​​Stellenbosch University (SU) is expanding its mission to provide a transformative student experience by formally recognising learning opportunities and university activities which go beyond the classroom. With its new Regulation for Co-Curriculum Recognition, activities that fall outside of the formal curriculum can now form part of students' academic transcripts.

“The objective of the Regulation for Co-Curriculum Recognition is to develop graduates who have enquiring minds, are engaged citizens and dynamic professionals, supporting them to become well-rounded individuals," Dr Ronel Retief, SU Registrar, said.

“At SU, graduates are prepared for a “VUCA" world: a world that is marked by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. Graduates will think effectively and critically, achieve some depth in their area of study and develop an understanding of the ways in which to acquire knowledge and understanding of the universe, society, and the self. More importantly, our graduates will be able to use their knowledge and understanding to find creative solutions for pressing local and global issues."

SU students are offered the opportunity to engage with a wide range of experiential learning opportunities through participation in leadership programmes, mentoring, tutoring counselling, sport, societies, volunteerism, awareness-raising initiatives, career advice and many other fields of interest. This new Regulation for Co-Curriculum Recognition ensures that all SU students are afforded the opportunity for recognition of co-curricular activities on their academic transcripts.

Sabelo Tyeku, a final year BEd student, is one of many students who will benefit from this new initiative. Tyeku has been a member of the social impact programme Ikaya Primary Tutoring programme for two years. The programme is focussed on Kayamandi and empowering young and primary school children with academic assistance, sustainability, arts and craft, reading and photography. When graduating, his academic transcript will include a summary of all formally assessed learning, awards and accomplishments that he obtained during his time at SU. Tyeku says that he will continue participating in the programme for as long as he studies at SU, but that his vision for social initiatives does not end there. In the future, he dreams of creating commerce-based social projects which will help South Africans further uplift themselves.

Incorporating co-curricular activities into transcripts broadens the ambitions of students in their pursuit of knowledge. Janco Marais, a BCom student, has managed to juggle five co-curricular programmes since the start of his studies and is currently involved in the Dempers Meyer Mentor Programme, one of many co-curricular offerings at Stellenbosch University. This programme aims to holistically develop students and empowers them to have an impact on people from different backgrounds so that, when graduated from SU, they can be citizens with impact in the South African society.

“Many of us initially partake in these programmes to receive recognition on our academic transcripts or CVs, but we learn that we leave with something of much greater value than we expected: on a practical basis, we have gained skills and competencies that have been evaluated, enabling us to apply them elsewhere in society. We complete these programmes with much more that we started out with," Marais says.

The Co-curriculum Prospectus carries information about experiential learning opportunities students can access to develop their competencies towards the formation of the SU graduate attributes.

For more information about the co-curricular offering at SU, visit www.sun.ac.za/cocur or contact:

Pule Mochichane: pulem@sun.ac.za
Ruth Andrews: rutha@sun.ac.za

​The Centre for Student Recruitment and Career Advise (CSR), hosted 28 top performing learners from 6 Delft schools participating in the Blue Bus Ministries Success Club:

• Simunye High School
• Masibambisane High School
  
• Hindle High School
• Delft Technical High School
• Rosendal High School
• Voorbrug High School

One of several projects Blue Bus Ministries hosts in Delft is the Success Club, aimed at improving academic success. They target both primary and high school learners and also support students from the community who attend university. It includes amongst others a reading project and partnership with Stellenbosch University's Department of Psychology and Industrial Psychology, who assist these learners with subject choice guidance.

The learners were welcomed by Dr Gillian Arendse, Deputy Director at the Centre for Student Recruitment and Career Advise. Dr Arendse inspired learners and motivated them to see life differently and not let their background determine their future.   

Learners were also inspired by current students (from participating schools). These students shared their stories especially highlighting the importance of working hard and achieving good results. They also shared their journey with regards to transiting from high school into university, making new friends and staying at residences.

The main aim of the visit was to assist learners with the application process and entice them to the possibilities - to give them a real life experience of being a student at Stellenbosch University.

Learners also had the opportunity to attend lectures, do a campus tour and have lunch and tour of Metanoia residence.

The CSR conducted a survey among these learners and these were some of the comments:

“I thought that teaching was only in Afrikaans, the lecture I attended was conducted in English"

 “The university is diverse, the environment is friendly and has easy access to most facilities"

“It's a good university, which has all the necessary facilities that will allow me to be successful in life"

The majority of learners also indicated that they would be the first in their family to pursue studies at a University.

​​

Former Public Protector and now Law Trust Chair in Social Justice at Stellenbosch University's Faculty of Law, Prof Thuli Madonsela, has been awarded another honorary doctorate for her activism in social justice, constitutionalism, human rights, rule of law and good governance.

The degree Doctor Legum, honoris causa, conferred to Prof Madonsela by the North West University (NWU) on Thursday 23 May 2019, was inspired by her exceptional services to South Africa and her contributions in the sphere of justice, society, corporate governance and government.

Other honorary doctorate degrees awarded to Prof Madonsela are from the universities of Stellenbosch, Cape Town and Fort Hare, as well as Rhodes University.

Among the other prestigious awards she has received are the Botswana Lawyers Association Honorary Membership of the Botswana Bar; the Commonwealth Lawyers Association's Truth and Justice Award and Time magazine's listing as one of the top 100 most influential people in the world.

In 2016, she was nominated as Forbes Africa's Person of the Year and spent a year as an Advanced Leadership Fellow at Harvard University. She is also the founder of the Thuma Foundation, an independent democracy leadership and literacy social enterprise.

Talking to media after the ceremony, Prof Madonsela said, “It has been a long time coming and I imagined that maybe NWU would think I didn't want this degree, but I wanted it. It just was not possible to organise it at the time. The awarding of this degree gained me a platform to engage with this university about social justice and with the world."

Prof Madonsela has made exceptional contributions in the sphere of justice, society, corporate governance and in government.

Photo by Stefan Els.

"The money we raise will go towards the University’s UK/EU Bursary Fund which was established to provide financial support for financially disadvantaged students. This Bursary Fund will give academically gifted but financially disadvantaged students the opportunity to pursue academic success at Maties and reach their full potential," he adds.

