Page 4 – Introducing Sakhela Buhlungu, FEBRUARY 2014 new Dean of the Faculty of Humanities Monday Monthly Newspaper of the University of Cape Town To read our daily news coverage or see digital versions of these stories, please visit www.uct.ac.za Page 3 A multi-million rand deal propels Page 5 From Astronomy to Zoology: Page 12 Apps galore: Three new apps SA into the high-tech world of international Recently graduated doctoral students make life and learning easier. space technology. discuss their research fi ndings. Multi-million-rand partnership to grow African health innovation

HELEN SWINGLER In the fi rst programme, researchers from across South Africa will compete outh African for funding from the MRC’s Strategic drug and Health Innovation Partnerships (SHIP) vaccine earmarked for AIDS and TB vaccine researchers development. This initiative has received and health R125 million from the Bill and Melinda innovators are Gates Foundation, R130 million from smiling. the DST, and R60 million from the UCT and Department of Health. the South African Medical Research The second programme is a Council (MRC) recently announced a partnership between the Bill and R370S million biotechnology partnership Melinda Gates Foundation, SHIP and to develop new medicines, vaccines and UCT, through the Drug Discovery & other biotechnologies to combat HIV/ Development Centre (H3-D), with its

AIDS, TB and malaria, Africa’s big killers. Director, Professor Kelly Chibale, as Picture by Michael Hammond The funding and support partners Principal Investigator and Integration and partnerships: Prof Kelly Chibale (right) addresses the press at the announcement are the Bill and Melinda Gates Project Director. of a R370 million partnership to develop new drugs and vaccines, a signifi cant boost to the local health Foundation and the Departments of H3-D is Africa’s fi rst integrated biotechnology sector. He is fl anked by UCT Deputy Vice-Chancellor Prof Thandabantu Nhlapo. Science and Technology (DST) and modern drug discovery and development Health. centre, the objective of which is to deliver MMV390048, will enter Phase 1 human scientists, backed by the DST and the Afropolitan niche. The announcement was made at drug candidates for clinical development. clinical trials at Groote Schuur Hospital Department of Health. “We believe our partnering with the the MRC’s Tygerberg offi ces, and the In addition to R50 million in funding this year. Funding from government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the development will provide a signifi cant from SHIP and the Technology Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has MRC and government helps us develop fi llip to local health innovation and the Innovation Agency for this work, Capacity development been the partnership’s lifeblood. As the Africa-generated solutions to African bio-economy. H3-D will receive R55 million over fi ve While life-saving drug, vaccine and MRC noted, the South Africa medical problems. At the southern tip of Africa, years from the Bill and Melinda Gates technology discovery is at the heart of research sector is “severely under- UCT could be the gateway to this, a link Two programmes Foundation. the news, the partnerships will fulfi l a funded”. between the global North and South.” The partnership integrates existing H3-D has already delivered longer-term goal: to develop a critical He said that UCT’s Drug Discovery role players – government, academia, promising results in its short history. mass of top-fl ight South African African science solutions Centre (H3-D) showed that research not industry – into a co-ordinated system, In 2012 H3-D and the Medicines for scientists in the fi eld, able to compete at Speaking at the launch, Acting only created new knowledge but new jobs, each with specifi c roles in drug and Malaria Venture discovered a novel high international levels. Vice-Chancellor Professor Thandabantu career opportunities, and infrastructure – vaccine discovery. chemical compound with the potential The partnership also harnesses skills Nhlapo said the new partnerships and reversed the brain drain. It will support two distinct to impact both malaria control and and research networks in and outside refl ected UCT’s own vision of He added: “It’s exciting to come and programmes, one involving UCT directly. eradication. The clinical candidate, South Africa and will be led by local internationalisation through an work in Africa.”

UCT launches Africa’s fi rst academic risk institute ast month saw UCT launch the African Institute of “AIFMRM’s establishment improves the prognosis in this area. Financial Markets and Risk Management (AIFMRM), We owe this new basis for optimism to the forward-looking and the fi rst of its kind on the continent. AIFMRM is an expansive vision of our sponsors from the sector who have risen to academic institute that conducts research and delivers the development challenge we face,” Ross added. education and training in fi nancial markets and risk Founding director Associate Professor David Taylor said: management.L “While our overall purpose is to increase the extent and depth of “No similar academic institute, aimed at creating a steady expertise and to address skills shortages, the institute is specifi cally and sustainable pipeline of African university graduates with focused on two key areas. One is transforming the profi le of sophisticated knowledge in banking, insurance, risk management quantitative fi nance, risk management, insurance and banking and quantitative fi nance, exists on the continent,” said Professor professionals. Don Ross, Dean of the Faculty of Commerce. “The other is ensuring that the next generation of academics is An African fi rst: Assoc Prof David Taylor (left), founding “In the 21st century, capacity for situation-specifi c innovation in place to safeguard the continuity of graduates in these areas.” director of the African Institute of Financial Markets and Risk in fi nancial markets and risk management will be among the core Founding sponsors of the institute are FirstRand Ltd, Barclays Management, and Prof Don Ross, Dean of the Faculty of determinants of which emerging markets graduate to mature Africa Group, Liberty Holdings Ltd, and the Western Cape Commerce. development, and which remain mired in middle-income traps. Government’s Department of Economic Development & Tourism. 2 Monday Monthly NEWS February 2014

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5 4 NEWS IN PICTURES Goodall delivers Derby delight: Back to school: Runway to nowhere: Fresh start to 2014: fl agship lecture: Liam Slatem, captain of the Freshers’ parents listen This picture, from UCT’s campuses have 1 Just two months shy of her 2 FNB UCT rugby team, lines 345intently to SCR president Albanian artist Adrián been crawling with 80th birthday, chimpanzee up a box-kick under pressure Nommangaliso Gondwe’s Paci’s 2007 video Centro di fresh-faced first-years researcher and activist Dr Jane against Maties on 10 February. It was an address during the orientation Permanenza Temporanea, forms part of since 27 January, when the first Goodall visited UCT in February to historic day for the Ikeys at the Danie programme for out-of-town parents the When Oceans Meet exhibition at the Orientation programme for new deliver the first Vice-Chancellor’s Craven Stadium as they outclassed and guardians. This year UCT hosted Michaelis School of Fine Art, on view students kicked off. The blue t-shirts Open Lecture of the year, this to a arch-rivals Maties 33-16 in the 2014 3 200 parents, the largest number from 27 February to 5 April 2014. pictured are worn by enthusiastic packed Baxter Theatre Centre. These FNB Varsity Cup. Having last bested to date, at its two parent orientation Translated the title means “centre for orientation leaders from the Faculty lectures provide a vital interchange Maties in the inaugural tournament in sessions, which familiarise parents with temporary permanence”. It illustrates of Humanities, who welcomed the between the university and the 2008, UCT made their intentions known the UCT environment, and help them the reality and predicament of illegal greenhorns with song and dance on community; opportunities to hear early on with a powerful scrum that understand some of the academic and Latino workers seemingly waiting the Jameson Plaza. The colourful first-hand from renowned academics, had the hosts back-pedalling. Two tries social experiences their children may to be deported at a Los Angeles gear reflects the excitement the researchers and innovators. Prior from Ikey fl anker Jason Klaasen and encounter at UCT. The group of out- airport. The two-part exhibition orientation period brings, as to this, Goodall addressed the Cape one each from Lihleli Xoli and Slatem of-towners was so large that they had attempts to establish a wider dialogue students absorb an abundance media on campus, providing insights did most of the damage, while fl yhalf to be accommodated in two venues, around some of the issues that local of tips about how to negotiate a into her extraordinary life, centred Dean Grant – a former Matie – kept Jameson Hall and the Beattie lecture communities in Cape Town face. This potentially challenging university on her research among the chimps the scoreboard ticking over with three theatre. Vice-Chancellor Dr Max Price installation is loosely linked to Dr career. From campus and library at Gombe Stream National Park in conversions and two penalties. The emphasised parents’ special responsibility Siona O’Connell’s exhibition, Spring tours to curriculum advice and pep Tanzania. She now travels the globe, win leaves UCT in fi fth place going towards students and urged them to keep Queen – The staging of the glittering talks by Campus Security Services, working some 300 days a year, to into round three. The Ikeys take on the lines of communication open: “…so proletariat, which highlighted the plight the 4 735-strong class of 2014 was rally support and funding for her the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan that they can come to you when they are of Cape Town factory workers. Centro given a comprehensive introduction vision, a bigger plan to address University’s Madibaz in Port Elizabeth struggling and you can encourage them will be screened from March 27 to to life at UCT. human need and the ecosystem. on 24 February. to seek help”. March 29.

