​​A team of South African computer science and engineering students has won second prize in the International Student Cluster Competition (ISCC), held at the International Supercomputing Conference in Frankfurt, Germany, in June.  

Philip Goosen and Lydia de Lange of Stellenbosch University's (SU) Electrical and Electronic Engineering department formed the SA team along with Mishka Mohamed, Kyle Jordaan, Tyrone de Ruiters and Liam Doult of the University of the Western Cape.  Each year, the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) trains students from various South African universities in its annual winter school held in July. Students are selected for the National Student Cluster Competition, with the winners then advancing to the International Student Cluster Competition.

“The competition was a stimulating experience with interesting challenges," Goosen said. “The venue was at the ISC conference in Frankfurt which showcased the latest research and development in the field. We also had the opportunity to meet other students and experts in the industry. It was a very educational experience for which I am very grateful to have participated in. Initially it was quite a daunting thought to be competing against the best teams from all over the world, of which some qualified for this final competition by winning similar smaller competitions in their respective regions. We were the only team from Africa and were composed of purely undergraduate students."

 Some of the other competing teams included Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, the American 'Boston Green Team' which comprised Boston University, Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Hamburg from Germany and Tsinghua University from China. Tsinghua University emerged as this year's overall winner.

The CHPC won the top prize in the ISC Student Cluster Competition last year, as well as in 2013 and 2014, and took second place in 2015. 

Photo:​​​ Team South Africa was represented by Mishka Mohamed, Kyle Jordaan, Tyrone de Ruiters, Liam Doult all from University of Western Cape as well as Philip Goosen and Lydia de Lange from Stellenbosch University.​​​ Credit: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

The Stellenbosch University Chamber Choir (SUCC) has just returned from a hugely successful tour to Hong Kong. The choir was invited as Artist Choir in Residence to the 2017 World Youth & Children's Choir Festival which took place from 17-22 July 2017. An invitation of this nature can be considered both a great and rare honour.

The World Youth and Children's Choir Festival is one of the most important choral festivals in the world, and attracts 200 participating choirs from across the globe. SUCC's concerts were listened to by around 5000 participants and performances were live-streamed worldwide.

Founded and conducted by Martin Berger, this young ensemble has developed into one of South Africa's leading chamber choirs: internationally respected and locally relevant. With the diversity of its repertoire, SUCC represents the variety of choral music styles to be found in the country.

The choir performed at the Opening Ceremony of the festival on 18 July, a full evening concert on 19 July and also at the 20^th Anniversary Celebration Concert of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.  All performances were received with overwhelming enthusiasm from the audience.

SUCC was honoured by the presence and support of the South African Consul-General to Hong Kong, Mr Madoda Ntshinga, at both the Opening Ceremony and the full evening concert. He commended the choir on “…raising the South African flag even much higher as true ambassadors of our country." 

​​We should use the rights we have under the Constitution to bring about the next wave of change in South Africa, said former judge of the Constitutional Court and anti-apartheid activist Albie Sachs on Thursday (24 August 2017).

He delivered the fourth Oliver Tambo Centenary Lecture at the Stellenbosch University Museum on the Stellenbosch campus.

Sachs said that instead of blaming and abusing the Constitution, we should rather use it to achieve deeper and rapid transformation.

“The Constitution does not entrench the massive inequality in South Africa but rather speaks about achieving freedom. I see the text of the Constitution as a document clamouring for change."

Sachs added that the Constitution often becomes an alibi or a justification for people who are not willing to reflect on the issues we face as a country.

He rejected the notion that those who drafted the Constitution were sell-outs and that it was just an elite pact between Mandela and business people.

“It is extremely dismissive and demeaning to scores of us born and bred and growing up in the struggle to say that we are either sell-outs or stooges; that we are now going to betray everything thing that we've been fighting for all those years."

Sachs added that those involved in drafting the Constitution wanted the best for the country.

“All of us wanted transformation in the country and we got the constitutional text we felt would give us the best possibilities of achieving that."

“When I look at the text today, I really feel proud at how much was achieved. In that sense the text is my documentary proof that it wasn't some kind of deal done to protect capital and to make sure there was no change."

Sachs said he has sympathy for people who feel our policies in South Africa have not been extensive and radical enough.

He added that while we need more transformation, we shouldn't blame the Constitution for the current state of affairs.

 “If we have bad weather politically, we must rely on the Constitution," Sachs said.

• Photo: Justice Albie Sachs delivers the Oliver Tambo Centenary Lecture.
  
• Photographer: Anton Jordaan
  

Bacteria may be responsible for more than we suspect. Especially when it comes to inflammatory diseases such as Type 2 diabetes.

Prof. Resia Pretorius from Stellenbosch University (SU) in South Africa and Prof. Douglas B. Kell from The University of Manchester in the United Kingdom have conducted a series of studies that are drastically changing the way scientists think about the effect bacteria have on a number of diseases including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Sepsis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and most recently Type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Previously, Pretorius and Kell have established that these chronic inflammatory diseases also have a microbial origin. “If the bacteria were active, or replicating, as in the case of infectious diseases, we would have known all about that," says Kell. “But the microbes are not replicating, they're mainly actually dormant."  

Because their dormant nature meant that they did not manifest under standard microbial test conditions, bacteria were previously thought to be absent from human blood, consistent with the view that blood is 'sterile'. However, high levels of iron in blood (typical of inflammatory diseases) can effectively bring these bacteria back to life. Previous research suggested that under these conditions, the bacteria start replicating and secreting lipopolysaccharides (LPS), leading to increased inflammation. 

