A new book co-edited by UKZN’s English Studies Professor Lindy Stiebel and Professor Jane Carruthers (UNISA) focuses on a little-known but fascinating contribution by Thomas Baines to Augustus Gregory’s North Australian Expedition.

Entitled Thomas Baines: Exploring tropical Australia 1855 to 1857, the book depicts the artist-explorer’s audacious attempt, in an open longboat with two companions, to link up with Gregory at the Albert River at the southern end of the Gulf of Carpentaria.

‘In this book, for the first time, the remarkably accurate map that Baines compiled of this voyage, and extracts from the accompanying manuscript journals are evaluated and published,’ said Stiebel.

Integrating Honours classes into research efforts has paid off for Hydrology at UKZN after research conducted by former Hydrology Honours students in 2010 and submitted as a paper last year was published in last month’s Koedoe, the African Protected Area Conservation and Science Journal.

Professor of Hydrology, Professor Graham Jewitt, said that the paper, which arose out of a research project on burn plots in the Kruger National Park, resulted from a week of initial fieldwork undertaken in August 2010. The class of 10, led by postdoctoral fellow, Dr Eddie Riddell, submitted its paper in December 2011 and was thrilled when it was published in July 2012.

The United Nations Association of South Africa (UNASA) UKZN chapter was launched recently at the Howard College Theatre, making UKZN one of three universities in the country to have a UNASA chapter.

UNASA is a non-governmental organisation, the aims and objectives of which are to support the principles, goals and programmes of the United Nations (UN) and its agencies.

According to the Chairperson of UNASA-UKZN and postgraduate student in Criminology, Mr Samuel Fikiri, the local chapter aims to encourage and facilitate research, organise conferences, and initiate programmes that raise awareness about the United Nations and its work.

People living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) in KwaZulu-Natal benefited recently from an informal meeting of the South African Gastroenterological Society (SAGES)*, which gave sufferers an opportunity to learn more about the condition from international experts.

Offered free of charge and open to all members of the public, the Durban meeting was a platform for patients to meet other people with the condition, learn about treatment options and receive advice on how to live successfully with IBD. The last open meeting of the society was held in Cape Town.

UKZN’s Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) Programme sponsored a total of 20 researchers, PhD candidates and research administrative staff to attend a two-day workshop focusing on grant-writing and grant management for the United States’ National Institutes for Health (NIH).

One of the world's foremost medical research agencies and a leading supporter of biomedical research globally, NIH provides financial support in the form of grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts. This assistance supports the advancement of the NIH mission of enhancing health, extending healthy life, and reducing the burdens of illness and disability.

Becoming the first person of colour to qualify in 2002 as a trade mark practitioner under the auspices of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law was a sign that UKZN Law graduate Ms Nishi Chetty was destined for greater things.

And so she was. Today, Chetty holds the position of Managing Partner at legal firm Adams & Adams based in Umhlanga.

According to Professor Managay Reddi, Dean and Head of the School of Law, Chetty’s success in the legal profession is a source of immense pride to the School.

A diverse group of Medical undergraduate students from UKZN had a unique cultural awareness experience when lecturers and Professor Neil Prose, a visiting Fulbright Scholar from Duke University in the United States, took to the local Traditional Healers’ Market and a mosque as part of a cross-cultural communication lesson.

The first of its kind in the MBChB programme, the initiative was Prose’s brainchild, aimed at addressing common cross-cultural communication challenges that arise during the doctor/patient consultation.

Students were encouraged to interact and engage as much as they can with each other's cultures in the hope that such “cultural curiosity” will make them better doctors in the near future.

Inkaba yomculo weJazz nePopular eNyuvesi yaKwaZulu-Natali ihanjelwe inqayizivele yezomculo eNingizimu Afrika uNksz Sibongile Khumalo njengengxenye yokuguba inyanga yabesifazane nokuqeda iminyaka eyamashumi amabili esemculweni. UKhumalo ubabelana isitegi noMnu Mdu Mtshali kupiano, uMnu Themba Mokoena esiginzini, uMnu Bheka Mthethwa kubass noMnu Sabu Satsha kumadrums.

Uzalelwe eSoweto eholwa ubaba wakhe kwezomculo, uKhumalo ufunde ukudlala i-violin, ukucula, ukudlala imidlalo yasesitegi nokudansa. Uneziqu zeBachelor of Arts (BA) emculweni azithole eNyuvesi yaseZululand neziqu eziphakeme zeBA azithole eNyuvesi yaseWitwatersrand. Ngo1993 waklonyeliswa ngeStandard Bank Young Artist Award.

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A "Finances for Non-financial Managers” workshop was recently hosted by the College of Law and Management Studies.

College leadership, Deans, Heads of School and School Operations Managers were invited to participate and the College was joined by colleagues from the Colleges Humanities and Health Sciences. Run over two days by an external consultant, the workshop was custom-made for the needs of an institution such as a university in which shareholders and profit are not the prime drivers.

Over 3 500 students attended the annual Employer Exhibition held at UKZN’s Westville campus recently and had a chance to interact face-to-face with some of the country’s top employers. 

Organised by the College of Law and Management Studies in partnership with the College of Health Sciences, the event saw 63 of the country’s top employers engaging with students on full-time job opportunities, vacation employment, training contracts, learnerships, bursary opportunities and international work-placement.

Exhibitors included Ethekwini Municipality, ABSA, Unilever, the Department of Health and KPMG, among many others.

The School of Law reinforced its commitment to responding to its students’ needs by supporting the law students’ inaugural Disability Awareness Day held at Howard College recently.

The event, which was aimed at creating awareness of the plight of students with visual impairments and physical challenges, was organised by Visually Impaired Positivism, a subcommittee of Students for Law and Social Justice (SLSJ), an organisation dedicated to protecting human rights, preventing discrimination and promoting social justice.

The campaign saw able-bodied students blind-folded, participate in braille name writing activities and use wheelchair-bound simulators.