Picture by Michael Hammond Picture supplied Picture by Michael Hammond Picture supplied Picture by Raymond Botha February 2014 NEWS Monday Monthly 3 UCT helps SA take BRIEFS giant leap into the Student wins landscape architecture award An award-winning project by UCT landscape architecture student Tara McCaughey illustrates that the Cape Town suburb of Woodstock remains a beacon of hope in a country where space age inner-city degeneration has taken a heavy toll. McCaughey collected the prestigious Corobrik award for the Most Innovative Final-Year Landscape Architecture Project multi-million-rand agreement annual licensing fees, which is part of its economic at UCT, together with a R7 000 prize, for proposing a living between the University of Cape benefit. system that not only celebrates everyday activities through the Town Faculty of Engineering Professor Francis Petersen, Dean of EBE, says creation of a network of public squares and streetscapes, but & the Built Environment and that this new strategic project between Airbus and also provides an opportunity for nature’s processes to occur. top European space technology the Department of Mechanical Engineering is a great Corobrik’s manager for the Western Cape, Christie van company Airbus Defence honour for the university, and will strengthen its efforts Niekerk, said the award shows how South Africa’s future and Space is set to propel SA in this area. “We are delighted that Airbus, Europe’s landscape architects are rising to meet increasingly complex into the high-tech world of number-one space technology company, has identified challenges. international space technology. the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment as Fifteen years ago, a young engineering student had a strong research partner in their overall strategy,” he GSB professor appointed to Council of Statistics aA brainwave. Today his little idea has developed into says. South Africa a sophisticated software tool that has attracted the Professor Malan says Elemental is a giant leap for In a role that will help shape policy-making in South Africa, attention of the top technology companies around the technology. It uses mathematical models and equations world, resulting in a massive deal with Airbus. in the field of CFD – enabling scientists to study the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business professor “Many years ago I had a moment of insight and dynamics of fluid flow through a computer model, and emerging-market economics expert John Luiz has been vision into the future. I realised this sort of technology offering accurate predictions and unprecedented named a national member of the Council of Statistics South would come into use. It was rudimentary back then; insights. It is a sophisticated analysis technique Africa at a recent cabinet meeting. but I decided to pursue it, and it paid off massively,” offering multiple predictions. “It can answer ‘what if ’ Responsible for all social and economic statistics in the country says Professor Arnaud Malan, Associate Professor in questions very quickly. You give it variables, it gives you – ranging from censuses, to monthly and quarterly reports on the Mechanical Engineering in UCT’s Faculty of Engineering outcomes.” Consumer Price Index, to official unemployment rates – Statistics & the Built Environment (EBE). The commercial CFD software market, currently South Africa plays a key role in ensuring that decision- and Professor Malan and two PhD students will now be generating over R5.6 billion annually worldwide, is policy-making in the country is informed by accurate statistics. working with Airbus Defence and Space, formerly known one of the fastest-growing fields in engineering today. as Astrium, in a new R2.5 million research agreement set “Elemental is all South African,” says Professor Malan Noakes sheds light on carbohydrate resistance to put South Africa on the strategic international space proudly. It is different from similar CFD code, as it was Carbohydrate intolerance is the root cause of many modern technology map. designed from the outset to allow for rapid development human ailments, and much heartache could potentially be The agreement has profound implications for South of the complex multi-physics devices that today avoided by testing individuals’ tolerance of what has become a Africa – in both the short and the long term – impacting pose lucrative opportunities for industry. “The best ubiquitous source of energy, argues Professor Tim Noakes. on the economy, business and science; with Airbus commercial software in the world has been found to Speaking last month at an open lecture hosted by the UCT investing in the development of a computational fl uid be limited. That is why they’re looking to us,” explains Heritage Society in partnership with the UCT Summer School, dynamics (CFD) software tool called Elemental, for Professor Malan regarding the Airbus-UCT initiative. Noakes, who holds the Discovery Health Chair of Exercise and ground-breaking use in the modelling and design of space The technology has already resulted in two UCT Sports Science, expanded on his thesis – “and this is not one applications – such as rockets and satellites. spin-out companies – Numerus Technologies (Pty) that is widely taught, or believed” – that chronic diseases are “This is a huge, strategic moment for South Africa,” Ltd and Elemental IP Holdings (Pty) Ltd – aiming to largely based on insulin resistance. explains Professor Malan. “Space industry is the epitome allow South Africa to enter into lucrative and modern “We are either profoundly carbohydrate-tolerant, or we’re of hi-tech.” The software can be used to model, in 3D, technological markets, ranging from software licensing normal, or we’re carbohydrate-intolerant. It’s different for each all kinds of technological applications, for future space and the development of internationally competitive and every one of us,” he said. applications and commercial use. The software will products and devices, to the cost-effective provision of Copies of The Real Meal Revolution – the bestseller co-written be licensed and will generate significant income from electricity. by Noakes and three others – have sold out in all major cities around the world.

Donor becomes part of Chancellor’s Circle Author and physician Dr T Lee Baumann recently received a gold pin from UCT Vice-Chancellor Dr Max Price, marking his entry into the Chancellor’s Circle. The Chancellor’s Circle pin was in acknowledgement of Baumann’s donation of R800 000 for the establishment of the God at the Speed of Light scholarship for African students studying at UCT. Baumann is the author of God at the Speed of Light and many other books on spirituality and quantum physics. He has established 32 God at the Speed of Light scholarships at various institutions in America, and now in South Africa.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor

University of Cape Town

The University of Cape Town is one of the world’s leading research-led universities and aims to produce graduates whose qualifications are internationally recognised, locally applicable and underpinned by values of engaged citizenship and social justice.

The academic leadership of UCT is headed by an executive team comprising the Vice- Chancellor and four Deputy Vice-Chancellors (DVC’s), one of whom will shortly retire. We seek to appoint an accomplished academic with a record of vision and leadership to the position of DVC. While all DVC’s must fulfil a wide range of roles, and portfolios may change over time, the newly appointed person will specifically be responsible for internationalisation.

www.ayandambanga.co.za Please access the full advertisement and application requirements, 1512R/1116185WA including the job description at: www.uct.ac.za and click on “Vacancies”. www.uct.ac.za UCT is committed to the pursuit of excellence, diversity and redress. (seated) Guido Schwartz, Head of New Business, Airbus, with EBE Dean Professor Francis For this post we seek particularly to attract Black African South Africans. Space race: Our Employment Equity Policy is available at Petersen and (standing) Warda Sablay, Innovation Offi ce contracts offi cer, and Assoc Prof Arnaud Malan. http://www.uct.ac.za/downloads/uct.ac.za/about/policies/eepolicy.pdf 4 Monday Monthly NEWS February 2014 Full circle for new humanities dean