The one thing these chronic diseases have in common is constantly elevated levels of inflammation. Pretorius and Kell had already established that anomalous amyloidogenic blood clotting, a cause of inflammation, is linked to and can be experimentally induced by bacterial cell wall constituents such as LPS and Lipoteichoic acid (LTA). These are cell wall components of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, respectively. Read more at previous research article on this topic.

These coagulopathies (adverse blood clotting) are also typical of inflammatory diseases and the researchers have long shown that they lead to amyloid formation, where the blood clotting proteins (called fibrinogen)  are structurally deformed from a-helixes to a flat b-sheet-like structures, potentially leading to cell death and neuro-degeneration.

As a result, the fibrin fibres of blood clots in diseased individuals are distinctly different from those of healthy individuals. This can be visualised microscopically and is discussed in various publications from the group. “In normal blood clots, these fibres would look like a bowl of spaghetti" explains Pretorius. “But in diseased individuals, their blood clots look matted with large fused and condensed fibres. They can also be observed with special stains that fluoresce in the presence of amyloid."

The researchers found that this changed clot structure is present in all inflammatory conditions studied, now including Type 2 diabetes. But what is the link between this abnormal clot formation, bacteria, LPS and TLA?  And are there any molecules that may “mop up" LPS or LTA and that might be circulating in the blood of people with inflammatory diseases? 

In their 2017 study, recently published in Scientific Reports (a Nature publication), Pretorius and Kell, along with MSc student Ms Sthembile Mbotwe from the University of Pretoria, investigated the effect of LPS-binding protein (LBP), which is normally produced by all individuals. They added LBP to blood from T2D patients (and also to healthy blood after the addition of LPS). Previously they had showed that LPS causes abnormal clot formation when added to healthy blood, and that this could be reversed by LBP. In this publication they showed that LBP could also reverse the adverse clot structure in T2D blood. This process was confirmed by both scanning electron microscopy and super-resolution confocal microscopy. The conclusion is clear: bacterial LPS is a significant player in the development and maintenance of T2D and its disabling sequelae.

“In an inflamed situation, large amounts of LPS probably prevent LBP from doing its work properly," explains Pretorius.

So what does this mean in terms of treatment?

“We now have a considerable amount of evidence, much of it new, that in contrast to the current strategies for attacking T2D, the recognition that it involves dormant microbes, chronic inflammatory processes and coagulopathies, offer new opportunities for treatment," the researchers conclude.

About the researchers

Prof. Resia Pretorius is a full professor in the Department of Physiological Sciences at Stellenbosch University. Her main research objective and major scientific achievement has been to create a vital mind-shift in the understanding of inflammation by developing new approaches to study the role of coagulation parameters in inflammatory diseases. She has developed rapid diagnostic methods for these purposes, with innovative ultrastructure and viscoelastic techniques that include confocal microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and thromboelastography (TEG). 

Prof. Douglas Kell is a professor at the School of Chemistry and The Manchester Institute of Biotechnology at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. He specializes in systems biology, where he tries to understand complex biological systems.

 ​

On the photo above, imaged here are micrographs of Type 2 diabetes clots before and after treatment with LPS-binding protein. When visualised microscopically, the fibrin fibres of the blood clots in diseased individuals (image A, B and C) are distinctly different after treatment (images D, E and F). In normal blood clots, the fibres look like a bowl of spaghetti, but in diseased individuals, their blood clots look matted with large fused and condensed fibres. Micrographs were taken with a Scanning Electron Microscope. Images: Dr Resia Pretorius

Media enquiries

Prof. Resia Pretorius

Tel: +27 21 808 3143

E-mail: resiap@sun.ac.za

Prof. Douglas Kell

E-mail: dbk@manchester.ac.uk

Media release issued by

Wiida Fourie-Basson, Media: Faculty of Science, Stellenbosch University

E-mail science@sun.ac.za

Tel +27 21 808 2684

www.sun.ac.za/science

Jordan Kenny, News and Media Relations Officer, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Manchester University

Tel +44 (0)161 275 8257

Mob +44 (0)7748 747079

E-mail jordan.kenny@manchester.ac.uk 

​Stellenbosch University welcomes the appointment of Prof Sarah Howie as director of the newly established Africa Centre for Scholarship (ACS). Prof Howie, who is the Deputy Chairperson of the board of the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) Board, will help drive SU initiatives to promote scholarship on the continent.

Located within the Stellenbosch University International office, the ACS will implement strategies for scholarship development in Africa. The centre will house the African Doctoral Academy (ADA) through which it will participate in the South African System Analysis Centre with the University of the Western Cape, the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Limpopo.

Taking the helm at the ACS, Prof Howie will work closely with faculties to help stretch SU's reach in Africa and beyond; building on the work the ADA has done since 2009. For almost a decade now the ADA has supported, strengthen and advance doctoral training and scholarship on the continent hosting biannual doctoral schools. The doctoral schools are open to current and prospective doctoral candidates, their supervisors and researchers in general. In 2016, the ADA presented joint doctoral schools at Makerere University (Uganda), the University of Malawi as well as the University of Ghana. Earlier this year it hosted its first doctoral school in Namibia.

Prof Howie, who previously worked as Director of the Centre for Evaluation and Assessment (CEA) at the University of Pretoria (UP) comes with a long list of credentials. A former professor in the Department of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education at the UP, she is a NRF rated and National Science and Technology Forum award winning researcher having conducted many research and development projects, published widely internationally and supervised more than 40 doctoral and master's students.

