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SANORD NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2016

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

University Principals attend SANORD Conference in Namibia:

University Principals attend SANORD Conference in Namibia.

Picture from left to right:
Prof Rune Nilsen (Keynote speaker), Prof Tjama Tjivikua (Vice Chancellor, NUST, Namibia), Prof Irene Moutlana (Vice Chancellor, Vaal University of Technology), and Prof John Saka (Chairperson of SANORD & Vice Chancellor, University of Malawi).

SANORD Conference 2016 in Uppsala:

SANORD is proud to announce that the next SANORD conference will take place September 7th-9th 2016 in Uppsala, Sweden.The deadline for the abstracts has been extended until March 15th. Read more

Malmö University’s hosts SANORD Partner Day September 6th 2016:

Malmö University (MAH) invites all SANORD members to a Partner Day on September 6th prior to the SANORD Uppsala Conference. Participants can book their tickets to fly into Copenhagen and then continue to Arlanda/Stockholm/Uppsala via train on or flight. The event will begin will a small gathering in the evening of September 5th and end after lunch on September 6th to allow time to travel to Uppsala. 

Latest SANORD publication released:

SANORD is proud to announce their newest publication, "Knowledge for a sustainable world: A Southern-African-Nordic contribution", edited by Tor Halvorsen, Hilde Ibsen and Vyvienne RP M'kumbuzi, announced at the 2015 SANORD Conference in Windhoek, Namibia. The publication covers a variety of subject areas and offers fresh insight about chronically under-researched parts of the world. Read more: 

SANORD welcomes a new student intern:

SANORD Central Office welcomes Henna Heinäjärvi as the new student intern, who joined us on 15th February until 15th July 2016. She is majoring in Futures Studies at the University of Turku, Finland, and is professionally interested in the future of higher education and international co-operation. She will be mainly involved with the publishing of the Newsletter and the Social Media including management of communication and Research activities. Her goal for the internship is to gain valuable experience in the field of international co-operation, working in an international environment as well as helping to improve SANORD’s communication. She is certain that her experience at the office and in South Africa will be an invaluable asset in her future.

SANORD welcomes new member University of West:

SANORD welcomes University of West (UW) as a new member. UW is located in Trollhättan, Sweden, and has about 12,000 students and 600 employees. The university aims to further enhance international research linkages and in this development process membership in SANORD is an important component. Read more

Hedmark University College becomes Hedmark University of Applied Sciences:

Hedmark University College is now called Hedmark University of Applied Sciences (HUAS) after the Norwegian Ministry of Education and research gave their approval. The approval is based on an evaluation of HUAS's research activity and PhD programs in Teacher Education and Applied Ecology. 

Polytechnic of Namibia becomes Namibia University of Science and Technology:

Polytechnic of Namibia is now called Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) after the Namibian National Assembly passed the Bill creating Namibia's newest university. Read more

Call for Applications for STIAS Iso Lomso Fellowships:

Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) is calling for applications for early career research fellowship programme Iso Lomso aimed at African scholars. The aim of the program is to guide and support scholars into becoming established scholars in their fields. The deadline for the call is May 25th 2016. Read more

Invitation to 19th Uddevalla Symposium 2016:

University West and Birbeck University of London invite SANORD members to participate in the 19th Uddevalla Symposium in London, United Kingdom June 30th - July 2nd 2016. The theme of the symposium is "Geography, Open Innovation, Diversity and Entrepreneurship".             Read more:

TRECCAfrica Scholarship Call:

TREFFAfrica II scholarship, targeting African scholars to engage in study opportunities at a consortioum of 7 partner universities on the continent, is open for applications. TRECCAfrica addresses one of the world’s greatest environmental challenges: food security in the face of climate change, resource depletion and loss of forests, wildlife and environmental services. Deadline for applications March 26th. Read more

Professor Penny Andrews UCT's new Dean of Law:

Professor Penny Andrews becomes the UCT's new Dean of the Faculty of Law. Born in Cape Town, Andrews started her academic career in Australia after completing her LLM at Columbia University in New York. She had obtained her undergraduate degree from the then University of Natal. Read more

Professor Kerstin Tham becomes New Vice Chancellor at MAH:

Professor Kerstin Tham becomes the first female Vice Chancellor at Malmö University. Her research focuses on aspects of rehabilitation after stroke and aims to build knowledge, develop and evaluate person-centered health services for people with stroke and their families. Read more

UPPSALA-taken picture one of the Best Science Pictures of 2015:

The scientific journal Nature has chosen the ten best Science pictures of the year 2015, one of which was a 3D image of a giant virus created using x-ray laser created by Tomas Ekeberg at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology in the University of Uppsala, Sweden. Read more:

Collaboration between Freedom Park and the Nordic Africa Institute on the pipeline:

Freedom Park and the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) will partake in a collaboration project as a part of South African-Swedish agreement to strengthen the cultural relations of the two countries. The project will entail facilitating the collection of names of all Swedish people that participated in the liberation struggle. Read more:

Stellenbosch University & KU Leuven think tank:

Postgraduate students at Stellenbosch University (SU), South Africa, and KU Leuven, Belgium, will be collaborating on a think tank on the topic of 'Brave New World'. 16 students from each institution will be working closely together on the think tanks second year. Read more:

Delegation from Eritrea visits UEF:

Delegation from the University of Eritrea Institute of Technology (EIT) visited the University of Eastern Finland (UEF) after the launch of  ICT4EEDU project. During the next two years the goal is to improve the capacity of the EIT ICT, create educational technologies and initiate a national university network. Read more:

