October 2022

NWU promotes excellence through research

Welcome to the sixth edition of the North-West University's 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.

On the quest to save our freshwater sources

South Africa's freshwater sources are under pressure from various kinds of contaminants, and NWU researchers are searching for ways to keep track of some of the more elusive pollutants.

Nanotechnology for food security and environmental protection

One of the most challenging anxieties of the 21st century is safeguarding food security for the world's exponential growing population, as stipulated by goal 2 of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Municipalities must acknowledge waste pickers

More than 100 000 people in South Africa have turned to the waste-picking sector as a source of employment. This is according to Nonhlanhla Ngcobo, a PhD student and a researcher at the South African Chair in Cities, Law and Environ-mental Sustainability in the Faculty of Law at the Potchefstroom Campus.

Prof makes inroads with contextualisation discourse

Prof Alfred Brunsdon from the Faculty of Theology recently received a C2-rating from the National Research Foundation. What makes this recognition noteworthy is the niche area of his research which is discrepancies between academic content and cultural contexts of African theology students.

Develop intelligence to solve transportation problems

Computers are becoming essential in modern society with a tremendous influence on how humans create and solve problems. Headed by Prof Alwyn Hoffman, the NWU's Intelligent Systems research group is on a mission to develop next-generation solutions that will help solve transportation problems using technology.

Hospital knocks on NWU's door for better care for cancer patients

Researchers of the NWU regularly work in communities to improve lives and find solutions to pressing issues. In the fight against breast cancer, a hospital in Potchefstroom has called on the expertise of the Medicine Usage in South Africa (MUSA) research entity in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Social media in the classroom: benefits outweigh any drawbacks

According to Dr Thamie Ndlovu, an NWU educational technologist, the advent of social media has had a huge effect on teaching and learning, but relatively little is known about the pros and cons of using social media in the classroom. His PhD study investigated the use of social media as a tool for teaching and learning in higher education.

Meet our researchers

The Faculty of Health Sciences is doing exciting work on the research front. We introduce two of the researchers in this faculty.

National Research Foundation-rated researcher Prof Minja Gerber from the Centre of Excellence for Pharmaceutical Science is the leader of the subprogramme Drug Delivery. This subprogramme comprises three primary research groups, namely bio-pharmaceutics and drug delivery systems, solid state pharmaceutical innovation and nanotechnology, and cosmeceutical research. She shares more about her research activities.

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Dr Petro Erasmus is a senior lecturer and has been involved in the Mahikeng community for many years. She works with all developmental issues and children of all ages. Her research focuses on neuro-developmental disorders, including autism, dyslexia, ADHD and speech and language disorders. She focuses on autism from a systemic perspective – the influence on the parent, as well as the community's role and resources that should be made available. She talks more about her work.

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