HELEN SWINGLER value of humanities degrees – and and he describes a child frightened of even more talk of the urgent need to the violent thunderstorms – part of a teach critical and imaginative thinking large family, the children three years n Professor Sakhela and communication skills. apart, the regular intervals marking Buhlungu’s offi ce suite Minister of Higher Education his father’s visits. He was a migrant in the Beattie Building and Training Blade Nzimande has worker on the mines near Brakpan. you can hear sounds promised a new era having accepted The young Sakhela attended reminiscent of warriors. the charter for humanities and the Jongilizwe College in Tsolo in the They’re chanting: “a social sciences – following the work Eastern Cape, meant for the sons of ‘U’, a ‘U’, a ‘UCT!’.” of the task team he appointed in chiefs and headmen, and intended to Humanities freshers. 2010 and headed by UCT’s Professor perpetuate the homeland system. It’s O-Week and the otherwise Ari Sitas. One of the proposals is a It was a defi ning experience quiet locale – in January the academic National Institute for the Humanities (“Every child needs a stint in Istaff are only beginning to trickle and the Social Sciences, to revitalise boarding school”). It was there he back – is beginning to buzz. these areas. met Bantu Holomisa, and Dumisa It’s a good time for a new dean Buhlungu’s own sense for the Ntsebeza. The political activist and to be starting. Although Buhlungu faculty seems to mirror this. He advocate was one of his favourite arrived at UCT in November last wants to champion the faculty’s teachers. year, it was to work an overlap period fl agship schools, institutes and After initially studying at the with former Dean of Humanities, centres – areas of rich scholarship; University of Transkei, he had Professor Paula Ensor. from gender and African studies, another defi ning experience while He looks fresh, alert, keen. social development, anthropology, immersed in the trade unions and Ten years ago the new captain of linguistics, and culture – and bring labour organisations in the early UCT’s largest faculty wouldn’t have them to the public arena. 1980s and 1990s. imagined himself here. The industrial “The Michaelis School of Fine His later scholarly work sociologist, steeped in the study Art is doing some wonderful things; refl ected the changing nature of of the history, contributions, and the South African College of Music trade unionism in South Africa and future of South Africa’s trade union is sending opera stars out into the Africa, union movements’ political movements, simply wanted to teach world. We have amazing staff, and engagement, industrial relations, and write. we’re producing great work and political activism, and the ‘new’ social But the transition from academic scholarship.” movements. to manager is important at this There is some consolidation and Asked to describe himself, time in his career. He’d had some realignment planned, and some work Buhlungu chooses the words tough encounters with “terrible to be done regarding staffi ng in the carefully: curious, adventurous, HoDs” in his time. Some years ago faculty – particularly in the light of thinker, determined, quiet. an opportunity came up to fi ll in the large number of senior academics “I’m in a process of self- as an acting head of department at due to retire. Succession planning is discovery. I like to surprise myself.” the University of Pretoria, where he vital. Beyond the faculty meeting Picture by Michael Hammond worked. “It’s time for a regeneration of and travels to meet alumni around “I’m not one to live in a comfort zone” – Prof Sakhela Buhlungu, new The experience made him think the academic labour force,” he says. the country, Buhlungu is gradually Dean of Humanities. more carefully about the value of “It’s a serious thing, and we can’t reconnecting with Cape Town. His savvy academic leadership in higher afford to ad hoc the process.” family is still in Pretoria until their education. Black women are particularly family home has been sold and he “You can’t simply leave the scarce in the faculty, and there are is still supervising students at the Milestones running to others. You have to step too few in senior positions. University of Pretoria. • With a PhD in sociology from Wits (2001), Buhlungu was Professor of up and do something – for yourself And he’s puzzled. Diversifi cation Together with Andries Sociology and deputy dean of postgraduate studies and ethics at the and for other people.” is crucial to harnessing different Bezuidenhout, he’s also working on University of Pretoria. Later he adds: “I’m not one to worldviews and knowledge. But a book on mining and how it has • From 2011 to 2012 he was Ela Bhatt Visiting Professor in the live in a comfort zone.” where are all the coloured students? shaped the lives of South Africans. International Centre for Development and Decent Work at the With a broad vision to position “It’s one sector that’s getting left The book, Enclave South Africa: Mining University of Kassel, Germany. the humanities faculty as the best behind, and no-one is noticing it.” and the post-apartheid social order, shows • Buhlungu also taught Sociology at the Universities of Johannesburg and on the continent, his fi rst task is The UCT campus is still a how old forms of social control the Witwatersrand, where he was co-director of the Sociology of Work to familiarise himself with the familiar place; Buhlungu did his BA have given way to new ones, and Unit (SWOP), a research centre focusing on work and labour issues. nooks and crannies of the faculty honours in African Studies here from how divisions of race and class have • From 2006 to 2007 he was head of the Department of Sociology at – its diverse offerings and scholarly 1985 to 1986. But he doesn’t have continued into the present. Wits. wealth. fond memories of Cape Town and “But one thing has remained • He has published extensively on these and other topics. Recent He’s aware that it’s an important didn’t much like the city then (“It throughout – life for most miners publications include COSATU’S Contested Legacy: South African Trade time for humanities. There’s been could brush up its image a bit”). remains unpleasant and violent,” he Unions in the Second Decade of Democracy (edited with Malehoko Tshoaedi, plenty of talk about the diminishing He grew up in the Eastern Cape, adds. HSRC Press 2012, Brill 2013).

How can we make our cities healthier for our children?

eyond the reaches of areas. Interestingly, stunting in urban are over 1 billion children living in an Cape Town’s green-lung areas is highest amongst the so-called urban setting. Every year the world’s suburbia, the roads are coloured communities, and overall, males urban population increases by 60 million, flanked by an uneven suffer more from malnutrition than do and authorities are increasingly unable collection of government females. A staggering 43% of children in to provide for basic infrastructure and Bhousing projects and informal informal settlements do not have access services. settlements. And each season brings with to adequate sanitation whereas in urban As a result, she says, things like it a host of problems: flooding in winter, areas it is at 6%. “poor housing and sanitation, inadequate explosive heat in summer. Almost a third of children in access to water, and overcrowding” play a And now, a UCT researcher has also informal urban areas live in overcrowded significant role in increasing the number brought to light the specific household spaces, and overcrowding has a direct of children with poor growth. living conditions in these areas, which link with malnutrition, she explains. Poor growth, in turn, leads to determine where a child will land on the Sambu was one of several researchers an increase in child morbidity and scale of nutritional inequality. presenting their work at the colloquium mortality. Other research presented at Living in a rural area is also an on Healthy Cities for Children, presented the colloquium included, among others, important determinant when it comes by the Children’s Institute and the a focus on child neglect in the context City living: The urban environment, at neighbourhood to things like stunting and being African Centre for Cities in Cape Town of poverty and substance abuse in a new or community scale, has been recognised by international underweight. on 20 and 21 January. urban settlement; the impact of flooding research to shape illness, health and well-being. The Healthy Winnie Chepeng’etich Sambu, The importance of looking at of informal settlements on child health; Cities for Children project of the Children’s Institute involves from the Children’s Institute at UCT, children’s rights as a cross-cutting issue and “Open Streets” and the role of a multi-disciplinary research team which focuses on the well- says that stunting among children is at is highlighted by some of Sambu’s children in South African street design being of children in diverse urban settings in South Africa. 14% in urban areas, and 20% in rural eye-opening statistics: Globally, there and use. February 2014 NEWS Monday Monthly 5 Baker’s asthma no cakewalk

