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Inaugural and Senate lectures A platform for newly appointed professors to share their brilliant discoveries and innovative ideas.
Inaugural and Senate lectures A platform for newly appointed professors to share their brilliant discoveries and innovative ideas.
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2022 Inaugural Lectures


   
 

PROFESSOR STEPHANIE MATSELENG ALLAIS

Wits School of Education, Faculty of Humanities

Lecture title: "Why can’t we get the right skills?" 

Date: 9 November 2022

I explored how the ‘skills problem’ is positioned as an educational problem, with the idea that there is a need for an efficient flow of information from labour market actors to education actors and vice versa.  

   

 

PROFESSOR GEOFFREY SIMATE

School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment

Lecture title: "Waste: A problem or a resource?" 

Date: 02 November 2022

This lecture sought to illustrate that waste does not necessarily represent worthless, harmful, and disposable material, but can alternatively be considered as a useful resource that can be reused, recycled, and recovered in multiple beneficial ways.

   

PROFESSOR MANDEEP KAUR

School of Molecular and Cell Biology, Faculty of Science

Lecture title: "Curbing Cancer's Craving for Cholesterol: Opportunities and Challenges" 

Date: 27 October 2022

This lecture will discussed the role of cholesterol in cancer while addressing the potential therapeutic approaches, opportunities, and associated challenges.

     

PROFESSOR BENITA OLIVIER

School of Therapeutic Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences

Lecture title: "Bowling, babies and balancing it all: Changing the world one impact initiative at a time" 

Date: 26 October 2022

This presentation elaborated on some principles to consider while navigating the academic journey, specifically in our quest to move beyond the notion of “Publish or Perish” to “Impact to Cherish”.

   

PROFESSOR TUMAI MUROMBO

School of Law, Faculty of Commerce, Law & Management

Lecture title: "Transforming water resource governance framework in South Africa using an ‘untransformed’ law: The courts and the National Water Act of 1998." 

Date: 19 October 2022

By analysing recent South African jurisprudence, this lecture broadly demonstrated the need for overdue reforms to environmental and resource governance laws to enable true transformation.

   

PROFESSOR MFANISENI SIHLONGONYANE

School of Architecture and Planning, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment

Lecture title: "Ubuntuising Planning in the Age of Urban Anxiety" 

Date: 20 September 2022

This paper sought to discuss the concept of ubuntu and its multiple dimensions and potential impact on urban planning in South Africa.

   

PROFESSOR AO IHUNWO

School of Anatomical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences

Lecture title: "Generating New Neurons in the Adult Brain: Where do we stand?" 

Date: 7 September 2022

Cell proliferation in the adult brain was an unacceptable concept over half a decade ago. Once this dogma was revoked, it became necessary to establish the phenomenon of adult neurogenesis in the adult brain which declines with age.

     

PROFESSOR MATTHEW CHERSICH

School of Chemistry, Faculty of Science

Lecture title: "Climate change and maternal health in Africa: From Thermal physiology to public health and advocacy" 

Date: 24 August 2022

The lecture presented a body of transdisciplinary work, ranging from the physiological pathways underpinning vulnerability to heat during pregnancy, to data science applications, public health approaches, and advocacy around reducing carbon emissions.

   

PROFESSOR SIMON MUKWEMBI

Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, Faculty of Health Sciences.

Lecture title: "From graph theory to drug design: predictive models for target identification and selection" 

Date: 17 August 2022

In this lecture, I gave an overview of how graph theory, a fast-growing branch of pure mathematics, and mathematical modelling can be used to develop prototype activity predicting models in drug design.

   

PROFESSOR MBOYO-DI-TAMBA VANGU

School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences

Lecture title: "Modern Era Imaging with PET/CT - A Gift from the Gods" 

Date: 20 July 2022

The rapid advances in instrumentation and novel imaging tracers are continuously changing the face of both research and clinical practice. I cannot resist to ponder whether this combination of two in one system was not conceived in 'Heaven', and surely by the Gods...

     

PROFESSOR KENNEDY ERLWANGER

School of Physiology, Faculty of Health Sciences

Lecture title: "No need to wait! Strategic nutraceutical use in early life for good metabolic health" 

Date: 13 July 2022

This lecture explored the potential of strategic interventions in early life stages using plant derived chemicals to provide long term protection against malnutrition-induced poor health outcomes.

     

PROFESSOR JOHN NDIRITU

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment

Lecture title: "Technologies of Consciousness for Human-centred Water Resources Management" 

Date: 14 June 2022

Achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of UN Agenda 2030 relating to water calls for more human-centred water resources management that involves all stakeholders.

   

PROFESSOR ELIZABETH MAVHUNGA

Science Education, Wits School of Education

Lecture title: "The Path Trodden by Science Teacher Professional Knowledge Towards Digitalization" 

Date: 01 June 2022

In her talk, she elucidated the implications of the migration of teaching to digital platforms and provide possible solutions for a refined version of TSPCK which is responsive to the teaching of Science concepts in the digital realm.

   

PROFESSOR KARL VON HOLDT

Society, Work and Politics Institute, Faculty of Humanities

Lecture title: "The making and unmaking of social order: disorder, violence, trajectories" 

Date: 26 May 2022

In this lecture I reflected on the development of my thinking through 30 years of research on trade unions, communities, violence, corruption and the state, which has also been 30 years of activism to remake the world. 

   

PROFESSOR CHRIS THURMAN

School of Literature, Language and Media, Faculty of Humanities

Lecture title: " A Play in (South) Africa: Towards a translation history of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar" 

Date: 17 May 2022

In this lecture, Professor Thurman argued that there is, and that it entails mapping out a history of translations of the play into African languages.

   

PROFESSOR JUDITH BRUCE

School of Therapeutic Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences

Lecture title: "Advocating for nursing education scholarship: From Promise to Praxis" 

Date: 11 May 2022

Advocating for nursing education and sharing ones scholarship, brings about new ideas or models that can be tested, refined or replicated; ultimately, building evidence for the advancement of nursing education.

   

PROFESSOR NELESH GOVENDER 

School of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences

Lecture title: "Entangled Life and Death – Global Fungal Epidemics" 

Date: 14 April 2022

Fungi are an astonishingly diverse form of life, underpinning entire ecosystems. Some fungi are harnessed for human use. Our bodies are colonised inside and out with beneficial fungi. Yet, a few fungal pathogens cause silent epidemics of deadly infections, particularly among people with weakened immunity.

   
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