthcare system of teaching well-considered prescribing to future medical doctors is potentially limitless."

According to Decloedt pharmacology is an applied discipline that can easily be transformed from textbook concepts into practical interventions that impact directly on patient outcomes. "I love conveying the relevance of clinical pharmacology to students. They are easily stimulated when the therapeutic intervention is brought into context with existing physiological and pathological knowledge."

The higher education landscape is changing drastically as a result of the digital revolution. Decloedt says the technology era has created an active learner and notes that students arrive in class with pre-existing knowledge and have continuous access to the internet. "I find it extremely rewarding when students critically evaluate and challenge me."

In answer to this he introduced a restructured module for fifth-year MB,ChB students to provide for clinical pharmacology lectures in the morning followed by applied workshops in the afternoon. Students are confronted with comparable patient cases which stimulate active participation and learning.

"The large number of students makes small group interactive teaching impossible," he says. The inverted classroom environment allows for other skills to come to the fore than would normally during didactic teaching. Students lead the presentations and this leads to a pleasurable and even humorous learning environment. An online discussion platform promotes learning outside the classroom and participation is encouraged the allocation of bonus marks.

Decloedt is also involved with the development programme for postgraduate registrars in Clinical Pharmacology, where he applies the same teaching approach.  

​

The inspiration for this book was a Summer School on State, Governance and Development presented by distinguished academics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. Written by young African scholars, the chapters here focus on state, governance and development in Africa as seen from the authors' vantage points and positions in different sectors of society. The book opens with forewords by eminent African scholars - Ben Turok and Mohamed Halfani. The chapters that follow examine rent-seeking, patronage, neopatrimonialism and bad governance. They engage with statehood, state-building and statecraft and challenge the mainstream opinions of donors, funders, development banks, international non-governmental organisations and development organisations. They include the role of China in Africa, Kenya's changing demographics, state accountability in South Africa's dominant party system, Somalia's prospects for state-building, urban development and routine violence, and resource mobilisation. At a time in which core institutions are being tested - the market, the rule of law, democracy, civil society and representative democracy - this book offers a much-needed multi- and inter-disciplinary perspective, and a different narrative on what is unfolding, while also exposing dynamics that are often overlooked.

Follow the link for more information on the book and how you can get your copy - State, governance and development in Africa.

Earlier this week, Stellenbosch University hosted Dr Ronald N Kahn of BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, when he presented the biennial Thys Visser Commemorative Lecture Series.

Dr Kahn, well-known expert on portfolio management and quantitative investing, leads BlackRock's Scientific Active Equity business, which manages over $75 billion in assets for institutions and individuals worldwide.

In three lectures, Dr Kahn explored asset management in both a historical and a future context.  In his first lecture he discussed the developments over the past 100 years that have resulted in the present investment industry, where investments are managed systematically.

In the second of the lectures Dr Kahn discussed the methods that could be used by someone with superior information about some assets to optimise performance of a portfolio that deviates from the market portfolio. He showed that outperforming the market portfolio is difficult. The average outperformance of all the active managers will be negative after costs.

Dr Kahn then illustrated how information ratios can be used to optimise superior information in constructing portfolios. It is used to allocate a risk budget (the extent to which the active portfolio may deviate from the benchmark) across the investment opportunities. It is also used to develop successful strategies based on an optimal combination of skill, breadth and efficiency.

In the last lecture Dr Kahn looked towards the future of investment management, specifically the use of Smart Beta and Big Data in creating superior investment portfolios.

• The late Thys Visser was a dynamic business leader, alumnus of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, and strong supporter of Stellenbosch University. Following his untimely death in 2012, the Faculty decided to honour his memory with a biennial lecture series by leading international scholars.
  
  On the photo are SU Rector Prof Wim de Villiers, Mrs Amanda Visser, Dr Ronald Kahn and Prof Stan du Plessis, Dean: Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences.
  

Today (28 July 2016) is World Nature Conservation Day. In opinion pieces in the media, experts at Stellenbosch University highlight nature conversation issues that should deserve more attention. Click the links below for the respective articles.

