In line with the global requirement for higher education institutions (HEIs) to maximise their community engagement through partnerships and utilising the quadruple helix which includes government, industry, business and civil society, Stellenbosch University (SU) recently hosted its annual Social Impact Symposium. The symposium was entitled Reviewing 'Engaged' partnerships for Social Impact: Catalysing cross-sector partnerships for long-term social impact.

According to Ms Ernestine Meyer-Adams, Director of the Division for Social Impact, this was done as part of SU's commitment to drive alignment to the SU's Vision 2040 strategic goal of purposeful partnerships and inclusive networks.

In addition to a great number of senior SU staff, academics and students attending, the event was also well supported by several external professional organisations in the sector, i.e the South African Higher Education Community Engagement Forum (SAHECEF) which was represented by several HEIs such as University of the Western Cape (UWC), University of Venda (Univen), Rhodes University (RU), Central University of Technology (CUT), University of the Free State (UFS), Wits, Nelson Mandela University (NMU), to name but a few.

Meyer-Adams stated that the 2021 symposium allowed SU to analyse and celebrate the engaged collaborations that have managed to journey together ethically and authentically towards sustainability through mutually beneficial relationship building. The Social Impact (SI) partners of SU that were invited to present, were identified from partnership initiatives that are registered on the Social Impact Knowledge Platform.

The Faculties of Education, Military Science, Economic and Management Sciences, Law and Theology showcased their initiatives through dual presentations with their external partners. These initiatives demonstrated collaboration between different faculties without the need to cross any policy barriers, said Meyer-Adams.

Dr Leslie van Rooi, Senior Director: Social Impact and Transformation at SU, said the symposium was a platform for the University to review and rethink its strategy and way forward as an engaged university. “We must constantly and continuously reflect on society through teaching, learning and research, as well as partnerships to make a long-term and positive impact on society. The symposium allowed us to rethink, review and reimagine our social impact strategy," said Van Rooi.

Delivering the keynote address on the topic of Cross-sectoral engaged partnerships: Transformative Power of Higher Education to Deliver Effective Societal Impact,  renowned academic in the sector  Dr Cornel Hart explained how and why community engagement, partnerships and engaged scholarship became responsibilities of higher educational institutions.

With her extensive experience in research methodology and assessing community development, Hart noticed a new challenge for institutions, namely to measure and evaluate the extent of their impact on society and the footprint they have made.

As part of her presentation, she shared a Social Impact (SI) typology that is a framework to plan SI projects in a professional and well-organised manner and, at the same time, measure and evaluate SI projects. She encouraged project planners to use the typology in designing so that the project will promote cross-sector partnerships across the entire institution while addressing the National Development Plan (NDP) and other regional and international development goals.

The highlight of the symposium was the dual presentations by SU academics and their external societal partners who shared in their joint social impact initiatives and the positive impact their initiatives had on communities.

​“Building on this solid foundation, the future looks promising for changing the plight of communities through solid, ethical and sustainable university/community partnerships," said  Meyer-Adams commented.

 The joint presentations included the following:

Faculty of Military Science and Stable Seas company – The Stable Seas Index: Exploring maritime security data sets to benefit fishing communities in the Western Cape

Faculty of Education and Paternoster NPC - Reflections on trust and mutual respect in the educational objectives in a Public-Private Partnership

Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences and the Law Faculty with mutual partner Department of Correctional Services – Prison University Education through the Ubuntu Learning Community and Ex-Cell Workshop

Faculty of Theology with Ekklesia's ecumenical partnership: The key to significant social impact

​

For billions of years, Nature has perfected ways of dealing with the recycling of materials. Like a good housekeeper who saves as much as she can, she knows how to avoid what is too much and too little.

One of the best examples of this thrifty behaviour of Nature is the evolution of ruminants: animals such as deer, goats, cows and antelope have developed a unique digestive system, consisting of four different stomachs, to convert even the toughest grasses and leaves into nourishing milk, wool and protein.

Remember, as a child, how one cringed at the idea of regurgitating your own food to chew on it before it being swallowed again? Well, cows spend about eight hours of their day doing exactly that, thereby assisting their microbial community to process the raw plant food.

A cow is therefore a natural example of consolidated bioprocessing where cellulose (in plantmaterial) is hydrolysed and converted to various products in a single vessel (the cow). So what can we learn from Nature, and more specifically cows, when dealing with the 83 million metric tons of agricultural, municipal and fruit waste produced in South Africa every year?

According to microbiologists at Stellenbosch University, the concept of a biorefinery based on the four-stomach digestive system of ruminants, may just be key to the establishment of simple and robust, small-scale biorefinery operations in South Africa and Africa.

Prof Emile van Zyl, distinguished professor in microbiology at SU, says first-world countries have made significant progress over the last few decades in the development of capital-intensive and advanced technologies to produce bioethanol from plant material. Yet, as long as relatively cheap fossil fuels are around, the upscaling of these technologies remain commercially non-viable.

“South Africa and Africa cannot afford the huge capital costs of large-scale cellulosic ethanol plants and the technological challenges associated with it," he explains.

That is why, in a recent review published in the journal Catalysis, they propose the introduction of the rumen microbiome into anaerobic digestion processes. Currently, mixed anaerobic microbial cultures are used to break down organic matter to generate mostly biogas, and much research is aimed at finding the most efficient microbes and identifying the parameters for their optimal functioning.  Yet, argue the researchers, mammalian ruminants have naturally evolved to perform anaerobic digestion of plant material.

Furthermore, instead of producing biogas, they suggest supressing that latter part of the digestion process and rather use microbial hosts to produce industrial important organic acids, such as acetic, propionic, butyric and valeric and caproic acids from agricultural wastes. Yeast biotechnology can also be employed for the conversion of malic acid in grape and apple pomace to higher-value lactic, citric, fumaric and succinic acids. For example, the current value of organic acids can vary from about US$600 per metric ton for acetic acid to more than US$2000 per metric ton for carbon 4-6 carboxylic acids. With the rise in demand for bioplastics, organic polymers such as polylactate reach values of more than US$3500 per metric ton.

Prof Marinda Viljoen-Bloom, one of the co-authors, says while the application of rumen microbes for the digestion of plant material is not a new concept, it remains a challenge to replicate the complicated interactions found in ruminants in a bioreactor. In the Biofuels Research Group at the Department of Microbiology, they are specifically looking at ways to add value to South African waste streams: For his PhD, Dr Sesethu Njokweni explored the anaerobic production of volatile fatty acids from agricultural waste, while PhD student Annica Steyn is constructing a recombinant yeast strain that can effectively convert malic acid to higher-value organic acids.

Did you know?

The most significant sources of organic waste in South Africa is sugarcane bagasse (5.35 million metric tonnes), invasive plants (11.30 million metric tonnes) and fruit wastes (1.3 billion metric tonnes). Microbiologists from Stellenbosch University are investigation the use of mammalian rumen in the anaerobic digestive process to break down or separate organic waste into its original building blocks, from where it can subsequently be converted into various high-value products – just as a cow does with processing the tough plant material into the basic building blocks upon which the production of milk is based.

The article “Potential valorisation of organic waste streams to valuable organic acids through microbial conversion: a South African case study" was published in the journal Catalysis and is available online at  https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/11/8/964

Media interviews:

Prof Marinda Viljoen-Bloom

Department of Microbiology, Stellenbosch University

E-mail: mv4@sun.ac.za

Mobile: +27 _83 630 3815

​

“Be kind always" – this is the motto of Viwe Kobokana, the newly elected chairperson of the Stellenbosch University Students' Representative Council (SRC).

Kobokana was elected earlier this month, following the election of the new SRC. She says that the reality of being elected by her peers to lead the student organisation has not yet sunken in, but that she is excited about the challenge.

Kobokana is a final year BSc Human Life Sciences student from King Williams Town. She is no stranger to student leadership, having served as the transformation officer of the 2020/2021 SRC. During this period, she and the SRC's Transformation Committee designed student workshops that focused on topics such as the decolonisation of the higher education sector, gender, sex and sexuality, race relations, anti-gender-based violence (GBV), and mental health.

These workshops will be presented to the new SRC as part of their induction, and extended to the student body once again. One of Kobokana's top priorities is to focus on transformation and to ensure noticeable changes.

"The University has an amazing framework for transformation and the transformation plan does a great job in outlining that. However, I think the challenge comes in materialising that plan. I know that small changes and results will eventually lead to long-term changes. Those small changes are the results I would like to see," says Kobokana. Furthermore, she wants all SRC members to embed transformation in their SRC portfolios, and hopes that the entire SRC will work transformative.

She is also looking forward to collaborating with university staff on various student projects. 

