NWU women shine at prestigious science awards

North-West University (NWU) women continue to shine during Women’s Month and their extraordinary achievements do not go unnoticed.

On 15 August a researcher from the NWU took home a South African Women in Science award and a student received the DST-Albertina Sisulu Fellowship award for her doctoral studies at the prestigious award…

Africa’s first language centre launched to promote indigenous languages

At last! Hard work and dedication finally paid off. The government-established South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) was officially launched on 7 August 2019 on the North-West University’s (NWU’s) campus in Potchefstroom.

SADiLaR is a platform that creates and manages digital resources and software supporting…

Wellness of North West communities is a priority

It is a disturbing fact that approximately 61% of the North West population is classified as impoverished. This alarming figure is the biggest contributing factor to the inadequate wellness of communities in this province, and according to the government it is an important social, economic and political developmental challenge.

The…

NWU academic is passionate about multivariate analysis

North-West University (NWU) academic and deputy dean in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences Prof Ntebo Moroke voiced her intention to contribute to the literature on multivariate analysis methods during her inaugural lecture at the campus in Mahikeng.

Titled “On multivariate analysis of high-dimensional data”, Prof…

Why are so few South African women exclusively breastfeeding their infants?

Women all over the world know how important breastfeeding is, especially exclusively breastfeeding infants younger than six months old. Unfortunately, only 32% of South African women are doing it.

In light of International Breastfeeding Week taking place from 1 to 7 August and themed “Empowering parents, enable breastfeeding”,…

NWU celebrates National Science Week with talk on Mendeleev Periodic Table

The United Nations General Assembly, during its 74th Plenary Meeting on 20 December 2017, proclaimed 2019 as the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements (IYPT 2019).

As we commemorate the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements by the Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleev,…

NWU’s Prof Phaswana-Mafuya appointed to NRF board

The North-West University (NWU) prides itself on appointing academics that are not only the best in their fields, but are also dedicated to making a difference in society.

Proof positive of this, the Minister of Science and Technology recently appointed the NWU’s deputy vice-chancellor for research and innovation, Prof Refilwe…

Xena and this fish parasite have much in common

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Xena the warrior princess dominated television screens all over the world. She was known for her strong personality and loved for her feistiness and fighting ability.

So when Serita van der Wal, a master’s student at the North-West University (NWU), named a fish parasitic cymothoid isopod after…

Global warming is fuelling global inequality

Poor countries are becoming poorer as a result of global warming and more intense heat waves in the future will widen the inequality gap.

These are some of the research findings of Namhla Mkiva, a technical support staff member in the subject group Geography and Environmental Studies at the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Faculty of…

Inaugural lecture traces operational research back to World War II

Operational research (OR) is modern and highly sophisticated but its origins can be traced back to 1939 when the Royal Air Force began expanding the range of radar.

Prof Philip Pretorius recently took the audience on a bit of a history lesson on OR with his inaugural lecture on the North-West University’s (NWU’s) campus in Vanderbijlpark.…