In March this year, De Villiers and a team of alumni, staff and friends of the University, took part in the Cape Town Cycle Tour (CTCT) to raise money for the student-led #Move4Food campaign. He also tackled the CTCT in 2018 to commemorate the University's Centenary and raise money for student bursaries, and in September last year he ran the full 42 km Sanlam Cape Town Marathon – also in aid of #Move4Food.

“Would you like to join him in this challenge? We are looking for 15 cyclists to ride​ in the inaugural Maties Warriors team and raise at least £7 500. This amount will provide one student with a scholarship that fully covers tuition, housing, food and textbooks for one year,” says Darryn Havenga, UK Fundraising Director within SU’s Development and Alumni Relations Division.

“If cycling is not for you, don’t worry; there is another way for you to get involved. Just follow this link to our GivenGain page and make an online donation,” he adds.

For further information and to sign up, please contact:

Maties in Benelux, France and Germany

Alison April

alisonapril@sun.ac.za

Maties in the Nordic Regions

Folkers Tulkki-Williams

folkers.tulkkiwilliams@gmail.com

Maties in the UK and Ireland

Darryn Havenga

darrynh@sun.ac.za

Maties elsewhere in the world

Darryn Havenga

darrynh@sun.ac.za

​​

With the rest of the world moving rapidly into the fourth industrial revolution, with artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous vehicles, 3-D printing, precision medicine and quantum computing holding the promise of radical changes to all aspects of society, Stellenbosch University (SU) is hoping to help Africa be part of that next revolution.

At the core of all these advances around the world are the rapidly developing fields of data science and computational thinking. To afford Africa the opportunity to help shape the next revolution and change the traditional landscape of higher education teaching and learning, SU will be launching The Stellenbosch University School for Data Science and Computational Thinking on 29 July 2019.

SU's new School for Data Science and Computational Thinking (DS&CT) will take a non-conventional, trans-faculty approach to teaching and research in DS&CT. Prof Wim Delva, the acting Director for the SU School for Data Science and Computational Thinking has expressed great excitement at the future impact the school can have on developing new research and training future data scientists in South Africa.

“The School will offer opportunities to train and gain experience in functioning as a data scientist within a team (as opposed to being a PhD student working in isolation). The importance of this is that team work leads to reinforcing best programming practices and ultimately with more and better quality control and agility," says Delva.

With many of the faculties and departments in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) already playing a huge role in innovative and new ways of teaching and learning, the University hopes to prepare all graduates and support academics for the fourth industrial revolution, and to lend a hand to both the private and public sectors as a trusted and respected partner in and for the continent of Africa.

According to Prof Arnold Schoonwinkel, Vice-Rector: Learning and Teaching at SU, the university has always been working at moving along with the progression of technology and the integration of new technological methods or tools in teaching and learning.

“The School of Data Science and Computational Thinking, which includes aspects of research and coursework on artificial intelligence and robotics and machine learning, is one very pertinent way in which SU is preparing our students in research and education. The biggest challenge that we all face is foreseeing exactly what the Fourth Industrial Revolution entails. The role of level-headed academics will be to distinguish between the hype around the topic and know how to respond with sensible education. We should prepare students not to fear the fourth industrial revolution. Instead, we should teach them to use the advantages of technology including automation. They should use technology to create opportunities and improve society," says Schoonwinkel.

Continuous academic programme renewal has always been part of SU's approach. Many more programmes even beyond the STEM faculties will have a greater focus on computational thinking by example using computers and software systems to solve some of the problems that humans can do but that computers in some respects can do better.

“At universities, we can't keep on teaching the latest technology, because it's evolving so fast. What we should keep on teaching students is analytical thinking, systems thinking, critical thinking and we should incorporate all these thinking into as many different modules as possible. We are preparing students to utilise technology and even produce new technologies. There will always be skills that we teach students that will stay valid no matter how much technology advances or robotics are used," says Schoonwinkel.

The STEM faculties and the Social Science faculties at SU will gradually adapt their courses to understand what that technology can provide but also what it does to society and how the work force should adapt. According to Delva, the School for DS&CT will also be very integrated across faculties and will offer services to students, staff and even external stakeholders that will help them with new and innovative research and learning.

“The school will have more training and learning offerings for people who are unable to do full-time studies on campus. These could be either professionals who cannot put their jobs on hold for extended periods, or students for whom full-time studies are too expensive. For these groups, the School will develop blended learning modules, taking the best of both worlds from the Massive Open Online Courses universe and from traditional face to face teaching."

• Click here for more information on SU's strategy and plans regarding technology in teaching and learning. 
  

Due to Stellenbosch University's strong engagement with the rest of Africa, the institution boasts bilateral agreements with 26 higher education institutions on the continent. These partnerships, which are developed and nurtured by SU International's Centre for Collaboration in Africa, have provided many invaluable opportunities and benefits for students and staff over the years.

One example is Dr Graeme Jacobs, a senior lecturer and research scientist in SU's Division of Medical Virology in the Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Jacobs, who was appointed under the New Generation of Academics Programme (nGAP), has enjoyed a fruitful collaboration with a researcher from the University of Yaoundé I in Cameroon since 2014. “I have been involved in HIV/Aids research since my postgraduate years," he says. He is an SU alumnus, having obtained a BSc in Molecular and Cellular Biology and both his honours and master's qualifications in Medical Virology at Stellenbosch, and holds a PhD in Life Sciences (Medical Virology) from the University of Würzburg in Germany. “My main focus has been on HIV diversity and resistance in South Africa and Africa – I am interested in how certain resistance-associated mutations influence treatment outcomes."

His chance encounter with a Cameroonian researcher, Dr George Ikomey, at a meeting of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) in Stellenbosch in February 2011 has resulted in a long-term HIV research collaboration between the two. “I work closely with Dr Ikomey, an immunology expert from the Centre for the Study and Control of Communicable Diseases at the University of Yaoundé I. Although our collaboration centres on HIV, we also have a shared interest in hepatitis, human papillomavirus (HPV), tuberculosis and other infectious diseases," Jacobs explains. “We soon realised we had very similar research interests and have since formed a close friendship with constant communication between us."

