​In his young days, Prof Gerhard Walzl was an ambitious internist and lung specialist wanting to put his expertise to use in intensive care units. However, the position he had hoped for after his PhD studies overseas was no longer available. As a Plan B, he reluctantly accepted a research position focusing on tuberculosis (TB). Today, this driven extraordinary professor leads a research team at Stellenbosch University (US) of about 75 people, and a research group that has pioneered the use of biomarkers to ID biomarkers of the disease.

Prof Walzl is the next speaker at the Research Development Division's Forward with Research Impact lecture series, on 3 October 2019 in the Old Main Building (room 1028).

He is a distinguished professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences of the SU Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, an entity that he has led since 2017. He also heads the Molecular Biology and Human Genetics Division, is director of the Immunology Research Group (SU-IRG) and leads the NRF Chair for Tuberculosis Biomarkers.

Advances

He is a man with much weight on his shoulders, yet colleagues say that he always has a smile on his face, and always makes time for them amid his many responsibilities, meetings and perpetual funding applications.

Walzl, on the other hand, describes himself as intense. Driven. Focused on the work to be done.

Because TB is still a big problem.

“I was hoping that by this time research would have been further," admits Walzl, whose research team was the first to determine specific biomarkers for different TB strains.

These biomarkers indicate what someone's chances are of developing the disease, or how he or she will respond to treatment. The work has since 2005 received three cycles of funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“With a biomarker we can make predictions long before the clinical outcome is reached. It can show who is going to do well or fare poorly with treatment, for whom a drug is going to work and who is at high risk of developing a disease - long before standard tests can do so. It reads the body's own defence mechanisms against disease," he explains.

His team's finger prick test using TB biomarkers was launched in 2018. The apparatus reminds one of a standard diabetes test, because it also allows for an analysis to be done fairly quickly thanks to a drop of blood. Walzl hopes it will one day be endorsed by the World Health Organization. It will soon be put to the test in South African communities.

“TB is a difficult disease because the Mycobacterium organism has adapted so well to survive in the body," Walzl reckons.

It frustrates him that relatively little money is made available for TB studies. It receives, for example, 20 times less funding than HIV research, and far less than so-called first world conditions such as cancer, asthma, heart conditions and aging-related diseases such as Alzheimer's.

"The diseases of poverty get little money, even though these are potential time bombs that could hit the entire world due to increasing migration from the developing world," warns Walzl.

He rates the way in which germs that cause diseases such as TB, pneumonia and wound infections are becoming drug resistant due to the large-scale abuse of antibiotics as another time bomb.

"People who work with infections are worried that we're moving back to a pre-antibiotic age, and that some infections will simply be untreatable," he mentions pessimistically. "For the first time in 60 years, we have new antibiotics for TB, but unfortunately we already know that in a few years' time there will already be widespread resistance to it."

That said, Walzl remains passionate about science and especially biology: “I want to know how things work. And I think I'm in the very fortunate position that I can live my passion through my profession. "

People are important to him, and that's why he wants to use his profession to make a difference: “I would like to see better living conditions for our population. I would like to see that there are opportunities for people, in the wider society or simply here around me in our research group. I want to provide opportunities for my students by which they can develop and become the best they can be. That's important to me. "

Life as a TB researcher

Walzl reckons his decision to become a doctor has to do with the fact that his father came from Austria to South Africa after the Second World War, with a half completed medical degree. In South Africa, he worked as a chemical pathologist at Onderstepoort.

Following his own successful medical studies at the University of Pretoria, Walzl Junior spent two years in Austria in the late 1980s as a young doctor. There, an older specialist noticed that he had a flair for emergency medicine. He went on to give Walzl far more on-the-job experience in intensive care units than he could dream of. He started setting great ambitions for himself in the medical world, first specializing as an internist and then in pulmonology.

By the time he left for England in 1997 to complete a doctorate at Imperial College London, on the recommendation of his colleagues, he was already head of Tygerberg Hospital's Medical Intensive Care Unit. His PhD was about how an infection can change someone's immune system to such a degree that it responds differently to any subsequent infections by other pathogens.

He returned to South Africa in 2002 to find the post that he had set his sights on already filled. There was, however, a position available in a tiny TB research group that had suffered greatly after the untimely death of its driving force.

Initially, he was not too excited about having to exchange medical thoracoscopy and interventional pulmonology for laboratory work. As a high school boy, he wasn't too thrilled to have to help his father in his home laboratory. Fortunately, during his PhD years he began to develop an affinity for experimentation. He had learnt how to get the maximum benefit out of an experiment.

TB would eventually become his life's work – and last year he received an award from the South African Medical Research Council for it.

In the early 2000s, only two other colleagues were part of his research group, of which one is still at his side. Today, that same group constitutes about a third of the more than 200 students and staff in the Molecular Biology and Human Genetics Division.

“I'm just the conductor; they do the work. These are people I can trust," Walzl says about the loyal team he has gathered around him.

Focused

Walzl jogs to relax and unwinds by taking 4x4 trips. In his university years, he learnt how to fence, but in between work and family responsibilities he has not had time to pursue it.

Has he learnt anything from fencing that he could use in his career as a scientist?

"Definitely. It teaches you to focus. It teaches you to look for an opportunity, or to create one, and then to react lightning fast. It's a sport for an intense person," he muses.

​He came to South Africa for two years – and never left. Now Professor Bob Mash, the Executive Head: Department of Family and Emergency Medicine and Head: Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care, has been awarded one of the country's most esteemed medical awards – a SAMA Award for his many years of dedication to family medicine.

Mash, who was selected as the winner in the Extra-Ordinary Service to Medicine Award category for 2019, received the award at a ceremony on 9 August at the Durban International Convention Centre. He said he was honoured to be among the group of award-winning doctors “who are doing many good things."

“The ceremony was great – and we had Caster Semenya as the guest speaker which was very interesting."