 She is one of 12 SAQA Board members appointed by the Minister of Higher Education and Training to oversee the development and implementation of the National Qualifications Framework.  She is member of the Universities South Africa Admissions Committee and Umalusi's assessment and standards committee ensuring the quality of the national examinations, including the Grade 12 National Senior Certificate. She has been a member of the Academy of Science for South Africa (ASSAF) since 2006 and sat on numerous local (including two ministerial) and international scientific committees. Her previous work at the Human Sciences Research Council and the Foundation for Research Development (now the National Research Foundation) provided a further opportunity to gain an overview of and experience in research and its development in the national and international landscape.

Referencing collaborations with partner universities, Prof Howie says the ACS will set itself a mission to help promote, support and enhance scholarship and the development thereof on the African continent.

“I am really looking forward to the new challenge of directing a new centre that focuses on supporting the development of scholarship and scholars in Africa and for Africa at the University of Stellenbosch."

Steering the activities of the Africa Centre for Scholarship, are from left: Diane Gahiza, Doctoral School Coordinator; Amalsha Galenhage, Intern; Prof Sarah Howie, Director; and Corina du Toit, Programme Manager of the ADA.

Photo: Hennie Rudman

With an 80-41 victory over UWC in their first match of the 2017 Varsity Netball competition on Sunday, the Maties Netball team showed that they will give everything they have to represent Maties the best way they possibly can during the tournament.

“I said to the girls that we have a mountain to climb. We are actually going to war these next few weeks. Our character will be tested and the work that we put in will need to speak for itself," said Maties Netball coach Zanele Mdodana.

Zanele, who has captained both the South African U20 and senior Proteas teams and has a wealth of experience courtesy of her 85 caps for the national side, took over the coaching of the team at the beginning of the year.

Netball is her passion.

“I have had the honour and privilege to have been coached by really amazing women, women who understood that netball is just a tool – that it goes beyond the four lines of the court. That it's about building the human being and empowering the girl child to become not only a great player but also a great person."

She believes a good coach can change a game, but a great coach can change a life – and that is what she would like to achieve.

The team not only has a new coach, but also a new captain in senior player Megan Gossmann, a former Stellenberg High School learner. She follows in the footsteps of her good friend Juline Rossouw, who served the Maties team as captain and goal defence (GD) for many years.

“I have big shoes to fill, but I've learnt so much from Juline. When I wonder about something, I think: 'What would Juline do?' or I give her a call."

Megan, who graduated with a degree in Sport Science last year and is currently busy with her Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), is playing in her fourth Varsity Netball tournament.

She is supported by other senior players in the team, among them Sasha-Lee Petersen, Charmaine Baard and Abeline Olivier.

“We used to play netball against each other while we were still at school and we were all members of the Western Cape team that won gold in the SA U19 competition in 2014."

The players would love to reproduce the success they experienced in 2014 in this year's Varsity Netball competition.

Being a student-athlete is challenging, says Megan. The team members train at least ten hours per week, with gym sessions starting as early as 05:30 in the morning.

“It's not easy combining everyone's academic schedules with a High-performance (HP) programme. We joke and say our friends don't even invite us anymore, because they know that we will either be training, playing netball or studying."

However, Megan appreciates the lessons she learns from sport, for example time management and how to deal with different people.

She also relishes the challenge of being captain: “I think I am strong enough to represent the interests of the players and I like to lead. It helps that we have strong personalities in the team. We get things done."

She believes that they are ready for the competition.

“We didn't have an easy year and it took us a while to find our feet but things couldn't have come together at a better time."

Other home fixtures at Coetzenburg, Stellenbosch:

Monday 4 September:  Maties vs UJ 19:00 (Live on Supersport)

Monday 18 September: Maties vs Kovsies 19:00 (Live on Supersport)

Monday 25 September: Maties vs Madibaz 19:00 (Live on Supersport)

Tickets available on the Varsity Sports website or app.

​​​Municipal wastewater may become a key ally in the fight against antibiotic-resistant disease-causing bacteria and fungi, a new study at Stellenbosch University (SU) found.

“Certain bacteria in municipal wastewater produce antimicrobial compounds or biosurfactants that can help prevent the growth of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms which cause serious infections in humans," says Dr Thando Ndlovu a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Microbiology at SU. Ndlovu recently obtained his doctorate in Microbiology at SU under the supervision of Prof Wesaal Khan from the same department.

He says the rapid increase in the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria was a major reason behind his search for new antimicrobial compounds. 

As part of his research, Ndlovu collected wastewater samples and also carried out molecular and microbiological tests in a laboratory on various biosurfactants-producing bacteria found in these samples. He isolated two bacterial strains whose biosurfactants proved effective against antibiotic-resistant disease-causing bacteria.

Biosurfactants are compounds produced naturally by bacteria, fungi or yeasts and they have been commercially utilised in shampoos, shower gels, and household cleaning products. They are also used in food, agriculture, cosmetic and medical industries as well as in environmental bioremediation to prevent the spread of spoilage and disease-causing bacteria.

“The biosurfactants produced by the two bacteria in my study prevented the growth of major disease-causing bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and gentamicin-resistant E. coli which can lead to life-threatening infections in humans," says Ndlovu.

“This finding is promising given worldwide reports on the number of deaths caused by antimicrobial resistant microorganisms that are becoming increasingly difficult to treat with current drugs." 

“The discovery of novel antimicrobial compounds is a priority and biosurfactant compounds could be used to develop new antibiotics for treatment of various infections caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria and eventually replace ineffective antibiotics in future."

Ndlovu says his study showed that municipal wastewater is ideal for the isolation of diverse biosurfactant-producing bacteria that could be utilised in the production of such compounds for commercial use. 

“While numerous studies have reported on the isolation of biosurfactant-producing bacteria from contaminated soil and terrestrial environments, the current study indicated that municipal wastewater could be exploited for the isolation of diverse biosurfactant-producing bacterial strains."