• Prof Michael Samways and Dr John Simaika (The Conversation)

• Dr Ross Shackleton (The Conversation)

Dr Eleanor Ochodo has been awarded a fellowship in Public Health and Tropical Medicine by the Wellcome Trust to develop a framework for the design of clinical trials to measure the impact of Tuberculosis (TB) diagnostic tests on patient outcomes.

"TB remains a pressing health problem with about nine million new cases and 1.5 million deaths reported globally in 2013," said Ochodo, a researcher at the Centre for Evidence-based Health Care at Stellenbosch University's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.

She explained that while much focus has been placed on TB test development, performance characteristics and evaluating test accuracy, less attention has been given to the best way of evaluating the impact of these tests on treatment decisions, management practices and ultimately on patients' health.

The complexitiy of results in trials for TB diagnostic tests leads to variable designs and some researchers are questioning the robustness of these designs. Ochodo will investigate specific tests and study designs to determine their impact on minimizing unnecessary empirical therapy, morbidity, mortality and other outcomes important to patients.  

In the next decade, new competing diagnostics for the detection of TB infection, disease or drug resistance are likely to be released in the market. "With this project I aim to provide guidance on how best to evaluate these tests using randomised clinical trials, which will be useful to researchers and policy makers who rely on best evidence to decide which diagnostics to invest in.

"Knowledge and the use of appropriate methods for assessing the impact of TB diagnostic tests will encourage implementation and uptake of appropriate tests, reduce wastage of healthcare resources and ultimately improve patient outcomes," Ochodo said.

The first ever strategy for the elimination of viral hepatitis was adopted by World Health Assembly (WHA) in May this year, and as a result the theme for the International Hepatitis Awareness Day 2016 campaign is 'elimination'. Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver, caused by various viruses known as hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E viruses.

Elimination of hepatitis caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV) is possible through the use of vaccination. The hepatitis B vaccine was, in fact, the first vaccine able to prevent cancer – by inducing immunity to infection, it also prevents the development of chronic infection and its long-term sequelae or after-effects, such as scarring (cirrhosis) of the liver and liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma). Receiving the hepatitis B vaccine at birth can prevent the transmission of HBV from an infected mother to her baby; yet in South Africa and many other sub-Saharan countries, the vaccine is only administered at six weeks of age, leaving the infant vulnerable to infection at the time of birth.

More than 2.5 million South Africans are estimated to have chronic HBV infection; and are therefore at a great risk of liver cancer. According to the recent GLOBOCAN report, the disease is considered the third most common cause of cancer death, globally.

A study conducted by researchers at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) of Stellenbosch University (SU) has just shown that infection with both HBV and HIV accelerates the development of liver cancer. The majority of patients presenting with liver cancer are young black males. Due to mostly late presentation to health facilities, survival of these patients is very poor; with over 50% not surviving beyond one year after diagnosis, earning chronic hepatitis the nickname "silent killer". The only way the situation can be averted is if chronic HBV infection is diagnosed in time and prompt therapy is given where appropriate.

The Viral Hepatitis Research Group is working with Life Assay Diagnostics, which is a biotechnology company, to develop a feasible point-of-care test for the dual detection of viral hepatitis B and HBV infectivity.

"The increasing availability of drugs for the treatment of HBV infection has exposed the lack of cost-effective methods for diagnosis and monitoring in resource-poor settings," says Dr Monique Andersson, head of the Viral Hepatitis Research Group at the FMHS's Division of Medical Virology.

In 2014 Andersson showed that pregnant women with hepatitis B alone may have high HBV viral loads and could therefore, without any intervention, be at high risk of transmitting infection to their infants.

"Routine screening for hepatitis B during pregnancy is still inexistent in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Highly infectious pregnant women remain unidentified; hence nothing can be done to lower their risk of transmitting the infection to their babies", says Andersson.

The research group advocates for the first dose of the vaccine to be brought closer to the time of birth to reduce the risk of perinatal infection and for the implementation of routine screening for HBV infection during pregnancy and when HIV is diagnosed. In addition, they recommend that more resources should be invested into establishing proper care of patients infected with HBV alone, as these are currently a neglected group in terms of access to treatment.