The SAMA Doctors' Awards ceremony, which is considered one of the most prestigious events among medical professionals in South Africa, recognizes the outstanding achievements of public and private sector doctors in their respective fields. It is given to those who have "pursued with a single-minded purpose, a chosen area of interest in medicine and made a substantial contribution in the research, promotion and advancement of that field." Publication of work in internationally accepted medical journals is also a prerequisite.

Besides being professor of family medicine and primary care at SU, Mash is also the current President of the SA Academy of Family Physicians.

Born in London, Mash trained as a GP in Edinburgh, Scotland before moving to South Africa with his wife in 1991, to work for an NGO that was working with community health workers in townships which included Crossroads, KTC and Khayelitsha.

“They'd been looking for a doctor and nobody had applied so I said I would come for two years. I ended up working with community health workers for three or four years."

When Tygerberg Hospital was persuaded to provide the Community Health Services Organisation with six specialist posts, Mash applied for Khayelitsha and thus became the first family physician to be appointed in Khayelitsha in 1997. From “tough" beginnings – "it was hard to get family medicine recognized properly" –Mash became increasingly involved in developing family medicine. He developed new family medicine training programmes for both under- and post-graduate students.

“I've focused on family medicine consistently since the mid-1990s when it was unknown. I don't think Stellenbosch University even had training in family medicine at that point. I was one of the first family physicians appointed. Family medicine has a vital contribution to make in strengthening primary health care and district health services in SA and other regional countries.

"It's important, particularly in the African context, because, we are training doctors specifically to be good generalists and bringing expertise closer to communities. In many SA communities, you only have access to a team consisting of community health workers and nurses. A family physician brings in extra expertise for quality primary health care."

Mash edited the textbooks, A Handbook of Family Medicine, the SA Family Practice Manual and the SA Clinical Nurse Practitioner's Manual, all of which have become the standard texts for family medicine programmes throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

More recently he has focused on primary care research and has become the editor-in-chief of the African Primary Health Care and Family Medicine journal. He has published more than 160 original research and scientific articles and has recently co-edited books for the World Organisation of Family Doctors on Primary Care Research Methods and International Perspectives on Primary Care Research.

His research interests have focused on the contribution of family medicine to African health systems and the development of the discipline.

He is a founding member of the Chronic Disease Initiative for Africa and has focused on research to improve patient education and counselling for non-communicable diseases. Currently he is busy implementing Group Empowerment and Training (GREAT) for diabetes nationally and scaling up training for primary care providers in Brief Behaviour Change Counselling.

In sub-Saharan Africa he has helped to develop the Primary Care and Family Medicine network (Primafamed), a network of departments of family medicine and primary care across 25 African countries.

Caption: Profs Mergan Naidoo and Bob Mash, with SAMA Chair, Dr Angelique Coetzee. 

A “fantastic opportunity" and a “career-defining" experience. This was how fourth-year medical student Shadé Breedt described her week-long attendance at the 48^th World Congress of Surgery which was held in Krakow, Poland in August.

The congress, which was presented by the International Society of Surgery (ISS), brought together world experts in surgery and provided a platform for collaboration on future diagnostic and surgical challenges and patient-oriented solutions.

This year was the first year that students were invited to attend as part of a delegation from the International Association of Student Surgical Societies (IASSS), the official pre-specialist society affiliated with the ISS. About 23 students and newly-qualified doctors from a range of countries, including South Africa, Australia, the UK, Malaysia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Somaliland and Europe, took part.

Breedt said it was a life-changing opportunity to be part of the congress which included more than 60 sessions and lectures from world-renowned experts in their respective fields.

“We were able to interact with a range of world famous professionals working in different surgical fields. We conducted interviews with them and assisted with the administration and the social media of the congress. We were also part of sessions on what the future of surgery could be and how we envisaged it. We had opportunities to attend workshops on career advancement and writing, among other things."

Breedt's attendance came about after she attended an annual symposium of the IASSS in Cape Town in 2018, which was co-hosted by Stellenbosch University and the University of Cape Town. “After that symposium, I started seeing myself as a future surgeon."

She applied for executive committee membership of the Stellenbosch University Surgical Society (SUSS) and was appointed as administrator. It was through the SUSS platform that she heard about the Future Surgeons Programme at the World Congress.

“You had to apply with a research project or show evidence of being actively involved as a change agent in your community. I applied with my research project in geriatric trauma under the supervision of Professor Elmin Steyn, head of the Surgery Department at Tygerberg Hospital. I sent my CV and was selected."

Highlights of the trip, she said, were the many skills she and her peers accumulated, including how to “network on a global scale", conduct effective interviews, write research abstracts and how to refine their CVs. “We also gained advice on how to persevere through 12-hour shifts and keep a smile on our faces!"

A personal highlight was to “experience World War II history first hand. “I visited the Gestapo headquarters in Krakow, the Schindler's List Museum as well as Auschwitz concentration camp – an intense and treasured opportunity."

On her future goals, Breedt said: “I have a keen interest in neurosurgery and trauma surgery, but after this congress, which emphasized the importance of research and academic surgery, I will consider those aspects of medicine, with a view to benefiting the larger community."

One week before leaving for the congress, Breedt was appointed SUSS chairperson. “I've only been chair for a month but want to implement lots of what I learnt on the congress. Part of being chair means giving others this career-defining opportunity."

Caption (banner photo): The IASSS Future Surgeons Delegation with the new ISS president, John Hunter. Shadé Breedt is fifth from the right.

Caption (article photo 1): Shadé Breedt with her mentor, Prof Elmin Steyn, at the 48^th World Congress of Surgery. 

Caption (article photo 2): The new SUSS committee for 2019/2020.