The collaboration between these two prolific African researchers has yielded a range of joint publications, conference presentations, research visits, postgraduate capacity-building and student exchange opportunities. “Our most recent work was to test different antiretroviral treatment regimens for the Cameroonian population in order to help with optimal treatment options for infected patients," says Jacobs.

Jacobs credits their success in large part to SU's formal partnership with the University of Yaoundé I: “SU has been extremely supportive, especially through the African Collaboration Grant, which allows for research visits. In addition, students have had the opportunity to travel between the two institutions, which was facilitated largely by SU International. This has helped us grow tremendously."

The African partnership has also played an important part in broadening Jacobs's research horizons. “As an HIV researcher, I find working in Cameroon extremely interesting. In South Africa, we mostly find HIV-1 subtype C, but in Cameroon, which many consider the birthplace of HIV crossover infections from chimpanzees, they have many different, recombinant strains. This means that their HIV epidemic looks much different from ours, affording us access to a variety of HIV strains found nowhere elsewhere in the world." Their access to multiple strains of the virus, Jacobs believes, offers them a better understanding of the genetic variability of HIV and, therefore, a better chance of developing improved diagnostic assays relevant to all HIV strains.

According to Nico Elema, manager of the Centre for Collaboration in Africa, SU's partnership with the University of Yaoundé 1 was formalised in November 2013 in a bilateral agreement. “SU's partnership development often builds on existing academic contacts, as in the case of Drs Jacobs and Ikomey. Our aim is to create an enabling environment for research activities with other African countries by supporting partnership development and offering mobility programmes and grants."

Picture: Dr Graeme Jacobs

Photo: Florence de Vries​

​1​​​​In recent years, South African and African universities have identified the advancement of doctoral scholarship as a crucial element in developing higher education and growing research production on the continent. For the past decade, the African Doctoral Academy (ADA) at Stellenbosch University (SU) has been doing its bit in this regard, coordinating and strengthening doctoral education at SU and across Africa.  

Since its launch in 2009, the ADA has offered high-impact capacity development to more than 4 500 current and prospective African doctoral candidates and their supervisors through its annual summer and winter schools. “The ADA forms part of the Africa Centre for Scholarship (ACS) at SU International, and is instrumental in the ACS's mission to promote and develop scholars and scholarship from SU and the rest of Africa," explains Corina du Toit, ADA programme manager. 

“Our two-week doctoral schools take place annually in summer (January) and again in winter (June–July). These events offer quality research and methodology training as well as options with regard to academic preparedness and career development to current and prospective African doctoral candidates, their supervisors and other researchers." The majority of delegates are from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Malawi and Zambia. Participants represent the disciplines of arts and social sciences, economic and management sciences, agricultural sciences, and medicine and health sciences. 

Besides hosting the two doctoral schools at SU each year, the ADA also supports the new Joint Schools in Africa programme at universities elsewhere on the continent. These include the University of Ghana, Makerere University (Uganda), Strathmore University (Kenya), Ardhi University (Tanzania), Chancellor's College (Malawi) and the University of Namibia. “SU has established bilateral and multilateral relationships with many of Africa's leading institutions and academic networks. Offering our ADA workshops to these partners means we support knowledge production by increasing the number and quality of doctoral graduates on the continent. At the same time, it puts SU in a position to consolidate and expand its African networks," says Du Toit. 

This year, the ADA will be hosting its annual winter doctoral school at SU from 27 June to 12 July. “As always, there will be a firm focus on PhD preparation, introductory and advanced courses in research methods, academic writing skills, the use of qualitative and quantitative tools, publishing articles, and preparing for an academic career, including training in doctoral supervision," she says. “Most of these courses take place over one week. However, we have recently also introduced a few one-day courses on subjects such as confident public speaking, grant writing and project management principles." According to Du Toit, class sizes are kept small to allow for optimal interaction between delegates and presenters. “All the presenters are experts in their respective fields and hail from SU as well as universities in the United States, Belgium, Ireland and Germany, to name only a few." 

And judging by the overwhelmingly positive response from ADA doctoral school delegates over the years, this year's winter school cohort have a lot to look forward to. “The ADA fills a critical need. It empowers people with solid research skills, which will be very beneficial for knowledge production on the African continent going forward," said Jacob Igba, a PhD student from Nigeria, after attending the 2017 ADA winter school. “I made wonderful friends from all over Africa," said Mpala Pilula, a PhD student from Zambia, after the 2017 summer school. “The high quality of the courses and presenters really stood out for me – it was truly a world-class experience, and a great way to launch a PhD." Tiffany Banda, a doctoral student from Malawi, had this to say following the 2018 ADA winter school: “It exposed me to the knowledge, skills and tools that will enable me to work through my doctoral studies in a clearer and more focused way. The courses were taught by some of the most brilliant minds I had ever encountered as an academic. I left inspired, challenged and determined that I too can make a difference, however small, among the people I encounter in my sphere of influence." 

To celebrate their tenth birthday, the ADA will be joining SU International's Africa Week festivities on 20 May. In addition, they will be hosting a keynote session chaired by Prof Sarah Howie (ACS director) and presented by Prof Jonathan Jansen (distinguished professor at SU's Faculty of Education) during the upcoming winter school. “The talk, which is scheduled for 1 July, will explore the quality of scholarship at doctoral level as well as the role of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) in scholarship development in South Africa," Du Toit concludes.

​Stellenbosch University (SU) is committed to South Africa and the continent, pursuing transformative partnerships to influence and change the world for the better. Those were the words of Prof Hester Klopper, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Strategy and Internationalisation, addressing staff and students at the launch of Africa Week on Monday 20 May.

The event rang in SU's celebrations of Africa Day, which the University will commemorate along with many others across the world on 25 May.  