“Biosurfactant-producing bacteria thrive in polluted environments such as contaminated soil or water. These bacteria also have the ability to outcompete other bacteria in the same environment because the biosurfactant compounds help them to absorb nutrients and to protect them from toxic materials." 

Ndlovu adds that biosurfactant compounds can be used to reduce the use of synthetic antimicrobial agents for various purposes such as cleaning and coating agents to prevent the build-up of disease-causing and spoilage bacteria.

As far as future research is concerned, Ndlovu says he is now focusing on the application of biosurfactant compounds with antimicrobial properties. 

• Photo: Dr Thando Ndlovu in the laboratory.
  
• Photogra​pher: Stefan Els
  

FOR MEDIA ENQUIRIES ONLY

Dr Thando Ndlovu

Department of Microbiology

Faculty of Science

Stellenbosch University

Tel: 021 808 5803

Cell: 073 630 7359

E-mail: thandon@sun.ac.za

             OR

Martin Viljoen

Manager: Media

Corporate Communication

Stellenbosch University

Tel: 021 809 4921

E-mail: viljoenm@sun.ac.za

​As of 17 July Stellenbosch Municipality, like the City of Cape Town, is subject to level 4B water restrictions. This means each person is restricted to the use of a total of 87 liters of potable water per day. This thus includes a person's total water use at work and at home. 

“For a while now, Stellenbosch University has not irrigated its gardens. Exotic plant species are replaced by indigenous and endemic plants over a long period," says John de Wet, Manager: Environmental Sustainability at Facilities Management.

 The University also does the following to save water:

• Water-permeable paving is used to allow rainwater to penetrate the soil and refill the underground aquifers.
• Landscaping is designed to maintain water and thus to absorb and save water.
• A limited amount of grey water is reused.
• Water-saving showerheads and toilets have been installed on campuses.  
• Water leaks are continually tested and fixed.
• Rainwater is collected and reused.
• Water quality is monitored for pollution.

 “Each and every staff member can play his/her part to save water. Here are a few things you can do to stick to your limit of 87 liters per person per day:"

• Shower for only two minutes and use water-saving showerhead. Limit the water if you take a bath.
  
• Collect your shower and basin water and re-use it to flush your toilet and use it in the garden.
• Do not defrost food under running water.
• Use a cup for brushing teeth or shaving. Do not leave the water running.
• Turn off the tap while you soap your hands to wash them.
• Wait for a full load before using your washing machine.  
• Do your dishes by hand – this uses between 10 and 30 litres of water. A dishwasher uses between 40 and 75 litres of water per cycle.
• Report leaking taps, sprayers and other devices to (021) 808 4666.

 For more information contact John de Wet at jdewet@sun.ac.za or 021 808 9422.

​Prof Eugene Cloete, Vice-Rector for Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Studies at Stellenbosch University (SU), received a National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF)/South32 Award on Thursday (29 June 2017) for his outstanding contribution to research and innovation in South Africa.

Prof Cloete was a winner in the category: Research leading to innovation in a corporate organisation by an individual or a team. He received the award for his teabag water filter intervention, Rotoscope and other innovative projects.

The annual NSTF/South32 award ceremony, which took place in Kempton Park, recognises, celebrates and rewards outstanding excellence in Science, Engineering, Technology (SET) and Innovation in South Africa.

Prof Cloete has pioneered nanotechnology applications in the water industry and has demonstrated the application of nanotechnology, by developing and patenting a water purification filter based on functionalised nanofibers, especially applicable in rural areas. This invention was termed one of 10 world-changing ideas by the Scientific American journal in 2010.

Among his other important water treatment technologies are Rotoscope which is a small device to monitor bio-film or slime found in water and other wet environments as well as a bioreactor for the treatment of wine cellar effluent. He also pioneered solar pasteurisation as a method for disinfecting harvested rainwater.

Prof Cloete is the founding director of two successful water institutes at the University of Pretoria (2004) and SU (2010) respectively. He also founded a network of Water Centres of Excellence in Southern Africa on behalf of the African Union. Acknowledgement for his contribution to policy is reflected in ministerial appointments on the boards of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (2012) and the Water Research Commission (2014).

Prof Cloete's research in the application of nanotechnology in the water industry led to nine patents.

Among the other awards Prof Cloete has received over the years are a Gold Medal from the Academy of Science of South Africa, the South African Academy of Science and Arts' Havenga Prize for Biology, and a Silver Medal from the South African Society for Microbiology. He was also elected as a Fellow of the American Academy for Microbiology, the International Water Association, the Water Institute of South Africa and the Royal Society of South Africa.

Prof Cloete has published numerous peer-reviewed scientific articles, six books and many book chapters, and is also one of the top 50 most cited water scientists in the world.

He supervised and co-supervised many masters and doctoral student over a long period. Many of his students became leading researchers across the world.

Choosing between Stellenbosch University (SU) and Ca' Foscari University of Venice in Italy, coming to South Africa was an easy decision for Aleksei Bashlykov. Travelling more than 10 000 kilometres from Moscow to Cape Town, the Russian student opted for the oak-lined streets of Stellenbosch instead of the canals of Venice. The first student from Russia to study at SU, Aleksei says he enjoys being a Matie.

 At Stellenbosch University for a semester, the Computer Science student is attending classes in Search and Planning, Concurrent Programming, Computer Vision and Philosophy of Science. He will be at the university until December, on exchange from the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE). HSE is a leading economics and social sciences university in Eastern Europe and ranked as one of Russia's top universities. Its partnership agreement with SU provides mobility opportunities to staff and students from both institutions.