This research group confirmed in 2010 that in the Western Cape HBV is being transmitted from mothers co-infected with both HBV and HIV to their new-born babies. "Our first study showed that HBV/HIV co-infected pregnant women have high HBV viral loads and are at risk for vertical transmission to their new-born infants, despite the availability of a safe, cheap and effective vaccine," says Andersson.

The WHA strategy seeks among other goals to reduce the number of new viral hepatitis infections by 90% and to "reduce the annual deaths from chronic viral hepatitis from 1.4 million to less than 0.5 million by 2030". By achieving these goals, viral hepatitis will be eliminated as a public health threat. It is important to note that eliminating viral hepatitis will not mean that it has been eradicated as has been achieved with smallpox.

With increased awareness, government engagement and investment, hepatitis B can be eliminated and every day, 4 000 lives could be saved around the world. Andersson asked members of the public to help raise awareness of viral hepatitis by using the hashtags #4000voices and #NOHep to call for action.

Photo: A series of hepatitis B rapid tests performed at the Division of Medical Virology.

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Staff and postgraduate students from the Institute for Plant Biotechnology (IPB) attended the mid-year Plant Biology Europe EPSO/FESPB 2016 Congress in Prague, Czech Republic. This congress aims to advance research, education and the exchange of information among plant biologists with the ultimate focus on improving the impact and visibility of plant science in Europe and beyond. It brought together almost a thousand participants from across the world. It was organised by both the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO) and the Federation of European Societies of Plant Biology (FESPB), which consist of the largest number of independent academic organisations representing plant-based entities and plant scientists in Europe.

At the IPB, as part of attempts to introduce our postgraduate students to cutting-edge plant-based research, we expose our PhD students to international audiences where they can communicate and discuss their scientific findings. The Plant Biology Europe Congress 2016 was such an occasion. Dr James Lloyd and two of his PhD students, Ms Anke Wiese and Ms Zanele Mdodana, presented their research in one oral and two poster presentations respectively. Anke's oral presentation was titled: "The chemical nature of parasitic and mycoheterotrophic metabolism involves the reconfiguration of substrate usage in order to sustain the tricarboxylic acid cycle", Zanele's poster was titled: "Disruption of GWD1 orthologs in Physcomitrella patens alters colony morphology and decreases growth" and Dr Lloyd's poster was titled: "Increasing starch-bound phosphate through manipulating sex genes in potato tubers". Dr Lloyd is known worldwide for his carbon metabolism research with special emphasis on starch metabolism in plants and these congress contributions covered some of the work done under his guidance. 

When the German technicians let us know "standby to go live in five minutes", we knew the teamwork and planning for streaming the Rector and the Libertas choir live to Germany had paid off.

When the Libertas Choir and the Division for Learning and Teaching Enhancement were approached by the Wider Outlook Works Festival in January 2016 to make an appetiser video of the choir and to facilitate a live-streaming event from and to Germany during the festival, we realised this new challenge was going to ask for excellent co-operation.

The Centre for Learning Technologies managed the project, produced the introductory video for German television and facilitated (with the help of audio company Audiopimps) the live streaming on the day. Cilnette Pienaar, a choir member, wrote the script for the video, and of course the choir (one half in Stellenbosch and one half in Germany) performed on the day of the live stream on 7 May. The Faculty of Theology provided the venue and logistical support.

Apart from the Libertas choir, under the direction of Prof Johan de Villiers, who had travelled around Germany to different congregations for three weeks prior to the Festival to teach participants in a mass choir how to perform Karl Jenkins's Peacemakers on the evening of 7 May, the event also featured the Rector of Stellenbosch University (SU), Prof Wim de Villiers, and Prof Mark Swilling of the Sustainability Institute. The choir also performed the South African National Anthem and the Jubilate during the live streaming of the Climate Justice Now! forum.

The half of the Libertas choir that was in the Gerry Weber Stadium in Halle opened the live stream by singing the first two verses of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika, with the second part of the anthem being completed by the other half of the choir in the Attie van Wyk Auditorium in the Faculty of Theology. Prof de Villiers then addressed the festival from Stellenbosch, after which Prof Swilling spoke on stage from Germany as part of a Climate Justice panel. After the launch of the One1Climate Club, the Stellenbosch half of the choir started the Jubilate, with the German half taking over and finishing the song. The event was a great success.