Prof Klopper told the audience that, true to its vision of becoming Africa's leading research-intensive university, SU wanted to be locally relevant, with a regional impact and a global reach. Mapping SU's engagement on the continent, she said: “We will continue to nurture our 120 collaborative partnerships in 30 countries in Africa. As a university, we are dedicated to building scholarship across the continent."

The event also included the launch of the SU Africa website. This online platform is aimed at prospective and current students and staff, researchers, partner institutions, government, business and members of the public interested in the exciting academic and research opportunities on the continent available through SU. The website, which is coordinated by SU International's Centre for Collaboration in Africa (CCA), will highlight partnerships, networks as well as student and staff mobility opportunities on the continent.

In addition, Dr Nico Elema, manager of the CCA, and Prof Sarah Howie, director of the Africa Centre for Scholarship (ACS), used the opportunity to highlight initiatives their respective centres were involved in. Prof Howie told the audience more about the African Doctoral Academy (ADA), which falls under the ACS, and how it continued to support and strengthen doctoral education at SU and across Africa. Having been introduced in 2009, the ADA proudly celebrates ten years of doctoral excellence this year. Dr Elema, in turn, elaborated on SU's strong involvement on the continent, which had resulted in bilateral agreements with 26 fellow African higher education institutions.

Click on the links below for more on upcoming Africa Day-related activities:

• 24 May: Celebrating Africa
• 24 May: Africa Day seminar
• 30 May: Vice-Chancellor's Africa Day lecture​
  

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch University has helped secure a grant of R13.6 million from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the newly developed Building Capacity for Early Career Humanities Scholars in Africa (BECHS-Africa) programme.

The three-year transnational programme will offer residency for 30 early career scholars in the humanities to enhance their research agenda. Scholars will be chosen from the institutions that make up the BECHS-Africa partnership: the University of Ghana, the American University in Cairo, Egypt, SU, and the Washington University in Saint Louis, USA, with the University of Ghana as the lead institution. Eight fellows will be chosen from Stellenbosch University. 

The BECHS-Africa will provide avenues for early career scholars to spend an academic term of up to six months in a region of Africa other than their own, or in a global north institution. The programme is informed by research conducted in the United Kingdom by the British Academy and the Association of Commonwealth Universities in 2011. The study “noted that the years following the completion of a PhD are critical to the establishment of a successful research career, as it is during that phase that the skills and knowledge developed through postgraduate training are cemented".

The Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at SU, Prof Anthony Leysens, was instrumental in helping to formulate the proposal for the grant. Others who worked on the proposal include Professors Samuel Kwame Offei and Samuel Agyei-Mensah from the University of Ghana; Professor Jean Allman of Washington University in Saint Louis; and Associate Professor Syed Maswood of the American University in Cairo.

“The opportunity for early career scholars in our faculty to spend a considerable amount of time at our partner institutions (made possible by teaching buy-out) and focus on their own research and under the supervision of a leading scholar is invaluable. South African academics will be exposed to an environment which will certainly shape their thinking and direct their academic career. Younger scholars are usually inundated with teaching, together with the need to be a productive researcher. This initiative enables them to focus, with support, and within a unique environment on their research," said Leysens.

He added that the faculty was also “committed to expanding its collaborations with universities on the continent and to participate in initiatives launched by other African universities". The BECHS-African programme, he said, fits in well with other established programmes for early career academics that faculty already participates in. 

At present, SU belongs to networks like the Partnership for Africa's Next Generation of Academics (PANGeA), of which the University of Ghana is also a partner. PANGeA is a “collaborative network of leading African universities developing research capacity and confidence in bringing African expertise to Africa's challenges". SU is one of eight partners that belong to this network. It contributes to this partnership through the Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences based at the faculty.

The Graduate School itself focuses on strengthening and advancing doctoral training and scholarship on the African continent. It has enrolled more than 220 full-time PhD scholars from 18 sub-Saharan African countries since 2010. To date, 134 PhD candidates have graduated via the graduate school, with many junior academic staff returning to their institutions to take up research and academic positions. In this manner, the School contributes directly to stemming the brain drain of academics from the African continent. 

In 2016, the PANGeA-Ed training and skills development programme was launched. It focuses on the development of research capacity in the arts, humanities and social sciences through research-based research and scholarship support on all the PANGeA campuses in Africa. A year later, the PANGeA Early Career Fellowship programme, which aims to identify academic leaders in the arts, humanities and social sciences in Africa, was established. It offers eight-week residencies at SU for 50 staff members within the PANGeA network over four years (2017 to 2020).

Leysens said that the BECHS-African programme will further expand on all the work done to capacitate early career academics through the PANGeA and the Graduate School by allowing scholars to combine the experiences they have gained while studying towards their doctoral degree;  acquire new research skills that are essential to the successful further development of their academic career; and start building a wide range of networks that will only benefit their career development. 

At the same time, he said, early career academics from other African institutions will benefit from exposure to the faculty's top-rated scholars. 

“There is also the value-add opportunity for our own members of staff to spend time on the campuses of the other partners. At the same time, we will host fellows from our partners on this campus," said Leysens.

​“My vision is for our faculty to embrace its African identity, to focus on the continent's challenges and opportunities and to increase our teaching and research partnerships with other African universities. This is an exciting opportunity for our younger colleagues to embrace this vision and to, at the same time, receive early career mentorship."

​Researchers at Stellenbosch University's (SU) newly established African Microbiome Institute will be explorers entering a largely undiscovered world – the human microbiome.

Acting as Director of the Institute is Prof Stephen O'Keefe, an internationally renowned researcher with some forty years' experience in nutritional gastroenterology. He'll be playing a dual role at SU and the University of Pittsburgh, where he's professor of medicine and Director of the Centre for Intestinal Health and Nutrition Support.

O'Keefe's passion for nutritional medicine was sparked as a child. Growing up in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), he spent vacations accompanying his doctor father on clinic visits. “It was on these trips that I saw how nutrition was one of the key things that affected health," he says.

This interest lead to training in medicine (Guy's Hospital) and human nutrition (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), followed by internal medicine and gastroenterology at Oxford and King's College Hospital, and a fellowship in nutrition at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

In these settings, O'Keefe learned to help patients who couldn't eat, using interventional techniques such as feeding through a vein or tube: “That's the westernised idea of nutritional support."