 Ending up at the “farthest destination" he has ever been Aleksei says SU was an obvious choice to spend a semester abroad.

 “Stellenbosch University offered more interesting courses and I expect to acquire much more experience in South Africa comparing to Italy. I've already travelled a lot around Europe, while it's my first time here in South Africa."

Comparing Stellenbosch, “a very tiny and cosy place" to Moscow, “a huge city," Aleksei says the university and town offers a unique experience. 

 “First of all, it is the people who live and study here. The thousands of students create a very cool and unique atmosphere. Every day you meet new people, participate in various activities and you never get bored. Student life is very intense here. Secondly, although it is a very international place, people still follow some local traditions. And apparently, one of the most typical things here is to braai every day and every night. Most of the local food contains meat and people consume it in enormous amounts. Of course, talking about food, it's hard not to mention the local wine that makes Stellenbosch famous abroad."

 Coming from a university where campus buildings are spread around the city, Aleksei is fascinated by SU's central campus. There is much to love as he lists “big shopping malls, the stadium, cinema and a myriad of restaurants, bars and cafes".

 “I really love that everything is located in one place and that you can get everywhere by foot or by bike. Also, I love that it's very much a student town; every second person you meet here is from the University. As a result, there are a lot of activities for students. Something interesting happens literally every day."

 Aleksei encourages SU students to apply for mobility opportunities at HSE and says there is a lot to look forward to. “Russia has a long and interesting history and there are a lot of cultural attractions all over the country. Moscow offers great career opportunities and universities provide a decent education."

 SU students interested in exchange and winter/summer school opportunities abroad can contact Sarah van der Westhuizen at sarahvdw@sun.ac.za or Bantu Louw at bantu@sun.ac.za

​My name is Mr Faried Vallie and I'm part of the Tygerberg Campus Security team. Need our help? Find us in the basement of the Clinical Building, call 021 938 9507 or send a Whatsapp to 082 808 2333.

Years on the job: 15
Three words that describe me: Fun, creative, easy-going
Favourite movie: The Sound of Music
Favourite music genre: Country
The thing I love most about my job is: Interacting with the students
The funniest thing I've seen on campus? Two students smooching under a blanket, blissfully unaware of the security camera (and the controller in the control room) watching them!

​It is astounding how fervently many children with severe disabilities and little or no speech communicate, even though they cannot speak.

“People often don't observe how much communication takes place without speech," says Dr Martha Geiger, a registered speech therapist with a passion to increase the communicative participation of children with severe disabilities in under-resourced communities.

As a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, her work at the Centre for Rehabilitation Studies in the Department of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences includes teaching, applied research and supervising student research about diverse aspects of disability and rehabilitation.

Most nonverbal children have a considerably higher level of understanding than their expressive communication indicates, she explains. “The challenge is to find ways of connecting with them: understanding what is important to them, how they express that and then building on that form of expression to create opportunities for them to communicate their thoughts, desires, fears, joys and insights. In the process, you get to know the child as a unique person."

Connection with rest of the world

Geiger, who completed her doctoral thesis on the use of cultural resources to create an inclusive environment for children with severe disabilities, believes these resources can provide many such children with “a much needed connection with the rest of the world". This can facilitate a shift in the way therapists approach children with severe communication disabilities.

Geiger, who is physically impaired herself, has been working with mothers of children with severe disabilities to find out how these children can enjoy communicative participation despite their disabilities. The purpose of her research is to identify culturally determined nonverbal, pragmatic and other elements of social interaction in a Xhosa language context. This follows her earlier case study about this topic in a Tswana speaking community in rural Botswana.

“Some similarities in the nonverbal, pragmatic and contextual elements of communication in the various Southern African languages can be put to great use. It is up to us to increase what children with severe communication disabilities can do and how much of it is understood. We need to acknowledge and build on these cultural resources," Geiger explains.

Severely disabled children who live in remote communities are among the most neglected populations in terms of rehabilitation services globally. “Many are in desperate need of appropriate and effective intervention strategies. These children and their families cannot access formal communication interventions or assistive devices, either because of poverty or a lack of access to appropriate services."

According to Geiger most children with severe disabilities and little or no speech have a surprising potential to communicate. Examples include facial expressions, body language, eye-blinking and eye-pointing responses to spoken questions and voicing, as well as different sounds such as grunts and squeals.

Cross-cultural communication

Her research included spending time at a local outreach clinic in Kraaifontein, where she engaged with Xhosa speaking mothers who brought their children with severe cerebral palsy for physio- and speech therapy. Geiger engaged the help of two language facilitators to unpack the mothers' experiences and to help collate their knowledge about their children's nonverbal communication.

Without exception, the Xhosa speaking mothers confirmed the same or similar examples to what worked in Botswana in their own cultural context and expressed enthusiasm to test some of the ideas," she says.

For instance, in Botswana idiomatic language which was visualised on communication boards, enabled severely disabled children to communicate in powerful ways to which they did not have access before.

Geiger explains: “The Xhosa culture, like the Tswana culture, contains many culturally determined nonverbal cues which can be used to enhance communication with severely disabled children. A child may for instance not be able to say thank you, but when accepting a given object can show appreciation by bowing his head and lowering his gaze. Even non-standard variations of this gesture can be recognised by uninformed community members when used by a child with a severe disability."

Some examples also apply to other Southern African indigenous languages, implying that these can be understood beyond individual language contexts. This has implications for the wider understanding and use of such elements beyond individual languages in a region. “Due to the wider usage of identified nonverbal and pragmatic elements across the region, the emphasis had to shift from culturally determined elements (specifically within the Xhosa language context of this study) to strategies which are culturally appreciative in the given context.

