The disruptive Covid-19 pandemic has not sidetracked the North-West University’s (NWU’s) researchers and academics from using their expertise to the benefit of society.

Across the globe, a major concern in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic has been a shortage of medical equipment, particularly ventilators. As the number of confirmed cases increase on a daily basis in South Africa, the private and public sectors are preparing for the anticipated need, but it is still unclear if we will have enough ventilators should the predicted surge in infections come.

On the morning of 24 April, Prof Dewald van Niekerk, laced up his running shoes and started running around his house in Potchefstroom. The time was 10:30. When he finally stopped to unlace his shoes, twenty-four hours and ten minutes later, he’d circled his house 1 100 times to clock a distance of 110km.

The North-West University has for years been an informative and entertaining presence on the very popular weekly environmental radio programme, Omgewingspraatjies. This tradition continues with a new expert following in the footsteps of his NWU colleagues.

COVID-19. A denomination for a world epidemic that will live in infamy. In 1918 one-third of the world’s population became infected with a virus we now call the Spanish Flu. Millions died. More suffered. Endless story of those fateful years will forever be told.  

The Covid-19 pandemic has fundamentally disrupted teaching-learning activities in South Africa and across the globe. It also challenges how we think about education and assessment, in general.

With the youth unemployment rate in South Africa reaching a record time high, the North-West University (NWU) is pulling out all the stops to ensure that its students are employable after attaining their qualifications.

North-West University (NWU) Alumnus Sydwell Sihlangu recently attended the Leaders in Innovation Fellowship training programme on technology commercialisation from 18 January to 1 February 2020 at the Royal Academy of Engineering in the United Kingdom.

Water is a scarce commodity in drought-stricken South Africa. One area where water can be saved is in the processing of coal, which traditionally uses large amounts of water.

Over the past few months, many South Africans have wondered why there is an excessive amount of mosquitoes and flies in their homes.