Stellenbosch University (SU) will host an online language colloquium for public universities this week. The Colloquium on the New Language Policy Framework for Public Higher Education Institutions takes place from 28-29 September 2021 under the auspices of Universities South Africa (USAf) and is a joint project with USAf's Community of Practice for the Teaching and Learning of African Languages (CoPAL) and SU.

Speakers include Justice Albie Sachs, retired Judge of the South African Constitutional Court, and vice-chancellors of, amongst others, the Universities of Stellenbosch, Cape Town and the Free State as well as Rhodes University.

It is the first in a series of events to be hosted by universities on the New Language Policy for Higher Education, which was gazetted in October 2020. Vice-chancellors and deputy vice-chancellors will gather with experts and other stakeholders to contemplate ways to implement the policy.

According to USAf, the Language Policy Framework for Public Higher Education Institutions “has brought the language question sharply to the fore. Higher education institutions have developed university language policies, but there is a significant need for key stakeholders in the sector to deepen their understanding of the Language Policy Framework and the implementation thereof".

Dr Sizwe Mabizela, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Rhodes University and the Chairperson of USAf's Teaching and Learning Strategy Group, said: “We must take the language policy from the periphery that it occupies within our institutions and place it at the centre of vice-chancellors' strategic outlook. This is central to acknowledging the diversity of our students on our institutions. We also need to instil a sense of pride in our own languages and convey a message to our children, of the importance of English, but lift all other languages to the same level as important media of communication for our thoughts and ideas. Our people must enjoy seeing their languages being respected. Language also builds a nation."

Prof Wim de Villiers, Rector of SU, welcomed the opportunity to collaborate with other universities. “We are looking forward to participating in this important conversation, and to gaining insights from colleagues and experts from other institutions. At SU we are aware of the challenges and opportunities surrounding the implementation of a language policy, how it aligns itself with the Language Policy for Higher Education, and the fierce debate it creates. And we welcome this debate. Collaboration is key. Our honest conversations can lead to solutions. Through actions like these we can come to a deeper understanding of the value of multilingualism," he said.

SU's Language Policy advances multilingualism, considering “the diversity of our society and the intellectual wealth inherent in that diversity".

Topics at the colloquium include Framing the New Language Policy for Higher Education within the South African Constitution; The role of language in transforming the higher education institutions; The New Language Policy Framework as responsive to the imperatives of student access and student success; The challenges in the implementation of the New Language Policy for Higher Education; The opportunities presented by the New Language Policy Framework in reimaging the idea of a university in Africa; and Transforming the academy using African languages as enablers.

Language Day

In celebration of the opportunities and possibilities that multilingualism hold, the Division for Learning and Teaching Enhancement at SU is once again hosting its Language Day, on 30 September, for staff and students.

The theme this year is 'Language, learning, life! Implementing multilingualism @SU in academic and social spaces. Language Day is not about the Language Policy itself, but focuses on how language is approached at SU.

The two sub-themes highlighted this year are Multilingualism in (augmented remote) learning, teaching and assessment; and, Multilingualism in administrative, social and living spaces.

“We will discuss ways to integrate a multilingual mindset in teaching, learning and assessment as well as in social life outside the classroom. The two panel discussions with subsequent breakaway group discussions will give SU staff and students the opportunity to make their voices heard, share best practice and try to find solutions to challenges together," explains Dr Antoinette van der Merwe, Senior Director: Learning and Teaching Enhancement. 

“We believe that multilingualism is about more than just being able to use multiple languages. It is about giving people a voice, regardless of the language(s) they use.

• Click here for a video about Lan​guage Day

Well-known environmentalist Dave Pepler and Science Café Stellenbosch will make their debut television appearance as part of the Toyota SU Woordfees package on KykNet next week.

Since 2015, Dave's hosting of the Stellenbosch Science Cafés  have become a regular attraction at Woordfees, tackling topics ranging from the human microbiome and swarm intelligence of termites, to tasting honey bush tea, the link between sugar and stress and the evolution of skin colour.

This year, Dave will confront the climate change crisis from the perspective of the world's oceans and specifically that of the Southern Ocean – that vast and stormy patch of ocean stretching uninterrupted from the farthermost tip of the African continent to Antarctica.

His guest is Alakendra Roychoudhury, professor in environmental and marine biogeochemistry in SU's Department of Earth Sciences.

Part of the conversation is a slide show with an animation of the major ocean currents circulating the globe, the largest and strongest of these being the Antarctic Circumpolar Current circling Antarctica. Another animation shows the rise in global temperature since 1880.

“Prof Roychoudhury does not beat around the bush," says Dave. “This is by far the most important topic I've ever addressed in a science café conversation."

Science Café Stellenbosch will be broadcast at 16:15 on 1 October 2021 on DStv channel 150 (dates and time are subject to change).

​Increased pressure being placed on our cognitive abilities and continuous exposure to digital technologies affect employees’ attention span. ​

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we work and how we communicate with our colleagues. Many people around the world were forced to work remotely at some point or another making use of different digital technologies. It is well documented that online platforms paved the way for immediate access to institutional resources and knowledge as well as constant interaction with colleagues.

Despite the affordances and many positive outcomes associated with the ability to be in constant contact with colleagues, the potential problems of the increased ubiquitous nature of digital technologies should be critically considered. The notion of digital wellbeing is coming to the fore as a subject of possible concern and renewed focus. Ironically, the rapid rise and sophisticated development of digital technologies can contribute to our general health and wellbeing, but the opposite is also alarmingly evident. 

Digital wellbeing asks employees to be aware of their personal relationship and work-life balance in an all-encompassing digital environment. Aspects such as our ability to successfully negotiate information overload, digital workload and continuous digital distractions are some of the attributes that are expected of well-rounded employees. Digital wellbeing furthermore speaks to individuals’ understanding of the potential risks associated with being constantly connected. 

One of the activities that we are increasingly involved in because of numerous hours in front of computer screens, is multitasking. Although we often equate such practices to sufficiency and good organisational skills, some scholars argue that the ability to multitask effectively does not really exist. 

For example, in The Myth of Multitasking Nancy Napier makes the point that we actually switch between activities within a very short time span, which equates to increased pressure being placed on our cognitive abilities and resources. Another worrying aspect is that continuous exposure to digital technologies could potentially have an effect on employees’ attention span. 

The fast-paced, just-in-time environment inhibits our ability to concentrate and focus on single tasks in the necessary depth and detail. Access to laptops, smart devices, email, the internet, social media and so forth, contribute to our brains working in overdrive. 

Furthermore, those employees that spend excessive time in front of their devices start to experience side-effects such as neck and back pain, strain on the eyes and disrupted sleep patterns. Productivity could be impacted due to constant interruptions and distractions of notifications and could influence the work-life balance of employees. Although social media was a mediating tool in connecting us with colleagues and loved ones during prolonged periods of isolation and lockdown, these platforms could also result in continuous access to marketing campaigns, disturbing news and withdrawal from physical contact with loved ones. 

The continuous bombardment with information through digital device use could potentially lead to what Larry Rosen calls an idisorder. In his book, iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us (2012), Rosen argues that an idisorder is not a demarcated diagnosed disorder with a list of clearly indicated symptoms. Rather, it is “something fluid enough to be unique to every particular person”. The assumption is made that overexposed digital technology use could potentially trigger or manifest psychological symptoms that are latent in individuals.

Employees who experience flourishing wellbeing, however, manage to focus on personal growth, meaning making and drawing on mindful daily encounters with our digital devices. They manage to create a carefully crafted balance between regular exercise, balanced meals and quality sleep patterns. 

Given all the dire warning signs, organisations should try to raise a sense of awareness of the importance of finding a balance between employees’ engagement with digital devices and practices, and a life void from such distractions and interventions. One such way is to underline the importance of flourishing. 

In the APA Dictionary of Psychology (2015), Gary VandenBos explains that flourishing refers to a state of optimal wellbeing and denotes good mental and physical health. This state can be reached by focusing on the areas of mental health, physical health, productivity, relationships, general wellbeing and digital citizenship. Employees should be encouraged to prioritise these different aspects in order to aim for a state of flourishing in a digitally mediated world. 

Clearly, many of the above-mentioned aspects remain the responsibility of the individual and require a level of agency to be constantly aware of the positive and negative effects of the digital in our lives and work spaces. Raising awareness of the potential dangers and the necessity to objectively and carefully consider employees’ relationship with digital devices and its effects, could enhance our general sense of wellbeing, encouraging us to manage information and disruptions and to also connect as far as possible beyond the digital screens. It is all about the right relationship with our digital devices.​

​*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. 