“I find it exciting that there is so much in the different cultures to build upon. The mothers (in the study) started looking at promising nonverbal elements in other languages."

Her research also highlights the fact that therapists must aim at identifying culturally appreciative strategies to improve community participation. “In this way, we as therapists can support those things that mums are already doing and already know about their children, but have just not put a name to yet. Sometimes they just need affirmation that it is worth something and that there are more options to communicate."

According to Geiger there is a need for more interventions and research “with" rather than “for" children with severe communication disabilities and those with whom they communicate. “Because therapists tend to have a prescriptive approach and deficit views of the status quo, these mothers often stop the good things they are doing when we arrive because they think they are not the right things."

Optimising resources

She also found that the social inclusion and non-ostracism of mothers of children with disabilities needed to be prioritised in order for the children to enjoy better communicative participation. This has implications for clinical practice, training, and policy planning and implementation. “We as therapists are often so geared to 'fix' the impairment of the child that we don't look at the whole picture. Even with that impairment, the child could have a better quality of life and enjoy communicative participation if the mother is accepted."

There is not only a need to address challenges related to communication therapy service delivery, but also to revisit the goals of speech therapy, Geiger says. “This means a shift in emphasis from an intervention for the child to optimising resources in the child's environment."

Speech therapists and other rehabilitation professionals could also adopt more culturally appreciative approaches, especially when working cross-culturally. “We need to listen to mothers' perspectives and partner with them to establish strategies in which parents are not only receivers of services, but are acknowledged for the active role they can play, and already do."

Caption: Dr Martha Geiger

Photo: Damien Schumann

Award-winning author and eminent scholar, Professor Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, Research Chair in Studies in Historical Trauma and Transformation at Stellenbosch University (SU), has conducted ground-breaking research on trauma, memory, reconciliation and forgiveness and established herself as a leading expert on these topics. Not surprisingly, Gobodo-Madikizela has also been rated by the National Research Foundation as a researcher who enjoys considerable international recognition by her peers.

As part of Women's Month celebrations at SU, the Corporate Communication Division spoke to Gobodo-Madikizela about her research.

​You have written quite a lot on trauma, memory and forgiveness. Can you tell us more about your area of research?

After completing my Ph.D., my research was focused on questions around themes of remorse, empathy and forgiveness. This work has led me to exploring the role of dialogue when victims, perpetrators and beneficiaries of gross human rights abuses have to live together in one country, and sometimes as neighbours. Recently I have expanded this work to explore the concept of empathy more deeply by engaging a perspective that takes as its starting point the embodied African phenomenon of inimba  ̶  a Xhosa word that loosely translated means “umbilical cord"  ̶  and integrating it with the relational and psychoanalytic concept of intersubjectivity. The goal is to find a richer, deeper and more complex understanding of empathy that takes into account an African knowledge archive.

Why or how did you become interested in this specific area of research?

My interest in this work developed when I served on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as a member of the Human Rights Violations Committee. My first direct encounter with the trauma of violence was through work with human rights lawyers who were defending young anti-apartheid activists who had committed “necklace murders." I witnessed victims' expression of forgiveness for acts that were considered unforgiveable in established works such as that of German-born American political philosopher Hannah Arendt. In all the studies I read during my stay at Harvard University, there was no discussion of forgiveness, and very little – if anything – on remorse. When the TRC process was proving the experts wrong that the “banality of evil", to use Arendt's words, can be forgiven, I changed the focus of my PhD to do research on the theme of forgiveness. My goal was not so much to “promote" forgiveness as such, but rather to contribute to what seemed to me to be a new canon of knowledge regarding what's possible in the aftermath of the historical trauma of mass violence.

What do you enjoy most about being a researcher?

I enjoy it to constantly ask the question of relevance about well-established works and to explore new avenues of inquiry.

What does success mean to you?

I very rarely—if ever—think of myself in terms of “success." I feel challenged every day to do more, to do better. But there have been moments in my career when I have felt a deep sense of appreciation for the recognition that my work has received. Three moments of recognition stand out: Being awarded the Eleanor Roosevelt Award in 2007 and receiving the Christopher Award in New York in 2003 for my book A Human Being Died that Night: A Story of Forgiveness. It was wonderful to be honoured at home for this book the following year with the Alan Paton Award. Receiving the Social Change Award from Rhodes University in 2010 was another heart-warming recognition. Of course, one feels some sense of joy, but I always feel these are gifts, I cannot take it for granted, because a lot of works still has to be done, in terms of mentoring young researchers, and continuing being an engaged citizen and scholar in our troubled country. 

Can you name three people in history whom you admire?

The three who stand out for me are Noor Inayat Khan, Rosa Parks and Beyers Naudé. I read about Noor Inayat Khan for the first time in the private and enclosed section of our school library (at Inanda Seminary, a private school for African girls during the apartheid years) where books banned by the South African government were kept. She was a pacifist sent to Nazi-occupied France as a British spy working with the French Resistance during World War II. She was later captured and sent to the death camp Dachau just before the end of the war. Reportedly, her last words when she was executed were “Liberté!"

I admire Rosa Parks for her courage in the American civil rights movement and Beyers Naudé for his indomitable spirit, and disrupting the apartheid bubble. When I wrote my first book, his story was a great inspiration for my reflections on how individual and collective conscience can be silenced – and how it may be awakened. 

Do you have any message for the next generation of women researchers?

Do not be afraid to venture into uncharted territory. The long-term value of your research engagement is its capacity to explore new avenues of inquiry. Strive to engage in research that is socially relevant. Work hard, read, engage in debates with your colleagues and keep your grades high.