NWU scientists receive global recognition:

Two North-West University (NWU) Scientists, Prof. Jan Smit and Prof. Alta Schutte, received global recognition for role in education and were honoured for their contribution to the development of scientific educational learning material and the training of postgraduate students in the Science Forum of the Regional Office of Sub-Saharan Africa (TWAS-ROSSA) in Pretoria, South Africa. Read more

UCT becomes the first African University to join IARU:

The University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa, has become the first African university to join the prestigious International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), a network of eleven international research-intensive universities from nine countries across the globe. Read more:

UEF researchers among the most cited in the world:

Four of UEF's researchers were included in the Thomson Reuter's list of Highly Cited Researchers whose publications are the most cited by other researchers in their fields: Professors Markku Laakso and Johanna Kuusisto in Molecular Biology and Genetics, Docent Riitta Törrönen in Agricultural Sciences, and Professor Ari Laaksonen in Geosciences. Read more:

UiB establishes a UNESCO Chair:

University of Bergen (UiB) establishes an UNESCO Chair with Sustainable Heritage and Environmental Management, Nature and Culture as its central themes. The professorship will be part of UNESCO's international network UNITWIN through which higher education and research institutions address pressing challenges and contribute to the development of their societies. Read more

UTU the most international in Finland:

University of Turku (UTU) is among the top 200 universities in the world according to Times Higher Educational World University Ranking indicating internationality as the only Finnish unversity to make the list. Read more:

Norwegian students visit NUST (Namibia) for grassroots experience:

Female students from Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences conducted field work in Namibia and attended lectures at Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) as part of their Development Studies programme. Read more:

GU creates 80 trainee positions for refugees:

The University of Gothenburg (GU) is hiring a refugee coordinator and offers 80 trainee positions to Syrian refugees. The university is also looking into the possibility of providing education to students in the refugee camps in cooperation with Sida. Read more

NUST (Namibia) holds first Research Day of 2016:

The Faculty of Natural Resources and Spatial Sciences held NUST (NAM) first Research Day of 2016 under the theme "Research Collaboration with External Stakeholders as Driver of Sustainable Innovation" as part of the 2016 theme 'Sustainable Development'. The event was attended by more than 70 internal and external professionals. Read more:

MAH Choir and Orchestra's South African Tour:

MAH Choir and Orchestra will be touring South Africa June 17th-27th 2016. The tour starts in Johannesburg and ends in Cape Town. The University Choir is looking for partners and suitable venues for the project. Concerts will be performed free of charge but assistance with logistics is highly appreciated. In addition to collaboration around concerts, the Choir is looking for partners interested in workshops and masterclasses for students. Please contact Conductor Daniel Hansson for information: daniel.hansson@mah.se

Uppsala University Professor Stefan Swartling Peterson appointed UNICEF Chief of Health:

Uppsala University Professor of Global Health at the Department of Women's and Childrens Health Stefan Swartling Peterson has been appointed as the Chief of Health at UNICEF, New York, starting from middle February 2016. His research focuses on how people in low-income countries seek medical assistance and what healthcare is available to them. Read more:

Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng joins UCT as the DVC:

Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng joins the UCT as incoming Deputy Vice-Chancellor for research and internationalisation starting from July 1st ahead of incumbent DVC Professor Danie Visser's retirement in December 2016. Read more

Norwegian MPs visits UCT:

UCT welcomed 13 Parlamentarians and the Ambassador of Norway to South Africa on a visit to learn more about the strengths of South Africa's research and innovation sectors. The visit celebrated the close collaborations between the UCT and a number of institutions in Norway. Read more:

NUST (NAM) renews MoU with University of Twente:

NUST renewed its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Dutch University of Twente that initially focused primarily on education and training in Land Management to support the Namibian government's land reform programme. Focal areas have been reviewed to focus on knowledge creation and deployment through reserearch and innovation to meet the ever-changing needs of communities in Namibia, in particular, and the SADC region in general. Read more

Brian O'Connell Scholarship Recipients: UTU welcomes exchange students through SANORD Scholarship Programme:

UTU welcomed two exchange students from Southern Africa in the autumn semester of 2015. Daniel Ndongo from the University of Namibia and Emmanuel Makwaiba from the University of Western Cape, South Africa, attended the university for a 4-month exhange period funded by the Brian O'Connell Scholarship Programme. Read more: 

HUAS welcomes an exchange student from NMMU:

Robyn Nicolay from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) attended the Hedmark University of Applied Sciences (HUAS) autumn semester of 2015 with the Brian O'Connell Scholarship Programme. She writes about her experience on the SANORD webpage: "Norway exceeded every expectation and gave me priceless experiences and memories one can only feel humbled to have been given the opportunity to experience." Read more

RESEARCH:

UCT finishes a Sustainable City Project:

Four UCT researchers linked to UCT's African Centre for Cities (ACC) have completed a three-year collaboration in an international knowledge transfer project managed and funded by Mistra Urban Futures (MUF). The project focused on finding ways to make cities more sustainable. Read more:

LU water purification plant provides clean water:                                            
Lund University (LU) researchers have developed a water purification plant using solar cell technology that is able to provide water beyond the electrical grid. The small portable cell stations are managed by local suppliers and help create jobs in rural Bangladesh. Read more:

UCDP compiling data on the effects of organised violence:

Researchers at the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) are combiling data on how organised violence affected the world in 2015. With the large amount of casualties in 2015, it is clear that the trend is continuing from 2014. The greatest challenge in 2016 will be to manage the situation in the Middle East, partially but not fully a result of the expansion of the IS. Read more