"Many staff members want to work with student leaders and help them to integrate efforts to assist students. This is something I want to promote and will assist my team in finding relevant staff members to institutionalise their projects and work," says Kobokana.

While focused on leading the SRC, Kobokana says her other priority is completing her degree. She says that being involved in student leadership for the last three years has helped her to learn how to balance her academic life with co-curricular activities.

"Being organised is the saving grace!" she says.

The following students have been elected to serve on the SRC:   

• Philip Visage ( Vice-chairperson)
• Alysa-Abby Kekana        
• Unathi Ngumbela           
• Almé Engelbrecht           
• Ilan Meintjes     
• Takadiwa Chipfumbu    
• Chris Briel
• Precious Nhamo              

​

The Dean's Advisory Committee on Sustainability (DACES) described the fifth-year medical student Dharshana Moodliar as an eco-champion for her active involvement in community service and sustainability projects at Tygerberg Campus, home of Stellenbosch University's (SU) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. 

Moodliar, who joins a number of FMHS staff and students in the eco-champion ranks, became involved in the DACES as a student representative and has helped the committee place the inclusion of environmental stewardship as an FMHS MBChB graduate attribute squarely in the spotlight. In the new MBChB curriculum, environmental stewardship is a graduate attribute under the umbrella of leadership. 

Moodliar says being involved in 'green' initiatives on Tygerberg Campus over the years inevitably assisted her in developing several of the FMHS' graduate attributes. “I have always had a passion for sustainability and environmental preservation. When I began studying at SU, I appreciated the balance of the earth and the importance of sustainable practices from a different perspective. As we studied the social determinants of health in Health in Context in our first year, I realised that the burden of infectious diseases could be greatly reduced if we altered the environments in which we reside." 

She says once she commenced university, she really began to delve into sustainability initiatives. “I am a resident at Meerhoff Residence and in my first year, I was a member of its Green Committee. Through the activities we participated in – from beach clean-ups and planting in the garden crates to creating infographics about sustainable practices – I was astounded by the difference this committee could make within the residence space. I was eventually elected as the House Committee member for this portfolio and have managed the Tygerberg Student Representatives (TSR) sustainability portfolio over the past two years. 

Moodliar's status as an eco-champion is a testimony to her enthusiastic and prominent involvement in various environmental awareness campaigns at the FMHS' Tygerberg Campus including Earth Week, Safe Mask Disposal and Eco-Brick initiatives. 

She says the most heartening thing about being involved in this way was that it allowed her to research and implement various alternative methods of sustainable living and waste reduction in her own life and the FMHS student community. “In my time at the FMHS, there have been several highlights. In my second year, I loved the collaboration that DACES organised with Guerilla House to assist us in developing the campus vegetable garden. I especially enjoyed learning how to look after worm farms with DACES manager, Christine Groenewald." 

She admits that getting her peers and fellow students involved has been challenging. “Over time, the buy-in among my peers and friends has improved substantially but that the number of students who actively choose to recycle or incorporate sustainable practices into their daily lives, is quite low. One of the major influences to this is that it takes a little more effort for one to be sustainable," she says. 

Moodliar was part of the team that won the Green Cup for Meerhof Residence in 2018 has organised various sustainability-oriented activities for first-year students. “More recently the opening of the outdoor gym and the jam-packed sessions during Earth week this year, was really exciting. Working with phenomenal individuals from both the faculty and externally has taught me so much. I genuinely appreciate the way students are respected and able to engage with such knowledgeable individuals about sustainability matters." 

Professor Bob Mash, the chairperson of the DACES says the links between public and planetary health are clear. “We encourage medicine and health sciences to understand the links between environmental determinants of health at a planetary scale, such as climate change and how it manifests in local communities and ultimately, individual patients."​

Quintin, the remote-controlled tele-presence robot that helps to put patients in Tygerberg Hospital's Covid-19 ICU in virtual contact with their families, is set to feature in an innovative student project aimed at tackling urgent global health challenges. 

Two medical students from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) at Stellenbosch University (SU) have been selected out of many international applicants to take part in a project that will see them developing and expanding Quintin's role. 

The students - final-year student Azhar Adam Nadkar and fourth-year student Jessica Davies – are participating in the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health's Innovate4Health Global Student Design Sprint – an initiative which aims to “inspire innovators for the future to tackle the urgent challenges and health inequities of emerging infections." 

Their team – which is called CareBots – comprises the two of them, as well as two participants from India, Mokshada Sharma and Tapesh Dutt Nagaria. 

Quintin, a Double Robotics robot, was initially used to help ICU specialists with patient monitoring during ward rounds at the height of the pandemic, but his role evolved to connecting ICU patients, who were not allowed to receive visitors, with their families by means of technology. Tygerberg Hospital's Covid-19 psycho-social support team, under the leadership of Dr Kerry-Ann Louw from the Department of Psychiatry, started using Quintin as a vehicle to transport a tablet device with WhatsApp video-calling capabilities to patients' bedsides. 

The robot ended up playing a vital role in connecting patients and families, while simultaneously freeing up medical staff to do other work in the ICU wards. Heart-warming stories abound about how the robot helped to relieve patients of the psychological trauma of not being able to have contact with their families. 

The team's local mentor, Dr Riette Burger, an oncologist and member of the Covid-19 support team, guided the students in analysing current gaps in the logistical, technical and regulatory aspects of Quintin's day-to-day operation. Implementing a high-tech solution into a lower-tech, resource-constrained environment usually requires creative approaches. It is this innovative and fresh point of view that she hopes the student team and their involvement in the design sprint will bring to the project. 

Innovate4Health is a design initiative that focuses on empowering students from health and other disciplines to solve problems in healthcare settings and communities. It aims to “identify real-life local projects that would have the potential to make a positive and scalable impact on communities, develop implementable solutions, and advocacy approaches." The design sprint will extend over three to four months. 

Student teams, which consist of two to four students, were asked to provide a vision for a possible innovation that might solve a specific problem. They needed to provide the context, and describe exactly how they would implement the project. The student teams selected to join the cohort of this year's design sprint will be working with global health leaders to achieve three things: to design their innovations, to help them develop their ideas from ideation to implementation, and to develop advocacy strategies to support the adoption of the approaches. 

Asked how their application came about and why they chose to focus on Quintin in the project, Nadkar said “Covid-19 related morbidity and mortality had created a landscape of bereavement and psychosocial distress amidst patients, their families, and healthcare workers globally. The inability to communicate with a loved one at their most vulnerable time, further compounded by unexpected loss of life due to Covid-19, is a burden too difficult to carry for many.  

“When I saw the advertisement for the Innovate4Health Global Student Design Sprint, I knew that this was an opportunity for me to become empowered and skilled by participating in the development and implementation of a sustainable solution aimed at enabling patients to connect virtually with their loved ones during a time where human contact is not possible. 

“I chose this project as I firmly believe that with the guidance of the Innovate4Health Global Student Design Sprint facilitators, our team will be able to build on the foundation established at Tygerberg Hospital by Dr Kerry Louw and the Covid-19 support team. The goal is to develop and implement audio-visual consultation systems by means of which patients, family members and members of the multidisciplinary team can interact during Covid-19, and in other healthcare settings where physical contact is limited." 

Nadkar and Davies have worked together on several initiatives, both within student societies and student-driven academic support programmes, saying they are guided by their service to others and their commitment to learning and growing both within and outside their medical curricula. 

Nadkar said he is “honoured and privileged" to be taking part in the design sprint. 

“The Design Sprint has provided me with a unique opportunity to start working towards instituting the positive change that I would like to see in response to the challenges that we face in our healthcare system. As a final-year medical student that will soon graduate as a medical doctor, it is important that I continuously equip myself with the knowledge, attitude and skills needed to excel as a healthcare professional in the South African setting." 

Davies, who has always dreamt of becoming a medical doctor, and who hopes to specialise in surgery, said she was thrilled to be given the opportunity to take part in the initiative. 

“It has been such a privilege to be part of this global student design sprint, which has already taught me a great deal and I am very excited for what lies ahead," she said. 

“The pandemic revealed a major gap in our healthcare system - which was the lack of communication and connection between patients and their loved ones - and Quintin, the telepresence robot, provided a unique solution for how we could work towards solving this problem," Davies said.​

Despite being forced to close its doors from 26 March until 21 June in 2020, the Stellenbosch University Law Clinic still managed to provide access to legal services for close to 1 000 individuals. Assistance was provided in various legal fields, which was facilitated through legal practitioners employed at the clinic and through the Faculty of Law students under the supervision of these practitioners.

