UCT's Lower Campus was, pardon the expression, rocking, as the 11th South African Association for Jazz Education (SAJE) Conference descended on the university at the end of March. Blowing up a storm: The Karendra Devroop Quartet, led by saxophonist Prof Karendra Devroop of North-West University, kick-started the performances at the SAJE conference. Global sounds: Italian jazz vocalist Antonia de Angelis was among the speakers. The three-day international conference, held … [Read more...]

Figure that: UCT's experiencing in hosting the annual UCT Mathematics Competition - scheduled in 2012 for 16 April - will stand it in good stead when it stages Africa's first International Mathematics Olympiad in 2014. UCT will host the 2014 International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in July 2014. The IMO is the world championship of mathematics, launched in Romania in 1959. The oldest and biggest of the major international science olympiads for high schools, it today draws participants from … [Read more...]

Truth of the matter: Dr Mary Burton does not believe that the whole truth was revealed at the TRC hearings. Award-winning struggle stalwart Dr Mary Burton - who received an honorary doctorate in social science from UCT in 2011 - says she has given up hope that the state will implement all the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). But she still expects the state to deliver services to people who were excluded by the apartheid regime, Burton said in her talk, How Much … [Read more...]

Once dubbed the 'happy wanderers' of the North Pole, a new study suggests that duck-billed dinosaurs weren't migratory at all. They preferred to stay closer to home, it appears - the evidence, as a UCT and American team has found, is in their bones. The bones don't lie: Prof Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan and Dr Daniel Thomas collaborated on a project that investigated the bone structure of the Alaskan polar dinosaur. A long, long time ago: The bones of duck-billed dinosaurs that … [Read more...]

Remarkable African: A documentary on the life of Prof Neville Alexander, Glimpses of a Life: Neville Alexander, by local filmmaker Nicki Westcott was launched in March. His work and life's legacy is widely celebrated, but who's the man behind UCT's Professor Neville Alexander? Few knew the inner workings of this acclaimed linguist and anti-apartheid struggle veteran - he's fiercely private and humble - until now. The launch of Glimpses of a Life: Neville Alexander, a documentary film by local … [Read more...]

Remarkable African: A documentary on the life of Prof Neville Alexander, Glimpses of a Life: Neville Alexander, by local filmmaker Nicki Westcott was launched in March. His work and life's legacy is widely celebrated, but who's the man behind UCT's Professor Neville Alexander? Few knew the inner workings of this acclaimed linguist and anti-apartheid struggle veteran - he's fiercely private and humble - until now. The launch of Glimpses of a Life: Neville Alexander, a documentary film by local … [Read more...]

Hands-on: Learners were captivated by the art of science at the recent UCT Science Day. The dazzle of chemical reactions, DNA profiling, explosion displays, big bangs and colour changes, marked this year's UCT Science Day - all to lure high school learners to pursue careers in science. As if that was not enough, master's graduate in chemistry from UCT and current PhD student in chemical engineering, Umraan Hendricks, an alumnus of the host school, Trafalgar High School in Zonnebloem, Cape … [Read more...]

Literary imprint: Lecturer Sonja Loots has won this year's Eugene Marais award for her historical novel, Sirkusboere. Sonja Loots is treading deep tracks in the Afrikaans literary world - she recently joined an elite list of novelists recognised for their early work. Loots, a lecturer in the Afrikaans and Netherlandic Studies section in the School of Languages and Literatures, has won this year's Eugene Marais prize from the South African Academy for Science and Art, for her book … [Read more...]

Skills transfer: A Chinese performer teaches UCT students her native dance moves during the Confucius Institute Spring Festival Gala. The dragon is a revered Chinese symbol of power, superiority and rule. And the Confucius Institute Spring Festival Gala, hosted by UCT's Confucius Institute to celebrate the year of dragon, was as compelling. With dance, song and traditional Chinese music, a student art troupe from Renmin University of China in Beijing captivated the hundreds of Cape Town … [Read more...]

Prof Ari Sitas of the Department of Sociology and co-chair of the Ministerial Task Team on the future of the humanities and social sciences in higher education in South Africa, spoke at an Open Planning Forum, hosted by deputy vice-chancellor Prof Crain Soudien and the Institutional Planning Department on 26 March. Today, Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr Blade Nzimande and concerned scholars from around the country and abroad will gather in Pretoria to discuss the future of the … [Read more...]

A lifetime and counting: John Cooper (left), pictured with BirdLife South Africa chairperson, Vernon Head, was recently awarded the organisation's Gill Memorial Medal. Retired UCT ornithologist John Cooper has raked in yet another lifetime achievement award for his nearly four decades of study on seabirds. Cooper, now a research associate at the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology at Stellenbosch University, was awarded the Gill Memorial Medal of BirdLife South Africa, making him … [Read more...]