The promotion of four researchers of the Faculty of AgriSciences as distinguished professors at Stellenbosch University is yet another acknowledgement of their exceptional international academic excellence and leadership, and their ability to motivate students.  They are conservation ecologist Prof. Michael Samways, postharvest technology expert Prof. Umezuruike Linus Opara, plant biotechnologist Prof. Jens Kossmann and animal and meat scientist Prof. Louw Hoffman.

"We are enormously proud of these achievements by our members of staff, which reflect their individual capacity as well as that of their collective research and supporting environments," said Prof. Danie Brink, acting dean of the Faculty of AgriSciences.

Prof. Michael Samways

Prof. Michael Samways is an A-rated entomologist and conservationist, and has ably chaired the Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology for the past decade. He has received numerous accolades throughout the course of his career, with the latest being a Citation of Excellence from the World Conservation Union/Species Survival Commission Chair that he received earlier this year. 

He is president of the international Orthopterists' Society, and has served on the editorial boards of numerous high calibre journals including Conservation Biology, and Biodiversity and Conservation. He is the currently Associate Editor of Journal of Insect Conservation, and advisor to publishers including Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Wiley-Blackwell and Pensoft.

Based on the scientific citation indexing service Web of Science's latest rankings, Prof. Samways is now globally the leading author in insect conservation, and is ranked third among authors in biodiversity conservation. His publication list will soon top 300 full scientific papers. He has also authored 57 book chapters, and 15 books/special issues, all with major publishers, and is now working on a major book with the publishers Wiley-Blackwell on matters relating to practical insect conservation.

Prof. Louw Hoffman

Prof. Louw Hoffman of the Department of Animal Sciences is the only scientist worldwide who researches the quality of game meat from Africa. His focus falls almost exclusively on meat species indigenous to South Africa. A recent paper on contamination within the local processed meat industry has led to new nationwide regulations being promulgated on how meat products should be labelled.

He holds the Research Chair in Meat Sciences: Genomics to Nutrinomics as part of the DST/NRF South African Research Chair Initiative (SARChI), and also serves on South Africa's Agricultural Research Council (ARC). Last year he received the International Lectureship Award from the leading American Meat Science Association (AMSA). 

This B evaluated scientist is also an editorial member of the journal Meat Science, the Journal of Food Science and Technology and the South African Journal of Wildlife Research. He has published over 160 peer reviewed papers, while more than 70 postgraduate students have completed their research under his guidance.

The Division for Research Development is proud to announce that the virtual copy of Research at Stellenbosch University 2013 is now available.​​

The aim of this publication is to showcase outstanding research at Stellenbosch University. This award-winning publication has shown itself to be an effective way to draw the attention and interest of not only fellow researchers (nationally and internationally), but also funding agencies, industry partners, the media and the broader public.

The general theme for the 2013 edition is: SU contributes to a sustainable future and shifts boundaries through our WEALTH of knowledge.

Go to: http://www.myvirtualpaper.com/doc/stellenbosch-University/research-2013/2014060201/ for the virtual copy of the 2013 edition. The printed version is currently in press.

Since this publication will be widely distributed, both nationally and internationally, we hope that you will see this as a perfect opportunity to showcase your research! Calls for contributions/articles will go out again around August this year, but you are welcome to contact Maryke Hunter-Husselmann (mh3@sun.ac.za; x4623) for more information on how to feature your work.

​The City of Cape Town and an MSc student from Stellenbosch University have embarked on an ambitious project to create a corridor of bird-friendly gardens from the Cape Peninsula Mountain range to the isolated Rondevlei Nature Reserve in the middle of Cape Town.

The idea is to relink the broken migration routes for especially nectar-feeding birds, with the gardens acting as stepping-stones across densely-populated urban areas.

Some species, such as Malachite Sunbirds and Sugarbirds, are particularly sensitive to urbanisation and do not venture far into the urban areas that now separate the Table Mountain National Park from the Boland Mountains and from the smaller reserves on the Cape Flats. Yet these birds are important pollinators of more than 350 plant species in the Cape Floral Region.

Mr Bongani Mnisi, the MSc student responsible for this project, is also a regional manager in the Biodiversity Management Branch of the City of Cape Town's Environmental Resource Management Department. For the past six years, he has been managing the largest part of the City's biodiversity network, including three nature reserves.

But this project is not only about birds.

Despite growing up in Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga, only 45 kilometres outside the Kruger National Park, he had limited access to natural areas. While this inspired him to study nature conservation at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), his dream was to pursue research where he could combine his love for nature with societal development and the youth.

With Prof Anton Pauw from the Department of Botany and Zoology at Stellenbosch University as study leader, his MSc study is now part of a larger project which is an attempt to answer the ecological question of whether birds really matter. Dr Sjirk Geerts, from the Department of Biodiversity and Conservation at CPUT, acts as co-superviser.

"My research will try to answer important ecological questions, but it also looks at the convergence between society and nature. This is a community-based project, involving local schools, local government and civil society. In this way we hope to identify young people with a talent for biodiversity and develop their environmental leadership skills," Bongani explains.

Members of the Cape Town Bird Club are to provide academic mentorship, and learners will be able to register sightings of birds on the MyBirdPatch website. This is an established platform for birders and citizen scientists to collect and curate their bird lists, for any area they define (http://mybirdpatch.adu.org.za)

Since April this year, over 3 000 indigenous bird-pollinated plants have been planted in plots of 200 m² at four schools on the Cape Flats. They are Muizenberg Secondary (closest to the Muizenberg and Silvermine mountain range), followed by Steenberg Secondary, Crestway Secondary and then Lavender Hill Secondary (school closest to the Rondevlei section of the False Bay Nature Reserve).

Prof Pauw explains that the plants were very carefully selected: "Plants that are adapted for bird pollination tend to have flowers that are reddish in colour, have long nectar tubes, produce large volumes of nectar with a low sugar concentration, lack scent and are provided with a sturdy perch where the bird can sit while feeding. Many of these characteristics distinguish them from insect pollinated plants."

All the plants used in the study were grown from local genetic stock by the City of Cape Town Nursery in West Lake, the Cape Flats Fynbos Nursery, the Good Hope Gardens Nursery and Anerlia Farm. Bongani worked with school learners and staff from the City of Cape Town's Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) to get them into the ground.

Some of the species planted include the Sugarbush Protea, Wild Dagga and the Cobra lily, as well as the Cape Flats Heath, which used to be common in the Cape Town area but is now virtually extinct. At each of the schools about 25 different species were planted. Four primary schools in the same area, with no indigenous gardens, will serve as control sites.

"Growing up I've always had an interest in nature and people; and this project is now helping me to live my dream as I've always wanted it to be," Bongani concludes.  

Contact details

Mr Bongani Mnisi, Regional Manager: North, City of Cape Town, 021 514 4164, 083 591 7791, Bongani.Mnisi@capetown.gov.za 

Prof Anton Pauw, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, 021 808 3314, 083 682 4177, apauw@sun.ac.za, http://academic.sun.ac.za/botzoo/pauw/index.htm#cv

Dr Sjirk Geerts, Department Biodiversity and Conservation, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 021 460-3215, 083 673 8968, geertss@cput.ac.za

Released by Wiida Fourie-Basson, Media: Faculty of Science, Stellenbosch University, science@sun.ac.za, 021 808-2584

Seventeen of the 18* Matie students who formed part of a delegation to meet with among others, the then-banned ANC, in Lusaka in 1989, will attend a special 25 year reunion at Stellenbosch University (SU) on Saturday 14 June.