In 2020, the Law Clinic assisted the greatest number of clients with eviction matters in the Western Cape. Ninety-five client files relating to eviction problems were opened, with a total of 120 matters of clients being finalised and simultaneously 200 pending files being worked on. The clinic successfully finalised 26 eviction applications, either by reaching mutually acceptable agreements that were made court orders or by successfully opposing eviction applications. Since the beginning of 2020, to date a total a total of 36 families were successfully assisted with their relocations from farms in Stellenbosch, Paarl, Simondium and Wellington.

The Financial Literacy Project (FLP), a collaboration between the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, is aimed at equipping members of the community with financial skills that will enable them to make informed decisions that will be advantageous to their economic wellbeing. The FLP provides community members with fundamental financial concepts to assist them in their financial endeavours and involves student volunteers from Financial Planning 378 and the Law of Civil Procedure modules. During 2019 and 2020, students in groups of 3–4 provided training sessions to farm workers and high school learners. In 2019, 29 presentations were delivered to 879 high school learners and approximately 650 farm workers on 8 farms were visited. In 2020, during the hard lockdown, the in-person approach was converted to a digital one. Instead of visiting schools and farms, each group of students received 2 topics on which to prepare a video or PowerPoint presentation for both school learners and farm workers. These efforts culminated in a financial literacy package comprising different financial literacy topics such as the Consumer Protection Act and How to Distinguish Between Wants and Needs. The financial literacy package was delivered in various languages to eleven 11 schools and 18 farms and organisations.

The FLP also forms part of other training initiatives offered at the Law Clinic, such as the Women's Empowerment Toolbox workshop in which 43 Somerset West community members participated. The workshop focussed on various issues such as discrimination and sexual harassment.

Throughout 2021, each student group is required to produce a concept concerning the teaching of a particular financial literacy topic. A list of topics, target audiences and instructional media from which each group will make a selection is provided. For example, a group may choose the topic The Importance of Budgeting aimed at a specific audience, such as primary school learners, to be delivered in the form of posters.

The FLP hopes to reach an increasingly larger segment of the community through different media platforms, considering the COVID-19 pandemic and our students' restricted access to meeting in person. Through the adoption of this approach, we hope to build up resources to further educate different and larger communities in the future.

Another example of an initiative under the auspices of the FLP is the design, publication and dissemination of the A3 calendar, which is printed and distributed on a large scale to communities in the Cape Winelands area. The calendar contains tips for managing one's finances. In addition, an A3 information sheet containing more detailed tips for managing one's finances has been created and distributed throughout these communities.

The Law Clinic has conducted various training and empowerment initiatives over the past year, including the Women's Empowerment Toolbox workshop and constitutional rights-based training. At the beginning of December 2020, the clinic presented a Legislative Training workshop to members of the Witzenberg Water for Justice Coalition in Bella Vista. Material that specifically accompanied the workshop and that was also intended for use in the future was developed and prepared in English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa.

Various exciting collaborations between the Law Clinic and key role players are in place with a view to effectuating social impact, inter alia, through training and empowerment. Towards the latter part of 2020, Black Sash, which is one of South Africa's foremost human rights organisations, approached the clinic to collaborate on a potential high-impact matter. The mission of Black Sash is to work towards the realisation of socio-economic rights as outlined in the South African Constitution with an emphasis on social security and social protection for the most vulnerable to reduce poverty and inequality. During September 2020, Black Sash released a research report titled Social Grants: Challenging Reckless Lending in South Africa. The report demonstrates how South Africa's extensive social grant system that was meant to provide resources to the poor has been abused to serve as collateral for debt granted on exploitative terms and conditions. The report ultimately advocates for urgent remedial action, including legislative alignment, stricter enforcement of existing restrictions on predatory lending and improved financial education. In Black Sash's efforts to give effect to the findings and the recommendations of the report, it identified the Law Clinic as the organisation with the necessary legal expertise in debt justice to assist in this important and ongoing project.

During the time when the Law Clinic had to close its doors, the clinic decided to launch a social media campaign to create awareness regarding certain rights and obligations of relevance in the current circumstances. Various Facebook and website posts were made relating to the clinic's fields of expertise but also regarding other matters, for example labour-related legal advice and information.

Dr Mary Nel is head of the Ubuntu Learning Community Project, which is an educational partnership between Stellenbosch University and the Department of Correctional Services. In 2020, a 17-session interdisciplinary short course to be presented in Brandvlei Correctional Centre was planned. The course incorporated insights from history, economics, art and music, English and law. The participants included 20 Stellenbosch University students and the same number of incarcerated persons. Unfortunately, after the first month, COVID-19 forced the termination of the face-to-face sessions. In September 2020, Dr Nel finally managed to re-enter Brandvlei Correctional Centre to meet with the incarcerated participants. She further obtained permission to start planning a series of online engagements in the form of seminars, workshops and meetings for the incarcerated participants from the 2019 and 2020 Ubuntu Learning Short Course cohorts. They also held a very successful in-person creative writing workshop behind bars in October 2020.

It was decided that due to the ongoing COVID-19-related concerns, it would not be prudent to recommence with the short course in 2021. Instead, a series of online seminars was planned in consultation with the participants. The planning of online interaction with incarcerated participants took longer than expected, but by March 2021, the infrastructure and permission to commence were in place. The first session entailed a very fruitful and inspiring interaction between incarcerated participants and a formerly incarcerated Unisa lecturer. It took place recently, with a series of sessions coming up over the next few months. These will entail both experts, for example Constitutional Court Justice Edwin Cameron, now Prison Inspector, addressing and engaging with participants and outside Ubuntu Learning participants from past years interacting with those behind bars. While these sessions are only envisaged as an alternative until the face-to-face short course can recommence, the online interactions initiated by the COVID-19 restrictions are another example of the innovation of the Ubuntu Learning initiative. The online meetings between Stellenbosch University and outside participants and those behind bars are a first for South Africa.

The social impact initiatives of the Faculty of Law are encouraging as these are evident of the faculty's commitment to making a difference in society"

​

At Sovetjheza Senior Secondary School in a rural village in KwaNdebele, Mpumalanga, Unathi Skosana remembers being fascinated by the physics teacher singing the Periodic Table Song in Ndebele, or conjuring up elephant toothpaste from a mixture of hydrogen peroxide, dish soap and a few drops of food colouring.

It is perhaps no wonder then, that when he was exposed to quantum mechanics in his third year at Stellenbosch University, that fascination with science kicked in again.

Today he is pursuing an MSc-degree in quantum computing, with his first research paper, written in collaboration with his study leader Prof Mark Tame, published in Nature Scientific Reports, one of the most authoritative scientific journals in the world of science. The article, a proof-of-concept demonstration of a quantum order-finding algorithm for factoring the integer 21, has already been downloaded 350 times and cited in two articles by researchers from Singapore, Malaysia, China, Spain and Germany.

Prof Tame, who holds the South African research chair in photonics in SU's Department of Physics, says he was delighted when Unathi decided to continue the work he started as a BSc Honours student on demonstrating small-scale quantum algorithms on IBM's quantum processors.

“For his MSc, Unathi decided to look at the prospect of realising Shor's algorithm on the IBM quantum processors for factoring the number 21. He is a very bright and promising researcher, and certainly does not shy away from tackling difficult challenges in quantum computing," he describes his student.

Shor's algorithm, developed by the American applied mathematician Peter Shor in 1994, is regarded as one of the crown jewels of quantum computing. Harnessing the laws of quantum mechanics, the algorithm introduced a completely new and efficient way of factoring numbers, which is considered to be a difficult problem for traditional computers. That is why the problem of prime factorisation lies at the heart of the RSA public-key encryption method, which is the basis of internet security as we know it today.

Unathi explains: “A key part of the 'quantum' improvement is because traditional computers process information that is stored in bits, which can take on values of '0' or '1', but never both. On the other hand, quantum computers store and process information in quantum bits or qubits, which operate and behave in a fundamentally different way. For instance, a qubit, just like a bit, can represent information as a '0' or '1', but in addition can also be in a combination of both '0' and '1' at the same time, called a superposition. By utilising the superposition feature, and other strange phenomena in the world of quantum mechanics such as entanglement, quantum computers will be better and faster than traditional computers at solving some computational problems."

Yet, despite several attempts over the past decades to realise Shor's algorithm for small numbers such as 21, the results have been noisy and not very conclusive.

In order to tackle this problem, Unathi first tried realizing Shor's algorithm in its original form on newly-built IBM quantum processors, and struggled with it for some time, getting very “noisy" results and nothing conclusive, as in previous attempts. In quantum computing, “noise" or “decoherence" happens when there are too many operations associated with an algorithm.

“Quantum technology is still in early development stages. This is primarily because of the inherent instability of qubits, which makes them very prone to errors," Unathi explains.

“In practice, the quantum nature of qubits is a doubled-edged sword, because it also makes them extremely sensitive to unintentional influences from their surrounding environment. The longer the computation goes on, the more this effect becomes pronounced which ultimately ruins the computation, giving unreliable results," he continues.