Due to the impact of COVID-19 on higher education, and with the implementation of augmented remote teaching, learning and assessment (ARTLA) at Stellenbosch University (SU), a range of academic support tools have been implemented for SU staff and students. One of these is real-time online interpreting, an initiative driven by the SU Language Centre to provide dedicated language support to the University community. 

The initiative, which forms part of the offering of the Language Centre's Interpreting Service, provides real-time online interpreting of lectures in Afrikaans, English, isiXhosa and South African Sign Language via the MS Teams platform. By mid-September, which marked the end of the third term, the Interpreting Service had already interpreted 822 lectures for the 2021 academic year. Modules currently supported with this type of interpreting are in the faculties of Economic and Management Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences, Science, and Engineering. 

“Real-time online interpreting has many benefits, including offering students from all language backgrounds access to the same course material, at the same time, in the language of their choice," says Juanli Theron, head of the Interpreting Service. “With lecturers' permission, lectures are also recorded, which means that a recording of all language options is available at the end of the lecture." 

Positive experience 

Theron says lecturers who have joined the real-time online interpreting community are generally very positive about the experience. “Change is always daunting, and we need to take into account that lecturers have had to deal with many changes and challenges since the start of 2020. The introduction of real-time online interpreting was yet another curveball. But we find that the lecturers who have adopted this mode of teaching are very positive about the results." 

Some lecturers were hesitant to join the real-time online interpreting service at first because they thought it would add to their already heavy workload, she says. But after a demonstration, they soon realised that it was a streamlined process. “All they need to do is schedule two or three parallel sessions for their lecture, and make sure that the interpreters are invited to all the sessions," Theron explains. “Interpreters then attend the English session to listen to the lecture and use one of the alternate language sessions to provide Afrikaans or isiXhosa interpreting. The students can then choose which session to attend. Interpreters also share the screen from the English session, so Afrikaans and isiXhosa students can see exactly what the English students see, while listening to a different voice." 

Multiple benefits 

Prof Pierre Erasmus, a lecturer in the Department of Business Management, made use of real-time interpreting in two of his third-year Financial Management modules. “It was a lifesaver," he says. “Due to the restrictions on venue capacity, not all students who had registered for my modules – around 350 per module – could attend class in person. So, we had to livestream the lecture online while it was presented, and also record it for those students who could neither attend the class nor follow the livestreaming. Since these modules are normally presented in parallel medium – to an English and Afrikaans group at the same time – we needed at least two lecturers to present to the two groups. 

“But my colleague who usually presents to the one group went on maternity leave in the first semester, which meant that we did not have the capacity to manage two concurrent lectures in Afrikaans and English. Since real-time online interpreting enabled me to reach both the Afrikaans and English students simultaneously, it significantly cut down on the time I would have had to spend on duplicating each lecture," says Erasmus.

He adds: “To me, the main benefit was that I had to present only one lecture, and all students had access to the same lecture, at the same time. If I had to repeat lectures to the Afrikaans group, students in one language group would have missed out on the class discussions and questions asked in the other group. So, in addition to saving time, it also ensured that all students received the same experience and treatment."

“For students, an added benefit was having access to both an Afrikaans and English recording for each lecture, which they could watch whenever they wanted to," Erasmus continues. “Some of our Afrikaans students attend the English classes and choose to complete their assessments in English. For these students, the opportunity to listen to an Afrikaans as well as an English version meant that they were able to switch between the two if they struggled to understand a concept." 

Additional multilingual support 

In addition, when the pandemic and strict lockdown in 2020 necessitated urgent and almost immediate changes to reach students, the Interpreting Service introduced audio translations (podcasts) of lecture material – whether PowerPoint slides or SUNLearn content – into Afrikaans and English. They also offered podcasts in isiXhosa where there was a pedagogical need. Over 1 250 podcast translations have since been produced. 

Dr Sharon Malan, Extended Degree Programme leader in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, used this service to translate the PowerPoint notes of her module into Afrikaans, as well as to produce Afrikaans voice-overs (or podcast translations). “It saved me time, and my students now have the option to freely make use of lecture material available in both English and Afrikaans, as needed," she says. 

“In 2020, podcasts translations were very popular, precisely because they were so useful – lecturers were thankful to be able to provide multilingual lectures to their students without any extra effort from their end," explains Theron. “They would simply contact us with their audio recordings and lecture material, and we would arrange a due date for delivery. Transfers of audio translations are mostly done via WeTransfer. These data-light podcasts played a pivotal role during the emergency remote teaching, learning and assessment (ERTLA) period, partly as a policy management solution, but also as a valuable pedagogical resource for online learning." 

She concludes: “With the move towards ARTLA this year, recorded lectures remain a key part of students' differentiated learning experience. Therefore, quality assurance is even more crucial, which is why the collaborative quality control of translated podcasts has been expanded to include more lecturers and subject fields."

This article was first published on The Conversation. Read the original article here.

As a team of South African researchers we have identified a new lineage of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19. A lineage represents a genetically distinct virus population with a common ancestor. This virus may be designated as a variant in future, based on significantly altered properties, but first we need to understand it better. Our findings so far are set out in a non pre-peer reviewed paper.

The new lineage, assigned the name C.1.2, has been found in all provinces in the country. While it shares some mutations with other variants, it is different in some respects.

Viruses mutate all the time. Sometimes the mutations result in an added benefit for the virus, such as increased transmissibility. But often mutations don't do anything beneficial for the virus. So more mutations do not always mean trouble for us, its host.

For C.1.2, a lot is still unknown. For example, it's too early to tell whether these mutations will affect transmissibility or vaccine efficacy.

The Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa has been monitoring changes in SARS-CoV-2 since March 2020. South Africa was one of the first countries globally to introduce systematic and coordinated genomic surveillance, sequencing genomes of SARS-CoV-2 from patient samples representative of different geographic regions and over time.

Its findings have provided insights into how and when SARS-CoV-2 was introduced into the country, and into its early spread. The Network has also been sequencing virus genomes to identify newly developing viral lineages of particular concern.

Later in 2020 the network detected what is now called the Beta variant of concern and more recently observed, almost in real-time, the arrival and rapid “take-over" of the Delta variant in South Africa.

What's known, and what's not known

We select patient samples from diagnostic laboratories throughout the country and perform sequencing to analyse the virus genomes. We then compare these sequences to those seen before and elsewhere. It's very much like the game where you spot the difference between nearly identical pictures.

We're playing spot the difference with SARS-CoV-2. When we find many differences – or differences in certain particularly important places like the spike of the virus – we pay special attention. We then look to see how often we see this particular virus and where – in one region of the country or in multiple regions, only in South Africa or also in other parts of the world. We also monitor whether it increases over time, which would suggest that it is replacing previous versions of the virus.

When we sequence the virus and compare it to other SARS-CoV-2 viruses it gets assigned a name based on the closest matching virus. We then look at the virus and the one that it matches to see how similar they are to each other. If we see a lot of differences that could be an indication of a new lineage.

In May 2021 we first detected a mutated group of related SARS-CoV-2 viruses in South Africa which has been assigned the lineage, C.1.2. So far, from May to August 2021, C.1.2 has been detected in all provinces. Yet it occurs at relatively low frequency and though we see small increases in this lineage overtime they remain very low.

This lineage possesses mutations within the genome that have been seen in other SARS-CoV-2 variants.

The network alerted the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the South African National Department of Health to this lineage in July. The two months between our first discovery and the notification comes from the lengthy process of sequencing and analysis. In addition, mutated viruses appear from time to time – but many disappear again. Therefore we needed to monitor this particular one to see if it would be detected in additional regions. Only when we started detecting it in other provinces and when it was reported also from other countries did we feel we had sufficient evidence to suggest a new lineage.

The surveillance network is continuing to monitor the frequency of the lineage across the country, and helping other African countries do the same. Also, tests to assess the functional impact of the mutations it harbours are under way – for example, how well do antibodies in people who have been vaccinated or infected previously neutralise the new virus, how well does it multiply in cell cultures compared to other virus variants, and so on.

The virus has not yet fulfilled the WHO criteria to be classified as a variant of interest or variant of concern. A variant of interest has genetic changes affecting important virus characteristics (transmissibility, disease severity, immune, diagnostic or therapeutic escape) and epidemiological impacts suggesting a risk to global public health. A variant of concern is the worst category – it's a variant with proven increased transmissibility and/or virulence and/or decreased effectiveness of public health or medical tools such as vaccines, therapeutics and tests.

Delta is a good example of a variant of concern that rapidly came to dominate the epidemic globally, causing major waves in many countries including those with advanced vaccination roll-out programmes.

The C.1.2 lineage shares a few common mutations with all other variants of concern, including the Beta, Lambda and Delta variants. But the new lineage has a number of additional mutations.

The implications

We are still gathering more data to understand the impact of this lineage on transmissibility and on vaccines.