The event is to be held at the Wallenberg Research Centre at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) in Marais Street in Stellenbosch at 12:00.

By invitation, the group met with among others President Kenneth Kaunda,  the Zambian president at the time. A group of the students also met with the ANC – among others with Dr Tito Mboweni, former Governor of the Reserve Bank and recipient of an honorary doctorate from SU.

Dr Mboweni will attend the event on Saturday, while Adv Thuli Madonsela, the Public Protector, will deliver a keynote address.

Prof Russel Botman, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of Stellenbosch University, will welcome the students back to their alma mater and contextualise the event against the backdrop of changes at Maties and the University's current commitment to human rights and democracy on campus.

"As South Africa reflects on the strides we have made as a nation since our transition to democracy, this event presents us with an opportunity to take a fresh look at one of the defining moments of our own history," Prof Botman said.

"We can learn from what happened in 1989 as we now strive to produce graduates who are critical thinkers and engaged citizens," he added.

"It is the first time that these alumni will return to Stellenbosch as a group and we are looking forward to an insightful discussion on this historic event," says Ms Bev Witten, Senior Director: Alumni Relations. "It should be noted that the group was not unified in its mission and that there was discord among the students. In addition, the visit to Lusaka received a huge amount of media attention, the students were reprimanded by the University authorities and they were vilified by co-students. This all sets the scene for an interesting unique alumni reunion!"

Panel discussion

Dr Mboweni will facilitate a panel discussion consisting of members of the Lusaka group, recent SRC members and Mr Roelf Meyer, a chief negotiator for the National Party at CODESA and former leader of the UDM.

The event forms part of a Thought Leadership Discussion Series held by SU as part of the institution's celebrations of 20 years of democracy.

• Liaise with Ms Bev Witten, Senior Director: Alumni Relations, at tel 021 808 9263 or bevwitten@sun.ac.za for more information.
  

*The original group consisted of 20 delegates of which 18 were students with one of the students sadly deceased.

Caption: Various meetings were held on the students' return to Stellenbosch. Here are Pierre van der Spuy, Estele van Reenen, Pearlie Joubert (with microphone), Anneliese Burgess, Mark Behr, Henriette Geldenhuys and Danie Fölscher (photo provided by Pearlie Joubert).

SUNLearn was officially launched as Stellenbosch University's learning management system at the start of 2014. Previously, the University utilised three separate systems which required higher human and technical resources for support and management. After an intensive evaluation and year-long process of planning and hard work, the combined team consisting of Information Technology and Centre for Learning Technologies staff, were pleased to successfully support the initial roll-out of SUNLearn.

The Centre for Learning Technologies enjoys a close relationship with the Information Technology Department in providing both staff and students with full support in the use of SUNLearn. Through a rigorous and systematic testing and quality assurance process, the CLT SUNLearn team has worked together with IT and continues to investigate future enhancements to the system.

SUNLearn is based on a system utilised by both national and international education institutions. This system has proved to be user-friendly with a large community available online for discussion and support where needed. SUNLearn allows lecturers to provide an interactive base for their teaching activities which supports a blended learning approach to their curricula.

Feedback from staff and students have been positive regarding SUNLearn. There have been assessments conducted with increased security thanks to the IP restrictions available on SUNLearn for quizzes. Recently, over 1000 students were able to successfully complete an assessment simultaneously without any technical difficulties. Other lecturers have begun to utilise the multi-media supported nature of the system by creating audio and video questions in quizzes. Students are also able to submit assignments that have been enhanced by authentic evidence of the hard work they have done in the form of audio, video or images. One particular department has taken the leap of going paper-less thanks to the versatility of SUNLearn.

The CLT SUNLearn team are constantly improving their training opportunities for staff on the system and offer daily support via phone and email. Weekly training is also available for those who have not yet made use of the training along with the approximately 500 staff members who have. The Blended Learning Short course offered through CLT is run primarily through SUNLearn and provides a space for building communities of practice for other initiatives within the Division for Teaching and Learning Enhancement.

The SUNLearn support desk operates between 8h00 and 16h30 daily and can be reached on: 021 808-3938 or learn@sun.ac.za

This team, coordinated by Lianne Keiller (lkeiller@sun.ac.za) will continuously strive to support a system that encourages lecturers in their efforts to enhance the learning of their students.

As part of the expansion of the web, the last decade has seen the rise of thousands — if not millions — of web apps: often-simple tools that allow users to complete specific tasks via a web page from any computer connected to the internet. For students, the possibilities are almost endless: think of a task you need to complete and you can be nearly certain that there will be a useful web app that fits the job. The key, however, is to know where to look. And that's where this guide comes in. Below, you'll find a list of a few tried-and-tested web apps that — if used correctly — can make your (student) life much, much easier. Try them. Use them. Share them with friends.

Note-taking AND STUDY AIDS

Evernote: A very popular note management solution, allowing you to pull in notes from your tablet, computer, phone and elsewhere. The web app lets you create, edit, manage and search your notes library. www.evernote.com

Mindmup: An easy-to-use tool that lets you create your own mind maps quickly and efficiently. Great for summarising course notes, articles and books. www.mindmup.com

Gliffy and LucidChart: Both great apps for illustrating a concept with diagrams. Both include many useful shapes and tools. However, both have some limits on the free account. Still, they are great for occasional diagramming. www.gliffy.com and www.lucidchart.com

Google Drive Documents: Google's web-based word processor. While its feature set isn't as advanced as Microsoft Word or Apple Pages, it's perfect for summaries, essays and more. Also, it beats Word and Pages with its big killer feature: you and other people can type in the same document at the same time. This makes it perfect for team planning, agendas and taking minutes in a meeting. Google Drive Documents is part of — you guessed it — Google Drive, so you'll need to create an account there. drive.google.com

Cram: A lightweight flashcard tool that lets you create your own flashcards (having one word/phrase on the front and one on the back) and then review them alphabetically or randomly. Very useful for any content for which you have to remember a key point for a specific concept, e.g. in learning a language. www.cram.com

Presentations

Prezi: Tired of slideshows with sparkling text and way too many bullet points? Do your next presentation with Prezi. It's a great way to illustrate how your ideas fit into one another because all your content is displayed on a single canvas, with the 'view' simply panning and zooming from one area to another. www.prezi.com

Google Drive Presentations: If you prefer a more traditional 'slideshow', or if Prezi isn't suitable for communicating your message, you can use Google's PowerPoint alternative for free. While it's not as feature-packed as PowerPoint, it's still a great way to do presentations if you don't want to dish out money for the aforementioned duo. drive.google.com

Research

Google Scholar: This app brings the power of Google search to research. By letting you search thousands of academic databases (including those used by EBSCOHost, JSTOR, etc.) quickly and easily, it cuts down the time necessary to find the articles you need for projects, essays and theses. As a bonus, it also lets you import article metadata into a citation manager (see Zotero below) directly from the search results page. When accessing Google Scholar from outside the Stellenbosch University, use scholar.google.com.ez.sun.ac.za to get access to the journals to which the university subscribes. Otherwise: scholar.google.com