The breakthrough came when they played around with the idea of shortening Shor's algorithm for factoring 21 by replacing Toffoli gates – a universal logic operation used in traditional computing – with more compact logic gates and some clever maths.

“We were surprised at how good the results were, so we decided to write them up and submit a paper to Nature Scientific Reports," Prof Tame explains. The paper, titled “Demonstration of Shor's factoring algorithm for N=21 on IBM quantum processors" was published on 16 August 2021.

Prof Tame says he started experimenting with IBM's quantum processors in 2019. At the time, he wasn't that impressed. However, since then new processors with much better quality have been introduced on a regular basis, allowing him to consider their use by his postgraduate students. He submitted a proposal to the University of Witwatersrand for use of the IBM quantum processors under the banner of the African Research Universities' Alliance (ARUA) – a network of 16 of Africa's leading universities.

“Access to the IBM quantum processors provides an opportunity for students from South Africa and Africa to learn and develop skills in this emerging technology, and even play a leading role," he says.

He has recently incorporated the use of IBM quantum processors into his BSc Honours lectures on quantum information: “Students can run quantum computing tasks on real quantum processors and submit their results to me for checking. In future I am hoping to open up the course to non-physics students from computer and data science as well," he adds.

In the meantime, putting together the quantum hardware needed to do even small-scale quantum computing is expensive and time consuming.

And that is why Unathi is now tackling another challenging task: building a proof-of-concept small-scale quantum computer, based on the use of particles of light (called photons). The idea is to build something that will produce similar results to the IBM quantum processors, but in a way that is better suited to the use of photons.

“Imagine giving students access to our own quantum processor," says Prof Tame. “The theoretically-minded ones can immediately put their ideas to the test, while those interested in experiments involving quantum mechanics can come in and play around with the real thing."

Unathi seems to be more than up to the task when he mentions another major inspiration: the Greek mathematician and geographer, Eratosthenes, who, two thousand years ago, made the first measurement of the circumference of the Earth working only with the midday shadows cast during an equinox.

So who's to say it's impossible to build your own quantum processor in the Merensky-building here on SU's campus!

Caption

On the photo, from left to right, Prof Mark Tame and MSc-student Unathi Skosana from Stellenbosch University's Department of Physics. Photo credit: Stefan Els

Media interviews

Prof Mark Tame

SARChI research chair in Photonics, Department of Physics, Stellenbosch University

E-mail: mstame@sun.ac.za

Office: +27 (0)21 808 3375

​

On Thursday 23 September the SU Transformation Office will host the third installment of the Transformation Managers Forum and International Journal for Critical Diversity Studies Seminar Series, Developing a Critical Praxis of Transformation in South African Higher Education.

The seminar series is a collaboration between the Transformation Manager's Forum, Universities South Africa, the Centre for Critical Diversity Studies at Wits University, the Unit for Institutional Change and Social Justice at the University of the Free State, the Transformation Office at Nelson Mandela University and Stellenbosch University Transformation Office. 

The seminar series is an extension of a two-issue special edition of the International Journal for Critical Diversity Studies which focuses on the development of critical praxis for transformation in South African higher education. Dr Claire Kelly, who is Programme Manager in the SU Transformation Office and guest editor for this special edition explains:

As a community of higher education transformation practitioners and scholars we are creating a space for critical reflection on our work and the tools (theoretical as well as practical) we use to approach it. This seminar series represents an effort to create a learning space for ourselves and anyone else interested in the praxis of transformation in higher education.'

The series kicked off in July at the University of the Free State with two sessions focusing on theoretical lenses informing transformation work in South Africa. The second instalment focused on the relationship between governance and transformation, and was hosted by NMU. 

The third and upcoming session being hosted this week by SU will focus on how we can bring a feminist and intersectional lens to the work of transformation in higher education. The Director of Hers-SA, Ms Brightness Mangolothi and Prof Peliwe Mnguni from Unisa Business School will present on the workplace bullying and its implications for gender transformation from an intersectional perspective. Closer to home, SU's very own Profs Ronelle Carolissen and Nadine-Bowers du Toit will present a decolonial feminist revisiting of the “coloured women" article. Finally, Jaco Brink from SU's Equality Unit will offer some perspectives on institutional policy for mitigating gender-based violence. The session will be moderated by Professor Amanda Gouws, SU Professor and SA Research Chair in Gender Politics. 

The fourth and final session will focus on decolonization praxis and will be hosted by the Wits Centre for Critical Diversity Studies. 

The first issue of the special edition of the International Journal for Critical Diversity Studies: Developing a Critical Praxis of Transformation in South African Higher Education will be available in early 2022. 

​​​​​

In line with the global requirement for higher education institutions (HEIs) to maximise their community engagement through partnerships and utilising the quadruple helix which includes government, industry, business and civil society, Stellenbosch University (SU) recently hosted its annual Social Impact Symposium. The symposium was entitled Reviewing 'Engaged' partnerships for Social Impact: Catalysing cross-sector partnerships for long-term social impact.

According to Ms Ernestine Meyer-Adams, Director of the Division for Social Impact, this was done as part of SU's commitment to drive alignment to the SU's Vision 2040 strategic goal of purposeful partnerships and inclusive networks.

In addition to a great number of senior SU staff, academics and students attending, the event was also well supported by several external professional organisations in the sector, i.e the South African Higher Education Community Engagement Forum (SAHECEF) which was represented by several HEIs such as University of the Western Cape (UWC), University of Venda (Univen), Rhodes University (RU), Central University of Technology (CUT), University of the Free State (UFS), Wits, Nelson Mandela University (NMU), to name but a few.

Meyer-Adams stated that the 2021 symposium allowed SU to analyse and celebrate the engaged collaborations that have managed to journey together ethically and authentically towards sustainability through mutually beneficial relationship building. The Social Impact (SI) partners of SU that were invited to present, were identified from partnership initiatives that are registered on the Social Impact Knowledge Platform.

The Faculties of Education, Military Science, Economic and Management Sciences, Law and Theology showcased their initiatives through dual presentations with their external partners. These initiatives demonstrated collaboration between different faculties without the need to cross any policy barriers, said Meyer-Adams.

Dr Leslie van Rooi, Senior Director: Social Impact and Transformation at SU, said the symposium was a platform for the University to review and rethink its strategy and way forward as an engaged university. “We must constantly and continuously reflect on society through teaching, learning and research, as well as partnerships to make a long-term and positive impact on society. The symposium allowed us to rethink, review and reimagine our social impact strategy," said Van Rooi.

Delivering the keynote address on the topic of Cross-sectoral engaged partnerships: Transformative Power of Higher Education to Deliver Effective Societal Impact,  renowned academic in the sector  Dr Cornel Hart explained how and why community engagement, partnerships and engaged scholarship became responsibilities of higher educational institutions.

With her extensive experience in research methodology and assessing community development, Hart noticed a new challenge for institutions, namely to measure and evaluate the extent of their impact on society and the footprint they have made.

As part of her presentation, she shared a SI typology that is a framework to plan SI projects in a professional and well-organised manner and, at the same time, measure and evaluate SI projects. She encouraged project planners to use the typology in designing so that the project will promote cross-sector partnerships across the entire institution while addressing the National Development Plan (NDP) and other regional and international development goals.

The highlight of the symposium was the dual presentations by SU academics and their external societal partners who shared in their joint social impact initiatives and the positive impact their initiatives had on communities.

“Building on this solid foundation, the future looks promising for changing the plight of communities through solid, ethical and sustainable university/community partnerships," Meyer-Adams commented.

 The joint presentations included the following:

Faculty of Military Science and Stable Seas company – The Stable Seas Index: Exploring maritime security data sets to benefit fishing communities in the Western Cape

Faculty of Education and Paternoster NPC - Reflections on trust and mutual respect in the educational objectives in a Public Private Partnership

Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences and the Law Faculty with mutual partner Department of Correctional Services – Prison University Education through the Ubuntu Learning Community and Ex-Cell Workshop

Faculty of Theology with Ekklesia's ecumenical partnership: The key to significant social impact​

Every year on September 29^th is World Heart Day. This year, World Heart Day is about connecting with our own hearts and using the power of digital to connect every heart, everywhere. The World Heart Federation is asking the world to USE  TO CONNECT! The goal is to bring awareness of heart health to millions around the world this World Heart Day, and every day.

Heart and blood vessel disease is the world's number 1 killer, but the risk factors are even more common, and many are linked to lifestyle choices. Incorrect eating and a lack of exercise all contribute to the development of insulin resistance, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity and gout. Added to the burden of these diseases is the high risk of developing severe COVID if you have these underlying conditions.