HELEN SWINGLER determined to fi nd out the extent of the disease burden; the level of dust exposure; and importantly, what could be done to safeguard ids for industrial dough the health of bakers who produce much of the mixers, dust masks for country’s specialty breads, rolls, cakes and other bakers, and vacuum baked goods. cleaners to suck up fl our “Bakers are highly skilled specialists,” residue on work surfaces. Baatjies said. “This supermarket chain needed These were just some to address this problem or lose their bakers to of the improvements allergic illness.” introduced in a national With aid from the company, who were supermarket chain’s bakeries thanks to Dr keen to support and fund the research, Baatjies Roslynn Baatjies’ intervention study on baker’s conducted a cross-sectional study of over Lasthma, a serious manifestation of occupational 500 bakery workers in 31 supermarkets in the allergy among bakery workers. Western Cape Metropole and surrounding Baatjies’ study was the fi rst of its kind in area. South Africa and the backbone of her PhD, She measured the flour dust levels of arising from an interest in environmental all the main jobs including those of bakers, health (she has a Master’s in Environmental confectioners, counter hands, supervisors, and Health from the Cape Peninsula University of managers. This proved to be quite taxing work, Technology, and a master’s in Public Health among the mixing bowls and ovens, often from Wits). starting in the early hours with the 02h00 shift. Not long ago her PhD supervisor, Baatjies also learnt “a lo-o-o-t” about Picture by Michael Hammond Professor Mohamed Jeebhay (School of Public baking (plenty of butter goes onto the shaggy Bread winner: UCT’s Dr Roslynn Baatjies of the Centre for Occupational and Health and Family Medicine), conducted a dough that emerges from the oven as a golden, Environmental Health Research (School of Public Health and Family Medicine) conducted study in the fi sh-processing factories along flaky croissant). the country’s fi rst study of occupational allergy and asthma among commercial bakery the West Coast, where workers and fi sh The results of her survey demonstrated workers. processors developed allergic reactions after that bread bakers had the highest dust and being sensitised by continuous exposure to fi sh allergen exposures, and had the highest risk of DVD to educate bakers on how to reduce the dust exposure standards to protect worker’s products. developing allergy and asthma from inhaling dust levels in their work. health – South Africa has a grain dust standard Similar symptoms, caused by cereal fl our the flour dust. But her greatest challenge was to evaluate level 10 times higher than international norms allergens, were seen among bakery workers. But To counter this, Baatjies introduced lids on the effectiveness of the controls introduced. for flour dust. the problem was largely undetected, and poorly mixer tubs, dust masks for ‘dusty’ tasks, and A year later Baatjies reassessed, to see if the Baatjies plans to make recommendations managed as a result. better housekeeping routines to minimise flour interventions had delivered. to the Department of Labour to revise the Bakers produce antibodies as a result of dust. It was good news: there was a 50% current “grossly inadequate” flour dust inhaling fl our dust allergens. The fi rst signs of Her messages were simple: don’t throw reduction in average flour dust, wheat and exposure standard, bringing it in line with allergy are sneezing and rhinitis, associated with flour around like a celebrity chef, use a sieve rye allergens in the bakeries. And in bakeries international best practice. exposure to the fl our dust, followed by full- instead; use oil instead of flour to prevent where the lids had been used on the giant On the back of this work is a new, allied scale allergic asthma. Many bakers were taking dough sticking to the kneading board during mixer tubs, the reduction was even more project: an investigation into rye flour. time off to visit clinics and doctors for medical bread baking (unless it’s ciabatta, sourdough remarkable – up to 80%. “The bakers complained more about rye relief. bread or Portuguese rolls); and use a vacuum The supermarket chain will now make flour, which has similar allergens to wheat. This trend was initially reported by cleaner or sprinkle water on the floor when mixer tub lids a standard feature in all bakeries, We need to investigate to see if there is a Professor Rodney Ehrlich at Groote sweeping, to prevent the flour dust becoming and use the DVD to train all new bakers as difference in effects.” Schuur’s Occupational Medicine Clinic, who airborne. part of their induction programme. Baatjies hopes to study the long-term recommended a detailed investigation of the Working with the company, Baatjies also Baatjies’ study has also provided further impact of how these interventions reduce the problem. Taking up the challenge, Baatjies developed a dust control manual and a training insights into the adequacy of airborne flour asthma disease burden. Namibian astronomer reaches for exploding stars

ABIGAIL CALATA Kasai is from the northeastern town of Rundu – about 700km from Windhoek, the is enthusiasm for astronomy is capital. unmistakable as he speaks on a “Until Grade 11 I wanted to be a medical matter that leaves most of us quite doctor. Then one day during study time I found literally in the dark. myself staring at the globe, thinking of the effect UCT doctoral student Eli of day and night and the speed at which the earth HKasai’s interest is in dark energy – a force in the travels on its own axis, and the fact that it revolves universe that we cannot detect, but the effects of around the sun.” which we can observe. Dark energy appears to act From then on his focus shifted from medicine against the force of gravity, and is thought to be to astronomy. the reason why the expansion of the Universe is “I majored in physics and mathematics at the accelerating and not slowing down. University of Namibia, because that’s what my Kasai is one of only two Namibians studying high-school career book indicated I had to study astronomy, despite the country’s growing popularity to become an astronomer.” among the astronomical fraternity as a host for He worked for fi ve years at NamPower, increasingly powerful telescopes. Isak Davids – his the electricity supply company that funded his brother in arms, so to speak – is a doctoral student tertiary education. In 2010 he came to UCT for at the University of the North West, and his area of the National Astrophysics and Space Science interest is high-energy astrophysics. Programme, and graduated last year with a Namibia hosts the world’s largest gamma-ray master’s in astrophysics. telescope. It’s also the frontrunner in the race to For his doctoral thesis he is studying host the Cherenkov Telescope Array – the Square exploding stars – supernovae. Kilometre Array’s (SKA) rival in the gamma-ray or “With the help of SALT (the Southern high-energy regime. Kasai’s home country is set to African Large Telescope) we are able to measure host four stations of the SKA. the exact distance from Earth of an exploding However, interest in the subject is low among star. From many of these distance measurements his countrymen, and therefore Kasai, who has done for many supernovae, we can infer the suffi cient background knowledge in fi ve areas nature of dark energy.” of astronomy, is planning to join an astronomy His dream is to contribute to efforts to outreach programme in Namibia later in this year. establish an astronomy research team at the “We received funding from the International University of Namibia, but for now he is focused Picture by Michael Hammond Astronomical Union. We want to expose students on completing his PhD at UCT, the institution Star-gazer: Eli Kasai hopes to determine the nature of dark energy by measuring to the fi eld of astronomy, in the hopes of piquing with – in his opinion – the most advanced the distances between supernovae (exploding stars) and Earth. their interest.” astronomy training programme in the country. 6 Monday Monthly DOCTORALFebruary 2014 R Psychosocial support crucial for caregivers in AIDS-ravaged communities

ABIGAIL CALATA

sychosocial support should be a key element of mental health interventions for caregivers of children in HIV-endemic communities. This recommendation by Dr Marisa Casale follows her doctoral study into the protective role of Psocial support for caregiver’s mental health. Casale, who has been a researcher at UKZN’s health economics and HIV and AIDS research division (HEARD) for the last nine years, found that caregivers who receive more emotional and tangible support from their friends, family members and communities are less likely to experience anxiety and depression. To establish the relationship between social support and caregiver health, Casale surveyed has been shown to lead 2 477 adult caregivers of children aged 10 to 17 to worse depression,” she years in a rural and urban site in KwaZulu-Natal. explains. She also interviewed 24 male and female caregivers Before her doctoral – half of whom were HIV-positive – who had studies at UCT, Casale participated in the survey, to investigate how they obtained a degree in Picture by Andrew Naysmith perceived social support to be infl uencing their economics and banking mental health. science from the University Care for the carers: A participant (right) in a study into the effect of social support on caregivers in HIV- Survey results show that caregivers living of Siena in Italy. Her master’s endemic communities conducted by Dr Marisa Casale (insert) and a family member she cares for, outside their home in the greater Manguzi area in the Umhlabuyalingana municipality in KwaZulu-Natal. with HIV were about four times more likely to is in rural development experience mental health problems than healthy studies from the University caregivers, while others in the group with chronic of Padua, Italy. She was a visiting scholar at the able to link the economics and systems questions with documentary fi lm that – with the help of various illnesses, such as diabetes and hypertension, were University of Natal (1998) and at Cambridge the social science behavioural questions is particularly multimedia platforms – highlighted lived experiences twice as likely to experience anxiety and depression University (1999). Her previous professional important in the current southern African context, of caregiving and illness in rural KwaZulu-Natal. when compared to their healthier counterparts. experience includes working as a credit analyst for where health service uptake and health equity remain Titled Raising Children in Rural South Africa, Casale believes that social support can an Italian development bank, as well as lecturing and key challenges.” the fi lm illustrates a unique collaboration between protect caregivers from mental health problems working in micro-fi nance. Casale is currently a project manager and co- the caregivers, fi lm-makers, a community-based in several ways: by “providing an opportunity Explaining her move from fi nance to psychology investigator at the Young Carers KwaZulu-Natal NGO, and researchers like Casale. It is available to communicate problems and receive advice, via development studies, Casale spoke about project, which identifi es the needs of AIDS-affected on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/ boosting self-esteem, confi dence and hope, and her abiding interest in human development and families. The Young Carers project interviewed 6 000 watch?v=KnOAVf9iAY4). encouraging caregivers to tackle problems more development-related issues in southern Africa. children and 2 500 adult carers across six urban and “Since the documentary has been uploaded, directly”. “My move was motivated by an increasing rural sites. Casale’s doctoral study was part of this it has recorded over 6 500 hits, highlighting the “It prevents rumination, in other words the realisation of the importance of – and my growing larger project. effectiveness of fi lm and multimedia products to repetitive and negative thoughts about the causes interest in – what motivates and explains people’s Her involvement with Young Carers disseminate information, research fi ndings and of their illness and their imminent death, which behaviour and decision-making. I believe that being presented her with an opportunity to co-produce a important social messages,” adds Casale.

