A UCT-led research team is blazing the trail for a participatory approach to creating public spaces. Little besides dust drifts between the tightly-packed tin dwellings of Monwabisi Park in Khayelitsha. Read more...

African Fusion Magazine article on Bonisile Isaac, a 2006 Honours in Materials Science graduate.

In support of South Africa’s sugar industry, which grows and processes some 2,5-milliontons of sugar every season and contributes R6-7-billion to the South African economy, Afrox is rolling out a comprehensive service and product offering for the hardfacing of washboards, cane knives, shredder hammers and mill rolls. African Fusion talks to Bonisile Isaac, the company’s product manager for hardfacing electrodes.

The Barry van Wyk Award is presented annually to the author of the best final year dissertation on a geotechnical topic at a South African university.

Nicholas Rice, a 2012 chemical engineering graduate from UCT, is one of four South Africans who received one of the prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarship for postgraduate study in 2013. In September, he will be jetting off to start his MPhil in advanced chemical engineering at the University of Cambridge.

Professor Harald Winkler's summary of his vision for UCT's Energy Research Centre could be encapsulated in only seven words, Use less energy, more efficiently, mostly renewables. The centre's new director offers a reflection on the world's energy troubles - and the factors driving climate change. Read more...

Laptops became compulsory this year for four courses at UCT - in physics, chemical engineering, architecture design and theory, and law. And a UCT researcher will be tracking just how useful they are in the learning process. The Laptop Pilot Project began in ICTS, spearheaded by Kira Chernotsky, director of the Customer Services Division. Read more...

On 27 April, Professor George Ekama will be awarded Order of Mapungubwe: Silver, one of the country’s highest national honours, by President Jacob Zuma. The orders were granted to those who contributed towards the advancement of democracy and who made a significant impact on improving the lives of South Africans. Ekama will receive his award for his excellence research that has provided innovative solutions to enhancing and improving waste-water treatment.

A front-page story in today's Business Day is based on research done at the Energy Research Centre's(ERC) modeling group for the National Planning Commission (Anton Eberhard, who is a former EDRC Director, now at GSB and a commissioner).

The study is on ERC website, see Towards a new power plan.

"It's not only about nuclear power (as the Business Day headline might suggest), but also gas and renewables. Careful analysis suggests that we need to update assumption in IRP2010 - our current electricity plan - as otherwise investment decisions will be sub-optimal", said Bruno Merven of ERC's Energy Systems Analysis and Planning group.

Eastgate 20 is a refurbished building located in Sandton, Johannesburg, that was awarded the Second Place for Best Quality Green Star Submission in October 2012.

Rebecca Vaughan, currently a Masters of City and Regional Planning student at UCT, was the project manager for the final phase of the Eastgate 20 Green Star submission while working at PJCarew Consulting.

The building has achieved a 4 Star Green Star Rating from the Green Building Council of South Africa.

The latest research into the provision of affordable housing in the so-called gap market in South Africa shows that it not only brings with it improved welfare and social cohesion, but is also an important facilitator of opportunities and wealth creation.

The study found that those who obtain homes in this sector move beyond viewing them as a mere shelter. Instead, their homes become assets and through appreciation of these assets entrepreneurship, job creation and/or access to higher levels of education are stimulated.

The research was conducted by a team led by University of Cape Town associate professor Francois Viruly.

South Africa's water future was beset with challenges, but there was much room for optimism, too. This was the message from Dhesigen Naidoo, chief executive officer of the Water Research Commission (WRC), during his recent Pro Vice-Chancellor's Open Lecture. Read more...

On Wednesday 3 April, Lecture Theatre 2A was filled with students and staff who came to find out why there are unemployed engineering graduates if the country desperately needs them for its socio-economic development. The discussion was organised by the EBE undergraduate and postgraduate student councils.

A workshop, titled PEM Fuel Cell Systems in South Africa: Supply Chain Opportunities and PGM Beneficiation, was co-hosted by UCT’s HySA/Catalysis Competence Centre and Germany’s Centre for Fuel Cell Technology (ZBT) from 11-13 March. Representatives from industry, government and academia from both countries met to see how they could chart collaborations between South Africa and Germany in the field of hydrogen and fuel cell technology (HFCT).

From 13 to 15 March, the African Centre for Cities hosted a Mistra Urban Futures (MUF) meeting which was an opportunity for a group of international research collaborators to meet and catch up. The gathering brought together some 45 academics and government officials, all with an interest in sustainable urban development. Participants included representatives from the MUF headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden, and from its partner projects in that city as well as in Cape Town; Kisumu, Kenya; and Manchester, England.

Electrical Engineering PhD student Chris de Beer received a best paper award at the International Conference on Industrial Technology Industrial Electronics Society which was held in February in Cape Town. This is one of the major annual conferences of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society and brings together worldwide leading researchers, from industry and academia.

On Saturday 23 February around 80 first year construction and property studies students from UCT, travelled by bus to Witsand in Atlantis to meet with an NGO - Green Communities. Their task was to work with community members in greening the community.

Each year Student Wellness organises a voluntary counselling and HIV testing session in Jameson Hall. On Thursday 28 February, members of the EBE student council went to be tested so they could know their status. They wanted to encourage other EBE students to do the same.

The eye-catching incomplete bridge along Cape Town's Foreshore has been a landmark - and talking point - for decades. Now, students from UCT's School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics have been asked to envision a new look for the historical area. Each year, undergraduate and postgraduate students from the school participate in the Vertical Studio Project, which sees them spending a week 'on site' as they execute what they've learnt in the environment they wish to modify.

Hilary Chisepo stumbled to the stage to collect the award for best paper at the annual Southern African Power and Energy Conference on 1 February. Chisepo, a master's student in UCT's Department of Electrical Engineering, along with his peers, was "very hot and tired" at the end of the conference and was waiting for the announcement of the winner of the best-paper prize so that they could all go home. Read more...

Cape Times article by Rory Williams.

Each year, UCT's Vertical Studio Project gives architecture students a week to develop ideas for a different part of the city. This time, the school of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics partnered with urban think-tank Future Cape Town to imagine new ways to create vibrant public spaces out of barren open areas on the northern edge of the CBD.

UCT's HySA/Catalysis Competence Centre in the Department of Chemical Engineering recently hosted a top-level government delegation from Limpopo, headed by Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (LEDET) MEC, Pinky Kekana. UCT is co-host, together with Mintek, of the HySA/Catalysis Competence Centre, the national competence centre in catalysis and catalytic devices for the hydrogen and fuel cells industry. Read more...