Seipati Poopedi, a master’s student at the North-West University (NWU), recently participated in the Wetskills Water Challenge in Cape Town and her team walked away with the spoils.

Her team members were Tariro Marekwa, an MSc student from the University of Cape Town, Dr Fulya Kandamir from Antalya Metropolitan Municipality Climate Change in Turkey, Zanele Lulane of the Joint River Basin Authorities Project Board in Eswatini, and Nomandla Nxusa from Rand Water South Africa.

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.

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.

Leaf blight in maize poses a threat to food security but, although it has complex causes, it can be effectively managed. This is one of the findings of a group of North-West University (NWU) researchers who have been investigating this plant disease at the university’s Molelwane farm in Mahikeng.

Their research shows that the disease defies many control measures because it is caused by multiple organisms, which in most cases interact to cause the leaf blight disease.

A recent study conducted by a PhD graduate and staff member of the North-West University (NWU) Business School, Dr Lungile Ntsizwane, looked at integrating administrative systems and processes in mergers within South African higher education institutions.

She says higher education institutions go through a complex change management process when merging.

Local municipalities in North West have not achieved clean audit reports due to the mismanagement of financial resources. This is according to a research study conducted by Dr Auchalie Mothupi in his PhD studies at the North-West University (NWU).

The title of Dr Mothupi’s thesis was “Developing an accountability framework to enhance management of local municipal finance in the North West Province”.

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.

The benefits from widespread and equitable access to information and communications technologies (ICTs) in South Africa are touted as having the potential to change the course and trajectory of this country for the better.

Researchers at the North-West University (NWU) share this view and are adamant that schools can serve as a base from which to address the growing digital divide, particularly between well-resourced and impoverished schools.

It is a crisp Thursday morning and the University of the Western Cape is still without the hustle and bustle that is soon to follow. Dr Shernice Soobramoney, director of the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Global Engagement Office comes rushing up the steps of the Jakes Gerwel Hall with smile beaming across her face.