This two-way live-streaming experience was certainly a first for Stellenbosch University and provided a great opportunity for SU to showcase not only its commitment to combating climate change through research and teaching and its excellence in cultural and musical depth, but also to show that we are innovative and ready for the digital future of global academic co-operation and higher education.

Most people are aware of the various advantages of breastmilk and breastfeeding. However, not all employers and colleagues support working mothers to continue breastfeeding when they return to work. For this reason, mothers often stop breastfeeding, against their will and knowledge, to take up their work responsibilities after maternity leave.

This is according to Dr Lisanne du Plessis, a lecturer at Stellenbosch University's (SU) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) and a registered dietitian and nutritionist.

Du Plessis said new evidence about the advantages of optimal breastfeeding for mothers and babies in both high and low income countries was recently presented in a review series in the highly acclaimed medical journal The Lancet.

The series included a meta-analysis (a statistical approach to combine the results from multiple studies) indicating that breastfeeding improves the survival, health and development of all children living in all parts of the world. Babies who are breastfed have better protection against childhood infections and they have a reduced risk of becoming overweight or developing diabetes later in life. They are furthermore protected against maloclusion (the imperfect positioning of the teeth when the jaws are closed) and have higher intelligence scores.

"It is of the utmost importance that mothers are supported to breastfeed in all environments and at all levels of society," Du Plessis said.

According to Dr Sunita Potgieter, a dietitian and Head of the Wellness Committee at the FMHS, many mothers return to work within three months after giving birth, which is associated with lower rates of breastfeeding initiation and shorter duration.  "Employers need to focus resources to support women in the workplace to continue breastfeeding once they have returned to work," she said.

She said barriers prohibiting mothers to continue breastfeeding after they have returned to work include a lack of flexibility for milk expression in the work schedule, lack of accommodations to pump or store breast milk, concerns about support from employers and colleagues and real or perceived low milk supply.

The FMHS Wellness Committee initiated a project to establish a breastmilk expression facility at SU's Tygerberg Campus. "The facility will enable women who return to work after giving birth to continue to express breastmilk in comfort, giving them a calm and relaxed space and privacy, as well as space to store the breastmilk, in order to provide the best nutrition to their babies," said Potgieter.

The facility is furnished with plush leather couches, has a small fridge, a microwave for sterilizing equipment and a private en suite bathroom. It has a changing facility for babies and can be used for breastfeeding or for expressing breastmilk. The facility will be officially opened on Friday 29 July 2016, coinciding with the advent of International Breastfeeding Week.

The role of nutrition and breastfeeding in the first 1 000 days of life (from conception, through pregnancy and up to a child's second birthday) cannot be disputed. Exclusive breastfeeding (feeding only breastmilk and no other fluids, like water, tea, juice and solid foods) for the first six months of life is estimated to be the most effective measure to save infants from morbidity and mortality in low-income settings.

Nursing mothers have a lower risk for developing breast cancer, ovarian cancer and type II Diabetes Mellitus. Closely spaced pregnancies increase health risks, and breastfeeding is a natural form of spacing between births.

Nick Wayne, a fourth-year medical student and chairperson of the Tygerberg Student Council, attended a prestigious international summit earlier this year which afforded him the opportunity to engage with young changemakers.

Attendees were afforded the opportunity to learn from internationally recognised experts to develop projects that can tackle any social change, from education and healthcare to sustainability.

This summit, known as the Global Engagement Summit (GES), was held at the Northwestern University (NU) in Evanston, Illinois in the United States of America and attended by 500 delegates from 45 countries.

"I have gained practical skills which are invaluable for my career, but ones I would have never developed if the strategic partnership between Stellenbosch University (SU) and NU did not exist," Wayne said. 

Wayne used the opportunity to learn more about healthcare management, with a specific focus on marketing skills. "My experience at the summit equipped me with the skills to realise my current goals and helped me to develop an outline of what I needed to do to tackle future projects." 

