Tour-de-chemistry: Tour guides (from left) Aneesa Omar and Kyle Fernandes, with audience John Bassett and Soraya Allies. Mini-lectures, a series of 'tours-de-chemistry', practical experiments and an intervarsity/interschool quiz are just some of the events that will be hosted by UCT's Department of Chemistry in their International Year of Chemistry @ UCT programme, from 23 June to 5 July. The International Year of Chemistry is a worldwide celebration promoted by the United Nations … [Read more...]

The Institute for Humanities in Africa (HUMA) hosted a very successful Know Your City history workshop at the Iziko Slave Lodge in June. The workshop is a new initiative of the Cape Town Commons, a forum created by HUMA to facilitate public engagement around relevant social issues. Previous Cape Town Commons events include discussions on To Whom Does Cape Town Belong? and The Future of the Athlone Towers: What should Cape Town become?. The Know Your City workshop was the first of a series on … [Read more...]

Cheers: VC Dr Max Price toasts new UCT staffers. As part of a recently introduced tradition at UCT, vice-chancellor Dr Max Price hosted a festive function at his residence, Glenara, on 23 June to welcome new staffers to the university. In his welcome address to the approximately 30 guests, Price said that UCT is working to create an institutional culture that is non-exclusive and accessible to all. "We are trying to create a community that is not just a workplace, but an inclusive social … [Read more...]

The late Assoc Prof Wolf Brandt. UCT is sad to report the death of Associate Prof Frederich 'Wolf' Brandt (molecular and cell biology) from a heart attack on 15 June, two days after his 66th birthday. Brandt was born in Anderbeck, East Germany in 1945 and raised in Namibia. He obtained his BSc and BSc Hons degrees in chemistry from UCT, the latter in 1968. He obtained his PhD degree in biochemistry at UCT in 1973, under the supervision of the late Professor Claus von Holt on the amino acid … [Read more...]