But he also came to understand how gastrointestinal diseases vary dramatically around the world and in different communities. This realisation guided his clinical practice and research towards nutritional gastroenterology in both developed and less developed contexts.

O'Keefe's work on colon cancer is particularly influential. In a landmark 2015 study, he showed that switching between a low-fibre diet, high in meat and fat, and a high-fibre, low meat and low fat diet leads to profound changes in the gut microbiome, with important implications for cancer risk.

There is huge potential for further breakthroughs in the rapidly developing field of microbiome research. This prospect has stirred in O'Keefe “a yearning to get back to Africa, to deal with more basic nutritional problems" – an impulse that has led him home to Southern Africa, and Stellenbosch University.

A teeming, vital world

The microbiome is the genetic material of the microbial population – microbiota such as bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses – in a particular environment, for example the human body.

This is the territory researchers at the new Institute will be mapping out. It is a teeming and complex one: the number of genes present in one person's microbiome is estimated at 200 times the number in the human genome, and scientists have only recently begun to realise their full biological importance. Evidence is mounting as to just how crucial a role the microbiome plays in fundamentals of health such as digesting food, producing vitamins, regulating the immune system and fighting disease.

O'Keefe's enthusiasm for this flourishing field is palpable: “It's like discovering another organ within the body… It's fascinating how much we're learning about how the microbiome affects our health – both how it preserves health, and also how it can cause disease."

For example, there are studies looking at the role microbiota play in malnutrition and stunting. Other research explores how knowledge of the microbiome can be used to adapt to low-protein diets, or survive famine.

The fibre puzzle

What affects the microbiome more than anything else, is diet: a point well illustrated by the example of dietary fibre. Denis Burkitt, an Irish surgeon who worked in Africa after the Second World War, noted differences in disease patterns between Africans and Europeans, and is credited with first making the radical suggestion that the crucial factor was the relative deficiency of fibre in the westernised diet.

This was confirmed by O'Keefe's remarkable “diet switch" findings. Having noted that African Americans suffer a high incidence of colon cancer, while native Africans rarely developed polyps or cancer, O'Keefe designed a study in which a group of African Americans were fed a traditional African high-fibre, low-fat diet, while a corresponding group of low-risk rural Africans changed to a westernised diet. After only two weeks, mucosal biomarkers of colon cancer risk were reduced in the AfricanAmerican group, while increased biomarkers of cancer risk appeared in the Africans.

What researchers are now coming to understand, is that a westernised diet has a major impact on the composition and activity of the microbiota, causing them to produce metabolites that increase the risk of not only colon cancer but inflammatory bowel disease, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

The growing list of “western diseases" potentially linked to the microbiota includes asthma and auto-immune diseases. There is also concern that microbiota, by salvaging excessive nutrients, might actually be contributing to the obesity epidemic.

Lessons for Africa

Of course, these conditions are no longer confined to developed countries. As lifestyles change, so does the potential for an explosion of such diseases in Africa. (For instance, obesity is growing fastest in less developed communities.)

In addition, the microbiome has implications for treatment regimes: some people respond well to drugs for TB or HIV, for example, while others don't. New evidence suggests this may be due to strikingly different microbiota in individuals – and it may be possible to correct this through dietary means, transplants or other therapies.

These are the kinds of intriguing issues that the new Institute will be exploring. “We can learn a lot from what was good about the African diet and translate that into what can be useful to prevent westernised diseases occurring in developed South Africa and developed Africa in general," says O'Keefe.

The work of the Institute will be strengthened by its unique interdisciplinarity. While housed in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences' Division of Internal Medicine, it is supported by three faculties – Medicine, Science and Agriscience – and will draw in scientists from various departments and divisions. This will allow researchers to consider the human microbiome in its interactions with the environment, bringing together strands of research on microbiota in the soil, in plants and animals, as well as in the human body.

“This will give us extra leverage on how to tackle these problems in a novel way," O'Keefe explains. “The idea is that we form a catalyst for the other disciplines in the university to integrate efforts and get the most out of this exciting new area."

Photo credit: Damien Schumann

​How can we ignite our imagination in articulation of sustainability issues using LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®?

In the 2019 System Dynamics Modelling 771 module, Professor Josephine Musango, the Coordinator and facilitator of the module, invited Dr Jenson Goh from Residential College 4, National University of Singapore who is a certified facilitator of the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY method and expert in using games pedagogy for teaching and learning.  

The 2019 class constituted of 16 students who were divided into four groups of four students working on the issues of gender-based violence (Gender-Based Violence Group), management of menstrual health at school (Bloody Mary Group), the dilemma of social media users (So Much Pressure Group) and the challenge of meeting electricity for urban population (The Spark Group).

Curious to learn how each group articulated their respective problem for the system dynamics modelling 771 group assignment? Click the links below:

Gender-Based Violence Group:   https://youtu.be/DfXrPM71X6c

Bloody Mary Group:  https://youtu.be/v8nP9yzlJTs

So Much Pressure Group: https://youtu.be/IKNO4qe2BLM

The Spark Group: https://youtu.be/rr2G1z-Pylc

Attached Photo: 2019 System Dynamics Modelling 771 participants with Prof Josephine Musango (far left) and Dr Jenson Goh (far right)

​

At the recent 7th Botswana International HIV Conference, former Mphil students Motseiwa Mokalake and Reward Manyathelo presented posters about the research they conducted as part of their Mphil studies. Also in attendance were the Centre's Ms Renice Williams (Programme Manager) and Prof Johan Augustyn (lecturer). Ms Mokalake's study was about the reasons why parents are reluctant to disclose their HIV positive status to their children, while Mr Manyathelo's looked at the barriers to safe medical male circumcision as a method to prevent HIV infection. Both studies were conducted among cohorts in Botswana.