SARS-CoV-2, like all viruses, mutates with time, usually in a way that affords the virus some kind of advantage. Some of the mutations in the C.1.2 lineage have arisen in other SARS-CoV-2 variants of interest or concern. But we still don't have a full picture. It will take a combination of ongoing thorough surveillance (especially to see whether it perhaps displaces the currently prevalent delta variant) and laboratory-based studies to characterise its properties.

Based on our current understanding of the mutations in this particular lineage, we suspect that it might be able to partially evade the immune response. Despite this, however, our view based on what we know now is that vaccines will still offer high levels of protection against hospitalisation and death.

We expect new variants to continue to emerge wherever the virus is spreading. Vaccination remains critical to protect those in our communities at high risk of hospitalisation and death, to reduce the strain on the health system, and to help slow transmission. This has to be combined with all the other public health and social measures.

We therefore advise the public to remain vigilant and continue to follow COVID-19 protocol by including good ventilation in all shared spaces and wearing masks that cover your nose, mouth and chin. These non-pharmaceutical interventions are still shown to be preventing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 irrespective of the variant.

We are also of the view that the mutated lineage is unlikely to affect the sensitivity of PCR tests. These tests typically detect at least two different parts of the SARS-CoV-2 genome, which serves as a backup in the case of a mutation arising in one of them. Studies are ongoing to assess any implications for diagnostic testing.

Why vigilance is needed

The Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa links National Health Laboratory Service and private COVID-19 testing laboratories to academic sequencing centres. This collaboration has allowed South African experts to rapidly generate and analyse sequence data to inform regional and national responses.

As of late August 2021 the delta variant accounted for over 90% of sequences in Southern Africa. But virus evolution is ongoing, as long as the virus can spread from person to person, multiply, and be passed on. It is thus necessary to continue monitoring its evolution, to detect new problematic properties early and institute countermeasures, where possible.

Authors

• Prof Wolfgang Preiser - Head: Division of Medical Virology, Stellenbosch University

• Cathrine Scheepers - Senior Medical Scientist, University of the Witwatersrand

• Jinal Bhiman - Principal Medical Scientist at National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), National Institute for Communicable Diseases

• Marietjie Venter - Head: Zoonotic, Arbo and Respiratory Virus Programme, Professor, Department Medical Virology, University of Pretoria

• Penny Moore - Reader and DST/NRF SARChI Chair of Virus-Host Dynamics, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, CAPRISA Research Associate, University of the Witwatersrand

• Tulio de Oliveira - Director: KRISP - KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform, University of KwaZulu-Natal

When Prof Karin Baatjes takes up her new position as Vice-Dean: Learning and Teaching of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) at Stellenbosch University (SU), her key aims will be to deliver graduates and educators who “serve society, are inspired towards lifelong learning – and who never forget that they have human beings in their care".

“My aim is to lead within an educational context that produces socially responsive practitioners because, ultimately, we serve society," Baatjes, currently Head of the Division of Clinical Anatomy, said in an interview shortly after her appointment was announced.

“I also want all the individuals I work with to be inspired towards lifelong learning, as learning never ends. This should not only hold true while students and staff are with us in the Faculty, but also as they progress in their careers. I wish for them to have a global viewpoint and to function in the digital arena, but also to remain aware of matters in our society."

The term of her appointment is for five years with the possibility of extending it to ten years. “I anticipate an immense growth spurt for myself in the next few years. I'm told I will be exposed to many new opportunities and avenues, which I'll embrace even if they are challenging.

“The legacy I want to leave is one that centres round positive interactions and influence. I've tried to practice that to date and will continue to do so."

Baatjes described her excitement at her appointment, saying that she has received many congratulatory emails and phone messages from colleagues in the medical fraternity, including SU.

“I've been part of this Faculty for a long time and know many people personally. I've also had emails from departments and I look forward to working in this bigger team context," she said, adding that team work will underpin her efforts in her new position.

“As a surgeon I've always functioned in a team, so it's the backdrop of my life. I believe very few things are achieved by the individual alone. We have to be aware of the role of all the people in what we do, no matter how big or small, leading to the outcome in what we strive to do."

She added: “I consider my task a big one, because of the impact it can have. It is important to me that, whatever I achieve, it benefits everyone in the Faculty – students and educators and all the stakeholders in learning and teaching."

As Vice-Dean, she will be part of the Dean's management team at the helm of running all aspects of learning and teaching in the Faculty. “The task will require a strategic outlook on how to take learning and teaching forward, while continuously being agile in all we do.

“Agility will be so important as we respond to change. The Covid-19 pandemic showed us the importance of thinking on our feet and of responding to different outcomes as they emerge."

Asked what special qualities she brings to the position, Baatjes said: “I bring energy. I'm always willing to try new things, to embrace innovative ideas from others and to step forward even when it is uncomfortable. I believe one must be willing to assert oneself to gain new ground and make an impact."

Born in De Aar in the Northern Cape, Baatjes moved to Cape Town when she was seven. After attending school in Kraaifontein, she went straight to SU to study medicine.

She completed her MBChB in 1997, became a fellow of the College of Surgeons (FCS), SA in 2004 and attained her MMed (surgery) in 2005 and her PhD (surgery) in 2018, both at SU.

She worked as a senior lecturer in the FMHS' Division of Surgery from 2005, before being appointed Head: Division of Clinical Anatomy in the Department of Biomedical Sciences in 2018 and, in 2019, as associate professor of surgery.

She chose medicine as her career because “I anticipated that I would enjoy working with patients. Surgery really enables one to bring about change. I am a 'doer' and a practical person. Quite simply, I like to think of what's wrong with the patient and how I can fix it. That's how I function in most aspects of my career."

Asked to name some highlights of her career to date, she said: “One of the biggest highlights was when I completed my surgical speciality. I was very proud, because I enjoy the surgical component. Another highlight is how, over the last three decades, I've evolved and grown. In my new position I will continue to do that. One should never become stagnant, no matter where you are. There's always something one can still learn."

With a wide-ranging body of research behind her, Baatjes said her biggest focus has been on breast cancer ­– as is evident from her PhD and her surgical career. Educational research, including educational leadership, has been another focus area.

When she is not working Baatjes, who comes from a close family of five siblings (she is the youngest), loves nothing more than spending time with her family. She also enjoys running.

She described her parents, both educators, as key influences on her life. “They both instilled a love for teaching and learning in me.

“There are so many individuals who play a part in one's growth. These, for me, include (Catholic nun and saint), Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Her philosophy 'I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples', has profoundly affected me.

“I am also very inspired by (American business executive and philanthropist) Sheryl Sandberg, who has said that leadership should be about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that that impact lasts in your absence."

Photo credit: Damien Schumann

​Coughing can be a symptom of a range of respiratory diseases, not just of COVID-19. However, people don't necessarily know how to distinguish between COVID-19 positive and COVID-19 negative coughs. That is why researchers at Stellenbosch University (SU) developed a machine learning tool that can make it easier for people to distinguish the one from the other.

“In our study, we presented a machine learning-based COVID-19 cough classifier that is able to distinguish COVID-19 positive coughs from COVID-19 negative coughs and healthy coughs that have been recorded on a smartphone," says Prof Thomas Niesler from the Digital Signal Processing Lab in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at SU. He conducted the research with colleagues Marisa Klopper, Madhurananda Pahar and Robin Warren. Klopper and Warren are affiliated with the SAMRC (South African Medical Research Council), Centre for Tuberculosis Research, DST-NRF (Department of Science and Technology-National Research Foundation) and the Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research in SU's Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, while Pahar is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Digital Signal Processing Lab.

The findings of their study were published recently in the Computers in Biology and Medicine.

As part of their research, the team used data from a global (Coswara) and a national (Sarcos – SARS COVID-19 South Africa) dataset. The Coswara dataset contains data of COVID-19 positive people as well as physically healthy people, while the Sarcos dataset contains data of COVID-19 positive and COVID-19 negative people. In the Sarcos dataset, only people who have undergone a COVID test were asked to participate, whereas anyone could participate in the Coswara dataset. These two datasets consist of coughing sounds, gathered from all six continents, recorded either during or after the acute phase of COVID-19. For both datasets, participants were asked to provide cough recordings via a web-based data collection platform using their smartphones.

“Our analysis of the recordings shows that COVID-19 positive coughs are 15% – 20% shorter than non-COVID coughs. Since this type of cough audio classification is cost-effective and easy to utilise, it is potentially a useful and viable means of non-contact COVID-19 screening," says Dr Pahar.

The researchers point out that the technology being developed should not be seen as an official form of testing nor will it replace testing being done at accredited testing sites.

