Study finds freshwater species at risk from threats linked to human activities

From climate change and associated extreme weather events to pollutants, over-utilisation and invasive species, human activities are the main threats to freshwater species in South Africa’s largest floodplain ecosystem.

This is according to the Water Research Group (WRG) of the North-West University (NWU), which for the past 10 years…

The cannabis conundrum: legal lines need to be drawn between home and workplace

In 2018, the Constitutional Court of South Africa legalised the cultivation and use of cannabis, provided that it is for private use by an adult person in a private place.

In her master’s-degree research carried out at the North-West University (NWU), Advocate Dineo Mongwaketsi looked at the legal implications of the legalisation of…

We lead through research at the NWU

At the North-West University (NWU), research not only plays a pivotal role in the daily functioning, but it is also where the university helps to change the world.

Beyond the NWU’s multitude of research centres of excellence, chairs, units, focus areas and niche areas, its hosted research entities and commercial research entities, the…

Prof Mels working towards the prevention of future cardiovascular disease

Following the completion of Prof Carina Mels’s postgraduate studies in biochemistry, she was offered the opportunity to start a lab at the Hypertension in Africa Research Team (HART), which she accepted, knowing that she had plenty of lab experience from biochemistry to draw upon. Her mentor at the time…

Prof Ramorola, aiming to optimise technology use in classrooms

As an expert in computer-integrated education and digital learning, Prof Mmankoko Ziphorah Ramorola firmly believes that, since learners in the 21st century are technology-savvy, they absolutely cannot be taught in the same way as learners before them. Whereas the children of today are – so to speak – born with digital competence, the same…

Exciting new era begins for the NWU

The inauguration of Dr Bismark Tyobeka as the third vice-chancellor of the North-West University (NWU) is the start of an exciting new journey for the university.

Dr Tyobeka, who started his five-year term as principal and vice-chancellor on 1 June 2022, was officially inaugurated on 26 August during a prestige event at the Feather Hill…

Machine and deep learning are a MUST at the North-West University

Our world is speeding up, and never in human existence have we been able to search as fast, travel as far or delve as deep. The last century alone has seen a meteoric increase in the accumulation of data and we are able to store unfathomable quantities of information to help us solve problems known and unknown. At some point the ability to…

NWU residence starts mental health intervention programme

Ontiretse Motingwa

Cluster 11, the new residence on the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Mahikeng Campus, has come up with a unique mental health intervention programme called “Becoming”.

The programme consists of sessions that take place every Wednesday at the residence’s recreational hall, covering a…

NWU’s Leihandra Naidoo is driven by a passion for life

Folklore tells the tale of a mythical bird of Greek origin. A big, feathered creature with talons and wings, its plumage radiant and beautiful, burst into flame, consumed in its own fiery inferno only to soon after rise from its ashes in a transformation from death to life.

To many, this is simply a tale told to while away time, but for…

NWU strengthens ties with industry employers

by Phenyo Mokgothu and Nande Kolo

According to statistician-general and head of Statistics South Africa Risenga Maluleke, the world of work is a competitive space where the skilled and unskilled often compete for opportunities, with some feeling discouraged or ending up being employed in an industry that is…