Optentia research starts with the community

The 1990s concept of “giving psychology away” has come to life at Optentia in 2017 where research is being done with the purpose of “giving science away”. For the Optentia research focus area, the community is the starting point for any research project.  “At Optentia, we do research together with the community,” says its director, Prof Ian…

Radiyah’s brave road to success

Radiyah Saloojee is living proof that an attitude of gratitude and thanksgiving not only serves as a road marker on the journey to success, but also a stepping stone to accomplishment. For this 24-year old alumna of the North-West University’s (NWU’s) campus in Vanderbijlpark, each day represents a new opportunity to excel and in doing so,…

NWU hosts successful SASA Congress

The 24th annual South African Sociological Association (SASA) congress kicked off on a high note at the North-West University’s (NWU’s) campus in Mahikeng with throngs of domestic and international delegates attending.

Under the theme #WhatMustRise, SASA President, Dr Sonwabile Mnwana, gave a brief interpretation of what the topic…

Radiyah’s brave road to success

Radiyah Saloojee is living proof that an attitude of gratitude and thanksgiving not only serves as a road marker on the journey to success, but also a stepping stone to accomplishment. For this 24-year old alumna of the North-West University’s (NWU’s) campus in Vanderbijlpark, each day represents a new opportunity to excel and in doing so,…

Dothraki and other sub-cultural languages – the focus of a unique PhD study

“Me zisosh disse”. It is just a flesh wound. This would certainly be good news if you were wounded and one of the native speakers of the language used in this sentence. It is Dothraki and it is the fantasy language that was created for the television series Game of Thrones. Today, the language is spoken by a significant number of people who…

NWU PhD graduate contributes to international literature

The North-West University’s (NWU’s) campus in Vanderbijlpark proudly awarded a PhD in English to Manuela Fernandes-Martins, academic developer at the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL), during the recent Autumn Graduation.

In her thesis, An evaluation of a franchised supplementary programme in English as a second language in South…

NWU Department of Social Work hosts oath-taking and celebrates World Social Work Day The Department of Social Work on the Mafikeng Campus of the North-West University (NWU) hosted an oath-taking ceremony for second-year social work students while celebrat

The Department of Social Work on the Mahikeng Campus of the North-West University (NWU) hosted an oath-taking ceremony for second-year social work students while celebrating World Social Work Day on 29 March 2017 at the Student Centre Hall.

Oath-taking is usually done by all registered social work students. With this oath they…

A South African web-based platform for speech transcription

With 11 official languages in South Africa, finding an effective yet affordable way to transcribe speech to text was never going to be easy, but that is set to change with some innovative thinking from researchers who are creating an open source web-based platform for speech transcription.

Researchers from North-West University’s…

Survivor to thriver: creating a brighter future for victims of sexual abuse

The heart-wrenching reality of childhood sexual abuse is a global scourge which two researchers from North-West University (NWU) are tackling by assisting survivors to deal with their trauma and thrive.  

The worldwide prevalence as measured in 22 countries indicates that 18% to 20% of girls and 8% to 9% of boys have to cope with this…

NWU lecturer to participate in UCLA/South African Trauma Training Research programme

Dr Lufuno Makhado, a senior lecturer in the Department of Nursing Science on the Mahikeng Campus of the North-West University (NWU), , will be taking part in the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA)/South African Trauma Training Research (Phodiso) Programme.

He left for UCLA on 20 March 2017 and will be based there until…