Classification of the coughs

The researchers cut out the silences between coughs in the recordings, allowing resource-efficient analysis of just the cough sounds, which resulted in a highly accurate classification of the coughs.  

“The data has been captured on smartphones, and our classifier can also be implemented on these devices. Furthermore, it could be applied remotely, thus avoiding contact with medical personnel," says Dr Pahar. He also believes that this type of non-contact screening can reduce the workload in testing centres as well as limit transmission by recommending early self-isolation to those who have a cough suggestive of COVID-19. The research team is currently building a smartphone app that can in future possibly be used as a COVID-19 classifier.

The researchers explain that even though the systems they describe in their study require more stringent validation on a larger dataset, the results they have presented are very promising and indicate that COVID-19 screening based on automatic classification of coughing sounds is viable.

They also point out that several attempts have been made to identify early symptoms of COVID-19 through the use of artificial intelligence applied to images. “Respiratory data such as breathing, sneezing and coughing can be processed by machine learning algorithms to diagnose respiratory illnesses."

The research team say they are continuing to enlarge their dataset and to apply transfer learning in order to take advantage of the other larger datasets.

• The public is invited to participate in the study, please visit https://coughtest.online/
• SOURCE: Pahar, M; Klopper, M; Warren, R; & Niesler, T. 2021. COVID-19 cough classification using machine learning and global smartphone recordings. Computers in Biology and Medicine 135/ 104572: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compbiomed.2021.104572

​

​​Prof Celeste Viljoen from the Department of Civil Engineering at Stellenbosch University recently delivered her inaugural lecture on the topic of Risk-based infrastructure design and assessment. Viljoen, who is also the Vice-Dean: Teaching in the Faculty of Engineering, spoke to Corporate Communication and Marketing about her work.

Tell us more about your research and why you became interested in this specific field.

Risk-based decision making appealed to me because of the broad applicability of the principles. It's a combination of big picture thinking, but without losing sight of some devils in the detail. As a structural design engineer, I used standards for everyday work, but now I help develop these standards using a combination of data, statistics, prediction models, and risk-based principles. This serves society by providing structures with near-optimal life cycle costs.

How would you describe the relevance of your work, especially for our South African context?

Infrastructure spending is a big-ticket item for most nations, including South Africa. Our work supports the development of standards, which in turn underpin most infrastructure design and maintenance decisions. We contributed and are contributing to various national and international standards; including wind loading, traffic loading, reinforced concrete structures, liquid retaining structures, dam rehabilitations, existing bridges, the basis of design, etc.

I am very proud of our team. Emeritus Professor Johan Retief started the work and played a leading role in reviewing structural design standards in South Africa. I was appointed to succeed him, but we still work together to this day. I am truly thankful for the many ways in which he supported my career development. Another one of our team members, Prof Nico de Koker, has made wonderful contributions to support geotechnical design, i.e., soil structures, like foundations and embankments. Looking ahead, we have two large SANRAL funded research projects coming up. In the first, we will develop guidelines for the assessment of existing bridges; and in the second, Prof Roman Lenner will take the lead on reviewing the traffic load model for bridge design in South Africa.

What aspects of your work do you enjoy the most?

I enjoy working with my team and collaborating with scholars from other institutions. We have the privilege of guiding some brilliant students. I’m looking forward to seeing their careers develop too. ​Knowing that my research is relevant keeps me interested.

The pandemic has changed the way we work and live. What keeps you motivated during these times?

The joyful enthusiasm of my kids. Remote working had the lovely side-effect that I got to see much more of them. Colleagues who switch their video feeds on also help me feel connected, so I always appreciate that! But, some days, only grit and hope have kept me going. At times I struggled with burnout and had to force myself back into healthy habits such as sleeping enough and exercising!​

You've made your mark in the field of Engineering. What would your message be for the next generation of aspiring female engineering scholars?

Say yes to opportunities! Don't be afraid of failure. Embrace that opportunity for growth, even if you feel intimidated. Choose to ignore the fear of failure. ​Often you must get into the (too big) shoes before you can grow into them.

Tell us something exciting about yourself that few people would expect.

I'm a right-brain person. I'm very interested in human psychology and motivation. I also used to spend a lot of time on creating fine art.

How do you spend your free time away from lectures and research?

I love reading, spending time with my kids, doing renovations, and playing tennis. We are often entertaining friends, and I am thankful that I have a husband who loves to do that because I get to enjoy the result.

• ​Photo: Prof Celeste Viljoen at her inaugural lecture. Photographer: Anton Jordaan.

​

​In a partnership spanning over 5 years, Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation is committing R10 million to the African Wildlife Economy Institute (AWEI) of Stellenbosch University. Through research, outreach, teaching, and engagement with stakeholders, the partnership between AWEI, under leadership of Prof Francis Vorhies, and the Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation team aims to promote sustainable and inclusive wildlife economies across Africa. The funding will assist the development of research, influence and engagement in wildlife economies, targeting a wide array of stakeholders from decision-makers to ordinary citizens across the continent.

A strong focus of the collaboration will be on enhancing the game meat industry and promoting the consumption of related products in South Africa and beyond.

Sustainable and resilient wildlife economies are critical to aligning wildlife conservation with inclusive economic development in Africa. With wildlife tourism heavily impacted by the pandemic, there is now also increasing recognition of the need for growth and diversification in the sector.

Oppenheimer Generations Head of Research and Conservation, Dr. Duncan MacFadyen explains, "Sustainable and inclusive wildlife economies are critical to the future of wildlife conservation in Africa, however, there is a lack of knowledge of wildlife economies and what is required to enhance their contribution to sustainable development and wildlife conservation across the continent. There is an urgent need to develop and diversify Africa's wildlife economy, to ensure the future conservation, as well as the sustainable utilization of wildlife and associated ecosystems".

The sustainability of the wildlife economy depends on well-functioning value chains in products such as tourism and recreation, hunting and fishing, and wildlife products including game meat.

A Taste of Game

The game meat industry is diverse and has seen continued growth. The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural developed reported that the average gross value of game meat amounted to R38 million between 2000 and 2008. More recently, Wildlife Ranching South Africa estimated that by 2018 the value of game processing at R4.5 billion annually. This growth is predominantly due to consumer demand for healthier, GMO-free, low-fat protein. The increased demand and supply of game meat contributes to rewilded landscapes, rural economic development, job creation, and food security.

Prof Wim de Villiers, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of Stellenbosch University, explains “Stellenbosch University is delighted to be partnering with Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation in the form of the African Wildlife Economy Institute - a multi- and transdisciplinary centre for research and engagement on the governance and management of wildlife economies for sustainable and inclusive development. By bringing together academics from various disciplines – including law, economics, business and conservation science – to engage with stakeholders and decision makers, we aim to facilitate an enabling environment for wildlife economies across the continent. The Taste of Game initiative, which promotes the consumption of game meat, demonstrates the potential for diversifying wildlife value chains by connecting responsible consumption to transformed landscape management, and providing economic, health and social benefits through conservation."

Prof Kennedy Dzama, AWEI Chair and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of AgriSciences adds: “Governance of the wildlife industry is complex, and suffers both from a lack of and a surfeit of mandates, standards and regulations. However, the private sector together with government can focus on opportunities for creating an enabling environment.

“Wildlife economy value chains provide benefits for communities including opportunities for community-based wildlife management, enterprise development and job creation. A key focus of the work of the AWEI is identifying how community livelihoods can be enhanced through scaling up the wildlife economy".

Though the Taste of Game initiative, AWEI together with Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation aims to support the development of an inclusive and sustainable wild meat sector across Africa that benefits both people and nature.

Prof Francis Vorhies is director and co-founder of AWEI, and an extraordinary professor in the SU Department of Animal Sciences. This distinguished academic in the field of wildlife conservation, economics and finance also serves as Academic Director at the African Leadership University in Rwanda, and as a Research Visitor at WILDCRU (the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit) at Oxford University in the UK. His lifelong commitment to sustainable development and conservation in Africa has seen him take up and develop several innovative initiatives and roles, such as founding Eco-Plus to provide economic policy inputs to conservation, serving as the first environmental economist at IUCN (the World Conservation Union) in Switzerland, the first economist to join AWF (the African Wildlife Foundation) in Kenya, and leading the Earthwatch Institute in Oxford.

“My current research focuses on what is meant by wildlife conservation in the context of international policy and on how we can unlock the wildlife economy across Africa in support of inclusive sustainable development, climate resilience and landscape transformation," he says.

About Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation

The Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation team continue to build a first-class research entity which supports, funds and partners with national and international researchers to conduct cutting-edge research focused on the natural sciences ensuring practical and impactful outcomes. They are committed to further developing, expanding and promoting systems of sustainable conservation programmes and networks throughout the African continent.