[Special mention] Zotero: While Zotero isn't strictly speaking a web app (although it also runs in your browser), it's just too good and relevant not to include here. For a full Zotero guide, check out the previous article[1]  in this series.

organisation and communication

Google Calendar: This app is the gold standard in free calendar tools. It helps you keep track of your appointments, events, deadlines and general planning — all while still being very easy to use. It can also keep in sync with all your devices, so that you can have access to your calendar on your tablet, phone and computer. calendar.google.com

Gmail: This e-mail service has ever-expanding storage space and great search functionality. Gmail is different from Microsoft Outlook, Yahoo Mail and other services, in that it uses 'labels' instead of traditional folders. You can tag any e-mail with one or more labels and subsequently search by that label. Also, because you have such a large amount of space (15 GB as of early 2014), you never have to delete e-mails and lose them forever. Consequently, because you have access to all e-mails you ever sent or received, Gmail includes powerful searching capabilities (think: Google for your inbox) that allow you to delve into your tons and tons of messages effortlessly. www.gmail.com

Wunderlist: task management made easy — and beautiful. Keep track of your daily to-do list, priorities, shopping list and more. You can also share task lists with friends — a great tool for group projects. www.wunderlist.com

File sharing

Google Drive: This app gives you a virtual hard drive in the 'cloud'. Install Google Drive on your computer and then simply drop a file in the assigned folder to upload it. Once uploaded, you can share files with friends. A killer feature of Google Drive is the range of web-based editors that are included by default — two of which were previously mentioned — that make collaboration easy. You can also share specific folders in your Drive with your friends, which works really well to keep all the files for a group project stored in one place. drive.google.com

Dropbox: simple and easy file sharing. While it works in the same way as Google Drive, it doesn't include the online editors built into the latter. However, Dropbox remains one of the simplest ways to share files between devices and people. Dropbox is particularly useful when you need to send a large file via e-mail and don't want to clog up the recipient's mail storage: simply upload the file to your Dropbox and then share the link in an e-mail. www.dropbox.com

Since tablets became mainstream in 2010, more and more students have started relying on these nifty gadgets to take their learning experience to the next level. However, many students still are unaware or unconvinced of the advantages of tablet-based learning. In the following sections, we'll look at why exactly a tablet is a fantastic investment, what the different alternatives are when you're looking to buy one and how you can make the most of a tablet.

Why a tablet?

In short, there are four reasons:

1. The most obvious advantage of a tablet is the level of mobility it offers. As a student, you'll most probably carry around at least a notepad, your prescribed books and your class notes. And, for many, a calculator, dictionary and diary/calendar are also indispensable. Carrying these items around all day long can quickly become a back-breaking burden – which is why most students simply leave their heavy books at home. With a tablet, though, you can have all of these resources compacted into the size of an A5 notepad. No more forgetting books or notes at home – everything you need is but a few finger taps away. This is a killer feature in itself.
2. However, the true academic value of a tablet becomes evident when one looks at its potential as an in-class companion. Not only does a tablet keep everything you need at hand, it also allows you to manipulate these resources in useful ways. For example, you can add bookmarks, highlights and notes to your prescribed books and class notes while the lecturer is discussing them. You can also efficiently create rich notes of your own. You'll be able to combine typing and drawing on the screen to capture, for example, key points in a class discussion or diagrams and charts drawn by the lecturer. You'll be able to neatly organise these notes in subject folders for future reference. The biggest killer feature of a tablet in class, however, is the fact that it allows you to record what is said in class so that you can listen to these recordings while preparing for an exam. While it's not practical to record every second of every class (because – let's be honest – you'll never listen to all of that again), this feature is extremely handy to record important bits of a lecturer's explanation or a class discussion. Lastly, a tablet also gives you quick access to handy reference material. Need to quickly look up a word's definition or do a calculation? A tablet lets you do both at lightning speed, which means that you won't lose track of the train of thought in class.
3. Tablets don't only shine inside the classroom. Any student who's had to scour stacks and stacks of paper notes to review specific content before an exam will testify to how frustrating, tedious and time-wasting this can be. Having all of your own notes – and the slideshows or hand-outs provided by the lecturer – neatly organised on a single device, where it's accessible with a few taps of the finger, eliminates the hassles of paper-based exam preparation and gives you more time to actually study.
4. An often-missed advantage of tablet-based learning is the fact that e-book versions of prescribed books and textbooks are usually cheaper than their print counterparts. While many books are not yet available in digital format, the savings on those that are can quickly compound to a substantial amount. And, of course, using an e-book offers all of the advantages of digital learning, including such timesavers as being able to search for words and phrases, jump to specific pages and chapters, add multi-coloured highlights and make digital annotations.

Buying a tablet: The choices

TIP: Stellenbosch University is part of the national Student Technology Programme (STP), which offers laptops and tablets at reduced prices. Take a look at their website: www.stp.co.za

While there are many different tablets on the market, they can all be categorised according to the software platform they run. Just like a computer runs on Microsoft Windows, Mac OSX or Linux, a tablet also has a so-called operating system. In choosing a tablet, then, you have three main alternatives:^[1]

1. An iOS-based tablet:
1. Apple iPad (starting at around R4 500 for an older iPad 2 with WiFi)
2. Apple iPad Mini (starting at around R3 500 for a first-generation device with WiFi)
2. An Android-based tablet:
1. Samsung Galaxy Tab (starting at around R6 000 for an older Galaxy Tab 2 P5100 with WiFi)
2. Samsung Galaxy Note (costing around R7 000 for a Galaxy Note N7100 with WiFi+3G)
3. Lower-end alternatives by other companies (costing as little as R1 500)
3. A Windows-based tablet:
1. Microsoft Surface (costing around R8 000 for a 32 GB WiFi model, from online retailers)
2. Alternatives by Lenovo and Dell (starting at around R5 000)

The first two groups are by far the most popular. Although many people will argue that an iPad is better than a Samsung Galaxy Tab – or vice versa – choosing between the two is ultimately a matter of taste. However, if you own a smartphone (e.g. an iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy), it makes sense to get a tablet that runs the same software so that you can easily share data and apps between the two.

If cost is your biggest concern, your best option will be to get a lower-end Android tablet (e.g. via the STP mentioned in the blue box above). These tablets should be able to do most things that their Samsung big brother can do, albeit at a slower pace and without some of the enhancements that come with Samsung devices. When buying such a tablet, make sure that the battery life is good (you'll want at least 8 hours of battery life to get through a full day of classes) and that the tablet has enough storage space (less than 16 GB will fill up rather rapidly).

How to make the most of your tablet

Tablets aren't cheap, but they definitely are one of the best investments you can make during your time as a student. However, simply buying a tablet and expecting wonders is not enough. You'll need to make some adjustments to the way you learn to be able to take maximum advantage of your investment. Specifically, you need to actually integrate your tablet with your learning experience: leave your notepad at home, get all of your class notes digitally and start buying your books in e-book format. It will be difficult at first, and you may question whether it's all worth it in the end, but once you've adapted your workflow to the tablet, you'll reap the benefits tenfold.

Furthermore, you need to get the best apps for the job. Like computers can run software like Microsoft Word, tablets also have small software packages called "apps". There are hundreds of thousands of apps available for both iOS and Android – each of these apps performs specific functions and works well in specific contexts. Most apps are cheap (costing below $5 or R50) and can drastically boost your productivity.