​

SU Teaching Excellence Awards 2019

The institutional selection panel for the Stellenbosch University (SU) Teaching Excellence Awards 2019 and the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) would like to congratulate the following lecturers on receiving an award in the categories Distinguished Teacher and Developing Teacher:

1. Distinguished Teacher

-  Dr Taryn Bernard (Extended Degree Programme, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)

-  Prof. Dennis Francis (Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)

-  Dr Marnel Mouton (Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science)

2. Developing Teacher

-  Prof. Gareth Arnott (Department of Chemistry and Polymer Science, Faculty of Science)

-  Dr Karin Baatjes (Departments of Biomedical and Surgical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)

-  Dr Karel Kruger (Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering)

-  Dr Sharon Malan (Extended Degree Programme, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences)

-  Ms. Carla Morris (School of Accountancy, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences)

-  Dr Robbie Pott (Department of Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering)

-  Lt. Col. André Pretorius (Department of Computer Information Systems, Faculty of Military Science)

-  Mr Stephan van der Merwe (Law Clinic, Faculty of Law)

-  Mr Alwyn Visser (School of Accountancy, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences)

The above-mentioned candidates will receive their awards during a ceremony at the end of the fourth quarter.

The SU Teaching Excellence Awards acknowledge excellent teaching at institutional level and offer lecturers and management an opportunity to value reflective and contextually-aware teaching. All teaching staff – permanent as well as contract appointments – are eligible for these awards.

Enquiries:  Dr Karin Cattell-Holden, X 3074 or kcattell@sun.ac.za.

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

​

Prof Tania Ajam of the School of Public Leadership (SPL) has been appointed to serve on the President's Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) which will assist Government in crafting an economic agenda for inclusive growth, job creation and transformation by improving the design and implementation of macroeconomic and microeconomic policies.

The PEAC will be chaired by President Ramaphosa and comprises 18 prominent local and international economists, development practitioners and technical experts drawn from academia, the private sector, labour, think tanks and civil society, who serve a 3-year term.

The PEAC will be expected to engage and provide expert advice on:

• The pillars of the new macro-economic strategy that should frame economic and industrial policy decisions that government should pursue in the medium to long term, consistent with the electoral mandate of the current administration.  
• Creative ways of building trust between government and social partners in a manner that responds to South Africa's triple challenges of poverty, unemployment an inequality.
• Global developments that impact on South Africa's growth prospects, and critical steps required to achieve policy coherence and to build confidence across society, social partners and investors.

​This is Prof Mark Swilling's sixth year serving on the Board of The Development Bank of Southern Africa, serving as Chair of the Board from January to September 2019. Prof Swilling will serve as Deputy Chair for the next three years, and as Chairperson of the Infrastructure Delivery and Knowledge Committee (IDKC) of the Board. Prof Swilling made the following comments in terms of the DBSA and his role as the new Deputy Chair:  

“The DBSA has traditionally played a major role in development finance in general, but infrastructure funding in particular. It came through the state capture years unscathed, with clean audits every year and no reports of wasteful or unwarranted expenditure. It has R90 billion worth of assets, and it lends around R15 billion per annum. In 2018/2019 we disbursed R9 billion, which is low because of adverse economic conditions. At its AGM on Friday 27^th of September we announced a net profit of R3.1 billion (which we re-invest in development projects) and a pipeline of approved projects of R39 billion for the forthcoming year. We employ about 600 staff, and our cost to income ratio is a remarkable 23% (which is way below a commercial bank). My personal agenda has been to promote green investments and the adoption of what we now call our “development position". With regard to the former, we now have nearly R20 billion invested in renewable energy and we have become a designated agency of the Global Climate Facility that has made available $100 million for green investments, which we have matched. With regard to our newly adopted 'development position', DBSA has shifted from being a purely infrastructure investment bank to a proper development bank, i.e. the 'D' in DBSA is no longer a small 'd'. To this end we have established an Angel Investment Fund to make high risk low interest investments in SMMEs, in particular women-owned businesses; as well as a Social Impact Fund for generating social and environmental returns on financial investments. We are also seeding a new generation of local “D-Labs", i.e. innovative development labs for promoting entrepreneurship and employment in poor rural and urban areas. We are also managing the National Infrastructure Fund announced by the President, starting off with a R400 million project preparation facility provided by National Treasury. This is a strategically important initiative because it is a blended finance vehicle whereby private sector funding is attracted into infrastructure investments by public sector investments that take on more risk and require lower rates of return on investment. As Deputy Chair I will have more time to focus on the strategic guidance of these new green and developmental activities via the appropriate board committees (in particular the IDKC), with less time spent on the wider stakeholder management that is the responsibility of the Chairperson"   

​​When Niel Botha says he did not expect being named the 2019 CGW Schumann Medal winner for the best postgraduate student in Stellenbosch University’s (SU)  Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS), you believe him.

You see, the down-to-earth postgraduate student is not the kind to blow his own trumpet. He lets his actions speak for him – from his exploits on the sports field to his academic achievements to his work in the community. Others observe, admire and sing his praises.

Like the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science who nominated him for the medal and the EMS Faculty Committee who considered him the most worthy candidate.

Botha (23) was awarded the medal, named after the Faculty’s pioneer dean* and awarded annually since 1986, at an official hand-over ceremony at Stellenbosch on Friday, 26 July. The award is the highest student accolade in the Faculty. 

Botha had the following to say about being awarded the medal: “It was something I did not expect at all; it was a huge surprise! I received the e-mail confirming me as the recipient of the medal two months ago. I did not even know that I was nominated. It is a massive honour and a privilege.”

According to Prof Ingrid Woolard, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, Botha – who received both his BCom (Actuarial Science) and his BComHons (Actuarial Science) cum laude – is a deserving winner.

“Not only does he have an extraordinary academic record, but he also continued participating in sport at a very high level, and in social impact activities. He is a great inspiration to us and to his fellow students,” said Woolard.

During his years at SU (2014-2018), Botha played cricket for Maties and Boland as a bowling all-rounder and participated in community programmes where he tutored children in disadvantaged schools and assisted in coaching clinics organised by Maties Cricket.

“I have always been very competitive, especially in sport. But ultimately the big driver for me is to make a difference. It keeps you grounded and honest and makes you better as a person,” Botha said.

The Stellenbosch resident, who hopes to pursue a career in finance, will depart for the UK in September where he will study for his Master’s in Finance at Cambridge University.

“I initially applied for a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University but that fell through. Somebody pointed me to Cambridge and as I liked the MPhil course they offer, I decided to apply and was accepted.