About African Wildlife Economies Institute

The African Wildlife Economy Institute aims to be the leading academic institute in Africa for research, teaching, and outreach on wildlife economies. Its academic mandate is multidisciplinary working across the faculties of Stellenbosch University and, importantly, collaborating with universities, research institutes, and conservation organisations across Africa. AWEI aims to generate new research on wildlife economy and to use it to enhance policies, governance, and management practices within the sector.

Photograph:

Prof Frank Vorhies, director of the African Wildlife Economies Institute (AWEI) at Stellenbosch University

For more PR related information please contact:

PR Account Director

Cebisa Luzipho

cebisa@orchardon25.co.za

PR Account Manager

Lwazi Piti

lwazi@orchardon25.co.za​​

​

​*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 currently under way at Stellenbosch University.

Multilingualism can help us form vital new connections and relationships with others, which ultimately enable us to build a better world. So says sociolinguist Dr Marcelyn Oostendorp of the Department of General Linguistics at Stellenbosch University (SU).

“People tend to think, write and talk about multilingualism in a very utilitarian way, as something that can be used, for example in the classroom," Dr Oostendorp says. “However, we forget about the relational aspect of language and multilingualism, and that it can help us connect with others. When children learn to talk, for instance, it is not about the use they get out of it, but about being able to connect with others."

The relational facet of multilingualism is something she has experienced first-hand coordinating the module Reimagining Multilingualism(s) for honours students in General Linguistics at SU for the past four years. The module is a collaborative effort between staff and postgraduate students of SU, the Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), as well as UWC's Department of Linguistics. “The module forges new understandings of multilingualism and highlights its relational, affective aspects. Through cutting-edge theoretical understandings of multilingualism, students re-evaluate their own affinities and dispositions towards language," Oostendorp explains.

Prior to COVID, SU and UWC students shuttled to the respective campuses on alternating weeks for valuable cross-pollinating meet-ups. This mobility was made possible thanks to a grant from the Andrew Mellon Foundation since 2018 and allowed the SU honours students to mingle with their peers at UWC, who were taking the module as an enrichment course. “The funding gave us some freedom of movement, which is not typical of an honours module," says Oostendorp. “Our students' boundaries were shifted for the better. The interactions changed them personally, as well as their perception of others." Being in different spaces also helped break down stereotypes, such as about what a typical UWC or SU student looks like, sounds like and is, and about the facilities and experiences available on the two campuses, she adds.

The three-week module was divided into five day-long seminars on linguistic ethnography, visual arts methods for representing concepts, multilingual creative writing, semiotic landscapes, reimagining formal linguistics, and linguistic citizenship. Sessions were led by international researchers such as Prof Ben Rampton and Drs Mel Cooke and Lavanya Sankaran from King's College London, and Prof Lynn Mario de Souza from the University of São Paulo in Brazil.

For four of the seminars, students had to complete an assessment that included a multimodal task or a reflection in multimodal format. Students produced poetry, written reflections, video installations and handmade artefacts such as posters, sculptures and collages. In 2018, these were exhibited at GUS (the Gallery of the University of Stellenbosch) for a week, and then spent a full term in the UWC library atrium. This also proved a good way for the students to show their loved ones what they were busy with, says Oostendorp. “One of my students said this was the first time that her studies made sense to her mother!"

In 2019, students organised a pop-up exhibition in the SU Conservatoire, and their creative pieces were also featured in a special edition of the journal Multilingual Margins. In addition, various scholarly papers emanating from this project have been published or are in press in edited volumes such as Language and Decoloniality in Higher Education and Speaking subjects – Biographical methods in multilingualism research.

To Oostendorp, the module is a good example of multimodal pedagogy, which expands the conceptualisation and teaching of literacy to include multiple discourses and modalities that acknowledge increasing diversity in all societies, and the rise of multimedia and digital technologies. “Multimodal pedagogy creates an opportunity for us to admit to and encounter our own vulnerabilities," she recently wrote in the book Language and Decoloniality in Higher Education: Reclaiming Voices from the South (Bloomsbury Academic, 2021) in a chapter she co-authored with fellow SU scholars.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 has brought an abrupt end to the face-to-face interactions that were at the core of Reimagining Multilingualism(s), and the campus visits were the first that had to be cancelled. Yet she stands amazed at how creatively her colleagues have adapted to online teaching, and to having much more screen time than face-to-face time, Oostendorp says. For instance, instead of accompanying students on visits to different parts of Stellenbosch and learning about the history of each, colleague Dr Amiena Peck of the UWC Linguistics Department began helping students explore the spaces and sites they frequent online in terms of layout, wording and visuals.

The Mellon funding, which initially formed part of a larger project coordinated by the University of Pretoria, ends this year. However, Oostendorp hopes that other financial support will allow further cross-campus interactions among Western Cape universities once COVID restrictions are lifted. 

On Monday 27 September, the Stellenbosch University (SU) Council held its third meeting of 2021. Council took note of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its negative effect on society.

SU Rector and Vice-Chancellor Prof Wim de Villiers told Council that it is an institutional priority for the University that all its staff and students be vaccinated against COVID-19.

“Vaccines are safe, and they save lives. Our message is that getting vaccinated is the responsible thing to do. So, we have been urging everyone to get the vaccine," he said.

The University has been conducting an awareness drive since the rollout of the national vaccination programme in February this year, and also established its own vaccination site at the Lentelus sports grounds in Hammanshand Road in Stellenbosch, which serves SU staff and students as well as the broader public. SU Chief Operating Officer Prof Stan du Plessis reported to Council that 518 staff members, 2 236 students and 1 472 members of the community had received their jabs there since 10 August, while many others also continue to make use of vaccination facilities elsewhere.

Prof De Villiers confirmed that SU is exploring the possibility of mandatory vaccinations, learning from the experience of other institutions and organisations in South Africa and worldwide. To this end, SU's Institutional Committee for Business Continuity (ICBC) appointed a task team on 27 August to conduct the risk assessment required in terms of a health and safety direction promulgated in June.

Council discussed the matter, and subsequently adopted the following motion: “The SU Council mandates management to work towards the urgent development of a rule on vaccination for students and staff for the 2022 academic year. Staff and students are reassured that due process will be followed in terms of consultation and risk management."

Prof Du Plessis stated: “A vaccine rule will determine the extent to which staff and students can work and study at the University depending on their vaccination status. It will describe the expectation, as well as the criteria for exceptions."

Prior to Monday's meeting, the assumption was that Council would take a decision on the University' vaccination rule at its last meeting of the year, on 2 December. But SU Council Chair Mr George Steyn explained that “because it is a matter of life and death, Council agreed that its Executive Committee (EC(C)) would be entitled to take a decision as soon as possible to avoid any delays".

* The rest of Communication from Council will follow as soon as possible.

​

Stellenbosch University (SU) will for the first time be providing isiXhosa speaking prospective students with resource material in their home language that will enable them to make informed subject and career choices. This information was previously only offered in English and Afrikaans. 

The isiXhosa resource material will be made available on Language Day 2021 to schools for dissemination among their Grade 9 and 11 learners. Language Day, taking place on 30 September, will share the opportunities and possibilities multilingualism gives us. It will provide an opportunity for academics, students and professional academic support service staff to learn from each other in re-imagining conversations around language at SU.

The resource material, developed by SU's Centre for Student Recruitment and Career Advice, includes:

• A Grade 9 and 11 frequently asked questions document;
• A Grade 9 and 11 subject choice and career advice booklet; and
• Grade 9 and 11 presentation video.

Similar resource material for Grade 12 will also be made available to schools from February 2022.

The Centre for Student Recruitment and Career Advice consists of a team of advisors who conduct school visits, expos and parent evenings, and educational psychologists who offer psychometric assessment for Grade 9 to 12 learners. The Centre will also be visiting isiXhosa schools in the Western Cape through its isiXhosa advisor Bongiwe Mdingi.

Leon van den Heever, director of the Centre for Student Recruitment and Career Advice, said SU is a multilingual institution that wants to serve its prospective market in the three official languages of the Western Cape – English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa.

“Stellenbosch University is committed to strategic enrolment management aimed at enhancing access and inclusivity, as well as to expand the university's knowledge offering to serve new students.

“During a year of disruptive changes, there have been few constants. But the need for higher education to deliver well-rounded professionals to the marketplace, building our nation and economy, is stronger than ever. The dreams and ideals of children and their parents to better their lives and contribute to the workplace are still there. Stellenbosch University aims to deliver this to prospective students in a way that immerses them in the university and what it stands for. Our unwavering belief in our value proposition, accompanied by a strong brand that stands for excellence and access, remains unshaken."

Van den Heever added that the Centre is committed to becoming a space where institutional values are lived and where diversity is embraced. 