For a list of useful iOS apps for students, take a look at this blog article. And for Android, check out this round-up.

TIP: For a guide to buying apps, check out this article for iOS and this one for Android.

Last note: can a tablet replace a computer?

If cost is a big concern for you and you have to choose between a desktop computer/laptop or a tablet, you'll probably be wondering whether the latter can fully replace the former. The short answer – at least at the moment – is NO. iPads and Galaxy Tabs (as well other Android devices) are extremely useful and will be able to accomplish most everyday tasks that students need to perform, e.g. browsing the web, reading e-mail, accessing a learning management system (e.g. SUNLearn), making notes, etc. You can even write essays and reports on a tablet (although, for such heavy-duty typing, you'll probably need to buy an external keyboard as well). However, you won't be able to run the same software that you can run on a PC or Mac, because the software platforms are different. In other words: if your course requires of you to use specialised software (like a programming IDE or CAD design software), you'll probably not be able to get away with only a tablet.

While it's definitely true that a tablet works best if you have a computer/laptop as well, if you have to choose between the two, bear in mind that you can always use the University's computer centres (e.g. HUMARGA or FIRGA) for specialised software or heavy-duty typing. This might be a good way to avoid having to choose between buying a computer/laptop or a tablet.

Lastly, it should be noted that some Windows-based tablets (e.g. the Microsoft Surface Pro) actually run the same Windows platform that you'll find on a computer. Technically, then, these tablets are fully-fledged computers in a tablet form and therefore can replace a desktop computer/laptop completely. However, these tablets are expensive and have not been particularly popular, which should make you think twice before buying one.

^[1] Please note that the listed prices of tablets are merely intended as a general guideline and were current as of January 2014.

It's safe to say that every university student will write at least one written piece (essay, report, etc.) requiring referencing during his/her time as student. It's also safe to say that mentioning the word "referencing" to most of these students will, at the very least, make their smiles drop or, in a worst-case scenario, lead to them running away, screaming and wildly swinging their arms in the air.

This is quite understandable.

Manual referencing – keeping track of your sources, making sure you have the correct information on them and, finally, citing them in the right places in the right style – is a horrid experience. It's mundane, laborious and very time-consuming. While many facets of doing research have evolved tremendously over the past decades, it's rather curious that a simple and easy solution to this persistent problem has not yet been developed.[1]

That is, of course, until the advent of Zotero. In the following sections we'll look briefly at how Zotero works in an effort to show why some consider it to be the best thing since sliced bread.

What is Zotero and how do I get it?

Zotero is a free, open source software package that you can install on your PC, Mac or Linux-based computer. It runs as an "add-on" within the Mozilla Firefox browser (which is also free and open source) and integrates deeply with your referencing process, greatly simplifying all of its steps: collecting sources, keeping them organised and citing them – in the correct style – in your paper, essay or report.

To install Zotero, make sure you have Firefox installed. If not, first download Firefox. Open Firefox. Then go to this page and click the "Zotero for Firefox" button.[2]

How does Zotero work?

Collecting sources

There's a cool screencast showing all of the below, as well as a great guide.

Zotero's first 'killer' feature is the fact that it makes it much quicker and easier to accurately collect information about your sources. In most cases, you can grab all of the information required for a citation (e.g. title, date, publisher and place, in the case of a book) in a single click, while you are viewing the specific item on your preferred research/library website (e.g. Google Scholar, JSTOR, EBSCOHost). There are four ways to collect sources:

1. Use the icon in the address bar. On most websites, Zotero will add an icon to the right-hand side of the top address bar. When clicking that icon, Zotero will automagically grab the metadata of the item you're currently viewing (e.g. a book on Google Books, a journal article on JSTOR, etc.) and create a new item in your library.
2. Use your research/library website's "Export" function. Most research websites will have an "Export" link somewhere on the page. Zotero will happily create a new item in your library when you click that link. This is especially handy when you're viewing search results on a website like Google Scholar, because you'll be able to add many sources very quickly (i.e. when you're grouping everything that looks interesting to look at it at a later stage).
3. Enter a book's ISBN. If you work with printed books, you're probably used to flipping to the front matter of the book and trying to decipher the fine print for details such as the publisher, place and year of publication. In this case, Zotero's magic is particularly spectacular. Simply click the 'magic wand' tool in Zotero, enter the book's ISBN and press ENTER. Nearly instantaneously, Zotero will contact a number of worldwide ISBN services, get the correct metadata for your book and create a new item in your library.
4. Manually create a new item. In the very rare case that none of the above three methods is available, you can create a new item and enter its details by hand (read: keyboard).

Citing your sources and generating a bibliography

Once you've collected all of your sources in your Zotero library, you can start citing them in Microsoft Word (and other word processor) documents. This is Zotero's second 'killer' feature: that it does all of the style formatting dirty work behind the screens. You simply position your cursor where you want to add a citation, go to the "Add-ins" tab in Word and click the "Insert Citation" icon. This will bring up an inviting, red-bordered textbox, in which you can type the title/author of your source(s). Pressing ENTER will add a neat citation in your preferred style. On that note: there are more than 6000 styles available for download from the Zotero website.

Many students will know the sinking feeling of having finished the actual writing of their paper/report/thesis, only to remember that the bibliography is still conspicuously absent. Here, Zotero's third 'killer' feature kicks in: it keeps track of what you've cited in your document and generates a complete bibliography, in your selected style, at the click of a button.

Check out this page for a full guide to citing and generating a bibliography with Zotero.

Advanced tips to get the most out of Zotero

General:

1. If you normally browse the internet with a browser other than Firefox (e.g. Google Chrome or Internet Explorer), it works great to use Firefox as a "research-only" browser. Disable all unnecessary add-ons and plugins and add quick links to your favourite research websites in your bookmarks toolbar. That way, when you open Firefox you'll be able to research efficiently without distractions.

Collecting sources:

1. If you're browsing Google Scholar, JSTOR or something similar and both the address bar icon and the "Export" link are shown for a particular item, rather use the latter. In some cases, Zotero can't extract the complete metadata for the item when it tries to do so automagically. In these (rare) cases, the metadata provided by the vendor (Google Scholar, JSTOR, etc.) is more accurate and so it makes more sense to use the "Export" link.
2. Learn how to use ZotFile. This nifty Zotero add-on will allow you to store full-text PDFs of your journal articles on your hard drive. It will also allow you to send these PDFs to your tablet, letting you annotate them using your favourite PDF app. Afterwards, it pulls the annotated PDFs back into your library. This is brilliant for jotting down thoughts while you're reading an article.

Organising sources:

1. The easiest way to organise your sources is by using collections. However, tags are also very handy for adding 'statuses' to your sources. For example, you could decide to add the tag "Started" to all the sources you've started reading for a particular project. When you're finished with a particular source you could add the tag "Finished". Also, you could indicate the quality of a source by using a tag, for example by adding tags like "Not applicable" and "Awesome". Check out this article for help on using collections and tags.

Citing in a document:

1. You can create your own citation style if, heaven forbid, none of the existing ones fits your needs. Be warned, though, that this requires a bit of technical knowledge.
2. In Microsoft Word, create keyboard shortcuts for inserting a citation and editing a citation. This will make it even easier to insert citations while you type (literally reducing the time required to insert a citation to a few seconds). For example, you could assign CTRL+ALT+D to inserting a citation and CTRL+ALT+E to editing a citation.