“The big thing was getting the money to cover my tuition and living expenses for the duration of the one-year course. Luckily I managed to secure a scholarship from the Skye Foundation, an initiative established by the Zylstra family and awarded annually to postgraduate students who are nominated by the deans of their faculties.”

Ironically, Botha almost took a completely different path when he started his studies at SU in 2014.

“I was registered to study Accounting but changed my mind at the last minute. I was probably influenced by my brother and a family member who were both studying Actuarial Science at the time. I am very glad I made the switch as I was able to utilise my mathematics abilities better.”

The former Paul Roos Gymnasium learner matriculated in 2013, and is the youngest of a family with strong roots in Stellenbosch. His mother, Wouri, and father, Dewald, a former Matie and well-known golfer, are both dentists. His middle brother, Dewald, also studied Actuarial Science at SU and captained both Maties and Boland in cricket. His eldest brother, Ian, currently working in Johannesburg, studied Engineering at SU. His grandfather, Felix Botha, was a professor in Psychology at SU.

The young Botha, it seems, is destined to follow in their footsteps.​

      *   Prof CGW Schumann, pioneer lecturer in the Faculty from 1924, and also dean for a quarter-century from 1935, contributed significantly to the faculty's development.

• Photo by Anton Jordaan: Niel Botha, winner of the 2019 CGW Schumann Medal for the best postgraduate student in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at Stellenbosch University, with his parents, Stellenbosch dentists Mr Dewald and Mrs Wouri Botha.

​Even in high-poverty contexts, some children manage to achieve consistently good academic results despite their adverse circumstances. Understanding what enables these learners to succeed against the odds may provide valuable insights into what is necessary for academic success in challenging socio-economic and school contexts.

Gabrielle Wills and Heleen Hofmeyr, researchers in the Research on Socio-Economic Policy (ReSEP) group, led by Prof Servaas van der Berg, the South African Research Chair (SARChI) in the Economics of Social Policy, analysed the performance of academically resilient grade 6 learners in 60 township and rural schools in three provinces in South Africa.

The study forms part of a large project Leading for Literacy, funded by the United Kingdom's Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Analysis of the Process in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) test of literacy allowed the researchers to benchmark literacy levels of their sample against other countries. This test had highlighted the very low levels of literacy among grade 4 South African learners in their home language. But the data showed that even in contexts of low average literacy, outlier achievers were reaching high scores in international literacy benchmarks in over half of all grade 4 classrooms where tests were done in African languages.

A reading comprehension and vocabulary test was given to more than 2 000 grade 6 learners to identify learners who perform notably better than equally poor peers. In total, 87 academically resilient learners were identified who reached meaningful levels of literacy proficiency in this study, particularly when considering their challenging and under-resourced environments. These resilient learners were distributed across almost two-thirds of the schools included in the study. The researchers also highlighted the characteristics of these resilient learners, particularly the socio-emotional skills that distinguish them from their lower-performing peers.

In more than half of the schools, there were one or two learners who achieved literacy test scores three or more times higher than the score of the middle achieving learner in their class, with some top achieving learners scoring five or six times higher than the middle achieving learner in the class. The large gaps remain even after accounting for the possibility that higher achieving learners may come from wealthier homes. This points to a wider South African problem, namely a very large range of learner proficiencies within the same classrooms.

The strongest statistical predictors of resilience were socioemotional skills, including grit (passion and perseverance for long-term goals) and academic aspirations. This finding is also consistent with the international literature that confirms the importance of socio-emotional skills for academic resilience.

The authors make two important recommendations. Firstly, more school surveys should consider collecting measures that allow for the identification of socio-emotional skills in determining academic performance. More research is needed, however, to disentangle the possible two-way relationship between socioemotional skills and higher academic proficiency. Secondly, funding and political support are needed for experimental research on curriculum and teaching approaches to cater to varying learner proficiencies within classrooms. These different proficiencies pose a significant challenge for teachers, and gaps widen as learners are promoted to higher grades without mastering basic skills. Policy and research need to explore ways in which teachers can more effectively teach to the right level. This will require experimenting with new teaching models and possible technologies that could aid learning in classrooms with multiple learner proficiencies.

Wills and Hofmeyr also conclude that the presence of unusually high achievers in most classrooms is no excuse not to improve school quality. More research into how a small proportion of socio-economically disadvantaged learners manage to succeed against the odds could hold new insights for improving education.

*The article appears in the latest edition of the Stellenbosch University Research Publication. Click here to read more. 

Photograph: Stock image - Unsplash

​​​The names of the winners of the Faculty's 9th top lecturer competition sponsored by Die Burger, have been announced.​

The top undergraduate lecturers are:

• Prof Edwin Theron (Business Management),
  
• Dr Debra Shepherd (Economics),
  
• Mr Marius Meyer (Industrial Psychology),
  
• Mr Melrick October (Logistics),
  
• Ms Lize-Marie Sahd (School of Accountancy),
  
• Dr Ruenda Loots (School of Public Leadership), and
  
• Mr Luca Steyn (Statistics and Actuarial Science).
  

According to Prof Ingrid Woolard, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, Die Burger is enabling the Faculty to acknowledge excellence in teaching. “We take pride in this student-centred competition.

“From students' feedback, it is clear that the same 'old' values still hold true: lecturers have to be able to teach well and explain difficult concepts in such a way that students will understand them," she added.

The winners – the undergraduate and postgraduate top lecturers of each department as well as the overall undergraduate and overall postgraduate winner – will be awarded at a gala event on 18 October.

In addition, the names of the following ten students who have participated in the voting and whose names have been drawn in a lucky draw, will receive cash prizes of R1 500 each:

1. Miss CL Stanton
2. Mr P Falck
3. Miss S Gerber
4. Miss NG Mahurayi
5. Miss ML Christophers
6. Miss S Wright
7. Miss CL Groeneveld
8. Miss A Swanepoel
9. Miss L Koegelenberg
10. Miss KH Matthews
    

One of these students will also win a Huawei smartphone at the prizewinning function.