Says Reward about what he learned at the conference, “Botswana has achieved a lot in providing free HIV treatment to its citizens, treating tuberculosis, and prevention of mother to child HIV transmissions. However, there is still a lot that we need to do as a country as there is a 4% increase in HIV new infection." Further problems, according to Motseiwa, are that “donors are withdrawing from funding HIV/AIDS projects (in Botswana). Additionally, there are many gaps available in political leadership when it comes to prevention and there is no systematic prevention implementation at scale."

 Both students felt it was an amazing opportunity provided by the Africa Centre for them to showcase their research, as well as rubbing shoulders with colleagues from the Centre. “Their coming to Gaborone should not be taken for granted as it raised the flag of the University high. It was also a chance for them to learn how Botswana and other countries prevent the impact of the epidemic from the horse's mouth. Keep it up guys 'Re ya leboga' (thank you)". 

Stellenbosch University (SU) has smashed its own record for the number of finalists from the institution competing at the annual National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF)/South32 Awards. This year 17 finalists will represent SU at South Africa's 'Science Oscars'. The previous record was eight in 2017. Of the 17 finalists, seven are from the Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.

The NSTF/South32 Awards recognise, celebrate and reward excellence and outstanding contributions to science, engineering and technology (SET) and innovation by SET-related professionals and organisations in the country. Among the competitors are experienced scientists, engineers, innovators, science communicators, engineering capacity builders, organisational managers and leaders, as well as data and research managers. The winners will be announced on Thursday, 27 June at a gala event in Gauteng.

According to the organisers, it is an extraordinary honour to be a finalist given the quality of the nominations received every year, the fierce competition that nominees face and growing interest from the SET community over the years.

The SU finalists (with department or environment) and the categories in which they have been nominated are as follows:

Lifetime Award:

• Prof Dave Richardson (Botany and Zoology/Centre for Invasion Biology)
• Prof Gerard Walzl (Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics)

TW Kambule-NSTF Award: Researcher through research and its outputs (by an individual up to 15 years as a researcher, predominantly in South Africa):

• Prof Novel Njweipi Chegou (Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics)
• Prof Anton du Plessis (Central Analytical Facility)
• Prof Riaan Rudman (School of Accountancy)

TW Kambule-NSTF Award: Emerging Researcher through research and its outputs (by an individual up to six years in research, predominantly in South Africa):

• Dr Bahareh Bagheri (Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics)
• Ms Netanya Bernitz (Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics)     
• Mrs Sophia Magaretha Brink (School of Accountancy)
• Ms Josephine Chileshe (Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics)
• Dr Wynand J Goosen (Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics/Centre of Excellence for Biomedical TB Research)
• Mr Stephan le Roux (Central Analytical Facility)
• Dr Eduard Roos (Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics)
• Dr Bjorn Phillip von der Heyden (Department of Earth Sciences)

Data for Research Award: for advancing the availability, management and use of data for research (by an individual or an organisation):

• The Central Analytical Facility Team with Prof Anton du Plessis as team leader

Innovation Award: Corporate Organisation for innovations and their research and/or development (by a team or an individual over the last five to ten years):

• The Solar Thermal Energy Research Group (STERG) with Prof Sybrand Johannes van der Spuy as team leader.

Communication Award: for outreach and creating awareness of SET and innovation (by a team or individual over the last five years):

• Mrs Wiida Fourie-Basson (Media Officer and Science Writer: Faculty of Science)

Special Annual Theme Award: Materials for inclusive economic development (in recognition of the 'International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements' as declared by the United Nations

​South Africa's first Smoke and Tobacco-free campus will be celebrating its success on World No Tobacco Day 2019, marked on 31 May.

On 1 January 2019, Stellenbosch University's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) became South Africa's first entirely Smoke and Tobacco-free campus, and since then, a number of students and staff members have taken steps to quit using tobacco.

Thanks to the new regulations regarding the use of tobacco, as well as a campaign marketing smoking-cessation steps and services on Tygerberg Campus, many students and staff members have consulted with Campus Health Services on how to quit using cigarettes and other forms of tobacco.

Before the campaign kicked off in October 2018, the FMHS recognised a responsibility to both its staff members and students to provide a healthy and safe environment. At the beginning of the year, the Tygerberg Campus officially became a smoke- and tobacco-free zone. Now anyone who enters the campus is strictly forbidden from using any form of tobacco on the property.

The Tygerberg Campus has been declared entirely smoke and tobacco free, which means that the use of newer tobacco products (e.g. e-cigarettes) also is not allowed. There are no designated smoking areas on the campus, where many of South Africa's future health leaders are being trained.

26 patients already treated on campus

While official statistics are still being captured on the number of successful interventions, Campus Health Services commented that the regulations have certainly encouraged a number of students and staff members to seek help.

According to Dr Craig Thompson, Director of Medical Services at Campus Health Services, a total of 26 patients were seen at Tygerberg Campus Health Services since the start of the campaign – 38.5% of whom were seen at the end of 2018 when the campaign first kicked off.

“Of the students, six were male and two were female. Of the staff, one was male and 15 female," notes Thompson. “The most popular smoking cessation medicines supplied were Champix, Zyban, and Nicorettes."

Florence de Vries is one of the staff members who tapped into this free service: “I enjoyed smoking for a significant part of my life but decided to quit for a number of reasons earlier this year. The Smoke- and Tobacco-free Campus Campaign certainly helped from an awareness perspective, and I found the Campus Health resources quite helpful."

De Vries, who works in the FMHS's Marketing and Communications Division, emphasises that the mental and physical onus to quit still lies with the individual. While Campus Health Services can certainly assist in making the process of quitting easier, it does take commitment from the individual to make a long-term lifestyle change that will benefit their health.

World No Tobacco Day 2019

This year, the focus of World No Tobacco Day is on the negative impact that tobacco has on people's lungs. It's well recognised that tobacco use can lead to lung disease – from lung cancer to chronic respiratory disease.

“The campaign also serves as a call to action, advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption and engaging stakeholders across multiple sectors in the fight for tobacco control," says the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The FMHS recognises that tobacco exposure is a threat to the lung health for everyone – not just smokers – and that second-hand smoke is a significant health threat. In addition, the FMHS acknowledges that smoking is addictive and that smokers might find it difficult to stop smoking, which is why assistance is offered through Campus Health Services.