“This resource material will greatly improve the authenticity of Stellenbosch University's undergraduate recruitment plans. We strive to create a space where prospective students are heard and included, and where students' engagement with our expert and efficient employees are professional and real."

“Through personalised interaction (relationship marketing), the Centre aims to create and maintain a pool of talented prospective students who are able to transition from basic education to higher education. The Centre consistently aims to help prospective students to gain a better understanding of SU's offerings."

• The Grade 9 and 11 frequently asked questions and brochure will be available online on www.maties.com. Schools can also request hard copies.

• Schools can request the presentation video from Bongiwe Mdingi at bongiwem@sun.ac.za  or phone 27 21 808 9189.
  
  

What would the Woordfees be without an inspiring performance by the Stellenbosch University (SU) Choir? Therefore, the special performance by this extraordinary group is expected to be one of the highlights of Woordfees TV. Fans can look forward to a completely new repertoire of 12 works.

Even though the choir could not rehearse as often as before as a group, conductor André van der Merwe is full of enthusiasm: “This is an event! And even if we sang a few crooked notes, we were at least able to keep on working." He says the choir is excited to be part of this “frontier-shifting broadcast". “The choir members have continued to work tirelessly for the past 18 months. Their caring attitude of work ethic often carried me."

André makes special mention of two new compositions that sing about the power of nature. “'Calling in the Wind' by Rihards Zalupe (Latvia) and 'The Destroyer' by Sean Doherty (Ireland) are kaleidoscopic works. Elements such as wind and water are mimicked by the voice in creative ways."

On a lighter note, there is Hendrik Hofmeyr's “Spokewals". Two of André's own arrangements for the SU Choir will also be performed. These are “Southern Cross" by Joshua na die Reën and Loyiso Gijana's “Hemadoda Sabelani":, which can be translated as “people, listen". It is a powerful plea against gender-based violence (GBV).

André comments that COVID-19 protocols forced the choir to rehearse mostly in separate vocal groups. This allowed him to do a lot of detailed work with the groups. “It is nerve-racking to have them performing together for the production now, but we continued to grow. We did not give up."

As for the TV production, they promise to share the true SU Choir with the viewers. “We recorded in an open-air venue, which of course placed special demands on the choir members and technicians, but I feel that we will still be able to share our hearts and souls with the viewers. And that is what we will be focussing on."

• Universiteitskoor Stellenbosch | 3 Oct 16:00 | 7 Oct 17:30 | DStv channel 150.
  A selection of performances by the SU Choir from 2017 to 2020 will also be broadcast on Woordfees TV. Consult www.woordfees.co.za for the final programme.
• PHOTO BY STEFAN ELS: André van der Merwe conducts the SU Choir during their special recording on 18 September 2021 in the Oude Libertas Amphitheatre for Woordfees TV.
  

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​*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.

Stellenbosch University's investment in fostering and promoting individual multilingualism among its students through its Survival Afrikaans and Survival isiXhosa courses is starting to pay off. The courses, which the Language Centre's Language Learning Hub has been offering since 2018, are specifically aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students who have no prior knowledge of Afrikaans or isiXhosa.

To date, some 30 students have completed the Survival Afrikaans course, and approximately 60 have finished Survival isiXhosa. The Language Learning Hub has received over 80 enquiries for both courses from interested students this year alone. The language courses, which are offered twice a year (one per semester), equip students with basic language and conversational skills.

“We regard our courses as crash courses; as a way of connecting with other people in a very basic and informal manner in social spaces. The ultimate aim is for students to feel included," says Helga Sykstus, a coordinator at the Language Learning Hub. “We want to provide a safe and fun space for students to build the confidence at least to try a new language. And hopefully, they will later become more skilled through friends and other speakers of the language, and become part of a larger language community. Multilingualism is not only about promoting institutional and individual multilingualism in class; it also involves encouraging multilingualism outside the classroom, in social and co-curricular spaces."

Past course participants are unanimous in their praise of the Survival Afrikaans and Survival isiXhosa courses. “The learning environment was open, inclusive, warm and fun, which really helped with the learning experience. Languages are not my thing, but the presenter creates an environment in which we are encouraged to learn, make mistakes and keep trying. The course was a lot more practical than I thought it was going to be, and I loved that," said one student in Survival Afrikaans.

“The presenter is passionate about the language, and she always made sure to include everyone," said a peer in Survival isiXhosa. “Her energy was always positive and uplifting – even when I perhaps didn't say something correctly. She made lots of jokes and kept the class lively and awake."

A multilingual mindset

While the Language Centre has an extensive offering of courses and services aimed at promoting multilingualism, staff at the Centre are also mindful of the immense value of multilingualism as a frame of mind.

Earlier this year, Erica residence requested the Language Centre to deliver a talk on the value of multilingualism in our day-to-day interactions with one another. This formed part of the residence's efforts to live their values for 2021, which include inclusivity. “In the talk, we highlighted the importance of multilingualism and having a multilingual attitude, even if you can speak only one language," says Sanet de Jager, an interpreter at the Language Centre, who conducted the talk. “They connected deeply with the idea that the value of a thought does not depend on the language you use to express it; that multilingualism isn't a burden, but an opportunity to open oneself up to new opportunities and experiences. This resulted in a greater desire among newcomer students to learn more about one another's languages and the cultures they represent."

“Multilingualism also has huge benefits for the brain and helps graduates better demonstrate problem-solving, listening and interpersonal skills. A multilingual mindset enables people to be well-rounded individuals, able to make informed decisions by considering more than just their own views," adds De Jager.

Other collaborations

The Language Centre also teaches English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa to international students and provides courses in English for both local and international students. Sykstus says their aim is to expand their offering to some of the other African languages, and courses in Sesotho and isiZulu will be explored next.

Collaboration extends to beyond the University as well. In 2019, the Language Centre offered an isiXhosa course to staff from Leopard's Leap wine farm outside Franschhoek. The Centre hopes to expand its collaboration with other wine estates to offer similar courses to their front-desk staff, waiters and staff presenting wine tastings. Short courses focusing on Afrikaans and isiXhosa are also offered to members of the public.

“There are so many possibilities to apply language as a vehicle for cultural integration, and to encourage appreciation and respect for diversity. Further collaboration between student communities, support services and other relevant parties will enhance the impact of these initiatives even further," says Sykstus.

The latest edition of Stellenbosch University's (SU) multi-award winning publication Research at Stellenbosch University is now available. Produced annually by the Division for Research Development (DRD), Research at Stellenbosch University is regarded as one of SU's flagship publications.

This is a special edition of innovative and interesting COVID-19 research at SU during 2020 and beyond that places the pandemic front and centre in studies across all academic disciplines. Offering the national and international scientific community as well as other interested parties a comprehensive, yet accessible overview of such research, it features breakthroughs in medical explorations, highlights the important role SU immunology experts play in combatting the pandemic and looks at how biotechnology is being employed to overcome COVID-19-related challenges. It also includes research that tracks the socio-economic impact of the pandemic and emphasises how researchers and thinkers in the humanities responded to our current situation.

Some of the topics covered in this edition focuses on COVID-19 research related to full-genome sequencing, wastewater management, immunology, biomarkers, new diagnostic tools, synthetic pharmaceuticals, conservation, oxygen treatment, pathogen transfer, housing, children, sport and exercise medicine, vaccines, education, personal protective equipment, food security, women researchers, music, coronavirus visualisations, social distancing, lockdowns, mental health, tax relief, rehabilitation, nurses, gender equality, disability and businesses.

Over the past year and a half, the pandemic has caused so much devastation, personal tragedy and loss in lives and livelihoods globally. But regardless of lockdowns, isolation, and the adjustments we have had to make, researchers at SU rose to the occasion in spectacular fashion.

Research for impact is one of our core values, and it has never proved more tangible than during the pandemic because research had an immediate, real-world impact. This core value also forms part of our Vision 2040 and Strategic Framework 2019-2024, which informs our mission to keep a focus on the future and find ways to exponentially expand SU's impact. In our approach we consider the National Development Plan, the African Union's Vision 2063 and the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals because we firmly believe that a university should be connected to the world.

According to Prof Wim de Villiers, SU Rector and Vice-Chancellor, the publication gives practical expression to what SU has set out to do – to contribute to solving some of the most pressing challenges in our world. “That is research for impact – using our research expertise to change society for the better and to make a positive difference to people`s lives".

• Read the flipbook version of Research at Stellenbosch University here: https://bit.ly/su_research_20.
  

SU researchers also wrote many COVID-19-related editorials and opinion pieces. The DRD compiled a report with more than 50 of these contributions produced between March 2020 and February 2021.