HELEN SWINGLER counteract the effects of hypertension medication. unique gene Salt in the wound Diet is a major concern. thought to have “Up to 70% of our salt intake originated among South African blacks, coloureds genetically wired for salt hypertension is through food,” notes Rayner. “A the San people has reduction of only 10% in the average been linked hypertension for the past 15 years. genes revealed several unique variants South African will have an impact on to salt-sensitive South Africa has one of the highest not previously described. These will be hypertension.” hypertension in black and coloured rates of hypertension worldwide; 70% studied further. He is fully behind the Department ASouth Africans, making them highly of men and 65% of women, according Rayner had also worked with of Health’s proposed legislation to susceptible to strokes and heart disease. to the Medical Research Council. Ramesar on another gene candidate, lower the salt content in foods (bread is The kidney is an engineering “Hypertension is a huge load on GRK4, an enzyme involved in salt a leading culprit, followed by margarine, marvel, retaining careful balances of salt hospitals and on the state,” says Rayner excretion from the kidneys. butter and cereals). But this should be and water, and is described as the ‘Swiss from his offi ce at GSH. “It will be diffi cult to translate coupled to public education about the watch among organs’. It’s no longer a disease linked to the latest fi ndings into a therapeutic dangers of salt-laden processed and fast But a genetic abnormality in age, weight, or a sedentary lifestyle. intervention until the underlying foods, and the use of discretionary salt these groups (and more prominent Fifty percent of hypertension is based genotype is better understood. (the salt you sprinkle on your breakfast in black South Africans) means they on genetics; therefore, only half on However, we do know that this gene is eggs). don’t excrete salt as effectively, says environmental factors. Picture by Michael Hammond linked to response – or lack of response In the background is another threat: specialist nephrologist Professor Brian But the underlying genetics of “Hypertension in Africa has a – to certain blood-pressure medication, HIV and hypertension. While people Rayner, who heads the Division of salt-sensitive hypertension are poorly different pathophysiology, and and it may become a novel site for the on ARVs are living longer, the two Nephrology/Hypertension in the understood. the genetics may have to do with development of new antihypertensive epidemics are on a collision course. Department of Medicine at Groote Working with a computational Africa’s salt-depleted environment.” drugs.” “There is great concern that Schuur Hospital. bioinformatics team and under the – UCT nephrologist Prof Brian The rise in hypertension over the HIV and hypertension will interact to “Hypertension in Africa has a supervision of his colleague Professor Rayner, whose PhD examined past 10 years has also changed referral increase the risk of complications,” different pathophysiology, and the Raj Ramesar (Division of Human genes that predispose black and patterns at the hospital’s renal clinic. adds Rayner. genetics may have to do with Africa’s Genetics), Rayner’s task was to search c oloured South Africans to salt- “Now we’re seeing many people “Our initial research shows that salt-depleted environment,” notes for candidate genes that could be sensitive hypertension. under the age of 30 with hypertension,” subjects with HIV infection have lost Rayner, whose research into the responsible for the variation: those notes Rayner. their circadian rhythm in relation to BP, genetics of salt-sensitive hypertension genes with signifi cant variability candidates: parathyroid hormone They’re also seeing many patients and this is not restored by treatment underpinned his recent PhD research. between the populations. precursor (PTH), and AGTR1, a type-1 with uncontrolled blood pressure with ARVs. This suggests that people As a clinician scientist, Rayner has A novel search engine was angiotensin II receptor. as a result of hypertension, despite living with HIV are at increased risk of been investigating the causes of severe developed, and predicted two top The full sequence analysis of the medication. And salt itself works to cardio-vascular disease.” RESEARCHFebruary 2014 Monday Monthly 7 Lifeline for non- English-speaking web users

YUSUF OMAR

lthough increasing numbers of people are taking their multilingual practices into their online communication, search engine technology had not kept pace with this trend – until UCT-trained computer scientist Dr Mohammed Mustafa Ali came up with a solution. Ali, who hails from the Sudan and whose mother-tongue is Arabic, became acutely aware that technology driving internet search engines had not kept up with the Picture by Raymond Botha online practice of continually switching between two languages – a habit that Renosterveld champion: Dr Odette Curtis has dedicated her life to preserving one of the most diverse and isA particularly prevalent in the non-English-speaking world. threatened ecosystems in the world. So during his doctoral studies he put his computer science skills to work and devised algorithms that, he argues, can create “language-aware” search engines, able to recognise searches made in multiple languages. These algorithms could also potentially empower search engines to throw up Saving the Renosterveld, mixed-language results, opening up new worlds of information to non-native English-speakers. “The algorithms proposed in this thesis address the Web searching needs of such non-English speakers, who often need the most relevant information one hectare at a time rather than just retrieving documents containing exactly their query terms,” says Ali. “The proposed algorithms could empower and present a direction YUSUF OMAR or two bird species,” she says. “My “We found that Renosterveld for future search engines, which should allow multilingual users (and their research into black harriers had taken does respond favourably to fire; multilingual queries) to retrieve relevant information created by other he deep tan tells me into the Overberg, where I spent a which is known, but not really multilingual users. the story. lot of time looking for black harriers written up properly,” she says. “Thus, it could have signifi cant outcomes for languages with limited For Dr Odette in the Renosterveld. “What was concluded was that modern vocabulary, mostly those non-English ones, in developing countries.” Curtis, working ‘in “Being out in the veld, being out Renosterveld shouldn’t burn Language-mixing, or code-switching, as it is known, is common in the fi eld’ means in the Renosterveld and seeing how as frequently as was believed. multilingual communities in which the barrier between cultures is porous, with just that – actually many farmers were not correctly Previously, ecologists have advised people using more than one language in their everyday interactions. applying sunblock and toiling in managing [the environment] from burning it every three years. I “In such communities, natives are able to express some keywords in Tthe sun. a grazing and fi re perspective, I got concluded differently – it should be languages other than their native tongue or vice versa,” Ali says. “From The conservationist and botanist, back to what I was really interested in: more like fynbos-burning, which is personal experience, the typical Arabic speaker speaks a mixture of tightly- who graduated with a doctorate from veld management. That got me into between eight and 15 years. integrated words in both English and Arabic, and in various slang variants. UCT in 2013, has made her home in the plants and away from the birds, “So, 10 would be the average. “Hong Kong speakers typically speak Cantonese with many English Napier in the Overberg, about two and to thinking more about saving The reason for that is just to use a words. Capetonians speak English with many scattered Afrikaans words, and/ hours outside Cape Town, where she their habitats. precautionary approach, and because or local slang.” puts in the hard yards to preserve the “So [I got into] saving the habitats there are also some slower-maturing Current search engines and traditional Information Retrieval (IR) systems delicate Renosterveld ecosystem. of lots of things, not just plants or plants that probably need time to perform poorly when handling multilingual querying, because in most cases Renosterveld – literally translated one or two birds.” develop properly. If you burn it a they fail to provide the most relevant documents, explains Ali. This, he says, is from Afrikaans as ‘rhinoceros Curtis’ CV is enviable. In addition lot, you’ll turn it into grassland.” due to two reasons. fi eld’ – is a term used to describe to her degrees, she has co-authored Which leads to “probably the “First, the underlying assumption in IR is that users post queries in their one of the major and most diverse eight scientifi c papers; managed biggest chapter” of Curtis’s thesis: native tongues. Second, most traditional IR systems depend primarily on plant communities and vegetation UCT’s Black Harrier and Black debating whether the Renosterveld similarity ranking methods that are based solely on monolingual computations types of the Cape Floral Kingdom. Sparrowhawk Projects from 2000 was a grassy shrub land or shrubby and statistics, without taking into account the multilingual text in multilingual Human activities such as farming through to 2006; was invited as a grassland. queries. have decimated these fertile fynbos Leadership Intern to Hawks Mountain “It probably sounds very “Ignorance of this feature causes the most dominant documents on the havens, and Curtis is hard at work Sanctuary, Pennsylvania, USA, for two arbitrary, but it affects how you ranked retrieval list to be those documents that contain exactly the same terms trying to preserve the critically months in 2005; and was contracted manage it. If you’re managing it as as in the multilingual query, regardless of its languages.” endangered survivors. by CapeNature’s Stewardship grassland, you’re burning every two Ali maintains that his algorithms will enable non-native English speakers “It’s estimated that there’s less Programme from 2007 to 2011. or three years. If you’re managing it to access large swathes of online knowledge previously diffi cult to fi nd. than between four and six percent of She has also been a board like shrub land, you’re treating it like “With information globalisation and moving towards an international the Renosterveld left,” says Curtis. member of the Fynbos Forum since fynbos.” community, it becomes essential not to constrain non-English-speakers, such Even this is an optimistic estimate; 2009 and served as a committee While some of the farmers as Arabic users, to single languages,” he says. “There are many problems the true fi gure could be signifi cantly member of the Botanical Society, have come on board with her introduced by the explicit handling of multiple languages, but the algorithms lower, she says. southern Overberg branch, from 2009 recommendations – in fact, the and experiments conducted demonstrate that these problems can be Such is the diversity of the to 2011. chairperson of the Overberg adequately resolved in an IR system. Renosterveld that Curtis discovered Curtis now directs the Overberg Lowlands Conservation Trust is a “The evidence suggests that language-awareness and mixed-language six new species of plants in 2012, Lowlands Conservation Trust, whose farmer – Curtis is prepared for more solutions are feasible for IR systems, without diminishing the quality of and two were named after her. vision is to work with local farmers hard slog. results .” Not a bad compromise for to secure the long-term conservation “It’s a long road that we have to someone who wanted to be a game and management of the remaining travel to change mindsets on a scale ranger while growing up. fragments of threatened natural that means we can actually change Instead of the game ranger route, vegetation in the lowlands of the things. There are not enough people Curtis pursued a BTech in Nature Overberg. alerting farmers to the beauty on Conservation (UCT didn’t offer the It’s a tough ask getting farmers their lands, and these are the same specialised programme she sought to change decades-old habits, but farmers who will pay thousands of at undergraduate level) and an MSc Curtis’s eyes light up when she rands to sit in a game reserve.” in Zoology from UCT. Her master’s speaks about their successes. Little by Her passion for her cause is easy research focused on how two little, farmer by farmer, she and her to see, and she admits that her work raptors – the black harrier and black colleagues are changing mindsets and comes at a price. sparrow hawk – responded to the ensuring the survival of the region’s “It’s emotionally draining. It’s fragmentation of their habitats, both fynbos. exhausting. It’s too close to my individually and as a population. Much of the farmers’ thinking heart. I can’t separate my work from When an opportunity arose to revolved around the frequency that my feelings. When I see something do a PhD in the United States on the veld needed to be burned. Curtis’s go wrong, when I see a piece of birds of prey, Curtis decided against doctoral research explored how often land being ploughed or something it, being reluctant to be limited to the veld needed to burn, whether it terrible happening, I can’t deal with Opening access: Dr Mohammed Mustafa Ali has developed a way specialised raptor research. needed to burn at all, and how best to it.” to create ‘language-aware’ internet search engines that can process “I was more interested in general manage grazing in the region. Don’t expect Curtis to be queries in multiple languages, and even throw up mixed-language ecology than just focusing on one The results were surprising. discouraged, though. results. 8 Monday Monthly DOCTORAL STUDIES February 2014 San communities will care for returned land, says PhD graduate