So, what are you going to do about it this Heart Awareness Month? Some ideas to help you look after your heart:

• Get vaccinated against COVID-19. All adults in South Africa are eligible for the vaccine. Stellenbosch University (SU) has established a vaccination site to administer COVID-19 vaccines. The site is located in the Lentelus clubhouse at SU's soccer complex in Hammanshand Road, Stellenbosch. All permanent and non-permanent staff members over the age of 18 from any of the University's five campuses will have preference at the SU vaccination site. As an added benefit, they will also be able to have members of their families vaccinated. Students 18 years and older can also access the vaccination services offered at the site. Students must register on the national EVDS (Electronic Vaccination Data System). For more information on the vaccination site, please click here.

• Assist others in getting vaccinated. If you've had your shot but your neighbour does not have a cell phone, help them get registered. Offer to look after someone's kids so they can go get the vaccine! Be available to offer transport - remember to mask up and keep the vehicle windows open.

• Encourage your family and friends to go for regular check-ups of their chronic conditions. Health facilities are safe; don't let fear keep you at home. Be sure to #maskup, #sanitise and #besociallydistant when away from home.

• Exercise! Start with walking for 10 minutes and work your way up until you can walk for 30 minutes at a time five times a week. Keep your mask on and maintain physical distancing, even when outside!

• Make healthier food choices. Aim for less take-outs, decrease the amount of salt you add to your food, eat less red meat and more fruits and vegetables.

As the world struggles to fight COVID-19, we've never been more aware of the importance of our and our loved one's health. Look after your heart and your families hearts this Word Heart Awareness Month!

For more information on how you can look after your heart and improve your health, make an appointment with your usual GP or see one of the Doctors or Clinical Nurse Practitioners at Campus Health Service. To make an appointment at CHS, call 021 808 3494 (Stellenbosch Campus) or 021 938 9590 (Tygerberg Campus).

​​It may only be a matter of time before a COVID-19 variant emerges that will successfully evade our currently available vaccines. This is why we must double down on our efforts to prevent COVID-19 infection in ourselves and in others, writes Dr Hanél Sadie-Van Gijsen (Centre for Cardio-metabolic Research in Africa) in an opinion piece for Health24 (22 September 2021).

• Read the article below or click here for the piece as published.

Hanél Sadie-Van Gijsen*

Beta, Delta, Lambda. And now C.1.2. One could be forgiven for not being able to keep up with which COVID-19 variant we have to worry about this week, and which ones may be on the rise to send us back into lockdown before Christmas.

Viruses like SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19 disease) mutate all the time. Not all of these mutations are of benefit to the virus, but viruses with those non-beneficial mutations also do not propagate well, and we typically do not get to see them, other than in a laboratory setting. The mutations with real benefit to the virus are the strains that become dominant in our population and drive up our infection numbers.

The Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA)* keeps track of new SARS-CoV2 mutations by determining the sequences of viral genomes in patient samples and comparing them with other known variants. It is a high-level game of “spot the difference". Scientists differentiate between “variants of interest" (where mutations are identified that could affect virus characteristics such as transmissibility, disease severity or diagnostic escape) and “variants of concern", where it has unfortunately been demonstrated that the mutations present have strengthened the virus to our detriment. Unfortunately, by the time a virus strain has graduated from “variant of interest" to “variant of concern", it already has a strong footprint in our society, and then we have to adjust our prevention and treatment strategies and tools after the fact, which could take months and may only be partially successful.  

At the recently held Annual Academic Day of Stellenbosch University's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (SU-FMHS), members of the NGS-SA described the case of an HIV-positive woman who had active COVID-19 infection for 216 days. Altogether, she had nine positive COVID-19 tests over this period. She was also poorly adherent to her antiretroviral treatment (ART) regimen. Eventually, within a month of establishing her on a good ART regimen, her HIV viral load was reduced to almost zero and her tenth COVID-19 test was finally negative. However, during this same time, five different new SARS-CoV-2 variants were detected in her test samples, the first within one week.

Persons with long-term COVID-19 infection are regarded to be the source of new variants. It is only a matter of time before a variant emerges that will successfully evade our currently available vaccines, which are essentially last year's vaccines. We have been lucky so far that these vaccines are still fairly effective against the current set of new variants, but our luck may run out. It will take time to re-develop or adjust vaccines for new variants, and although the mRNA vaccine technology used to develop the Pfizer/BioNtech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines will shorten that time considerably, it will still take months to determine if a variant will actually become dominant and warrant its “own" vaccine. Then the updated vaccine still needs to be developed, tested, manufactured and distributed, and of course administered at great cost to people who may rightfully question why they need to get this particular vaccine, if the next variant of concern could just be around the corner anyway.

This is why we all need to double down on our efforts to prevent COVID-19 infection in ourselves and in others. The idea that “natural" post-infection immunity is somehow superior to vaccine-induced immunity is dangerous and reckless, and will just prolong the pandemic. “I am young and not at high risk, I will just get COVID and get it over with" is not a rational strategy and will endanger your own health (think of "Long Covid"!) and life, and potentially those of everybody else on earth. Everybody is at risk. By not protecting yourself against COVID-19 infection, you could be the origin of the next super-variant that may wipe out all the gains that we have made with the currently available vaccines. For the love of humanity, please don't. Protect yourself and others against COVID-19 infection by utilising proven prevention strategies such as vaccination and social distancing. Otherwise, we may all be playing “COVID catch-up" for decades to come.  

*Dr Hanél Sadie-Van Gijsen is affiliated with the Centre for Cardio-metabolic Research in Africa (CARMA) in the Division of Medical Physiology at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University.

*The Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA) is a network of laboratories, scientists and academic institutions that have joined forces to ensure the public health responses to COVID-19 in South Africa have access to the best possible scientific data. Members of the network include scientists at five South African Universities including SU-FMHS, the SA Medical Research Council, the National Health Laboratory Service and others. 

http://www.krisp.org.za/ngs-sa/ngs-sa_network_for_genomic_surveillance_south_africa/

​

Three academics and an alumnus of Stellenbosch University (SU) were recently honoured with ATKV Woordveertjie awards for their extraordinary literary contributions. The Woordveertjies are awarded annually in recognition of exceptional achievements in Afrikaans literary art.

Stephanus Muller and Stephanie Vos

Prof Stephanus Muller and Dr Stephanie Vos from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences received the 2021 ATKV Woordveertjie for non-fiction for their book Sulke vriende is skaars: Die briewe van Arnold van Wyk en Anton Hartman, 1949-1981 (“Such friends are rare: The letters of Arnold van Wyk and Anton Hartman, 1949-1981"), published by Protea Boekhuis.

The book contains the annotated letter correspondence between Van Wyk and Hartman, two seminal figures in South African Western art music. The publication has made a significant contribution to the discipline of South African music historiography, as well as to Afrikaner and apartheid historiography. In addition to the letters, the book contains important photographs, copies of facsimiles, telegrams and other forms of correspondence.

“Recognition is important for authors and academics, but, in this case, the recognition extends to the subject matter," says Muller, the director of the Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation, an independent institute at SU.

“It is important that this award lends a degree of prominence to the correspondence between these two music scholars, discussing their discipline. We highly appreciate the initiative taken by the ATKV to make awards such as these. It means that the content of the book has made its way into the public discourse in a different way than would have been the case otherwise."

Vos, a lecturer in the Department of Music, is equally honoured by the recognition their book has received. “It's so rare for what essentially started out as an academic project to get this kind of public exposure and reach a broader readership in this way," she says.

“Many people have helped to usher this work into existence. We especially acknowledge Hanna Botha, who was instrumental in bringing together the archive on which the project is based, and our publisher, Protea, for their commitment to shape the book into the beautiful object it is." The book has been dedicated to Botha, who headed up Special Collections at the SU Library for many years.

Muller has published widely both locally and internationally, and received SU's Chancellor's Award for Research in 2015. His 2014 book Nagmusiek was awarded the Eugѐne Marais prize by the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns, the Jan Rabie-Rapport prize, the kykNET-Rapport prize as well as the UJ debut prize for creative writing in Afrikaans.

Vos, in turn, was the project leader of the Interdisciplinary Forum for Popular Music at Africa Open from 2016 to 2020, before she was appointed to her current position. Her contribution to Sulke vriende is skaars came from a research perspective that crossed disciplinary boundaries, and a music practice (South African jazz) that transcended narrow understandings of genre and notions of 'the popular'.

Willem Anker

Dr Willem Anker, a lecturer in Creative Writing in the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, received the 2021 ATKV Woordveertjie for prose for his third novel, Skepsel, published by Queillerie. The award recognises the best popular Afrikaans prose from the previous calendar year.

“This prize is a great honour and will hopefully give good exposure to our department, and specifically our Creative Writing components and the MA programme in Creative Writing," says Anker.