During the coming weeks, we will feature some of the highlights in the publication on the Research at Stellenbosch University Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/stellenboschuniresearch or @stellenboschuniresearch.

For now, watch the video to get a sneak peek of what you can expect!

FOR MEDIA ENQUIRIES ONLY:

Maryke Hunter-Hüsselmann (editor)

Director: Research Information and Strategy

Division for Research Development

Stellenbosch University

Email: mh3@sun.ac.za

ISSUED BY

Martin Viljoen

Manager: Media

Corporate Communication and Marketing

Stellenbosch University

Tel: 021 808 4921

Email: viljoenm@sun.ac.za

​Thursday 30 September is International Translation Day. In opinion pieces for the media, experts at Stellenbosch University emphasise how translation helps to connect people from diverse linguistic backgrounds. Click on the links below to read the articles.

• Susan de Klerk & Harold Lesch (Cape Times)
• Kim Wallmach & Susan Lotz (News24)
  

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​In celebration of Women's Month, the Transplantation Society, Stellenbosch University's (SU) Women's Forum and the Department of Surgery at the University of Cape Town (UCT) co-hosted a discussion around systematic issues that women in medicine and science face. The discussion, which took place on 27 August at Groote Schuur Hospital, was moderated by Professor Elmi Muller, Dr Lydia Cairncross and Professor Keymanthri Moodley and attended both virtually and in-person by guests from around the world.

Prior to the event, attendees were asked to watch “Picture a Scientist" – a film that documents the groundswell of female researchers in the United States (US) who are paving the way to equality for women in science. In this film, biologist Nancy Hopkins, chemist Raychelle Burks and geologist Jane Willenbring take viewers on a journey of their own careers and the struggles they endured in male-dominated fields.

Against the backdrop of this impactful documentary, conversations were sparked on the systemic and invisible oppression against women in workplaces across South Africa. From subtle slights to deliberate discrimination, surgeons, doctors, researchers, academic and administrative staff shared their experiences during the Women's Month event.

The gender pay gap in medicine and science

The most explicit example of where women still bear the brunt of their industries is the gender pay gap. “I think that salary is a big problem in South Africa," says Dr Simphiwe Simelane from UCT. “In my previous job as a research medical officer, my starting salary was significantly less than what was offered to a male peer for the same job description." Beyond the borders of South Africa, unequal salaries are a global issue according to Dr Camille Kotton from Massachusetts General Hospital in the US. “While starting salaries in medicine are quite equal, they start to change for a whole host of reasons as we become more senior. When we look at this systematically, it's definitely an issue."

The career sacrifices of parenthood

Parenthood is another topical example of where women are often treated unfairly. One female surgeon from Cape Town, who is currently completing her studies while caring for two children, says she noticed that a lot of talented women stepped back from progressing their careers once they started a family. She adds that she hopes there can be more options for surgeons to complete their studies part-time so that female surgeons are not excluded from programmes simply for becoming mothers. On family life, Professor Nancy Kwan Man from the University of Hong Kong says that balancing family duties is a challenge especially for women in senior leadership roles. She adds that women should support and encourage each other to fill senior positions and progress in their respective fields.     

The role of male allies in women empowerment

While the event was mostly attended by women, a few men also participated and opened up the floor for a discussion on how male allies can understand and support the needs of professional women. Professor Helmuth Reuter from SU's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences says he realises how important it is to hear women's voices directly and reflect on how men can also do introspection into their own roles. “Where I can, I would certainly like to work with my female colleagues and I am open to criticism where other men and I are at fault. I hope we can reflect on how we can work together better."

The prolonged impact of unconscious biases

From the overarching to the underlying, the discussion also shed light on the subliminal effects of years of low-key discrimination. Dr Allison Moore, an urologist at Groote Schuur Hospital, says that throughout medical school, internship and training it was always the small sexist comments, rather than large acts of harassment, that undermined her as a young surgeon. Cairncross, a consultant surgeon at Groote Schuur Hospital and associate professor at UCT, says she was reminded of unconscious biases while working in Covid-19 wards last year. “I was walking with a white, male colleague and patients just assumed he was the professor and I was not," she recalls. “As women, we constantly need to be present and show up while power often just flows directly towards men."

Which begs the question: How do institutions move away from a culture of compliance to a culture of change to address underlying biases?

“In the Women's Forum, we've been working on a number of issues to empower women and to remove obstacles in terms of career progression over the years," says Moodley, who chairs the Tygerberg branch of SU's Women's Forum. “Currently, we're working on a childcare facility at Tygerberg hospital and we've established a lactation room, but we're also looking at other ways in which women are impacted negatively in the work environment."

For more information on this event and to view the full discussion, visit The Transplantation Society.​

The Covid-19 pandemic has set the achievement of the United Nation's TB eradication target back with an estimated five years. Therefore, there is still an urgent need to prioritise TB services and research despite the huge challenges posed by Covid-19, according to researchers of the Immunology Research Group in the Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics (MBHG) of Stellenbosch University's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Every year some 10 million people become ill with TB. In 2019, some 1,4 million people died from TB, making it the ninth leading cause of death globally. In South Africa there are approximately 500 000 new cases annually and TB caused nearly 60 000 deaths in 2019.

During 2020 TB services were restricted during the Covid-19 lockdowns. There was also less access to transport to reach health facilities. This meant fewer people were being tested and received treatment. 

“In 2020 notification rates dropped dramatically by 25% to 50%," says Prof Gerhard Walzl, Head of the Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics. “So, there was a dramatic decrease in TB cases because fewer people are testing – not because TB has disappeared."

Infected individuals, who may not know they have TB, can infect others. “A single TB case can infect 10 to 15 people per year," says Walzl. “These individuals are only likely to report for testing when they become very ill. By then they will have a higher bacterial load and greater infectivity. The increased transmission will manifest in the next year or so. It has the potential to have a huge effect on the goal of eradicating TB."

“During 2020 the STOP-TB Partnership estimated that Covid has set us back five years in achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goal TB eradication target of 2030," says Prof André Loxton, Deputy Director of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Centre for TB Research.

Lockdowns and the channelling of resources to fight Covid-19 also impacted on the research group's activities, requiring creativity and resourcefulness to keep projects going.

“Most of our research is funded by international grants," explains Walzl. “These projects are on tight timelines, with specific deliverables. Being barred from seeing participants in healthcare centres had serious knock-on effects. Losing grants due to inability to meet our targets will have a major impact on the group. For instance, most of the staff are paid by grants. They are highly trained individuals with skills acquired at great expense, so losing them would have a devastating effect on our ability to function – destroying years of building capacity and infrastructure."​

Negotiation with funders and expanding the focus of some of the research to include Covid-19 enabled the projects to continue. 

It was particularly important to understand the effect of Covid-19 on TB. “Early research suggested that people with latent TB might have poor outcomes if they contracted Covid-19," explains Walzl. “There is a different immune response to both and we didn't know the effects of Covid-19 on TB treatment outcomes."

Research is underway to diagnose TB early along with Covid-19. Questions include whether TB point-of-care tests, that measure immune-system protein markers, give false positive results in the presence of Covid-19, and also trying to understand the impact of Covid-19 infection on the outcome of TB infection and treatment.

“We responded to calls from funders to undertake Covid-19 research, but also looked at how we could bring Covid into the TB space; how we could apply our knowledge and experience to the new threat without drifting too far from our scope," says Loxton.

Although Covid has pushed the TB fight further onto the backburner, it has highlighted global interdependence and shown that some problems can't be solved by isolated pockets of research.

“There is more awareness of potential epidemics and the need to respond quicker with adapted, streamlined responses," says Walzl. “But, equally, there is more scepticism and misinformation regarding healthcare, which will impact on people's willingness to seek help for diseases like TB."

“TB is still seen as a problem of the developing world. TB research receives a fraction of the funding of diseases like HIV/AIDS. We need to change that," says Loxton. “We need bigger projects, moving faster to develop more sensitive, specific diagnostic tests, new drugs and more vaccine options. We need political will, funding and for all stakeholders to work together. Hopefully the momentum created by Covid-19 can be used for TB as well."

• Gerhard Walzl is a distinguished professor and head of the Immunology Research Group and Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics. He is also the executive head of the Department Biomedical Sciences at the Stellenbosch University's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.
• André G Loxton is a professor and specialist scientist at the SAMRC. He is a principal investigator with the Immunology Research Group, and deputy director of the SAMRC Centre for Tuberculosis Research.​

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​​​At a missionary boarding school around rural Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, 13-year-old Otrude Moyo was punished for speaking her mother tongue of isiNdebele. An example of such shaming was having to remove ubhima (a creeping thorn) from grounds on which missionary horses grazed — with her bare hands in the heat of the day, without water.

