Jiving with Science is a new public engagement initiative of the Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies. The Africa Centre, a joint project of the UKZN and the Medical Research Council of Southern Africa, is an international HIV research facility with a partnership HIV testing, treatment and care programme run jointly with the KZN Department of Health. It is based in rural, northern KwaZulu-Natal where the HIV epidemic is one of the most severe in the world with nearly one in two adults aged 35-40 being infected.

Jiving with Science aims to foster community discussion about scientific research and to bring evidence-based HIV health promoting messages to everyday spaces such as public transportation, leisure spaces and shopping precincts. It involves developing, distributing and evaluating three CDs over two years. Each CD contains a radio-style information interview, interspersed with popular music, targeted HIV health promotion messages and calls to action.

Twenty year-old UKZN Bachelor of Commerce student, Mr Andrew Birkett, clinched the 2011 Unlimited Dusi Canoe Marathon at the Blue Lagoon in Durban on February 19.   He pipped fellow contestant, Mr Ant Stott to the finish line by a mere 0.23 seconds – the closest finish in the 60-year history of the race.

Birkett is no stranger to Dusi victory – he and his partner, Mr Jason Graham, claimed the K2 Dusi title last year.  However, Birkett admits that this year’s win was sweeter, probably because racing the gruelling 125 km race in a K1 is far more demanding.  The entire three-day race was dominated by a close tussle between Birkett and Stott.  It saw them pitting their strengths – Birkett’s running and Stott’s paddling – against each other right up until the finish line.  In the end it came down to a sprint finish on the home stretch. Birkett managed to gain a slight advantage, beating Stott at his own game...

The Combined Congress is a major meeting of academics from the four major agricultural societies, the South African Society of Crop Production, the Soil Science Society of South Africa, the Southern African Society for Horticultural Science and the Southern African Weed Science Society. Some 300 delegates registered at the four-day Congress which saw 130 oral and 46 poster presentations. Approximately 70 Masters students from three major universities presented.

South Africa’s longest-running bird ringing project at the Darvill Bird Sanctuary in Pietermaritzburg recently celebrated 30 years of monthly bird ringing.  UKZN ornithologist, Dr Mark Brown, is the leader of this project which has seen over 30 000 birds, representing 200 species, ringed and their vital data recorded.   Some of these ringed birds have been found as far afield as Latvia and Corsica. 

The project was initiated in 1982 by Dr David Johnson of the former Natal Parks Board to track the movement of migrant and local birds.  In 2003, Brown inherited the project and has been running it ever since, recording valuable data that plays an essential role in ornithological research.  All the collected information is stored in the South African Bird Ringing Unit (SAFRING)’s data base which operates out of the Animal Demography Unit at the University of Cape Town.

Funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) in the United States of America, these laboratories are a prelude to what is to be expected in the new K-RITH building, which is currently under construction at the Medical School. 

A Biosafety Level 3 laboratory (BSL3) is a highly sophisticated and sealed room capable of containing infectious material for scientific research. At K-RITH, this facility will be used to safely study many infectious strains of tuberculosis.

I-African Centre for Crop Improvement (ACCI) yase Nyuvesi yaKwaZulu-Natal yenzise abafundi bayo abenza unyaka wesibili kuzifundo zePhD indlela yoqeqesho olusezingeni oluphakeme olubizwa nge Agrobase Generation II^TM. Lolu uhlelo lwekhompiyutha lusentshenziswa abafuyi bezitshalo nabacwaningi emhlabeni wonke ngezindlela zokuphatha izitshalo.

Umethulo waloluhlelo bekungu Mphathi we Agronomix Software uDokotela Dieter Mulitze wase zweni lase Canada. Lolu hlelo luzovumela abafundi be ACCI ukuba bakwazi ukurekhoda nokuhlaziya ulwazi labo lwe PhD. 

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A 10-member Afghanistan Legal Aid Delegation visited UKZN from February 19-26. The delegation was on a study visit to examine the South African Legal Aid system, which is considered one of the best in the developing world.

Amongst the visitors from Afghanistan was the Minister of Justice of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Habibullah Ghalib; the Chairperson of the Legal Aid Board and Dean of Sharia at Kabul University, Mohammad Gran; the Dean of the Law Faculty at Kabul University, Professor Wali Mohammad Naseh; as well as Afghanistan Legal Aid Board members from the Human Rights Commission, the Bar Association and NGOs.

UKZN’s Graduate School of Business (GSB) hosted an MBA Speed Networking event in February. ‘The concept came about through the need to network with fellow students at the GSB’, said Mr Edwin van Niekerk, an MBA3 student.  ‘Breaking the ice in conversation is always difficult and the format of speed networking is a great way to meet people and establish a connection.’  

For the event, two circles of chairs were set up in the GSB Auditorium.  The MBA1 students sat in the outer circle facing the MBA2 and 3 students who sat in the inner circle.  The students would have a conversation with the student opposite them for approximately one minute and 20 seconds before the outer circle had to move a seat to the right and conversations then commenced with the next person.

Staff, students and music lovers enjoyed an exceptional lunch hour concert performed by renowned acoustic guitarist, Guy Buttery on February 21.

Buttery’s music has been described as avant-garde and exceptionally beautiful ‘from composition to technique to atmospherics’ by Guitar Player Magazine in the United States. 

Among other achievements, he won Best Instrumental Album at the South African Music (SAMA) Awards. Straight off the plane from a European Festival Tour in 2010, he returned home to South Africa for a run at the National Arts Festival and won two National Awards including the Standard Bank Golden Ovation Award for the Best Music Production of the festival, out of 4 600 acts.

A meet and greet for international students was held on February 10 on the Edgewood campus. It was hosted by the Dean of the Faculty of Education, Professor Michael Samuels and the International Student Office.

The students hail from Turkey, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Lesotho, Cameroon, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. They include undergraduate and postgraduate students, study abroad students and Fulbright scholars.

During the icebreaker session, the students introduced themselves, and said how they want to be remembered. There were varied responses which led to lots of laughter. The students were introduced to internal services providers, staff and external service providers, who extended a hand of friendship.