Last note

The chances are that, once you start using Zotero, you will find it hard to remember how you did research without it. Apart from the short-term advantages set out above, using Zotero has the long-term advantage of letting you gradually build your own research library, ensuring a level of continuity across your different essays/articles/papers.

In conclusion, and to summarise: Zotero handles the nitty-gritty practicalities of research, letting you concentrate fully on what matters most: interpreting existing knowledge and contributing your own.

[1] To be fair, a number of referencing software packages have been available for a considerable time. However, none of them have made the referencing experience truly frictionless to the extent that Zotero does.

[2] Zotero is also available as a standalone package (i.e. outside the Firefox browser), but it's much easier to use within the Firefox browser.

We've all experienced that sinking feeling sometime or another: when you realise the big test you thought was tomorrow evening is actually tonight. Or when you have to cancel going out with your best friend because you forgot you had to be somewhere else. Or when you get a call from someone important asking why you didn't show up for your meeting with them. The fact of modern student life is this: it's busy. There's a lot to keep track of: classes, tests, meetings, birthdays, events in your residence or PSO and, of course, your social life, to name but a few. To try to remember all of this is a waste of mental energy – energy that you could have put to better use. Using a paper planner is a step forward, in the sense that you don't have to remember everything. But really, keeping track of your life can be better, easier and more fun. And that's precisely where a digital calendar comes into the picture.

Why use a digital calendar?

A digital calendar:

1. Let's you easily create events (including repeating ones) and move them around – much better than having to cross out or erase in a paper planner;
2. Can present your schedule to you in different formats, e.g. as a list of upcoming events, a day view, week view, month view, etc. – useful in different situations;
3. Let's you set reminders for important events;
4. Let's you store additional information with an event, e.g. where it takes place, as well as a description; and
5. Let's you search your events – extremely handy in the rare cases when you need it.

As an added extra, a digital calendar doubles as a diary of sorts: you'll easily be able to navigate back in time to see what you did at a specific point in the past.

The tool(s) of the trade

There are a number of digital calendar tools available today, some as software that you install on your computer (e.g. Microsoft Outlook) and some as "cloud" calendars (i.e. where your data is securely stored online). While you can experiment with what works for you, Google Calendar – a free, cloud-based calendar – is bound to be a good choice, because it's simple to use and easily synced with multiple devices (e.g. your phone, tablet and computer).

Google Calendar (Free)

google.com/calendar

Once you've signed up, you'll get a blank calendar, ready for you to start adding events. You'll be able to access your calendar from any computer with an internet connection by entering the above address in your web browser. If you have a smartphone or tablet, you can easily set it up to synchronise events with your Google Calendar, so you will have your schedule with you (and can add new events) wherever you go. Reading the welcoming page will get you up and running with all this and more in no time.

The Golden Rule

When it comes to entering events, it's all or nothing.

To get the most out of your digital calendar you'll need to commit to adding everything you want to keep track of. No more "I don't need to add that meeting; I'm sure I'll remember it". If you can't look at your calendar and trust that it's really giving you a complete picture of your schedule, it's really of no use.

What this means in practical terms:

1. Whenever someone wants to schedule something with you, take a look at your calendar first. The initial comments from your friends will stop as soon as they see how much easier it makes your life.
2. Once you have a date or time for an activity, create a new event immediately, so as to prevent forgetting to add it later. For example, the moment you hear about a test in class, you and your friend decide on a coffee date or you see a notice of your favourite band performing in Aandklas or Bohemia, quickly jot it down in your calendar.

The easiest way to accomplish both of the above is to have your calendar set up on your phone or tablet (see the previous section). While the above may sound like a cumbersome habit, you'll get used to it very quickly. And from what you're going to gain from it, it's totally worth it.

Other helpful tips and tricks

By simply taking a look at your calendar before scheduling events and entering new ones the moment you hear about them, you'll already be able to get a better grip on the practicalities of your daily life. To get even more from your calendar, use these pointers:

• Create sub-calendars for different facets of your life (e.g. "Tests and exams", "Classes and tuts", "Projects" and "Personal and social");
• Add repeating events for your classes;
• Use event descriptions to add handy information (e.g. the scope of a test or the topic of a meeting);
• Add "TBC" (To be confirmed) or "TBD" (To be decided) after event titles to keep track of events of which the time is tentative (e.g. "John's braai TBC"), or of events that you haven't decided whether or not you want to go. This prevents you from accidentally scheduling events in those time slots because you didn't see that there already was a chance of something else going on.
• Create a daily to-do list on your calendar by adding all-day events with "[ ]" in front of the title (e.g. "[ ] Buy groceries"). Once you've completed the task, 'tick' the box by changing the text to "[X]" (e.g. "[X] Buy groceries"). It's a simple trick, but very powerful.

A last note

While using a digital calendar will certainly add value to your life, there's perhaps one last, more general principle you need to bear in mind: don't over-organise. Leave room for the unexpected, spontaneous and serendipitous; don't be a calendar fundamentalist ("if it's not on my calendar, it's not happening"). At the same time, don't lose your reins on life and allow it to run away with you. After all, a calendar is there to help simplify your life. And, if you use it well, it certainly will.

A new focus in Stellenbosch University's (SU) existing Master's degree programme in Theology may become an important weapon in the fight against maternal and child deaths in Africa.

The MTh degree, with its focus on gender and health, is presented in collaboration with the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and in 2013 delivered its first group of students who completed this course.

"This new focus on gender and health within our current MTh programme is closely related to the University's HOPE Project  - founded on the premise that universities are not just there to gather and transfer knowledge but to actively work towards making a difference and equipping students with the necessary skills to help them make a positive contribution in their respective communities," says Prof Juliana Claassens, project owner and coordinator of the Faculty's overall focus on human dignity.

"With financial assistance from the Church of Sweden, various stakeholders on the African continent now have the opportunity to address the problem of maternal and child deaths on the continent," says Dr Charlene van der Walt, project coordinator of the new Master's degree focus. "In light of the high number of maternal and children mortality in Africa, the Church of Sweden launched a pilot programme to address the problem. The programme was implemented in 2012 and in the process brought together a number of academic institutions, leadership development organisations and non-governmental organisations, including SU, UKZN, Tumaini University Makumira (TUMA) and the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology (EGST)."

According to Prof Claassens the academic institutions were initially approached to develop a complete new Master's programme that focuses on the intersection of gender, health and theology. The premise is that health issues on the African context cannot be viewed in isolation, but rather that the link between gender and religion should be investigated.

However, the Church of Sweden's challenge did not lead to the development of a completely new Master's programme, but rather the development of a particular focus (gender and health) within the University's existing M-programme. At present the Church of Sweden functions as the lead partner and the SU and UKZN as regional partners.

"Students still complete a Master's degree in one of the major theological disciplines, but they focus on gender and health and investigate the complex intersection of elements from a particular discipline," says Prof Claassens.

According to Dr Van der Walt, SU and UKZN staff and students had the opportunity in 2013 and the first semester of 2014 to interact with each other. This interaction gave them the opportunity to establish a creative space to reflect on the intersection of gender and health. "The result is a deepened and very positive partnership," she says.