Over the past few months, Anker has received several accolades for Skepsel. Earlier this month, the novel earned him a second kykNET-Rapport prize, having received the same award for his novel Buys in 2015. The national kykNET-Rapport award recognises and rewards excellence in Afrikaans writing. On 31 March, Skepsel also scooped the 2021 UJ prize.

Pieter Odendaal

SU alumnus Pieter Odendaal was awarded the 2021 ATKV Woordveertjie for best drama script for Droomwerk.

Odendaal's debut Afrikaans poetry collection, Asof geen berge ooit hier gewoon het nie (“As if no mountains ever lived here before"), appeared at Tafelberg Publishers in 2018 and was awarded the prestigious Ingrid Jonker prize in 2019. He is also the co-editor of the multilingual poetry translation anthologies Many tongues (2013) and ConVerse (2018).

​​​The Toyota SU Woordfees TV pop-up channel was launched on 1 September with a simulcast on the Woordfees Facebook page and the DStv YouTube channel. Fees TV, as it will be known on DStv, is the first ever arts festival on South African television, and it will be on air from 1 to 7 October 2021.

Fees TV brings all the variety and vibrancy of one of South Africa's biggest arts festivals, the Toyota SU Woordfees, to television. The programme content displays a broad range of genres: theatre, writers and books, dance, lifestyle, stand-up comedy, contemporary and classical music, film, discourse, and visual arts. The pop-up channel celebrates the arts and the diversity of talent and creativity of local artists, with a strong focus on quality-Afrikaans books, theatre, music, and film. 

Fees TV will be available in South Africa on DStv Channel 150 from 1 to 7 October 2021, 24 hours a day, to all DStv Premium and Compact Plus subscribers. In Namibia, it will air on GOtv channel 15, with access for all GOtv Max subscribers. The Fees TV pop-up channel will also be available on DStv Now, and a selection of content on DStv Catch Up.

“A large variety of content by local producers has been curated to reflect the interests of our loyal festivalgoers. The programme will appeal to the culturally curious and all lovers of the arts, books, music, good food and wine. People from different walks of life, backgrounds and languages will be able to come together around their love of the arts to experience beauty, spectacle, debate, provocative ideas, and community. Lifestyle-orientated content will focus on scenic Stellenbosch and surrounds where the festival usually takes place," says Toyota SU Woordfees festival director, Saartjie Botha.

Highlights and anchor productions featured in the programme launch presentation include the following:

Writers' festival

The Woordfees started 21 years ago as an all-night poetry festival, and books and writers are still at the heart of the festival programme. Writers, poets and thought leaders on the Fees TV channel include Lien Botha, Andries Bezuidenhout, Nataniël, Nathan Trantraal, Joan Hambidge, Zandra Bezuidenhout, Bernard Odendaal, Ashwin Arendse, Veronique Jephtas, Dominique Botha, Jolyn Philips, Hilda Smits, Rudie van Rensburg, Erns Grundling, Ingrid Jones, Reuben Riffel, Max du Preez, Oscar van Heerden, Albert Grundlingh, Louise Viljoen and Willem Anker.

Theatre

See a variety of South Africa's most celebrated talent on stage – on your screen. The theatre series includes:

• The multi-award winning Valsrivier (based on Dominique Botha's acclaimed novel) with Anna-Mart van der Merwe, Tinarie Van Wyk Loots and Stian Bam, theatre direction by Janice Honeyman, and film direction by Christiaan Olwagen
• The 2020 Fiësta Award winner for Best Production: Die poet, wie's hy?, a celebration of poet Adam Small's work, starring Dean Balie with theatre direction by Frieda van den Heever, and film direction by Christiaan Olwagen 
• Reza de Wet's classic play Mis with Nicole Holm, Martelize Kolver, Jane de Wet and Laudo Liebenberg, theatre direction by Wolf Britz, and film direction by Jaco Bouwer
• Adam Small's celebrated Krismis van Map Jacobs with June van Merch, Ilse Klink, Dann-Jacques Mouton and Elton Landrew, theatre direction by Jason Jacobs, and film direction by Jaco Bouwer
• Ferine and Ferase with theatre legends Andrew Buckland and Sylvaine Strike, theatre direction by Toni Morkel, and film direction by Jaco Bouwer
• Satirical game show Off the Record with Standard Bank Young Artist winner Jefferson “J Bobs" Tshabalala and guests
• Hannes van Wyk in the popular one-man show Sê groete vir ma

Classical Music

Viewers are spoiled for choice with a variety of concerts including the world-renowned Stellenbosch University Choir; pianist Megan-Geoffrey Prins; Italian opera arias with baritone Theo Magongoma, soprano Kimmy Skota, and tenor Arthur Swan; Cape Town Baroque Ensemble with Handel's London operas; mezzo-soprano Minette du Toit Pearce accompanied by Phillipus Hugo; pianists Nina Schumann and Luis Magalhães; and Zorada Themmingh on the organ of the Moederkerk in Stellenbosch.

Contemporary Music

Highlights of the contemporary music series include:

• A celebration of David Kramer's 70^th birthday with Emo Adams, Loukmaan Adams, Robin Auld, Schalk Joubert and friends in the tribute: Boland to Broadway.
• Karen Zoid performing 20 of her greatest hits with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra
• Karoo Suite – an ode to the beauty of the Great Karoo in word, music, and spectacular images with Coenie de Villiers and Deon Meyer
• Luna Paige, Ramon Alexander, and Frazer Barry exploring the origins and showcasing the variety of Afrikaans music in Smeltkroes.

Also on the music menu: Amanda Strydom, Spoegwolf, Die Heuwels Fantasties (with Francois van Coke, Tarryn Lamb and Jack Parow), jazz, cabaret, folk, swing, and poems set to music.

Stand-up Comedy

Enjoy the sharp wit of 13 of the country's most popular stand-up comedians: Marc Lottering, Schalk Bezuidenhout, Nik Rabinowitz, Shimmy Isaacs, Alan Committie, Bennie Fourie, Alfred Adriaan, Melt Sieberhagen, Kagiso Mokgadi, Joey Rasdien, Hannes Brümmer, Conrad Koch and Wayne McKay.

Woordfees TV will broadcast predominantly in Afrikaans but will also include English and multi-lingual works. All Afrikaans narrative works produced by the Woordfees festival, such as plays and discussion, will have English subtitles.

Non-subscribers can buy one of several one-month subscription packages for the month of October and enjoy the Toyota SU Woordfees on TV and DStv Catch Up in the safety of their homes.

The launch broadcast of around 20 minutes is still available to be viewed on the Toyota SU Woordfees Facebook page and the DStv YouTube channel.

• https://www.facebook.com/woordfees
• https://www.youtube.com/dstv

 * Toyota SU Woordfees TV pop-up is aired from 1 to 7 October on DStv channel 150 in South Africa and on GOtv channel 15 in Namibia. Watch woordfees.co.za and the Woordfees social media platforms for new highlights and information on Fees TV.

For enquiries, contact Danie Marais: danie_marais@sun.ac.za               

Amory Le Roux-Arries

SciMathUS class of 2004

Graduate Degree programme/s:  MEng (Civil Engineering)

I am Amory Le Roux-Arries, originally from Strand in the Western Cape. I wanted to be a civil engineer since I was 12 years old, and I could never imagine myself doing anything else.

Everything went well in my matric year, until my final exams. My mathematics marks were no longer good enough to gain admission to the engineering programme. It was absolutely heart breaking for me to see my dreams disappear right before my eyes. But I had a stubborn mother who wouldn't let me give up...

I eventually applied to SciMathUS, and the rest as they say is history! Today I am living my dream and am responsible for all civil and structural work on the expansion of the largest radio telescope in the world, the MeerKAT, near Carnarvon in the Northern Cape. I am incredibly excited to be part of this ground-breaking work being done in the field of astronomy.

Initially, at the beginning of my SciMathUS year, I felt that I had let my parents down and failed myself.  However, I was determined to complete the year successfully so that I could reapply for the degree course of my dreams. The support and dedication of the ScimathUS staff was such an enormous help to me. The friends I made during my SciMathUS year also helped me to stay focused.

After completing the SciMathUS programme, I was finally able to tackle my engineering studies at Stellenbosch University.  Since then, I have experienced so many new opportunities — I moved to Johannesburg; worked as part of the design team on an 80km road project in the Democratic Republic of Congo; completed a project management course and in 2018 obtained my Master's degree in civil engineering. As mentioned, I am currently involved in the MeerKAT expansion project.

My advice to every student who feels discouraged with their situation ... it's not the end, you're not a failure, this is just an obstacle in your road. Roll that stone away and carry on!

I would not have been able to achieve my dreams without the help of the SciMathUS team and for that I will be eternally grateful.