Need help quitting?

Visit Tygerberg Campus Health Services for an assessment, counselling and access to free smoking-cessation tools, including medication and/or nicotine replacement therapy. Campus Health Services is situated on the 2nd floor of the Tygerberg Student Centre. Alternatively, call +27 21 938 9590 to book an appointment. For general enquiries, e-mail tobaccofree@sun.ac.za.

​​Stellenbosch University's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) is proud to be part of the #CrazySocks4Docs campaign in South Africa – a drive to raise awareness and give moral support to medical and health professionals battling with mental health issues by reminding them that they are not alone.

This year, the Ithemba Foundation – Ithemba means hope – the sock manufacturer Falke and pharmaceutical group Cipla have partnered to launch the #CrazySocks4Docs campaign in South Africa. The initiative was first started in Australia in 2017, to help normalise conversations about mental health, depression and anxiety amongst health professionals around the world.

As part of the local #CrazySocks4Docs campaign, Falke, the Ithemba Foundation, and Cipla has donated 12 000 pairs of high-quality, highly visible socks to medical and health sciences students around the country. On 7 June, everyone is encouraged to join the movement by wearing their colourful, silly socks and posting a photo to social media with the hashtag #CrazySocks4Docs and #ithembafoundation in a show of solidarity with all of the health professionals and students who are living with depression and having suicidal thoughts.

The mental strain on health professionals working in South Africa can be immense and it is well-documented that levels of depression and mental fatigue are particularly high among professionals who dedicate their lives to the treatment of others. In fact, a Cape Town study found that 30% of public primary healthcare doctors are living with moderate-to-severe depression.¹ At the same time, it is estimated that around a third of South African medical students have suicidal thoughts and that over 6% of medical students attempt suicide.²

Keaton Quarmby, Falke SA group marketing executive, says that Falke is proud to support this initiative and help to raise awareness of the high expectations on doctors and healthcare professionals in South Africa and the impact it has on their wellbeing. “We would like to start a conversation and raise awareness and open dialogue around doctors with mental health issues, and encourage them to seek help if they need it."

She adds that Falke is committed to paying tribute to those professionals who have lost their lives as a result of enormous pressure and stress. “We encourage the whole of South Africa to support #CrazySocks4Docs happening on the 7th of June by wearing bright or mismatched socks and posting on social media with the hash tag #CrazySocks4Docs and #ithembafoundation."

“The #CrazySocks4Docs campaign is about shining a light on the highly stressful nature of the medical profession and reminding doctors and healthcare professionals that they must also ask for help when they need medical attention – whether it is physical or mental. We also want to encourage the rest of the world to help take care of those who care for them," says Paul Miller, CEO of Cipla Medpro.

“Widespread change is needed to tackle the problem of depression and suicide that is so prevalent among medical students and practising healthcare professionals. Part of making a difference is to encourage conversations about mental health and help reduce the stigma for doctors and medical students experiencing mental illness. Wearing mismatched socks may seem like a strange place to start affecting this change, but visibly showing our support for our carers is an important first step. We chose to partner with Falke and Cipla because they share these important values of starting conversations about Caring for our Carers," says Professor Lizette Rabe, founder of the Ithemba Foundation.

The Ithemba Foundation is a non-profit entity aimed at raising awareness of depression as a biological illness, and fundraising to support further research into this condition.

No matter who you are, anyone can get involved on Friday 7 June by posting a photo of yourself wearing mismatched, brightly-coloured, or just plain crazy socks, on social media with the hashtag, #CrazySocks4Docs and #ithembafoundation. Students can even win R1 000 per medical campus with their “sock-selfies" – just post your “sock-selfie" and encourage your family and friends to like yours. On each of the participating campuses the “sock-selfie" with the most likes will win its owner R1 000.

If you or someone that you know are suffering from a mental health condition, or have suicidal thoughts and are in need of help, you can call the CIPLA 24-hour mental health helpline on 0800 456 789 or WhatsApp 076 882 2775 for free counselling from a counsellor at SADAG. 

References:

1.        Outhoff, K. Depression in doctors : A bitter pill to swallow. South African Fam. Pract. 61, 13–16 (2019).

2.        Niekerk, L. Van. Suicidal ideation and attempt among South African medical students. South African Med. J. 102, 1–5 (2019).

Caption: FMHS staff show their support for the #CrazySocks4Docs campaign by wearing colourful socks. On the photo is Meggan Ceylon, Carine Smalberger, Ronel Bester, Prof Jimmy Volmink (dean), Pearl Pretorius, Hermien Nel and Florence de Vries.

​​​​The first in a series of four regional EDP seminars aimed at the four universities in the Western Cape took place at Stellenbosch University (SU) on 30 May. The purpose of the seminars is to bring together colleagues who are involved in EDPs at the respective institutions to exchange ideas and best practice in this field. 

For the first seminar, approximately 40 participants from SU, the University of the Western Cape (UWC), Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and the University of Cape Town (UCT) deliberated on the role of mentors and mentees in EDPs.  

Shona Lombard, EDP lecturer from SU's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, initiated the conversation with her presentation “A peer mentoring programme for first-year students on the Extended Degree Programme within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences". Lombard shared information on how the Faculty's peer mentoring programme had been developed over the past few years, as well as lessons learnt during that time. One of the Faculty's EDP students, Austin Pepar, then told the audience his inspiring story. This was followed by questions and discussion based on Lombard's presentation.

Next, Ilze Gelderblom, coordinator of student affairs in SU's Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS), shed light on how her faculty provided support to all first-year students through its mentoring programme. Dr Sharon Malan, EMS's EDP programme leader, gave an overview of feedback received from EDP students about the programme. She also shared how the Faculty's “value-added" programme assisted EDP students.

Another SU representative, Magriet de Villiers, academic development coordinator in the Faculty of Theology, explained Theology's context by outlining the Faculty's historical background and “journey to today". Student Jaylee Gertse then joined the conversation and explained the role of the Theological Student Committee in supporting EDP students. De Villiers also invited input and suggestions that Theology could use in developing its mentor programme. 