• Photo by Anton Jordaan: At the top lecturer function last year were (from left) Mr Justin Langeveld, Die Burger's General Manager: News South; Prof Rachel Jafta, Chairperson of Media24 and lecturer in economics; runner-up Prof Sarel Steel; overall winner Mrs Sophia Brink; Mrs Eloise de Jager (in 3rd place); and Mr Willem Jordaan, Editor of Die Burger.
  
  

Uber, Zindi and Transport Economics at Stellenbosch University, in association with SANRAL, have invited data scientists and aspiring data scientists to participate in a machine-learning hackathon on Saturday, 12 October at the Launch Lab, Hammanshand Road, Stellenbosch.

In October 2019, Uber will be launching Uber Movement in Cape Town, a free tool which uses Uber's anonymized data from millions of trips to help urban planners make significant decisions about their city.

Stellenbosch University, Uber and Zindi would like to host up to 100 data scientists and aspiring data scientists to support SANRAL in building a machine-learning model that predicts when and where vehicle and pedestrian accidents are likely to take place in the Western Cape.

Anyone interested in building machine-learning models are welcome to participate. (It will help if potential participants have some familiarity with R or Python.) Participants must bring their own laptops to the hackathon.

The full-day hackathon will include:

• Technical orientation to the challenge from data sicence mentors,
• Work with your team to build a mchine learning model,
• Submit your results to the Zindi platform.

R7 500 in prizes will be awarded to the top solutions at the end of the hackathon.

• For more information, click here.​
  
  

The next meeting between Stellenbosch University (SU) management and students to discuss measures to combat gender-based violence (GBV) is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, 2 October 2019.

The first meeting took place on 9 September, when the Anti-GBV Movement SU handed over its memorandum (click here) and the second on 18 September, when management's comprehensive response (click here) was tabled.

“Gender-based violence elicits righteous anger, and combating it is a righteous cause. We all agree that enough is enough. This is a collective effort," Rector and Vice-Chancellor Prof Wim de Villiers said.

​

On Tuesday (1 October 2019), the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, announced that an Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) gender grant had been awarded to three South African universities. The recipients are Stellenbosch University (SU) along with the universities of Johannesburg and the Western Cape.

Markle made the announcement at the University of Johannesburg, taking part in an ACU roundtable discussion on how to solve global challenges through inclusive higher education. The Duke and Duchess have been on a royal tour of Africa since 23 September.

SU received the ACU gender grant for its proposed Gender Detour project. The initiative aims to design a unique campus walkabout that would spark intentional conversations about the role of gender in campus culture, emotional and physical safety, health, social life, leadership, achievement and the future workplace.

According to Monica du Toit, ResEd group coordinator at SU's Centre for Student Communities, she was very surprised to learn about the award. “When I initially drafted the proposal to the ACU, I didn't really expect that we would receive the grant. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I heard the news. This grant is a great incentive to help SU develop an interactive project that will enable students from different backgrounds to talk about their experiences." During the roundtable discussion, Du Toit not only received the opportunity to meet Markle, but also got to interact with some 20 fellow academics and students working to improve the inclusivity and quality of higher education.

The Duchess became patron of the ACU in January when she took over this role from Queen Elizabeth, who had held the position for 33 years. The ACU discussion in Johannesburg also afforded Markle the opportunity to learn more about the challenges faced by young women in pursuing higher education.

“I was pleased to see so many different women from various backgrounds speaking with Markle about the gender issues they and other women on the continent were facing. It was also very encouraging to observe how she interacted with the students and others present," said Du Toit. 

SU's Gender Detour will require students to sign up as facilitators to accompany groups of four to six people – males, females as well as gender non-conforming identities – on a two-hour walk-and-talk experience. Special attention will be paid to making the route accessible for students and staff with disabilities or special needs.

Representatives from the student community have already been invited to a workshop that will set about designing the Gender Detour route, a discussion map or guide, and a feedback mechanism. Thanks to the ACU grant, the project will be further developed and officially launched in the months ahead.

For more information about the Gender Detour project, contact Monica du Toit at mdt2@sun.ac.za. 

Photo supplied by Reuters via SABC News.

Members of the newly-established Centre for Cardio-Metabolic Research in Africa (CARMA) went the extra mile this week to raise awareness for the annual World Heart Day on 29 September.

Students on the Rooi Plain were invited to do a simple blood pressure assessment, as it is an early indicator of cardiovascular health and well-being. They could also express their feelings on a large canvas as a matter of self-reflection and to release some of the stress and tension they typically experience on campus.

Prof Faadiel Essop, director of the centre, mentioned that several of the students tested displayed altered blood pressures that raises early concerns and require further investigation.

Participating students were also counselled on optimal lifestyle risk factors such as balanced diets and to avoid excess fat and refined carbohydrates, to commit to regular exercise at least five times a week, ways to lower stress, to quit smoking and drugs, etc.

On the photo above, from left to right, are Leandrie Beselaar, Prof Faadiel Essop, Leanne Dominick, Hannah Geddie and Nina Truter. They are all from the Department of Physiological Sciences. Photo: Wiida Fourie-Basson

​Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges in South Africa received a major boost with the launch of an international partnership to strengthen skills development and job creation in critically important fields such as agriculture and water governance.

Stellenbosch University (SU) and Maastricht School of Management (MSM) will manage the three year project “Strengthening Skills of TVET Staff and Students for Optimizing Water Usage and Climate Smart Agriculture in South Africa". The R27 million project is funded by the Netherlands Universities Foundation for International Cooperation (NUFFIC). The six TVET colleges involved are Vhembe College in Limpopo, Motheo College in the Free State, Nkangala College in Mpumalanga, Northern Cape Rural College in Upington, Boland College in the Western Cape, and Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute. Other partners include AgriColleges International (ACI), the Academy of Environmental Leadership, the Department of Higher Education and Training, and the Department of Water and Sanitation.

During the launch at Stellenbosch University on 27 September 2019, Prof Dipiloane Phutsisi, principal of Motheo TVET, said in her address that TVET Colleges play a key-role in solving South Africa's unemployment problem: “Our mandate is to deliver a skilled and capable workforce, but we grapple with various challenges. Today is a step in the right direction. We need strong partnerships to change this landscape, and to ensure the employability of our graduates."