A potentially life-saving breakthrough in the treatment of preterm pre-eclampsia, a dangerous complication of pregnancy, has been achieved by a Stellenbosch University-led team of South African and Australian researchers.

The exciting findings of this study, led by Prof Cathy Cluver, Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of SU's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS), have just been published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

“Worldwide, pre-eclampsia claims the lives of 500,000 unborn babies and 70,000 pregnant mothers every year. It is a leading causes of maternal and neonatal deaths in South Africa" says Cluver. “Pre-eclampsia that develops at an early gestation, called preterm pre-eclampsia, is a highly dangerous variant of the disease where the risks to baby and mother are particularly high"

According to Cluver the only existing treatment for pre-eclampsia is to deliver the baby and placenta. “Late in a pregnancy it is fairly safe to deliver a baby, but if delivery is preterm, it can result in severe complications associated with prematurity and could even result in death of the baby."

Previous efforts to find drugs that are safe to administer during pregnancy that could prolong gestation in preterm pre-eclampsia, have not succeeded. The idea of metformin as a treatment for preeclampsia came from laboratory studies done by the same research team at Mercy Hospital for Women, in Melbourne.

 “Recently, preclinical laboratory studies from the Translational Obstetrics Group in Melbourne, led by Prof Stephen Tong, identified metformin as a therapeutic candidate for pre-eclampsia. We then set out to evaluate whether oral metformin could prolong gestation among women diagnosed with preterm-preeclampsia at Tygerberg Hospital, here in Cape Town" says Cluver.

In this trial, conducted at Tygerberg Hospital, the researchers recruited 180 women with preterm pre-eclampsia between 26 and 32 weeks gestation. The women were recruited between February 2018 and March 2020. “The mothers needed to be stable enough to undergo inpatient expectant management for preterm pre-eclampsia. Half of them received 3 g of oral metformin daily, while the other 90 were given dummy tablets (placebo). None of the participants or researchers knew who was taking the active drug until the trial was completed".

“What is really exciting is that the women who took metformin stayed pregnant for 7,6 days longer compared to those who took a placebo. A full week. Furthermore, their babies spent 12 days less in hospital. When we are dealing with this level of prematurity, an extra week in the mother's womb is likely to be a really important gain that could translate in lifelong health benefits for the baby."

“It is the first time that a treatment given to mums with preterm pre-eclampsia to keep them pregnant for a week longer might have worked," explains a delighted Cluver. “It could mean that preterm pre-eclampsia can now be treated and that we can slow disease progression right down."

Advantages of metformin include that it is already widely used to treat gestational diabetes, and it is therefore likely to be safe, especially if administered for a limited duration. A further advantage is that metformin is inexpensive, meaning it could be widely adopted in low-and-middle income countries (LMIC's) such as South Africa, where the problem is most pronounced. Also, no serious side-effects related to trial medications were observed.

Cluver adds that the prolongation of pregnancy among the participants may have been longer had they continued with the treatment beyond 34 weeks gestation. However, the babies of women with preterm pre-eclampsia managed at Tygerberg Hospital are delivered at 34 weeks.

According to her the next step is a larger trial, involving 500 participants, to confirm the findings. “If the findings are confirmed, it means that metformin could be used to save the lives of thousands of mothers and their infants."

*The trial was approved by SU's Health Research Ethics Committee and the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority.

Funders were: The Preeclampsia Foundation, Peter Joseph Pappas research grant program and the South African Medical Research Council. Merck Healthcare kindly provided the trial medications but played no role in running the trial.​

​If you were watching TV in the early 1980s, you'll probably remember the dubbed series Beste Professor. Originally broadcast as The Paper Chase in the United States, the series featured brilliant law student James T. Hart (played by James Stephens) and his tough time under grumpy professor Charles W. Kingsfield Jr. (John Houseman).

Those were the days before couch potatoes could access a host of programmes at the touch of a button, and the weeks between episodes felt like ages. Of course, Hart was everyone's hero, but the professor was a star in his own right for the authoritative way in which he shared his expertise and knowledge with his students.

Now fans of the series can look forward to a revival of sorts with a number of inserts titled Professor Presenting scheduled to be broadcast on DStv as part of the Toyota SU Woordfees in the first week of October. Although in a completely different format, the inserts retain a key element of the original Paper Chase formula, namely an expert sharing his or her knowledge.

However, this time around, it is fact-based, not fiction. All the experts presenting are leading academics associated with Stellenbosch University (SU), delivering accessible talks on interesting topics. The presentations are made in TED Talk-style and are 10 minutes each.

Economist Prof Johan Fourie, for instance, tells us what we stand to learn from historical data. Cellular biologist Dr Hanél Sadie-van Gijsen explores whether natural products can really aid weight loss, while engineer Prof Thinus Booysen shares some tips to keep the “demanding donkey" on your ceiling (aka your geyser) in check.

Microbiologist Prof Karin Jacobs marvels at the wide variety of fungi in fynbos, and futurist Dr Morne Mostert provides guidance for better crisis management. Prof Stella Viljoen, a Visual Arts lecturer, exposes racism and sexism in the magazine Scope, while botanist Prof Nox Makunga enthuses about the range of South African plants offering health benefits.

We can change the world, provided we put our children first, says public health expert Prof Mark Tomlinson. Data scientist Prof Kanshu Rajaratnam points out pitfalls in the COVID-19 information landscape, and clinician Prof Helmuth Reuter uses actual case studies to explain how our immune system fights off arthritis and viral pneumonia.

So, to attend class without leaving the couch, do tune in. Long live our TV professors!

* The Toyota SU Woordfees 2021 be aired from 1 to 7 October on DStv channel 150 in South Africa, and on GOtv channel 15 in Namibia. Visit www.woordfees.co.za and the Woordfees social media platforms for highlights and information on Fees TV.

​

​

When I hear the word heritage, I think of my forefathers, and this is dedicated to them:

When I look into my eyes, I see love 

when I look into my eyes, I fall in love with the pieces of you in me that I see

In my eyes, I see rain that washes away the pain

I see hopes and dreams passed down from generation to generation 

I am a dream, I am the dream

to the one who was afraid to walk the streets 

to the one who was afraid to speak 

But most importantly I am the dream to the one who was brave

to the one who never caved

to the one that saw light at the end of the tunnel

I am that light indeed I say you were brave

grateful indeed for what you have done, to breed a nation of people who can forgive what has been done

Kings and queens who sing songs that cannot be unsung

nations who find love and beauty in everything

nations who come together despite their differences

nations filled with joy even though plagued with sorrow for what they have lost

But remain strong, in hopes to build better.

SU is set to play a leading role in this ambitious initiative to expedite the development of 21st century immunotherapy for cancer and infectious disease and to position South Africa as a science and medicine hub of innovation for all of Africa through an extensive collaborative network.

The initiative is the brain-child of South African-born Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong and NantWorks, a California-based conglomerate and a world-leader in the digital revolution in healthcare, technology and media.

The collaborative network includes the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR); the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC); the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI), which was officially launched today and is led by SU's Prof Tulio de Oliviera, its founding director; as well as the Universities of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, Witwatersrand, and KwaZulu-Natal.

The launch of CERI, in collaboration with the SAMRC and Universities of Stellenbosch and KwaZulu-Natal, will enhance rapid genomic surveillance of and response to viral mutations occurring in Africa.

According to De Oliviera the Centre, which was established with the support of the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, will allow genomics technologies to be used in real time to trace and respond to epidemics and pandemics in Africa.

“We are really excited to partner with Dr Soon-Shiong to set up the largest genomics facility on the African continent," he said.

The Rockefeller Foundation welcomed the official launch of CERI, saying the Centre “will help improve genomic sequencing throughout sub-Saharan Africa and train the next generation of African scientists".

SU will also be involved in the launch of clinical centres of excellence for the treatment of cancers and infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, HIV/AIDS and TB, through a collaboration with the SAMRC.

According to De Oliviera SU is excited about playing a leading role in this important initiative: “Building on research excellence via its DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical TB Research and African Cancer Institute, among others, the University is well poised to make a meaningful contribution to the initiative."

* Click here for a media statement by NantWorks, the Presidency, the Department of Science and Technology, and the CSIR.

* Click here for a statement by the Rockefeller Foundation.

​​*In celebration of the opportunities and possibilities multilingualism creates, the Division of Learning and Teaching Enhancement is hosting a Language Day conference on 30 September. As part of this celebration of multilingualism, we will highlight some of the projects undertaken by the Stellenbosch University Language Centre.

With a friendly knock on a virtual door and a song full of clicks, Dr Zandile Kondowe welcomes her class of Stellenbosch University (SU) staff members to their next session of Masabelane ngesiXhosa (“Let us share in isiXhosa”). Through this 16-session short course for beginners, she helps participants learn and practise basic isiXhosa phrases and words.