YUSUF OMAR was to investigate the value that the Khomani San assign to modern conservation under various land n the emotive and tenure arrangements, and to assess fractious battlefi eld whether they may generally be that characterises land expected to be good environmental restitution in post- stewards,” explained Dikgang. colonial and post- “To assess their attitudes towards apartheid South Africa, biodiversity conservation, our study the notion that restoring used the contingent valuation study land to its historically of a plant conservation programme rightful owners could damage the in the Kgalagadi to investigate the environment is often cited by those values assigned by the Khomani Ireluctant for the process to go forward. San and Mier communities to Now, new research has shown biodiversity conservation under that – at least in the case of the three land tenure arrangements: land claim by the Khomani San communal land, municipal land, and and Mier communities in the parkland. Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park – fears “Ninety-two percent of the that these communities would be Khomani San respondents supported unable to maintain the health of the implementation of the proposed environment have proved baseless. biodiversity conservation programme Johane Dikgang, who graduated on communal land, while 79% with a PhD from UCT at the end of of these respondents supported 2013, explored the delicate balancing Eco-warriors: from left, Dr Johane Dikgang, Jacobus van Wyk (a Khomani San resident of the Kgalagadi implementation of the same act that characterises the Kgalagadi popularly known as ‘Patat’), Dr Gladman Thondhlana (a research collaborator from Rhodes University), and programme on either municipal land claim: “How to balance conservation Lelani Mannetti (a research collaborator from the University of Stellenbosch). or inside the park.” Given that more and benefi ciaries’ rights to land and Khomani San respondents support natural resources,” he said. As last year arrangements; and fi nally, whether have taken up the offer to use the parks. Dikgang’s thesis concluded than oppose the implementation marked the centenary of the Natives’ there was scope to generate additional restituted land.” that the Khomani San must be of the proposed biodiversity Land Act of 1913, which formalised revenue through conservation efforts, The data collected included involved if conservation schemes in conservation programme on any one the dispossession of black South which could then be shared between detailed information on household the Kgalagadi area are be successful. of the land types, Dikgang concludes Africans’ land at the hands of colonial the Khomani San and the national income, consumption expenditure, “Given that the project involved that the Khomani San people rulers, Dikgang’s thesis is particularly parks. access to nature, housing services, a land claim inside a national park, generally derive net positive benefi ts relevant. “We conducted face-to-face farming activities, and land use and we collaborated with South African from the proposed biodiversity Dikgang says that the Kgalagadi surveys in the Kgalagadi area, migration patterns. National Parks,” says Dikgang. conservation programme, and that as land claim, unlike some others, was comparing 100 Khomani San The results indicated that land “The research project’s findings are a result, the majority of them would not characterised by a tussle over households who used restituted land restitution does not necessarily have important because they may provide vote for its implementation. competing commercial interests. His with another 100 households who did any impact on poverty reduction. useful, policy-relevant information “In contrast to the San, the Mier research explored three core issues: not. These 200 households were drawn However, the Khomani San can be that will help well-informed community were mainly interested in fi rst, whether land restitution helps from the 320 registered benefi ciaries trusted to be good environmental decision-making with regard to the economic benefi ts -- job creation reduce poverty; second, the value that of the Khomani San land claim. Thus, stewards, and there is indeed scope sustainable resource use, equity, and and business venture opportunities -- the Khomani San assign to modern the research restricted the sample to to generate revenue for sharing poverty alleviation.” that come about because of owning conservation under various land tenure the Khomani San who could plausibly between them and the national “The primary objective here land.” Galactic gas distribution may provide clues on dark matter was a “crazy year” for the dynamical effect of the dark HS: What are the biggest 2013 UCT astronomer Dr matter potential in each galaxy, by challenges to determining its Bradley Frank. He took 25 fl ights, using different models for the dark nature? married, graduated, became a tax- matter halo. BF: At the moment, the only payer, and is now a postdoctoral way we can deduce the nature fellow at the Netherlands Institute HS: What sorts of questions of dark matter is to look at the for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON). will be answered when the effect that it has on the matter Here Bradley provides unique nature of dark matter is around it. Dark matter doesn’t insights into his recent PhD research identified? interact electromagnetically (as far on gas distribution in the galaxies BF: The current picture of as we know), so we need the next as a clue to elusive dark matter. He our cosmos is that there are three generation of telescopes to peer spoke to Helen Swingler via email. main constituents to our universe: more closely at the galaxies around dark energy (about 75%), dark us, and at the most distant blobs of HS: What did your PhD matter (about 20%), and baryonic radiation being released from the research set out to explain? matter (about 5%). Dark energy is fi rst structures of the universe. To BF: It focused on the responsible for the evolution of the do this we need to develop more distribution of molecular gas in Universe on very large scales; the sensitive telescopes, but this isn’t nearby galaxies. These galaxies physics of dark matter defines how as easy as building them bigger and formed part of a sample for which galaxies form and how they evolve. better. Radio frequency interference we have the some of the best Baryonic matter, ie the stuff that we generated by cell phone towers, GPS multi-wavelength data available, ie can see and touch, which stars and satellites and other devices is making we had observations of different planets are made of, comprises a it increasingly diffi cult to detect the phases of the environment of small fraction of the universe. The faint astronomical radiation from these galaxies, from the stellar existence of dark matter poses some the booming man-made signals. content (the stars), to the neutral serious questions for physics. There It’s like trying to listen to a whisper hydrogen and the molecular gas. is either this exotic form of matter while a Boeing 747 fl ies past on the Observations of each of these that only interacts gravitationally, or runway. These issues, coupled with phases forms a comprehensive our idea of gravity is incomplete. the genuine complexity of operating picture of the evolution of these Either way, the existence of dark a large radio telescope, make for a galaxies. I worked on calculating the matter is a puzzle that challenges tough challenge. Luckily, we have contribution of the molecular gas to our understanding of the Universe. some very smart people working with the overall mass of the galaxy, using Solving the mystery of the missing us to overcome these challenges; and an analysis of the motion of the ‘dark’ matter could revolutionise of course, we have an excellent site neutral and molecular gas to deduce physics. for radio astronomy in the Karoo. February 2014 DOCTORAL STUDIES Monday Monthly 9