​Medical students who are trained in evidence-based healthcare (EBHC), are better equipped to provide quality care to patients.

“Evidence-based healthcare involves integrating clinical expertise acquired through clinical practice and experience with patient values and current best evidence within the broader healthcare context," explains Prof Taryn Young. She is the Head of the Centre for Evidence-based Healthcare at the University of Stellenbosch's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.

She describes EBHC as “an approach that develops a health practitioner's ability to assess the quality of research evidence before applying it to day-to-day clinical problems". This competency is especially relevant given the resource constraints across the continent.

The best answers

Young, who holds a PhD on this subject, believes this approach adds “tremendous value" to the development of health professionals. She explains: “EBHC is about ensuring that whatever kind of treatment or care is offered, will be based on best research evidence. This is the case whether a choice has to be made about which medication to prescribe or whether decisions have to be taken about preventative strategies at a population level.

“This approach equips students with the relevant tools to be able to find the best answers. Essentially, EBHC involves assessing new research and then integrating it into practice.

“EBHC starts from a position where health practitioners acknowledge that they don't know everything. The fact that you graduate does not mean that you always know what best practice is, especially not at the rate that science is currently advancing."

Young has investigated how this approach to teaching and learning can best be integrated in undergraduate medical training in the Faculty, as well as elsewhere in Africa. Her research also focused on how the learning experience of undergraduate medical students can best be supported to enable them to follow an evidence-based approach when they start practicing.

“EBHC should therefore be at the core of the curriculum of all healthcare professionals to enhance students' knowledge, attitude and skills. It is beneficial to the entire healthcare team, allowing for a more holistic, effective approach to the delivery of healthcare."

This approach is especially useful given the need for healthcare professionals to keep abreast of new developments in order to offer care that works. They also need to be able to eliminate harmful or ineffective interventions.

Good versus bad science

“Health practitioners need to keep abreast of new scientific evidence and be able to sift through what is good science and what is not. Graduates must be able to track down relevant papers and engage with it critically. These are the kind of skills we want to cultivate in our graduates and healthcare practitioners," Young explains.

Her overview of systematic reviews assessing the effects of teaching EBHC indicated that clinically integrated strategies with assessment were more effective than single interventions or no interventions at all. “A combination of methods, including lectures, computer laboratory sessions, discussions in small groups, journal clubs, the use of real clinical issues, as well as portfolios and assignments, are more likely to improve knowledge, skills and attitudes."

She also conducted studies to determine the opportunities for, and barriers to, implementing this approach at the Faculty. This included a curriculum document review, interviews with academic convenors as well as a survey of recent graduates' perceptions and experiences.

Overcoming barriers

Some of the barriers to implementing EBHC learning at an undergraduate level include the clinical workload and competing priorities of students and lecturers. “The most common challenges by far for teaching EBHC are the perceived lack of space in the curriculum, misconceptions about EBHC, the resistance of staff, the lack of confidence of tutors, time constraints, as well as negative role‑modelling."

Her results indicate that EBHC can best be learnt when integrated in clinical practice. Young explains: “It helps to base teaching on real clinical decisions and actions and to focus on students' actual learning needs.

“EBHC should be part of the curriculum and there needs to be a clear scaffolding of learning. The foundation should be laid in the preclinical years and consolidated in the clinical years."

Young believes it is important for students to recognise the relevance of EBHC and link it with clinical realities. She explains: “We often tell students that they should be able to be good users of research. They should be able to look at research evidence, question it and use it. We want them to know what to do when they are faced with uncertainty when practicing medicine. The relevance of EBHC cuts across all disciplines, regardless of where you work."

According to Young the Faculty is in many ways at the forefront of implementing this approach at an undergraduate level. “Many institutions involved in medical training worldwide are grappling with ways to successfully implement this approach in their curricula. A lot of interest has been expressed in the work done at the Faculty in this regard, including from tertiary institutions in Namibia, Uganda, Ethiopia and Rwanda."

Young says implementing such a curriculum requires institutional support, a critical mass of the right teachers and role models in the clinical setting, and especially patience, persistence and pragmatism.

“Like their stethoscopes, EBHC should become a useful tool for students."

Caption: Prof Taryn Young.

Photo: Damien Schumann

​​The election of the 2017/18 Students' Representative Council (SRC) has been successfully concluded with the announcement of the newly elected campus leaders. This year a total of 4 119 students voted on the Saldanha, Tygerberg and Stellenbosch campuses. The Division of Student Affairs and SU management congratulates the candidates who were elected and wish them a successful year ahead. They are:

1.     Zander Prinsloo

2.     Omri Jacobsz

3.     Kate Roodt

4.     Ben Moolman

5.     Denisha Padachey

6.     Lwando Nkamisa

7.     Leighton September

8.     Wiann Bester

9.     Aluwani Ramarumo

The nine elected members and the ex officio members together make up the SRC. The ex officio members are Euwen Eton (Academic Affairs Council), Hannah Lester (Societies Council), Bobby Wessels (Prim Committee), Tevarus Naicker (Tygerberg Student Council) and the Captain of the Military Academy, who has not been elected yet.

The Senior Director: Student Affairs, Dr Birgit Schreiber, says that she is pleased with the conclusion of this year's SRC election. “The Division of Student Affairs wish all the new leaders a successful term in office. We thank everyone who contributed to this successful conclusion. We look forward to working together in supporting our students and our institution through servant leadership."

The implementation of the transformative nGap programme entails the recruitment of young academics as part of a six year programme which supports universities in their staffing and development strategies. Lecturers participating in this programme, are expected to undertake research, teaching and any other relevant opportunities needed for development as well-rounded academics. 