This year 11 students at SU and 10 students at UKZN are following this programme and they're expected to graduate in 2015. A conference taking place in Swaziland is also planned for September this year, where the work of the past two years will be celebrated. Partners will also have the opportunity to discuss the way forward and the top two students of each institution will have the opportunity to make a contribution. The two SU students who will participate are Rev Rethie van Niekerk and Rev Nina Muller.

• For more information on this programme contact Dr Charlene van der Walt at charlenevanderwalt@sun.ac.za.
• Photo: The 2013 MTh group with Dr Charlene van der Walt (front left) and Prof Juliana Claassens (second row right) (Photographer: Taryn Ward)

​​A group of 33 professors at Stellenbosch University (SU) will in future be referred to as Distinguished Professors.

Prof Russel Botman, SU Rector and Vice-chancellor, announced the names of the recipients of this title at a meeting of the SU Senate on Friday 6 June.

Eligibility criteria include: Having been appointed as a professor at SU for at least five years; continuous excellent performance over the last three years; international stature; proven exceptional performance and leadership in higher education in research and publications, postgraduate study leadership, learning and teaching, and community interaction.

The appointment is valid for five years and re-appointments can be considered. 

Names of appointees:

Faculty of AgriSciences

Prof Jens Kossmann, Institute for Plant Biotechnology

Prof Louw Hoffman, Animal Sciences

Prof Michael Samways, Conservation Ecology and Entomology

Prof Linus Opara, Horticultural Science

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Prof Johann Mouton, Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology

Prof Bill Nasson, History

Prof Anton van Niekerk, Philosophy

Prof Ashraf Kagee, Psychology

Prof Keith Dietrich, Visual Arts

Prof Louise Viljoen, Afrikaans and Dutch

Prof Leslie Swartz, Psychology

Prof Nina Schumann, Music

Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences

Prof Christo Boshoff, Business Management

Prof Mark Swilling, School for Public Leadership

Prof Servaas van der Berg, Economics

Faculty of Education

Prof Yusef Waghid, Education Policy Studies

Prof Lesley Le Grange, Curriculum Studies

Fakulty of Engineering

Prof Willem Perold, Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Prof David Davidson, Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Faculty of Law

Prof Jacques du Plessis, Private Law

Prof André van der Walt, Public Law

Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences

Prof Nulda Beyers, Paediatrics and Child Heath

Prof Simon Schaaf, Paediatrics and Child Heath

Prof Paul van Helden, Biomedical Sciences

Prof Robert Gie, Paediatrics and Child Heath

Faculty of Science

Prof Dave Richardson, Botany and Zoology

Prof Kathy Myburgh, Physiological Sciences

Prof Jannie Hofmeyr, Biochemistry

Prof Harald Pasch, Chemistry and Polymer Science

Prof Bert Klumperman, Chemistry and Polymer Science

Prof Leon Dicks, Microbiology

Prof Emile van Zyl, Microbiology

Faculty of Theology

Prof Dirkie Smit, Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology

Prof Nico Koopman, Dean of the Faculty of Theology at Stellenbosch University (SU), on Tuesday (10 June 2014).

He was speaking at a three-day (10-12 June) conference taking place at SU's Faculty of Theology.

Themed Christ the hope for Africa – the next 20 years, the annual conference, known as a Winter School, is organised by the Faculty in conjunction with the Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology, Ekklesia and Communitas. The Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology and Ekklesia are affliated with the Faculty, while Communitas is a service arm of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) and the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA).

Koopman said "twenty years into the new South Africa we hunger for a society of justice, justice that is an expression of dignity, justice that is seen in freedom from oppression and justice that rejects the alarming socio-economic inequalities in South Africa and the world at large".

He added that injustice continues to exist in many manifestations, such as lawlessness, theft nepotism, tenderpreneurism, corruption, fraud, materialism and inequality.

"Twenty years into democracy, we are still the country with the biggest gap between the rich and the poor."

In the incidents at Marikana and the recent eviction of about 800 families from shacks in Lwandle, Strand "we see the fruits of inequality," Koopman said.

He argued that we are responsible for what is happening in society.

Koopman urged churches to take concrete action in addressing the symptoms and causes of the wrongs in society and in creating a society of justice.

Echoing the sentiments of Koopman, Prof Piet Meiring of the Faculty of Theology at Pretoria University and also a former member of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said justice is vital for reconciliation.

"Justice and reconciliation are two sides of the same coin. For reconciliation to happen, there has to be a sense of justice being part and parcel of the process. Lasting reconciliation can only flourish in a society where justice is seen to be done."

 "In South Africa this brings a number of issues to the fore: not only the issue of proper government reparation to the victims of human rights abuses to balance the generous granting of amnesty to perpetrators of the abuses, but also the wider issues involving every South African: unemployment, corruption, poverty, affirmative action, equal education, restitution, the redistribution of land, et cetera."

Meiring said reconciliation is not for the fainthearted.

"To act as a reconciler, a builder of bridges between opposing individuals as well as communities, asks for a strong commitment, resilience, and nerves of steel," he added.

• As a service arm of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) and the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA), Communitas assists pastors and churches with their work. Ekklesia is an ecumenical service centre that invites churches and other organizations to join a "network pool" that offers coordinated services to churches and other role players.​

​​​Stellenbosch University has received a Microsoft Azure Research Award on the basis of an application submitted to Microsoft by Dr J P Barnard of the Department of Process Engineering. The award provides 12 months free access to the following resources in the Azure Cloud:

• 32 Virtual Machines (Windows or Linux)

• 10 TB permanent storage

• 10 shared web services

The main goal with the award is to explore in what ways cloud services may benefit research and development of large-scale computational problems, as well as the finding of new perspectives on possible solutions to research problem statements.

Dr Barnard is a team member of the Process Monitoring and Systems research group under the leadership of Dr Lidia Auret. The group will aim to achieve the following goals with this award:

• The setup of a MATLAB Distributed Compute Server cluster in Azure

• The setup of a MATLAB Distributed Compute Server cluster within the local HPC at the University.

• The impact of scale-out of data processing on process monitoring and fault diagnosis, based on industrial plant data.

• The publishing of a technical paper on the setup, application and impact of HPC and cloud facilities on the research and development of process monitoring and fault diagnosis.

A mature MATLAB cluster is not yet generally available to researchers at Stellenbosch University. Dr Barnard has begun collaboration with the local MATLAB provider, OPTI-NUM solutions, as well as Mathworks and Microsoft to accomplish a proof-of-concept of a MATLAB HPC cluster in Azure. With the aid of this award, a production version of the cluster will be configured for the above research. Other software may be deployed later, as required.

Dr Barnard hopes that a mature MATLAB MDCS cluster will be of great benefit to researchers that use MATLAB as research environment at Stellenbosch and elsewhere. Also, the University will be in a position to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages involved with the configuration and use of HPC and cloud services, in order to come to an informed decision on future provisioning of such facilities.

Photo collage:

Left: Dr JP Barnard (centre) Technical Manager, Centre for Process Monitoring and Systems, with master's students Jason Miskin (left) and Brian Lindner (right). Far right is Dr Lidia Aurent, Head of the Process Monitoring and Systems research group at the Department of Process Engineering.

The new senior residence at the Tygerberg campus was recently named Huis Ubuntu House.

"Ubuntu means humanity and humanness, and refers to how we are interwoven and how our actions influences others – so we have to ensure that the influence we have on others and the environment is positive and constructive," said FHMS dean, Prof Jimmy Volmink, at the official naming.