The sessions, offered through the SU Language Centre, are held twice a week during lunchtime.

“You will not only learn a new language, but will also be empowered with multilingual and multicultural skills,” Dr Kondowe says passionately about the value of the course. “After this course, you will be able to connect with students and colleagues in basic isiXhosa conversations. In addition, you will find that you start appreciating isiXhosa as a regional language, as well as its position as an official language in South Africa. Learning a new language connects people from different cultures and creates a space for them to grow.”

One of her students confirmed this in an e-mail earlier this year. “You spoke the truth when you said that my fellow South Africans would appreciate it if I try even a little bit of isiXhosa,” the e-mail said.

“You needn’t have any prior knowledge of isiXhosa to be admitted to the course,” says Dr Kondowe, who has years of isiXhosa teaching experience at SU and Nelson Mandela University. Participants are also provided with recordings and pre-recordings. Small tests are written, and orals are par for the course, as it is a sure-fire way of getting the hang of a new language.

In previous years, Masabelane was presented face-to-face, but due to COVID-19 restrictions, she had to adapt and start thinking out of the box. Since 2021, the language short course has been offered online via MS Teams. Three iterations have been presented this year to date, with another one being planned for 6 October to 10 November.

Dr Kondowe, whom students praise for her empathetic, energetic enthusiasm as a teacher, definitely misses the personal interaction of traditional teaching, but is doing her best to ensure that her students still learn as much vocabulary as possible and get a well-rounded experience. “I enjoy helping my students become part of a broader isiXhosa culture in an encouraging learning and teaching environment.”

Virtual teaching also has its perks, however. For instance, it has allowed staff members from different SU campuses and locations to follow the course together. “I have had people from Tygerberg, Stellenbosch, Ceres, Worcester and the Military Academy in Saldanha joining. Isn’t that wonderful? Participants included faculty leaders, academics and administrative staff,” she says.

A previous student’s feedback summarises the value of the course well: “It is very good for building conversational confidence, overcoming one’s ‘fear’ of speaking a language, and getting used to saying words and phrases. It also gave me some confidence to do a bit more reading and speaking, and ask questions.”

Another former Masabelane student, Dr JP Bosman, director of the Centre for Learning Technologies, is also full of praise for the course: “In the past, I’ve tried to learn basic isiXhosa skills on my own, but without any real breakthrough. The ‘seeds’ needed to germinate my language acquisition skills, so to speak, were just not there. They have now started to germinate thanks to this course, very capably presented by Dr Zandile. The beautiful isiXhosa language is definitely taking root in me. There is still a long road ahead, but I already feel more at ease to greet my isiXhosa colleagues and strike up a short conversation.”

He says the course was “made lively” by the blend of practical language skills and vocabulary training presented in combination with information about isiXhosa culture. For instance, Dr Bosman was intrigued to learn that, in isiXhosa, the months of the year were named according to when specific plants flower in the Eastern Cape. September, for example, is called EyoMsintsi – the month of the coast coral tree.

*The course, which extends over six to eight weeks, costs R2 500. To register, visit the SU Short Courses Division website. Participants receive a certificate of attendance. For more information, contact Dr Kondowe at kondowe@sun.ac.za​.​​​

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​On Friday (24 September) South Africans celebrated Heritage Day. In an opinion piece for News24, Dr Chris Jones (Unit for Moral Leadership) argues that heritage is not only found in, and celebrated as part of our past, but also created in the present.

• Read the article below or click here for the piece as published.

​*This article was facilitated by Corporate Communication and Marketing. There might be other published Heritage Day pieces that staff and students sent to the media directly.

Chris Jones*

​On Heritage Day (24 September) we are encouraged to celebrate our diverse cultures, religions, languages, food, music, and other traditions. In my reflection on this important national holiday, I would like to focus on religion and new developments regarding sacred places, and also what this means for the way we celebrate our religious heritage. 

A couple of years ago a colleague from Tilburg University in The Netherlands, the moral theologian Jan Jans, gave me a copy of research at the Tilburg School of Humanities titled Humanities Perspectives (2012), of which he was the editor. Two articles, in particular, caught my eye: The one written by Inez Schippers, and the other by Lieke Wijnia.

Schippers writes how she, during her time of doing research on the sacred in the suburbs, regularly cycled through Leidsche Rijn that forms part of the city of Utrecht. The Leidsche Rijn development was/is part of the Dutch government's programme to address the housing crisis in The Netherlands.

She found that churches did not form part of this specific urban development, because the planners assumed that there was no demand or need for such places. This helped her to look “beyond the church building at new forms of sacred space, and at new places for ritual practice".

This is of great interest to me because heritage, as I view it, is not only found in, and celebrated as part of our past, but also created in the present. Perhaps this is something that we should also consider in our debates about heritage.

Schippers makes the important point that the “de-institutionalisation of religion" does not automatically mean that the sacred has disappeared from society.

In this regard, she refers to sociologist Mathew Evans who sees “the sacred" as “things set apart". He describes four dimensions of sacrality namely, the personal, the civil, the religious and the spiritual. All these dimensions are “non-exclusive".

This implies that the “sacred is not only to be found in traditional, institutional religion but in individual and differentiated forms of sacrality as well". It ranges from the individual and natural to the collective and supernatural.

This is happening across the globe, including South Africa. The popularity of traditional, institutional religion is shrinking and this, according to Schippers, has “created the search for new forms, more individualistic and philosophical, and consequently also for new sacred places to suit these new forms".

The core of her research was to identify and investigate these newly emerging places to get an insight into how they were functioning.

After 25 minutes of cycling, as referred to above, she usually reached her destination – a so-called birth memorial forest. Twice a year, residents of Leidsche Rijn can plant a tree for their new-born child or grandchild. In some cases, a tree can also be planted for a deceased (young) child.

For her, it was rewarding to observe and participate in this interesting new ritual. New rituals often emerge as people plant their trees: “whole families are helping, pictures are taken, and poems are read".

All the participating families in this ritual receive a certificate with their name and the exact GPS location of their tree on it. This is of help when someone returns to see how his/her tree has grown, to take pictures, or to hang something onto a branch.

Most of these trees carry a personal story and are therefore important to their owners.

The people in the then growing suburb of Leidsche Rijn who preferred a traditional church, attended the church of their choice in the old(er) parts of Utrecht that sufficiently accommodated everybody.

What Schippers found, is that the residents of this new growing neighbourhood had particular places in their neighbourhood where they felt special, went to reflect on life, or found some peace and quiet.

Her bike ride took her through different neighbourhoods that were built in different historical periods — from the early Middle Ages to areas that were still under construction. The way in which these neighbourhoods were planned and set up also varies. They represent the time in which they were built, and one can easily see the differences.

One of the most significant characteristics, as already referred to, was the fact that church buildings had “disappeared". Churches do not have such a prominent place in cities and villages as before. They are often left out of the equation. Many people find themselves in a post-church situation.

This confirms the fact that traditional and institutional forms of religion are losing ground right across the Western world but, as Schippers points out, “this does not mean that sacrality is disappearing from our society: people look for new forms and accompanying sacred places in the public domain. Where people used to go to church for their religious or sacred experiences, nowadays they also seem to find similar experiences in nature, in music, in art, or in silence".

In South Africa, we also experience this shift away from traditional religion to certain “set-apart" places ascribed to sacrality, as Evans refers to it. One could argue that this is another example of how heritage is being created in the present.

This brings me to Lieke Wijnia who reasons that although it is very difficult to give a single all-encompassing definition of what sacrality is, a crucial aspect emerging from all the definitions is that it has a “non-empirical" character.

In other words, the importance of individual experiences and how they are put into words, are very important in describing the sacred.

In Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening (1998), Christopher Small argues that the sacred takes people out of their daily contexts and touches them in a way that helps them experience how they really want the world to be.

Although institutionalised religion is losing ground and societies are increasingly characterised as secular, “society is not necessarily de-sacralised" as Gordon Lynch reminds us in The Sacred in the Modern World: A Cultural Sociological Approach (2012). Wijnia says that “religion takes on different forms and the sacred has become an attribution instead of merely an institution with established boundaries".

As we celebrate Heritage Day and our diversity of religions, we must also remember that sacrality can be recognised and/or experienced in a variety of ways and places in our cities, towns, and neighbourhoods. The more we identify and explore them and enhance both actual and ideal relationships among the different people sharing these places and spaces, the more we create heritage, which hopefully will be celebrated, reflected upon meaningfully, and even be transformed creatively by those who come after us.

*Dr Chris Jones heads the Unit for Moral Leadership in the Faculty of Theology at Stellenbosch University.

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