Prof Louis du Preez, professor of zoology at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University (NWU), was honoured by having a newly discovered Malagasy frog species named after him.

The honour was bestowed by a group of German scientists from the University of Braunschweig, Landesmuseum in Darmstadt, and the Zoological Museum in München, in recognition of Prof du Preez’s substantial contributions to understanding the flatworm parasites of Malagasy anurans.

The North-West University’s (NWU’s) Prof Jan de Kock is ready to help make a difference in helping to solve South Africa’s current energy crisis.

He was inaugurated as president of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE) on 23 March 2023.

During the event Prof de Kock delivered his inaugural address titled “Load-shedding – can South Africa be saved?”.

He said that it is a great honour to serve the electrical engineering fraternity as president of the SAIEE.

Prof Ewelina Niemczyk, Dr Jan Khumalo, and Matthews Makunye recently organised two research capacity building workshops for academics in the North-West University’s (NWU’s) School of Professional Studies in Education.

Designed with the support of the school director, Prof Kobus Mentz, the two workshops were aimed at improving the quality and impact of the research conducted within the school at the Mahikeng Campus.

During the workshops, researchers were empowered with the necessary knowledge, competencies, tools, and resources to increase research productivity.

NWU staff continue to make significant contributions, not only locally but also internationally. The executive dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Prof David Modise, has been appointed to the interim governing council of the African Network of Scientific and Technological Institutions (ANSTI).

Prof Modise will serve as a member of this council for two years, effective from 1 March 2023.

For most newly graduated pharmacy students, the compulsory one-year pharmacy internship is the first step towards their service to the community and the start of their professional pharmacy careers in South Africa.

Prof Elmien Truter, associate professor of social work and research coordinator at Community Psychosocial Research (COMPRES), recently arranged a one-day workshop for researchers at the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Vanderbijlpark Campus.

COMPRES is a research focus area that provides research support and services to researchers and students within the field of social sciences.

This year, North-West University (NWU) students showed their mettle during the on-campus qualifying round of the 2023 Hult Prize competition.

This international competition challenges young people to solve the world’s most pressing issues through social entrepreneurship. Every year, the best team globally receives $1 000 000 in funding to make their idea a reality.

The early diagnosis of inherited metabolic diseases not only helps to prevent patients from having a lifetime of suffering, it also saves lives.

Metabolic diseases have a variety of life-threatening consequences, such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes. The symptoms of some of these diseases are well-known and do not need intense specialised knowledge to identify. There are also the rare, inherited metabolic diseases that are much more difficult to identify. This is where the Centre for Human Metabolomics (CHM) of the North-West University (NWU) comes in.

Contrary to the consensus view expressed by many economists that the repo rate would be raised by only 25 basis points (bsp) on 30 March, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) decided by a 3:2 vote to raise interest rates again by 50 bsp.

In commenting on the decision to increase the repo rate, Prof Raymond Parsons, economist from the North-West University (NWU) Business School, says the MPC majority view sees the risks to inflation on the upside – shaped by both domestic and global factors.

On the surface there is little commonality between the two. One is a predominantly homogenous first-world country with a population of 10,5 million people where you are more likely to see the northern lights than a lanky giraffe. It occupies an area of 447,425 km2 . The other is almost thrice as large. Its contours encapsulates 1,221,037 km2  and within it a diverse population of 60,6 million people live in a developing country at the foot of Africa.