In his welcome address, Prof Leopold van Huysteen from SU emphasised the global importance of sustainable environmental management: “If we don't resolve our water governance issues, then we're in serious trouble," he said.

He also thanked the TVET Colleges present for coming on board: “In a partnership one learns from your partner, but also from the beneficiaries. TVET Colleges know what they are doing and they know their market. We urgently need skills in the control and management of water, soil and agriculture in a water scarce country such as ours."

In conclusion, Mr Hans Nijhoff, project manager from MSM, said their role is to link the TVET Colleges to sectoral growth by optimising water usage and climate smart agricultural practices. This will be done in collaboration with SU as a key knowledge partner

“Together we hope to create jobs and ensure sustainable growth," he concluded.

For more information about the project, contact Mr Manuel Jackson, project manager at the Stellenbosch University Water Institute, at 021 808 9561.

On the photo: A high-level delegation from six of South Africa's TVET Colleges attended the launch of a three year project to boost skills development in the agricultural and water governance sectors, in partnership with Stellenbosch University (SU) and the Maastricht School of Management (MSM). Attending the launch on 27 September 2019 was, at the back, from the left, Thato Ramaphakela (Nkangala College), Cyril Mazibuku (Nkangala College), TE Ntsieng (Motheo College), Boesman Makae (Motheo College), Manuel Jackson (SU), Clifford Riddles (Northern Cape Rural College), Cain Maimela (Nkangala College),  Patrick Malima (Vhembe College), Johan Klinck (Motheo College), Nico Elema (SU), Joanna Fatch (SU), Sofoyiya Nokulunga (DHET), and Prof Leopold van Huysteen (SU). In front, Kentse Mathiba (DWS), Prof Dipiloane Phutsisi (Motheo College), Nigel Olin (Motheo College), Ernst Moller (Elsenburg), dr. Charon Buchner-Marais (SU), Laurika du Bois (ACI), Prof Peliwe Lolwana (WITS) and Hans Nijhoff (MSM). 

Photo: Wiida Fourie-Basson

​Two FMHS researchers – both with the faculty's Department of Global Health – made the department proud when they were recently featured in the Mail & Guardian's “200 young South Africans".

They are Dr Xanthe Hunt (27), a researcher at the Institute for Life Course Health Research and Dr Lieketseng Ned (30), a lecturer at the Centre for Rehabilitation Studies.

Hunt, who is also affiliated with California University and is studying with Harvard University, has two areas of research: she focuses on improving maternal and child health, particularly among young children affected by HIV and their caregivers in Kenya, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania. She is particularly interested in what makes public health programmes for mothers and children work – and how they can be made to work better. She also does research on sexual and reproductive health among people with disabilities and how mainstream health care services can be made more accessible to people with disabilities.

She is currently working on a book about disabled people's experiences of accessing sexual and reproductive health services.

Hailing from the Easter Cape, Ned convenes the postgraduate diploma programme in the centre. Her research is aimed at “contributing to the development of a situated disability and rehabilitation scholarship which centres the African experience. “More specifically, I am passionate about the following niche areas; critical disability and rehabilitation studies, community development practice, indigenous knowledges and methodologies, transformation in higher education and decoloniality," she said. Her work is published in various accredited journals and books.

Hunt, who hails from KZN and published more than 30 academic papers, has been described as "an academic phenomenon", and was a recipient of last year's prestigious Chancellor's Medal at Stellenbosch University. She is also the first psychology department student to have her master's degree converted to a PhD, and passed with no changes needed.

Yet, in an interview about the achievement, Hunt said she felt “very flattered". “By being named, I think you begin to feel you should work harder to earn the place.“

Asked what drives her in her work, Hunt said: “Coming from a privileged middle-class background in KZN, I started doing volunteer work in the public health system as soon as I got to university. It cemented my understanding that it was a complete accident that I ended up having access to good services while others did not. That accident is a result of inequalities with historical roots. For me healthcare services and systems can make a big difference in quality of life. I want to figure out how to make those services more equitable as it's unfair that they are not."

Ned, who is a board member for the South African Christian Leadership Association and Western Cape Rehabilitation Centre, said her doctorate, entitled 'Reconnecting with indigenous knowledge in education: exploring possibilities for health and well-being in Xhora, South Africa' has really assisted her to have a much more nuanced understand of disability and rehabilitation studies. She is now focused on raising funds to continue her engagements with AmaBomvane for further dissemination of this research using participatory visual methodologies. She also has a research collaboration with the University of Helsinki to focus of disability research in the Global South.

Ned said she feels “grateful and humbled" about being featured on the Mail & Guardian's 200 List. “It is a recognition of work that is mostly located in the margins. Most importantly, I am filled with joy and gratitude towards AmaBomvane in the Eastern Cape as it is through their knowledges that I am this recognised scholar today." She also voiced gratitude to friends, colleagues and the judges.

“The recognition is a form of affirmation as an emerging researcher and a future leader. It's a great privilege to be counted among the best minds and influencers in the country. I hope others are affirmed too that it's possible to re-imagine the present and actually re-create a better future" Ned said.

Acting head of the Department of Global Health, Professor Taryn Young said: “We are proud of Drs Hunt and Ned in being amongst the Mail & Guardian's '200 Young South Africans'. We celebrate their commitment and passion for their work, and value the contributions they are making to society."

Caption: Drs Lieketseng Ned and Xanthe Hunt.

Photo credit: Wilma Stassen

​​Stellenbosch University (SU) recently became the first university in Africa to acquire a MIRIS Human Milk Analyser. This device is used in neonatal units and analyses the nutritional composition of breast milk, which is crucial in the case of premature babies with particular nutritional needs.

Staff at Tygerberg Hospital recently completed special training from the Swedish suppliers, and the milk analyser is now ready to be put to good use.

Dr Evette van Niekerk, Senior Lecturer in the Division of Human Nutrition at SU's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS), said she was very excited at the university's acquisition of the equipment.