Victims of sexual assault denied access to compensation ABIGAIL CALATA security cluster, where he was confronted with the reality that there was “enough money in the fi scus to assist victims through compensation, (and) it’s lthough compensation for victims more a case of maladministration and bias in the of sexual assault is available criminal justice system” that blocks their access to within the criminal justice system, these funds. complainants are often denied In his study Greenbaum interviewed 27 access to compensation as a result criminal justice role-players, reviewed eight court of court offi cials’ bias. fi le case studies, and asked 47 victims to complete a This was among the main fi ndings of Dr Bryant survey to substantiate his fi ndings. AGreenbaum, whose doctoral thesis investigated why In an unprecedented move, Greenbaum sexual assault complainants – unlike their counterparts entered into proceedings to prove court offi cials’ in commercial and violent crime cases – did not benefi t bias. The case, which at the time was still before the from forfeiture proceedings, or from compensation court, concerned a German paedophile (eventually attached to suspended sentences and correctional convicted) who lured township children into his supervision orders. house, where he sexually assaulted them. His house Greenbaum also found that by not informing and car were seized by the state. complainants of social relief and distress grants, and Greenbaum brought a complaint to the Cape by not assisting them to apply for such grants, court Law Society against the State Attorney, who was offi cials denied the victims of sexual assault access to taking instructions from the National Prosecuting much-needed funds to help them get back on their feet, Authority (NPA). Greenbaum took the position “Court offi cials’ bias stems from the assumptions that the NPA was being unreasonable by not that victims don’t want compensation; that their losses ensuring that money from the sale of seized assets are not quantifi able; and that they would abuse social could be used to compensate the paedophile’s grants,” explains Greenbaum. His research rebutted victims. these assumptions, as sexual violence victims surveyed “The NPA fi nally acknowledged that there was acknowledged they wanted compensation and could bias among court offi cials, but it only did that upon provide receipts to prove their losses. threat of legal sanction.” Furthermore, the NPA Complainants also have to contend with gender admitted in submissions to the Cape Law Society bias, he says, adding that, “Due to the composition of that they had the power to assist victims of sexual the judiciary, national prosecuting authority and state violence in forfeiture proceedings. attorneys, and the fact that their institutional overseers Greenbaum believes this type of action – what are overwhelmingly male, they lack a full understanding he terms ‘legal activism’ – should as a matter of of the fi nancial losses of sexual violence victims.” course be part of doctoral studies undertaken by Greenbaum, a Canadian lawyer, worked for a postgraduate law students, who are often certifi ed government compensation fund for victims of violent lawyers. crime in his home country. While there he observed “Academia undertaken by lawyers should have the following: “The compensation greatly assisted the a real-life component. Most (law students) who do victims in getting their lives back in order. They (the PhDs are legally trained, and it is wasteful not to

victims) also welcomed the chance to tell government use those skills. By not tapping in to the legal skills Picture by Michael Hammond offi cials of their hardships.” of doctoral students, (South African) institutions Legal activist: Dr Bryant Greenbaum proved his thesis by entering into court In South Africa, Greenbaum worked for the are not fulfi lling their commitment to post- proceedings, and persuaded the National Prosecuting Authority to admit its offi cials National Treasury and oversaw the budget of the apartheid South Africa,” he believes. were biased when it came to compensating victims of sexual assault.

UCT study into psychological impact of rape a fi rst for SA

ABIGAIL CALATA were recruited and interviewed at one, professionals, until such time as there’s four, 12 and 24 weeks, post-rape. A been opportunity for the person to onsidering the high psychiatric assessment was done at recover in and of themselves. prevalence of rape in the each interval. Maw found that over “There appears to an innate nation, it is remarkable half of the women taking part in the recovery process that kicks in that until recently study merited a diagnosis of post- automatically after the trauma. In the thereC has been no research into the traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). immediate aftermath, there appears to psychological impact of rape within This is more or less in line with be a rather strong reaction resulting the South African context. international fi ndings, where just under in a very high level of distress. People South Africa has the highest half of rape survivors suffered from would automatically turn to those number of rapes per 100 000 people PTSD. they trust the most – not strangers compared to 13 other countries with Maw maintains the reason and professionals, but their friends similar economic profi les. In 2010 South African researchers had not and family. If such support isn’t the fi gure stood at 132.4 per 100 000, investigated this area previously is forthcoming, or it isn’t enough over compared to Botswana, where the because interest in South Africa has time, then you might have to start fi gure was 92.9. In 2011/2012 a total traditionally centred on understanding considering the need for help from a of 64 514 rapes were reported to the the context within which rape mental health professional.” police. Given that rape is a highly happens, as well as the medical and Although the women interviewed under-reported crime, multiplication legal aspects of rape. “South African by Maw expressed a strong need for of that fi gure by three gives a good researchers have also piggy-backed on counselling, “…they didn’t take up the estimation of the total number of international research on psychological offer of counselling; or if they did, rapes in that year. impact – especially US researchers, they would only come for one session. Dr Anastasia Maw, a clinical who have been particularly prolifi c “A lot of practical needs were psychologist employed at UCT’s within this fi eld,” explains Maw. expressed, like getting help with Child Guidance Clinic, saw the gap in Despite the evidence in both child support and disability grants, understanding the psychological impact Maw’s study and international studies fi nding jobs, help with completing of rape on South African women of high levels of psychological distress education, help with safe housing. following her work at the Trauma in the aftermath of rape, she points These are social development needs, Centre for Survivors of Violence out that professional intervention in not psychological needs, although they and Torture, Rape Crisis, and the the immediate aftermath of the event impact greatly on psychological well- Thuthuzela Care Centre. Thuthuzela might not be helpful for the survivor’s being. When you ask women what they is a one-stop facility for survivors of recovery. actually need, it’s not a space in which rape in Manenberg. It is also the site at “There’s enough research to show they can talk. They need to create a which Maw’s research was conducted. that it’s best to hold off on psychiatric life that is safer and more stable,” Maw

Picture by Raymond Botha Sixty-four female rape survivors or psychological intervention from states. 10 Monday Monthly FEATURE February 2014 New brooms sweep in the digital age at UCT libraries