He worked with a mentor from NU's Medical School and consulted with members staff from the Kellogg Business School to develop a multifaceted approach to healthcare management.

Interesting sessions he attended during the summit included presentations on  two minute effective pitches (elevator pitches); how to make projects sustainable; making a profit and being socially conscious; and public healthcare.  

Wayne said what he appreciated most was being afforded the opportunity to engage with brilliant minds from all around the world and form part of an incredible international network of alumni. "The network is active and supportive of new ideas and definitely is an environment which I can utilise in the future," he said. 

"I especially want to thank SU's Postgraduate and International Office that afforded me this opportunity and provided invaluable support," Wayne said.

It took him more than a decade to get to the top echelon and former Sport Science student Warren Adams believes it is all about perseverance and a willingness to learn.

In April this year this Matie alumnus was named the new strength and conditioning coach of the Springboks. Adams studied sports science at Stellenbosch University where he achieved a master's degree.

Adams' first rugby strength and conditioning position came in 2004 when he started working at the Rugby Performance Centre founded by world renowned rugby coach Alan Zondagh.

"In 2005 I got involved with Maties and I stayed with them until 2012. During my time at Maties I also worked with the Western Province Rugby Institute. I was the strength and conditioning coach for the Western Province U/19 Currie Cup squad."

The first national team Adams worked with was the SA Rugby Students team in 2009. "From there I was privileged to work with the SA Schools team and Junior Springboks until 2015. Last year I assisted the Springboks with their Rugby World Cup preparations and this year I was appointed as the Springboks' strength and conditioning coach."

According to Adams it is important to get involved with teams as soon as possible if you want to become the strength and conditioning coach of a national team one day. He also said that it is vital to have perseverance and a willingness to learn.

"Get involved with a team and do as much as possible even if it means filling water bottles or packing cones. I also found that having a lot of 'book knowledge' means nothing if you cannot apply it in a specific environment. In rugby your environment is ever changing and you need to be able to adapt accordingly."

The Bureau for Economic Research (BER) at Stellenbosch University has a new Director, Professor Johann Kirsten. He is BER's sixth Director since its establishment in 1944.

"We are delighted to welcome Prof Kirsten," Prof Stan Du Plessis, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, said. "He is a scholar of international stature, an experienced academic leader and a participant in national policy at the highest level.

"At the BER, his knowledge of the corporate world as well as his academic leadership over many years will be invaluable as the BER builds on an excellent track record of relevant and top-quality research".

According to Prof Kirsten he looks forward to the interesting challenge of moving to a different but related field of study and expertise. He previously worked on the tricky and emotional issues of agricultural policy and land reform at the University of Pretoria.

"I hope to make an important contribution to sustain the image and reputation of the BER in producing valuable insights into the performance of the South African economy," he said.

"As the economy struggles to achieve sustained positive real growth and to create jobs and remove poverty and inequality, it is perhaps also time for the BER to venture into more policy-related research. I am sure that the BER's expertise and respected data and information could help South Africa in dealing with these critical questions."

​Part time golfer. Part time guitarist. Full time student. This, along with his love for food, friends, family and Jesus is how first-year MB,ChB student Kyle Goosen defines himself.

Though Goosen says he can’t see himself following any other career than one in medicine, his dream job would be to be a doctor by day and guitarist by night.

It’s a good thing then that he keeps his fingers nimble by playing his guitar when procrastinating. Then fellow Meerhoff-residents might hear him strum out rock songs from his favourites bands Pink Floyd and the Beatles.

Goosen doesn’t procrastinate too much, though, and tries to do between two and five hours of studying each day. His study tip to other students is to plan ahead rather than just go with the flow. “But this is something I have yet to master,” he quips.

His message to the rest of the campus is simple: “Keep working hard, and always look to improve yourself.”

Rapid fire with Kyle:

• What quote would you put on a giant billboard? “Make the rest of your life the best of your life.”
• If you were an animal, what would you be and why? “A cat. They seem to have nice, relaxed lives.”
• Best habit? “Putting on my seatbelt.”
• Hidden talent? “I know how to use traffic circles.”
• What would you change in South Africa if you could? “Get rid of poverty through education.”