September 2019

NWU – excellence through research!

Welcome to 2019's fifth edition of the North-West University's research and innovation newsletter, Research@NWU. The aim of the newsletter is to showcase research projects, researchers and related events. This newsletter is one of seven, distributed to academic staff and researchers during the year.

immagine1

NWU women shine at prestigious science awards

The women of the NWU continue to shine in Women's Month and their extraordinary achievements do not go unnoticed.

On 15 August, the NWU was well represented at the Department of Science and Technology's prestigious South African Women in Science Awards (SAWiSA) in Port Elizabeth.

read more

immagine3 immagine4 immagine5

Board game helps accounting students to make the leap

Curiosity stimulates the brain, making board games the ideal learning tool. Accounting students will soon discover this when playing a new board game designed especially for them. Creative approaches to teaching and learning are increasingly being used throughout higher education and beyond. One of the trend setters in what is known as table-top game design is the research unit for Technology Enhanced Learning and Innovative Education and Training in South Africa (TELIT-SA), located at the NWU.

read more

Research points the way to turn waste into biofuel

One man's trash can truly be another man's treasure. The NWU, together with Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (BUW) in Germany, is working on ground-breaking research that will reduce waste and provide clean renewable energy. The waste they are planning to use is manure, sewage and faecal sludge, which will be transformed into biogas. This four-year long research study is led by Prof Carlos Bezuidenhout from the NWU's Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management and Prof Jörg Londong from BUW.

read more

PhD graduate's research focuses on the Tswana goat

Animal health and production is usually a challenge in South African rural communities and particularly among Tswana goat farmers in the North West Province. For this reason, NWU technician and recent PhD graduate Mpho Tsheole set out to find a solution. She conducted research on how supplementary dietary protein affects the growth and reproductive health of Tswana goats. This indigenous goat breed is a multi-coloured, medium-size breed with long lopping ears, a short coarse hair structure, predominantly bearded and horned.

read more

immagine1 immagine4

Researcher sees opportunities, not obstacles

There is a general way of thinking among most hopeful undergraduate students that should the traditional way of paying for tertiary education not be available to them, they are left without the opportunity of persuing an exciting career. An inspiring young academic destroyed this myth by kicking the doors of advancement wide open.

read more

Prof Lebo Seru has big dreams for nanotechnology

There is nothing small about Prof Lebogang Katata-Seru's ideas. Prof Seru, an associate professor in analytical chemistry and director for the School of Physical and Chemical Sciences on the campus in Mahikeng, believes that many of the country's challenges can be solved through nanotechnology.

read more

Get to know the NWU's research chairs

The NWU has a number of dedicated and knowledgeable research chairs that help steer the university into realising its ideal of producing research and innovation with a notable international impact. In this edition we meet Prof Anél du Plessis, the Department of Science and Technology/National Research Foundation's Research Chair in Cities, Law and Enivornmental Sustainability (CLES).

watch the video



facebook
twitter
youtube

Please share your comments and input by sending an email to the newsletter editor, willie.duplessis@nwu.ac.za