“Until now there were no resources to analyse breastmilk on site at Tygerberg Hospital and samples needed to be stored, transported and analysed at other local and international institutions," said Van Niekerk.

“The MIRIS Human Milk Analyser offers a unique opportunity for direct determination of the nutritional content of breast milk. With the new instrument, the analyses are done without chemicals, and results are obtained within minutes."

Among the features of the instrument are its small size, its robustness and easy handling. “The instrument is portable and is intended for use in hospitals, milk banks and for research purposes," said Van Niekerk.

“We have been doing research on human milk especially on pre-term infant milk and how the quality of the milk affects their growth and development. It is very expensive to have these analyses done if you don't have the facilities and equipment to do the analysis yourself. We have about 110 pre-term infants at a time at Tygerberg, so having the equipment here will be very helpful. It will improve our quality of care in that we can provide adequate nutritional intervention for the babies. Pre-term babies, because of their size, have much higher requirements in terms of nutrition. The breast milk of the mother of a preterm infant is normally of a higher quality, but often it is still not enough for the baby and has to be supplemented with additional nutrients.

“With the MIRIS milk analyser, we can analyse the milk of the mom and see exactly what mom is giving, and supplement accordingly. This means the babies will grow faster, have better neurodevelopmental outcomes and be discharged earlier."

Van Niekerk says she is planning some research studies in the next few months to show the impact of using the analyser.

“Additionally, because we are the first institution in Africa to buy this machine, it means we have the opportunity and also the responsibility to assist our fellow physicians and institutions who have preterm infants in analysing the breast milk for their pre-term infants."

Van Niekerk said she believes people have not yet seen the importance of breast milk content in South Africa. “Our breastfeeding rates are improving but in neonatal care it is important that we fulfil the nutritional needs of these infants with individualised fortification. It is a great step in the right direction, by acquiring this equipment."

Caption: Dr Evette van Niekerk

Photo credit: Wilma Stassen

​The MSc degree in Biostatistics that was recently launched by the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences' Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, has been gaining ground. Students are involved in projects on a variety of topics, including HIV, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer and rape.

But what does the programme entail, and how will it help to address public health and clinical problems?

What is biostatistics?

Biostatistics is the branch of statistics concerned with how we ought to make decisions when analysing biomedical data. It is an evolving discipline concerned with formulating explicit rules to compensate for both the fallibility of human intuition in general and for bias in study design in particular.

Biostatisticians would, for example, look at the prevalence of certain diseases in particular population groups – and try to determine the causes based on the information available. Or they would calculate life expectancy in certain patients, interpret data from certain drug trials, look at the geographical distribution of diseases, or evaluate treatment or prevention methods. This information could be used to improve or design health programmes, or to evaluate treatment and the efficacy of emergency care in a particular health setting.

Why is it important for research?

The collection, analysis and interpretation of data are key components of medical research projects. This not only enables a biostatistician or researcher to select the right statistical test for a particular study and study setting, but it also enables them to do the kind of analysis of the data to interpret the findings correctly – and to do so in an ethical manner, and with academic integrity.

It is also important to be able to interpret the findings of other studies correctly – not just the ones with which one was personally involved. Correct interpretation would make it possible to apply research findings to clinical practice – and would provide a basis for determining policy decisions.

“Biostatistics cuts across all health areas and strengthens research methods, thereby enhancing its rigour," says Prof Taryn Young, Director of the Centre for Evidence-based Health Care and Head of the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

What does the degree entail?

The course offers rigorous training for those with a background or experience in quantitative or health-related disciplines who wish to pursue a career in biostatistics. The programme would be of interest to potential biostatisticians who require practical and technical skills, as well as skills in the application of principles of statistical reasoning to address public health problems and challenges.

It is a structured master's programme and students complete modules, an internship of three months and a research assignment. The programmatic offering is supported by a dedicated and dynamic team of lecturers from the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the Department of Statistics, as well as international collaborators.

Goals

The programme aims to develop highly skilled biostatisticians who can use their expertise to contribute significantly to addressing issues in public health and in the field of biomedical science. It is hoped that this programme will also help to fulfil South Africa's need for a skilled and independent thinking scientific workforce with exceptional critical intellectual abilities.

The degree is aimed at students with an interest in and an aptitude for working with technology, statistical analysis and research in the fields of medicine and biology, and who are interested in trying to solve and address challenges faced by the community.

Caption: Dr Carl Lombard, Ms Liesel Esterhuizen, Prof Taryn Young, Ms Tonya Esterhuizen and Dr Birhanu Ayele.

Photo credit: Damien Schumann

Staff and students at Stellenbosch University's (SU) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) eagerly engaged with the proposed design of the renewed MBChB curriculum at a recent expo held at the Tygerberg campus.

“We want to have a socially accountable MBChB curriculum tailored to the needs of South Africans," Prof Hennie Botha, a member of the curriculum renewal team said at an interactive session at the expo. He explained that the motive for the renewal process was to design a curriculum that specifically addresses the disease burden and realities of the people of South Africa.

“The renewed MBChB curriculum will include much of the same content as the current curriculum, but we will be using modern new ways of teaching and learning that will be student-centred and utilize our teachers in the best possible way," said Botha, who also heads the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the FMHS.

The proposed curriculum will bring exciting new changes to the way medicine is taught. Students will continuously be exposed to the primary healthcare environment from early on in the programme, and negotiations with the Provincial Department of Health are underway to expand the clinical teaching platform to include greater numbers of appropriate settings.

Interprofessional learning will also be a strong focus of the renewed curriculum. The curriculum renewal team are exploring how students from different health professions can learn together – not only in the classroom, but even more importantly on the clinical platform. “We are looking for synergies between different programmes which will provide students with actual exposure to collaborative practice," said Prof Julia Blitz, FMHS Vice Dean: Learning and Teaching, who is leading the MBChB renewal process.

An important component of the proposed programme is the wellbeing of the health professional. “We want to equip the students with tools and skills to enable them to do self-care, and to develop resilience and robustness that can carry them through their medical careers," said Dr Kerrin Begg, a Public Health Specialist, who leads the Being and Becoming in Healthcare module team.