“I was programmed to be ashamed of my language," Moyo writes in her book, Africanity and Ubuntu as Decolonizing Discourse, which was published in February this year. She recalls how, at the same boarding school, only one out of fifteen teachers had the courage to defy the English-only rule. It was a male science teacher who allowed pupils to explain Newton's law of gravity in their home languages.

“Let me explore the particularities of the example of being Bantu as a thirteen-year-old girl entering high school," Moyo continues. “The word Bantu, referring to Africans, was a puzzle to me. I remember thinking that the White world had tried so hard to remove itself from shared humanity: U-lu-ntu. White supremacy expressed through colonisation, apartheid, and related systems of oppression had designed separate races, by which Whites had removed themselves from that shared U-lu-ntu. Again, Whites used language to mark Africans in Southern Africa as Bantu, a term denoting 'the Other'."

For Moyo, reflecting on Ubuntu remains “enmeshed in the historical experience of Whiteness and the definitional power it held over every aspect of my life."

Today, Moyo is a Professor and Program Director at the School of Social Work, at the Indiana University — South Bend, where her work centres around “undoing oppressions against those who have been historically othered". She is particularly passionate about teaching courses in social justice and multiculturalism.

In a webinar, Ubuntu, Human Dignity, and a Decent Society, hosted by Stellenbosch University Museum, as part of the Ubuntu Dialogues Project, Moyo sums up the key question that propels her research: “We share this one planet, how are we going to live well together?"

In a Zoom interview from her South Bend office, she says: “The question about how do I live well with others continues to bug me. It continues to be the passion that makes me get up and go. How do we live well together? I have looked at the philosophical ideas about living well together, specifically at individualism. And have not been satisfied with our foundational philosophies or institutions hinging on individualism. Because it leaves out the treatment of 'the other' — someone or something that is not to be included in the family of the planet. So hierarchialising things or human beings, and then creating those that are better."

For Moyo, “othering" or “hierarchialising" extends both to humans placing themselves at “the apex" of earth's species, thus exploiting animals and plants; and to humans assuming dominance over other humans.

Moyo explains that in living a life sculpted by white dominance, often driven by values of individualism, for her Ubuntu became a primary counter discourse for expressing her own humanity, and a shared humanity. She points out the Zulu maxim, Izandla ziyagezana, which means one hand washes another, thus thriving in mutual reciprocity.

With humour, she adds an anecdote: “Speaking with my sister [Thuli], I was on the other side of the earth in North America, and she was in South Africa, Johannesburg. She said: 'I see Ubuntu right in front of my eyes. A traffic light is down, and a person who works on the street has left their job to direct traffic. That is Ubuntu right there!'"

Moyo has close ties to South Africa. Before Covid she would spend up to three months a year in Healdtown and Fort Beaufort, in the Eastern Cape, where research informed large parts of her book. Here, together with the community, she established the Ubuntu Arts and Dialogues in Diversity program aimed at “unlearning apartheid through dialogue, play, song, dance, painting, and poetry readings."

Reflecting on her career path, Moyo laughs. After high school, she was adamant not to become a teacher — like both her parents were: “I was thinking of studying political science, and my mum said to me: 'Where have you seen a politician living an honest life?' And we had a falling out because my mum wanted me to go to teachers training college. I did go, but that only lasted three days."

Moyo went on to complete a Bachelor of Social Work at the University of Zimbabwe. She soon grew frustrated, and in a bold move, applied to do a Masters in Social Work at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale in the United States.

“I came from a minority group and ethnicity matters in Zimbabwe," she says. “Ethnicity and gender and whether you are from a politically 'big' family. So as a person who came from none of those things, it meant that you were always sidelined. This is why I left Zimbabwe."

Now, for nearly two decades while carving her academic career, she has indeed taught undergraduate and graduate students: “So now I am a teacher after all, and my mother laughs, telling me: 'I knew you!'"

While Moyo says she is still “psychologically rooted in Zimbabwe", she has grown roots in the United States, too. She has a 28-year-old daughter, who is the assistant director at the Centre for Social Concerns, at Indiana's Notre Dame University.

Moyo quotes the Dalai Lama's 1992 Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit speech to illustrate the sense of universal responsibility she envisions. At the time, the Dalai Lama said: “I believe that to meet the challenge of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not for [themselves], [their] family or nation, but for the benefit of all [humanity]. Universal responsibility is the real key to human survival."

The Ubuntu Dialogues Project is a collaboration between Stellenbosch University and Michigan State University, where it is hosted by the African Studies Center. Moyo featured in conversation with Dr Motsamai Molefe from the Centre for Leadership Ethics at Fort Hare University, and who is one of five Ubuntu Dialogues Seminar Exchange Fellows for 2021.

​*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 currently under way at Stellenbosch University.​

​At Stellenbosch University (SU), multilingualism is not only entrenched in policy and encouraged among students and staff – it is also being studied in a cutting-edge laboratory, using innovative methods and advanced equipment.

The Multilingualism and Cognition (MultiCog) Laboratory in the Department of General Linguistics is the only one of its kind on the African continent. The research facility, which studies how multiple languages are organised in the brain and affect cognitive functioning, has been operating since 2018, having secured funding from the National Research Foundation and SU's own institutional budget.

“Language is uniquely human. No other species has developed a semiotic system of signs and symbols as complex and as varied as language to convey meaning," says Prof Emanuel Bylund, research leader at the MultiCog Lab. “This raises questions regarding the human mind; about how we acquire and process language, and what the premises and potentials of our language capacity are."

Exploring these issues becomes even more intriguing when working with multilingual people."

Researching the language development and cognitive processing of people living in different multilingual populations, Prof Bylund has already worked with speakers of German, Afrikaans, Spanish, isiXhosa and Swedish.

“The Linguistic Diversity Index gives one an indication of the likelihood that any new person that you might meet will have the same mother tongue as you. In the United Kingdom, this likelihood is 85%; in South Africa, it is only 13%," he explains. “This makes South Africa, with its multitude of languages, the ideal setting to study aspects of multilingualism."

Ironically, however, the majority of psycholinguistic research on multilingualism from the perspective of linguistics, philosophy, psychology and anthropology to date has been done in Europe or North America, despite these regions traditionally being very monolingual.

“Because of this bias, the topic of language and the mind is a vastly underrepresented research area in South Africa, which has consequences for our knowledge about the psycholinguistics of local languages," Bylund says.

For this reason, the MultiCog Lab was set up in South Africa with the express intention to generate more case studies, teaching material on linguistics as well as research from the global south.

“We need more localised work on how people produce and understand language, acquire language skills, and about their language-related cognitive functioning," Bylund stresses. At the same time, it is important to validate whether findings made in other parts of the world still hold true for South Africa and other multilingual regions in the global south. If not, this might have implications for what we believe to be true about how language develops in children and adults.

The MultiCog lab is equipped with eyetracking devices, soundproof booths and advanced software to study how multiple languages are organised in the brain, and what their effect are on cognitive functioning.

The eyetracking devices were, for instance, used in preparation of a paper published in the Journal of Neurolinguistics earlier this year. First-language and second-language English speakers from South Africa were presented with 20 English words, each paired with an Afrikaans word, while EyeLink devices followed their eye movement. The beginning sound of each word pair overlapped phonetically: For instance, the English word “lion" was paired with the Afrikaans word “laai" (meaning “drawer"). The words were shown on screen and also played in the headphones that participants were wearing. The results showed that second-language English speakers, even those quite proficient in the language, were generally more likely to glance at the Afrikaans word, as it had the same initial sound as the English word – a phenomenon known as “cross-language activation".

The paper was authored by MultiCog lab manager Dr Robyn Berghoff, together with MA student Jayde McLoughlin and Prof Bylund.  

Another MultiCog study is currently investigating how someone's perception of time starts to change once asked to read mirror writing (i.e. in reverse, from right to left), while a further project is exploring whether the different languages of a multilingual speaker cause the person to arrive at different decisions in terms of moral judgements, risk taking and consumer behaviour.

Having access to the latest technology is a great benefit, Prof Bylund says. Yet his team's most valuable tool remains the people who are able to speak more than one language and are willing to participate in their research projects.

“The level of linguistic and cultural diversity in South Africa is unmatched by the contexts usually investigated in research on language and the mind, which offers tremendous opportunities for groundbreaking research," Bylund adds.

• Prof Bylund and Dr Berghoff are also the founders of the African Psycholinguistics Association, which brings together scholars from across the continent, all studying the nexus between language and cognition from different perspectives. Moreover, the MultiCog Lab has an international board with senior international researchers, including Profs Marianne Gullberg of Lund University (Sweden), Panos Athanasopoulos of Lancaster University, and Guillaume Thierry of Bangor University (both in the United Kingdom). ​