Another three regional seminars are planned for the year, one at each of the other Western Cape institutions.

Contact person: Claudia Swart (claudias2@sun.ac.za)

A unique dataset has enabled scientists to better estimate the number of HIV-infected South Africans who had died by 2009 before ARVs became available publicly.

These data enable better assessment of mortality due to HIV and identification of those causes of death most strongly associated with HIV. The high prevalence of HIV among those that died demonstrates the impact of the HIV epidemic on adult mortality, on hospital services, and the extent to which early antiretroviral treatment would have reduced the burden of both on the country's health services and the economy. 

Scientists at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and at the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (SACEMA) at Stellenbosch University published a paper, HIV-attributable causes of death in the medical ward at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, South Africa, in the journal PLOS ONE. 

Lead author Dr Andrew Black is a pulmonologist in the Department of Internal Medicine in the School of Clinical Medicine at Wits University and at Helen Joseph Hospital. Professor Brian Williams, a mathematical modeler at SACEMA led the data analysis team, which comprised Trust Chibrawara, Zoe Gill, and Mmamapudi Kubanje, in collaboration with Professor Freddy Sitas, a South African-born cancer epidemiologist now based in Australia.   

Initial estimates of the number of deaths attributable to HIV in South Africa in 2009 (the height of the epidemic) varied from 225 000 to 350 000 per year. These numbers were based on a range of data sources, indirect mathematical modelling, and a number of assumptions. Novel analysis by the scientists revealed an actual estimated number of deaths from HIV by 2009 at 250 000 per year. 

Due to the stigma associated with HIV at that time, clinicians often did not include HIV status or AIDS-defining causes of death on the official death notification forms. The Baragwanath Mortality Record (BMR), however, allowed for a more accurate and detailed record of the causes of death. 

Between 2006 and 2009, the BMR shows that 15 725 adults died and each patient's hospital number, age, sex, cause of death, date of admission, date of death, HIV status, CD4+ cell count and antiretroviral therapy status was recorded. 

“We gathered data from just under 16 000 patients between 2002 and 2006. This made it the largest study of its kind in Africa," says Black, who along with Williams and the SACEMA team devised an innovative approach to analysis of the data.   

“One of the challenges was to merge techniques normally reserved for chronic disease and cancer epidemiology with looking at an infectious cause. This model enabled us to estimate the AIDS-attributable fraction for those dying from Cryptococcus's, Kaposi's sarcoma and pneumocystis jirovecii, tuberculosis, gastroenteritis and anaemia," says Williams. 

The odds ratios for being HIV-positive ranged from 18 to 124. Genito-urinary conditions, meningitis and other respiratory conditions, as well as sepsis, lymphoma and conditions of skin and bone were also significantly associated with HIV, with the odds ratios for being HIV positive ranging from 3 to 8. 

“The data revealed risks for a range of conditions that were over ten-fold. This is important because it tells us that any patient admitted now for a range of diseases – especially rare fungal ones, such as Cryptococcus's, and even some respiratory diseases – ought to be rapidly assessed for their HIV status and, if positive, be offered antiretrovirals immediately," says Black.

Media enquiries:

Prof Brian Williams

SACEMA

Mobile: 0041 79 558 8068

E-mail: williamsbg@me.com

Deborah Minors

Senior Communications Officer

University of the Witwatersrand 

Tel:  +27 11 717 1024 / 072 240 4990

E-mail:  Deborah.minors@wits.ac.za

Image of HI-virus by Darwin Laganzon from Pixabay.

This article is based upon a joint media release between Stellenbosch University and the University of the Witwatersrand​.

The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) recently established a new Extramural Unit (EMU) for research on the Genomics of Brain Disorders at the Department of Psychiatry at Stellenbosch University (SU).

The research unit, led by Profs Soraya Seedat and Sian Hemmings, will identify genomic biomarkers for a range of brain disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, HIV associated neurocognitive disorders, foetal alcohol spectrum disorders, schizophrenia spectrum disorders and Parkinson's disease.

“The unit aims to help reduce the burden of neuropsychiatric disorders in South Africa by addressing cross-cutting, translational neuroscience questions. To achieve this, we'll use a toolkit comprising innovative multi-omics (e.g. genomics, epigenomics, microbiomics, bioinformatics), applied cognitive-affective approaches, and brain imaging studies," explains Seedat, who heads the Department of Psychiatry at SU's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS).

“As brain disorders are polygenic (caused by many different genes), with varied heritability and a degree of overlap in their genetic make-up, a convergent approach to elucidate the common biological mechanisms, through integrating multi-level data (e.g. epigenetic markers, brain-level data, neuropsychological data, and social determinants) is required," says Seedat.

The Genomics of Brain Disorders Research Unit is only the second EMU to be established at SU – the other EMU is also based in the Department of Psychiatry and is shared with the University of Cape Town. The EMU is approved in five-year cycles and will channel research funding of more than R5 million to the FMHS.

“The new unit will allow the existing Imaging and Genetics in Neuroscience (IMAGINE) research group at the FMHS to expand into a formal hub, it will enhance our scientific competitiveness and visibility, generate additional research outputs, and support more postgraduate trainees," says Seedat.

The EMU comes at an opportune time as the FMHS's new Biomedical Research Institute, which is currently under construction, will include a neurogenetics laboratory and a neurotechnology laboratory.

Some of the expected outputs of the Genomics of Brain Disorders Research Unit are to:

• Conduct an ensemble of interdisciplinary projects using genome and neuroimaging technologies.
• Establish a biorepository comprising a wide range of biological samples (e.g. DNA, RNA, skin, hair).
• Establish optimised protocols for the generation and maintenance of brain disorder-specific induced pluripotent stem cell lines at in-house laboratories.
• Build capacity and transfer skills in brain disorder research in order to train a new generation of clinician and basic neuroscientists well versed in genomics and neuroimaging techniques.

Caption: The team of researchers at the Department of Psychiatry that are involved with the Genomics of Brain Disorders Research Unit.