For more information on the advertised positions, and/or about the "New Generation of Academics Programme" (nGAP) and/or the "Staffing South Africa's Universities' Framework" (SSAUF), please follow the following links:

http://www.sun.ac.za/english/careers;

www.dhet.gov.za

The New Generation of Academics Programme (nGAP), is one of the programmes within the "Staffing South Africa's Universities' Framework" (SSAUF), that has been approved by the minister of Higher Education and Training in January 2015. 

The implementation, of the transformative nGap programme, contains the recruitment of young academics as part of a six year programme which supports universities in their staffing and development strategies. Lecturers participating in this programme, are expected to undertake research, teaching and any other relevant opportunities needed for development as well-rounded academics. 

In Phase 1, five positions were awarded to Stellenbosch University US within the following departments: Anatomy and Histology, Economics, Mathematical Sciences, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, and Social Work.  During Phase 2, four positions were awarded to the following departments: Curriculum Studies, Food Science, Industrial Engineering and Radiobiology. 

Recently, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) announced the implementation of Phase 3 of the nGAP Programme and two positions (out of 53 positions nationally) were awarded to Stellenbosch University. These two positions were awarded to Agricultural Economics and Applied Mathematics.

This brings the total nGAP positions at Stellenbosch University to 11.

For more information on the advertised positions, and/or about the "New Generation of Academics Programme" (nGAP) and/or the "Staffing South Africa's Universities' Framework" (SSAUF), please follow the following links:

http://www.sun.ac.za/english/careers;

www.dhet.gov.za

​At the end of last year the Centre for Student Development and Counselling donated chairs from the Den Bosch facility to the Bruckner de Villiers Primary School in Stellenbosch.

The chairs are currently being utilized in the school's reading room and the scholars are extremely excited about their new reading space.

​​The Tygerberg Student Council (TSR), recently held the annual prestige Honours Dinner, where outstanding students were awarded with colours in the categories of Academics and Leadership, in accordance with the TSR constitution The keynote speaker, Mr Stephan Claassen, Provincial Head of First National Bank, congratulated the students with their achievements and encouraged them to be resilient and to be the innovative entrepreneurs of the future.  The TSR Honorary President, Prof Wynand van der Merwe also attend the event to celebrate the success of the students.

Among the top achievers who received colours in the category of Academics, nominated by die Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences for students who achieved an aggregate of at least 75% over four years, were fifteen MBChB students, five physiotherapy students, four occupational therapy students, two speech therapy students and two dietetics students. Twenty-one students received merit awards as the top class of 2016, including four students who also received colours for academics.

Esté Louw, an occupational therapy student, received the award for top student of her class for 2016 and full academic colours. Nick Wayne and Quintin van Staden both received colours for leadership.

The Division of Student Affairs wishes to congratulate all the students with their outstanding achievements and is excited to see what the future has to offer for them.

Celebrating with the students were Anele Mdepa (Student Governance Manager), Dr Birgit Schreiber (Senior Director: Student Affairs) and Tonia Overmeyer (Director: Centre for Student Leadership and Structures).

Nick Wayne, who received colours for Leadership, and TSR Honorary President, Prof Wynand van der Merwe, share the podium.

Main image: Lee Baatjes (TSR Chairperson 2016/17) and Tonia Overmeyer (Director: Centre for Student Leadership and Structures).

​At the helm of the Division tasked with fundraising, Karen Bruns, Senior Director of Development & Alumni Relations, is used to taking the heat – especially in today's economic climate. But this trained lawyer, former marketing director, and CEO of a multimedia publishing company, is more than qualified and willing to take up any challenge to bring about positive change.

You trained as a lawyer and have worked in various fields, from publishing to advertising and, more recently, higher education and research. To what do you attribute your success?

Curiosity, optimism, and integrity. These three attributes have at times stood me in greater stead than my three degrees.

They say that “Research is formalised curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose." Well, curiosity is also fundamental in the world of fixing and fundraising. It's really paid off to have been in the eternal quest to find out why, how and when.

Optimism isn't an essential ingredient to the legal profession, itself being more cynical in nature, but it's part of me. But hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism, which is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.

And finally, integrity can be the bluntest of these in that it makes certain compromises really difficult, if not impossible. But it means that I can always look myself in the eye in the mirror, and that's really important to me.

What motivates you?

I have a team of dedicated professionals – some of the finest in the country – who have really tried to embrace and bring about a lot of change over the past three to four years. I admire the knowledge, and skills amongst this group of likeable and diverse people, and know that every day no one person is as smart as all of us together. Keeping all of that common purpose on track is a daily challenge and a great motivator.

Who inspires you and why?

It is such a personal question—who inspires you—that it can't be forced. When asked, many women respond with their mothers or grandmothers. Of course, there's that. Others struggle with the question as I do. I attended an all-girls school, and have hit a few glass ceilings in my working life, so it stands to reason that I feel strongly about women's equality and female leadership. 

There are many women in history who I admire, from the legacy that a woman like Queen Elizabeth will leave, to that of South African trade unionists Emma Mashinini and Ray Alexander, to the real professional pioneers, the journalist Nellie Bly, the welfare activist Emily Hobhouse, and Mary Malahele-Xakana, the first black woman to register as a medical doctor in South Africa.

Do you have any words of advice for the women at SU?

No matter where you are in life, you'll save a lot of time by not worrying too much about what other people think about you. Most people are less interested in you than you think, so why not work with that? So my advice would be to surround yourself with people who do things and not those who will always spend more time judging or talking about what other people do. Life is very short and what we have to do must be done in the now.