“We want to enable our students to be change agents for better health and be clinicians that have the ability to continue learning and to maintain the curiosity of clinicians working in an ever-changing environment," Botha said.

The renewal process for the FMHS' MBChB programme started in 2017, and it is envisaged that the renewed curriculum will be rolled out in 2021 – subject to accreditation by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).

Students who enrolled in the MBChB programme before 2021 will continue with the current curriculum for the duration of their studies and there will be an overlap of both the current and renewed MBChB programme from 2021 to 2025.

Caption: Dr Liezl Smit, Prof Julia Blitz and Ms Mariette Volschenk are part of the curriculum renewal team.

Photo credit: Wilma Stassen

​​Through innovation, ingenuity and collaboration Prof René English intends to tackle some of the challenges facing public health, now and in the future.

English, a medically trained doctor with a PhD in Medicine, a specialist qualification in Public Health Medicine and a passion for public health, has taken over the reins at the Division of Health Systems and Public Health at Stellenbosch University's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.

“My interest in public health was piqued while working in health facilities in low-income settings in South Africa. I would treat one patient with a certain condition and then wonder where all the other patients are. Are they getting treatment? Are they aware of interventions? Or I would think about how to reorganize a health facility to better manage the queues," says English, who holds a MMed in Public Health from the University of Cape Town.

According to her, the South African health system requires considerable strengthening. “We need to support managers and decision makers to develop policies, and also enable people working at the coalface to deliver those policies," says English, who joined the FMHS after eight years with Health Systems Trust (HST) where she headed the Health Systems Research Unit.

She has returned to academia to do her part in building capacity and strengthening the health system, and also to help with, what she calls, “future proofing" public health. “We are entering the fourth industrial revolution, and there are emerging public health issues like climate change, globalization and emerging infectious diseases like SARS, Zika virus and Ebola infections.

“We need to start looking at public health through a 'futuristic lens'. We should think about how to leverage knowledge from disciplines other than medicine to improve the health of the population, using artificial intelligence, robotics or big data."

“I'm excited to have joined a future-focused university, which thinks about things such as internationalisation and partnering with universities in Africa and elsewhere in the world, and to work with the younger generation who have an affinity for technology. I think this could provide fertile ground for the advancement of public health," she says.

In her new role as divisional head, English endeavours to build capacity among staff and students, and to facilitate research that is of real concern to government, policy makers, and communities of our country. “Through its teaching and research activities, I would like to see this division produce public health practitioners and other health workers who can effect chance in their workplaces and communities. I would like for everyone who have gone through our programmes and courses to have sufficiently transformed to be able to make an impact on the ground towards addressing the key issues in our country," says English.

Most of her private time is allocated to young people – she has a two-year old daughter who keeps her “very busy", and she is also involved in a newly-established NGO, AfrA Foundation, that works to reduce drop-out rates of young people in primary and high school, amongst other activities. “I have a particular interest in the youth and I spend a good part of my weekends either thinking about or working on the programmes offered by AfrA Foundation."

Earlier this year, English was appointed to the Health Ministerial Task Team for Human Resources for Health where she serves as Chair of the Information, Monitoring and Evaluation Workstream. In 2017 she served on the Lancet National Commission on High Quality Health Systems, and was also the recipient of the Africa Science Leadership Fellowship jointly awarded by the University of Pretoria, Global Young Academy, Robert Bosch Foundation, and Leopold Leadership Programme at Stanford University.

Photo credit: Wilma Stassen

​When she was awarded the prestigious PhD Global Minds Scholarship through Leuven University, Lynn Hendricks had not prepared herself for temperatures of minus-six degrees and for the lonely, overwhelmed feeling of being in a new country. 

But, said Hendricks, a research psychologist and recent graduate of the MSc Clinical Epidemiology programme at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, it has all been worth it. “In these four short weeks I have already learnt more about arts-based research than I ever did reading books and papers over the past few years," she said. 

Hendricks, who is currently employed at the Centre for Evidence Based Health Care (CEBHC), as a teaching facilitator, was over the moon when she heard recently that she had been awarded the fully-funded four-year scholarship through Leuven which is situated just outside Brussels in Belgium.

She will spend between four and five months at Leuven University every year and will be at the CEBHC the rest of the time. 

Her award – valued at about R2 million over four years – was an outstanding achievement because competition for the grant is stiff with only one person per country region being selected each year. 

As a contribution to development, Leuven, Belgium's largest university, selects exceptional students from developing countries as scholarship candidates to obtain their PhD there, with a view to the PhD holders using the expertise gained when they are home. The scholarships are offered to excellent proposals that deal with a development-relevant research topic, preferably linked to the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Hendricks' work as a teaching facilitator involves developing new research methods modules and working on research projects. Her scholarship work involves a transdisciplinary joint PhD between Leuven and Stellenbosch universities. “I am exploring, through participatory research, the experiences of perinatally infected HIV positive South African youth and what they perceive as an enabling environment for adherence and their ability to thrive. Additionally, I'm interrogating the use of arts-based research as a methodology and research-film as a dissemination outcome throughout my project." 

Hendricks said she feels “really blessed" to be a recipient of the scholarship. “When I heard I'd got it, I was ecstatic! I get to spend every working moment on research I'm passionate about, with people I look up to and in a subject area I love." 

Highlights of the experience so far include her “great" PhD supervision team (Prof K. Hannes-Leuven; Prof T Young-Stellenbosch and Prof C. Mathei-Leuven) between the two universities and attending the 3rd European Congress of Qualitative Enquiry in Scotland. “I made connections with other researchers in Belgium, Australia and the United Kingdom. I even got an invitation to present on qualitative systematic reviews in Poland in April this year." 

Even though it's been an adjustment, Hendricks is adapting fast: “I've met great people, my research group has been supportive and my family is a video call away. 

“I'll return to Stellenbosch University a new person, revived, recharged and ready to teach! It's awesome being a Global Minds Scholar!"