According to him there is evidence that a name can influence behaviour and he hopes that Huis Ubuntu House will cultivate a sense of community and goodwill among its residents.

"We consider Huis Ubuntu House to be a very suitable name for our senior residence – a res on a campus rich in diversity on all levels, where we put people first and where we create an environment where every student and staff member feels comfortable in every part of their being," said Prof Volmink.

"The name is also inclusive in that it contains all three the official languages in the Western Cape Province, Afrikaans, Xhosa and English," said Prof Volmink.

The naming process was approached via a competition where students could submit proposals through an online survey. All together 49 proposals, with their accompanying motivations, were submitted, and Huis Ubuntu House was put forward twice.

Building of the new residence started in 2012 and students have been living there for the past 18 months. The residence consists of 150 single rooms and also has a recreational area that can accommodate around 200 students.

View more photos of the event on the FMHS Facebook page. Click here.

Photo: Mr Eben Mouton (FMHS Director: Business Management), mr Pieter Kloppers (Director: Centre for Student Structures and Communities) and FMHS dean, prof Jimmy Volmink unveil the new name.

Zimbabwian student Deon Kirstein has been named as the best undergraduate student in horticultural sciences at Stellenbosch University (SU). He received the Prof. Daan Strydom/HORTGRO Science cash prize during the recent HORTGRO Science technical symposium in Simondium.

According to Dr Lynn Hoffman, chair of the SU Department of Horticultural Science, Kirstein is not only an academic star, but is also a volunteer who helps other international students to feel at home on the Matie campus. He is currently doing an MSc in Horticultural Science under the supervision of Prof. Karen Theron. He focuses on mechanisation options for the thinning of pome fruit.

HORTGRO Science recently renamed their annual cash prize for the best SU student in horticultural science to acknowledge the valuable contribution of academic and industry leader Prof. Daantjie Strydom. During his 30 years as a member of staff of the SU Department of Horticultural Science, Prof. Strydom helped to drive local research on especially deciduous fruit up to international standard.

​SunLearn was officially launched as Stellenbosch University's learning management system at the start of 2014. Previously, the University utilised three separate systems which required higher human and technical resources for support and management. After an intensive evaluation and year-long process of planning and hard work, the combined team consisting of Information Technology and Centre for Learning Technologies staff, were pleased to successfully support the initial roll-out of SunLearn.

The Centre for Learning Technologies enjoys a close relationship with the Information Technology Department in providing both staff and students with full support in the use of SunLearn. Through a rigorous and systematic testing and quality assurance process, the CLT SunLearn team has worked together with IT and continues to investigate future enhancements to the system.

SunLearn is based on a system utilised by both national and international education institutions. This system has proved to be user-friendly with a large community available online for discussion and support where needed. SunLearn allows lecturers to provide an interactive base for their teaching activities which supports a blended learning approach to their curricula.

Feedback from staff and students have been positive regarding SunLearn. There have been assessments conducted with increased security thanks to the IP restrictions available on SunLearn for quizzes. Recently, over 1000 students were able to successfully complete an assessment simultaneously without any technical difficulties. Other lecturers have begun to utilise the multi-media supported nature of the system by creating audio and video questions in quizzes. Students are also able to submit assignments that have been enhanced by authentic evidence of the hard work they have done in the form of audio, video or images. One particular department has taken the leap of going paper-less thanks to the versatility of SunLearn.

The CLT SunLearn team are constantly improving their training opportunities for staff on the system and offer daily support via phone and email. Weekly training is also available for those who have not yet made use of the training along with the approximately 500 staff members who have. The Blended Learning Short course offered through CLT is run primarily through SunLearn and provides a space for building communities of practice for other initiatives within the Division for Teaching and Learning Enhancement.

The SunLearn support desk operates between 8h00 and 16h30 daily and can be reached on: 021 808-3938 or learn@sun.ac.za

This team, coordinated by Lianne Keiller (lkeiller@sun.ac.za) will continuously strive to support a system that encourages lecturers in their efforts to enhance the learning of their students.

​Four players of the Maties Men's hockey team will play for the Western Province team in the upcoming national tournament in Durban.

Dylan Swanepoel, Jacques le Roux, Pierre de Voux and Daniel Bell will be in action for WP from 26-30 August. It will be Swanepoel and Bell's first time playing for the WP senior team. De Voux and Le Roux were part of the team that won the national title last year in Cape Town.

Seven Maties will play for WP Peninsula.

The WP men's team: Andrew Cronje, Ashlin Freddy, Clive Terwin, Cuan Burton-Moore, Lloyd Norris-Jones, Matt Botha, Rhett Halkett, Wade Paton (all WPCC); Austin Smith (Pinelands); Craig Haley (Fish Hoek); Daniel Bell, Dylan Swanepoel, Jacques le Roux, Pierre de Voux (all Maties); Grant Robertson (UCT); Lungile Tsolekile (Langa).​

Matie players in the WP Peninsula team: Brad Logan, Dave Agar, Keenan Horne, Marc Fourie, Matt Anderson, Rob Edwards and Shannon Boucher.

In the meantime Maties Hockey has announced the teams that will represent Stellenbosch University at the USSA tournament which will be held in Pretoria from 30 June to 4 July.

MEN: Matt Anderson, Daniel Bell, Shannon Boucher, Charlie Bowren, Matt da Soussa, Pierre de Voux, James Drummond, Francois du Toit, Rob Edwards (c), Marc Fourie, Keenan Horne, Brad Logan, Jaco Olivier, Rob Orchison, Niel Roode, Kyle Schwaeble, Dylan Swanepoel, Jordan Turnball.

WOMEN: Sarah Bingham, Quanita Bobbs, Suleke Brand, Jenade Brodel, Talya Cartwright, Illse Davids, Anneline Davin, Farah Fredericks, Tarryn Glasby, Hanli Hattingh, Erin Hunter, Sherry King, Bronwyn Kretzmann, Nicole Le Fleur, Heather McEwan, Catharine Morris, Paige Phillips, Natasha Roothenburg.

Maties Netbal has also named their team.

They are: Charmaine Baard, Christene Bosch, Melandi Pretorius, Haike Brink, Suné Claassens, Megan Gossmann, Akile Khoza, Sasha-Lee Petersen, Rulanda Pretorius, Jo Prins, Tilida Maas, Juline Rossouw.​

Stellenbosch golfer Garrett Slattery won the B2 world title at the world championships of the International Blind Golf Association in Australia recently.

The B2 sight category is for players who see less at 2 m than a fully sighted person sees at 60 m. More than 50 of the top visually impaired golfers from around the world participated in the championships held at the Nelson Bay Golf Club north of Sydney.

Slattery, a professor in Actuarial Science at Stellenbosch University, was guided by his wife Cynthia. "Players rely heavily on their sighted guides to watch the ball, and assist them with club selection and alignment," he said.

He was also rewarded for having the least number of putts during the championships.

The Nelson Bay golf course is a spectacular 27-hole course by the see with an abundance of wildlife including kangaroos, wallabies and koalas. The course is cut into the dense bush of a hilly nature reserve with the result that most shots that go more than a few metres off the fairway, invariably land in dense bush.

The only other South African who participated in the world championships, Leon Strydom, gave a steady performance before finishing in the tenth position in the B3 sight category.

Prof Garrett Slattery with the B2 World Championship Trophy and the Golden Putter Award for the least number of putts during the championships

​​European models for sustainability often shape what we know about the subject. And this is often irrelevant tothe developing world's context.

It is against this background that the World Student Environmental Network's  Global Summit will be held in South Africa – in the developing world​ for the first time since its inception seven years ago.

From 30 June – 5 July Stellenbosch University (SU) will play host to over 70 student delegates from 25 countries. They will gather to discuss issues and challenges around how students can advance environmental sustainability at their universities. For the first time there will also be a large delegation of students from other African countries.

"I believe Stellenbosch University has an important role to play in promoting the green economy and sustainable development in Africa in a unique way – through its community interaction, research, and teaching and learning," says Gina King, a former Matie and one of the organisers of the Word Student Environmental Network (WSEN) Global Summit.

Gunter Pauli, the renowned "green" entrepreneur and author of The Blue Economy, will be the keynote speaker on the first day.

Other speakers include Eve Annecke, Director of the Sustainability Institute in Stellenbosch, Edgar Pieterse, Director of the African Centre for Cities and Dave Pepler, South African environmentalist who is well known for his nature programme Groen on TV.

"This annual summit is a meeting place for students who want to make a difference in their own communities and the world," says Pieter Botha, one of the Stellenbosch organising team members. Botha is doing an MSc in Botany and was a co-founder of the student society EcoMaties.

Previous summits were held in Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany and Canada. The 2014 Summit is sponsored by a number of institutions within SU: the Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert Institute for Student Leadership Development (FVZS); SU's Sustainability Initiative, the Postgraduate and International Office, as well as the National Department for Environmental Affairs.

The FVZS Institute was instrumental in drafting and submitting the bid which secured the WSEN Global Summit for Stellenbosch with King, in her then role as Student Representative Council Member.

King says: "At last year's summit in Germany we heard many questions based on misconceptions of Africa. It is important for a growing network such as the WSEN to experience 'the other side' of the sustainability debate. Last year we spoke about transition towns and de-growth at the summit, but this year we need to talk about development and its related issues, and building sustainable cities."

Botha adds: "Universities are by definition places where new ideas are formulated and solutions to problems found. Students are the leaders of the future and we need to seriously contemplate our place in the world and the kind of world we want to leave for future generations. As students we do not necessarily need to make a global impact, but we can surely have an impact in our immediate environment."

According to Botha the WSEN Global Summit will not "simply be a talk shop".

"The goal is for students to come up with sustainable projects that they can take back to their own universities. There will be a number of workshops where skills and knowledge will be transferred enabling students to generate new ideas and find solutions for problems.

"Students from all the continents – with the exception of Antarctica – will gather in Stellenbosch. This summit is an ideal platform for students from across the globe who are passionate about the environment to learn from each other. Students attending this summit, will continue being involved in environmental issues once they leave university."

Besides Botha and King, the Stellenbosch organising team is headed up by Emily van der Merwe (BA Law – second year) and Jay du Plessis (MPhil Sustainable Development Planning and Management). They work closely with a team of six other Maties students.

Other summit highlights

• During the summit trees will be planted at two schools in the adjacent suburb of Cloetesville. The community project will also include the painting of murals and improvements to the playground of the schools.

• "We need to raise more money to reach our goal of planting 100 trees" says Botha. People who would like to sponsor a tree can do so via the following webpage: http://www.givengain.com/activist/117958/projects/8150/
• A sustainability expo will be held in the Visual Arts building in Victoria Street on 4 July. A number of companies and organisations will showcase their green initiatives and products to the public.

MEDIA INQUIRIES:

• Student organisers: Pieter Botha 0727864083 or Emily van der Merwe 0823719543
• Stephanie Nieuwoudt 0832978785 (on behalf of the Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert Institute for Student Leadership Development)
• Martin Viljoen (general Stellenbosch University enquiries): media@sun.ac.za, 021 808 4921 (w), 082 775 2396  

​​"You left a valuable legacy for future generations: You chose to examine life critically, and to be active and engaged citizens. These are the attributes that we hope every Matie would have developed by the time they graduate."

With these words Prof Russel Botman, Rector and Vice-chancellor of Stellenbosch University (SU), welcomed 17 of the 18 Matie students who formed part of a delegation to meet with among others the then-banned ANC in Lusaka in 1989.

They attended a special 25 year reunion at SU on Saturday 14 June.

The visit to Lusaka received a huge amount of media attention, the students were reprimanded by the University authorities and vilified by co-students. The then Rector Prof Mike de Vries described 1989 as being a "low point" for him.

"It's remarkable to think that the events we are here to commemorate happened so recently. Twenty five years is not a long time… yet when one considers the fracas around the trip it's very clear that we are discussing a completely different time," Prof Botman added.

"South Africa was a very different country back then, and this University a very different place."

He ascribed the fuss around the visit to two reasons: The group's youthfulness and the fact that they were from Stellenbosch University.

"As students, you represented the next generation. If the leaders of tomorrow were starting to think for themselves, the old order's tight grip was starting to slip. And as Maties, you represented a University that had been pivotal to the idea of Afrikaner Nationalism for the beginning. So, if critical voices at Stellenbosch were growing louder, it would become harder to keep everyone else 'on song'," he said.

He described 1989 was a turning point for SU, just as June 16 was a turning point for the country as a whole.

"The pressure for change kept mounting, and eventually this old institution would catch up with its 'Young Turks'. In 1999, your alma mater finally acknowledged – and I quote 'its contributions to the injustices of the past'. This was an apology for apartheid, one that should be repeated from time to time. But the University didn't stop there. It also committed itself to 'redress and development'."

Prof Botman explained that "REDRESS" referred specifically to access. In 1990, SU had just 762 black students. Today, they have more than 9 000. And regarding the commitment to "DEVELOPMENT", it has laid the foundation for a science-for-society approach.

"The country certainly needs thought leaders for the future. Twenty years into our democracy, a lot has been achieved in our country, but many challenges remain, both old and new. And the way to make a difference, is to think critically, engage with society; and act courageously … as you did," he concluded before he introduced the Public Protector Adv Thuli Madonsela to delivered the keynote address.

She described the core of the visit as an act of leadership by young people showing the courage to step out and a willingness to think for themselves.

"Developments in history have always depended on bold leadership," she said.

She argued that we leave our fate to others when the power is in our hands to change our circumstances.

"Don't look the other way," she warned current students. "We need the same thinking and the same willingness to step out of line. Great changes come from actions that seem small."

One of the ANC members the group met with was Dr Tito Mboweni, former Governor of the Reserve Bank and recipient of an honorary doctorate from SU.

Dr Mboweni also attended the event and facilitated a panel discussion that included speakers such as Anneliese Burgess, Robert Bricout, Mark Behr and André Zaaiman (all part of the 1989 delegation), Ziyanda Stuurman and Clinton du Preez (SRC members 2013) and mnr Roelf Meyer, a chief negotiator for the National Party at CODESA and former leader of the UDM.

• Complete article on panel discussion to follow. Read Adv Thuli Madonsela's speech here.
• Go to www.sun.ac.za/lusaka for more information or follow the discussion on Twitter at #Lusaka25.

Caption: Panellists Anneliese Burgess, Robert Bricout, Andre Zaaiman, Ziyanda Stuurman, Roelf Meyer, Mark Behr and Clinton du Preez (Photo: Stefan Els)