ABIGAIL CALATA

he new deputy directors of UCT libraries have very different roles, yet they seem to have a lot in common – including a love of reading. Drs Dale Peters and Reggie Raju, deputy directors of technical and client liaison services respectively, both hail from Durban, obtaining their doctorates in library and information science from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). They also share a fondness for Louis L’Amour’s Westerns. Raju has the entire collection of L’Amour’s novels, while Peters’ brother, who was “crazy about L’Amour” handedT his books on to her when she was a child. Both have been involved with academic libraries for 30 years or more. Peters is a compulsive reader with a penchant for South African literature, while Raju – when he’s not reading research documents – rereads his L’Amour novels or books by Frederick Forsyth. Raju is married to Associate Professor Jaya Raju, head of the library and information studies centre (LISC), with whom he has co-written numerous

research articles, chapters in books, and a book. Picture by Michael Hammond Like Raju, Peters got into library services by chance. She originally Frontline researcher: Emer Prof Robin Wood (Department of Medicine) has been awarded an A-2 rating by wanted to be an archivist, but needed a foreign language to study that. “So I the National Research Foundation, pegging him as a world leader in his fi eld: HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. defaulted to library and information science, which was really lucky, given the opportunities afforded me to develop new strategies that ensure the relevance of the library in the digital age,” she adds. In 1984 Raju found employment as a messenger at UKZN’s library. He worked his way up to subject librarian and headed up UKZN’s Law Library from 1994 to 2008. From 2008 to 2013 he was director of client services at Stellenbosch University’s library, before coming to UCT. A-rating for Peters started out in library acquisitions at UKZN, progressed to preservation – where she was responsible for the conservation of books and works of art – before moving into the digital realm. “Collections were increasingly becoming digitised in order to preserve the originals,” she international HIV, explained. For two years she worked at the University of Goettingen in Germany as scientifi c technical manager, and spearheaded an EU-funded e-infrastructure project called DRIVER (Digital Repository Infrastructure Vision for AIDS pioneer European Research). She returned to UKZN and worked in their IT department until she joined UCT towards the end of 2013. Peters and Raju speak passionately about the move from information HELEN SWINGLER diseases) in 1993 that things began TB, and try to turn that around.” management to data management. They are involved in different aspects to heat up on the HIV front. His Wood’s focus has now moved to of this trend in library services. “I came here with the distinct purpose meritus Professor subsequent research looked at early the very high rates of TB infection, to formalise research data management,” says Peters. Some of Peters’ Robin Wood fi rst HIV therapies in San Francisco, a city particularly among South Africa’s responsibilities revolve around developing policy, architecture and services in came across ‘slim that had borne the early brunt of the children, and the intersection of TB the digital library infrastructure. disease’ as a doctor epidemic. and HIV. Raju looks at ways that library users can be better accommodated in in Zambia in the It’s anecdotal that among Wood’s What has perhaps been lost in the the increasingly digitised library environment. “A library is far more than early 1980s, before patients was San Francisco Chronicle HIV/AIDS landscape, he says, is that just the physical entity. It is now the virtual as well as physical the entity.” the Human Immunodefi ciency Virus journalist Randy Shilts, who penned “TB is an unmitigated disaster”. Another trend that infl uences library services is the greater emphasis on Ehad been identifi ed, or anyone knew And the Band Played On: Politics, People, “There is more TB in Cape Town collaborative learning – where students are required to work in groups instead that Acquired Immunodefi ciency and the AIDS Epidemic, published in than in Canada, the US, France and of individually. “Hopefully my appointment here would see the (knowledge) Syndrome was the result. 1987. It was a searing indictment of Germany put together. And it’s getting commons taking on a different fl avour – becoming a space where debate is He had no idea it would one day (mainly) US government indifference consistently worse. encouraged and where peer-to-peer learning takes place,” adds Raju. become a global pandemic – and that it and political infi ghting around what at “It’s what gets me up in the Staff development is fi rmly on the agenda for these deputy directors. would shape his career and research. the time was considered a disease that mornings,” he says wryly. “We need “Having come through the ranks, I have a passion for getting colleagues to That body of work, nearly two affected only gay men. Shilts died of a new approach to understanding TB exploit the environment they fi nd themselves in – you can’t be in an academic decades of pioneering HIV/AIDS AIDS complications in 1994. transmission.” environment and not engage in academic learning,” believes Raju. research, has earned the Oxford- When Wood returned to South A small black box may hold the Peters has been involved in digital libraries for 20 years, having led a trained specialist physician and Africa, it was to head the New answer. programme named Digital Innovation SA (DISA), which was funded by the infectious disease expert an A2- Somerset HIV clinic, the Western Working with colleagues in the Andrew W Mellon Foundation. She fi nds it gratifying that DISA bore fruit, as rating from the National Research Province’s only such resource at the Faculty of Engineering & the Built the UCT Libraries now has a dedicated digitisation unit. “It’s very satisfying to Foundation (NRF). time. He continued his research into Environment, Wood has developed come back to fi nd that the work you did 10 years ago has actually taken root Part of the 2013 round of NRF ARVs and collaborated in early studies a machine with a geo-positioning and is growing,” adding that to her knowledge, UCT is the only university in ratings, it pegs him as a world leader on combination therapy. capacity that measures how much South Africa to have operationalised such a unit. in the fi eld and brings UCT’s tally of He also established one of the few air has been rebreathed from others A-rated academics to 34. HIV natural-history cohorts outside and helps researchers estimate TB Wood is director of the Desmond industrial countries. transmission probabilities in high-risk Tutu HIV Research Centre at UCT. “I expanded access to ARVs by areas: buses, trains and indoor settings. Attached to his work is a raft of developing the fi rst community HIV But beneath Wood’s history of accolades and honours. The South clinic, at Gugulethu in 2002,” he exploring scientifi c and medical terra African Medical Society gave him a explains, “and this well-characterised incognita is another story, of a nomad lifetime award for services to HIV treatment cohort documented the and adventurer. research. He was also a member impact of ARV therapy on morbidity As a student medical offi cer in of the governing council of the and mortality of South African 1973 he worked in a jungle hospital International AIDS Society, and a patients at a time when treatment in in Pucalpa, Peru. Three years later he founding member of the Southern Africa was considered impractical.” served as medical offi cer for the British African HIV Clinicians Society. He has Operational research in Gugulethu Hindu Kush expedition in Afghanistan. led the production of several South led to the development of national From 1979 to 1985, Wood was African national guidelines on the use HIV protocols, implemented in 2004. general practitioner and medical offi cer of antiretrovirals. As a recognised expert on HIV, to the US embassy and British High In short, he’s been at the vanguard Wood has served as a medical advisor Commission in Zambia. He was also of scientifi c leadership in HIV and expert witness for the Treatment medical offi cer at a game park in that treatment and infectious disease Action Campaign in the South African country, where he sometimes treated research for many years, with over Constitutional Court and Competitions people who’d been mauled by leopards Pictures by Michael Hammond 350 papers published in peer-reviewed Tribunal. and the like (his partner was killed by a Change agents: Drs Dale Peters (left) and Reggie Raju, newly journals. “It’s nice to have the crocodile). A trained scuba diver, Wood appointment deputy directors at UCT libraries, have their fi ngers on the It was while working at Stanford acknowledgement,” he says of the worked in underwater salvage, as many pulse of the latest trends in academic library services. University as a fellow (infectious A-rating. “I‘d like to do the same with ferries capsized on Lake Kariba. February 2014 CLASSIFIED Monday Monthly 11

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[email protected] Department of Psychiatry and Mental or dissertation edited professionally [email protected] Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, 12 Monday Monthly TECHNOLOGY February 2014 Putting UCT in your pocket YUSUF OMAR touchscreen devices, be they of the experience of our students, the public, Android, IOS or BB10 varieties. With our alumni, and anyone interested that in mind, UCT Mobile will work in UCT,” says Kylie Hatton, deputy or some, on any phone running Android or director of UCT’s Communication browsing IOS, and the free download can be and Marketing Department. library shelves found in each platform’s app store. “Although the app focuses in search of The app can also be downloaded from primarily on students, looking forward that book www.icts.uct.ac.za/uctmobile we know that mobile is where is half the “We built the UCT Mobile everybody is moving to. So, for me, fun; but with app with our students in mind, by the most exciting part of the app is deadlines looking at their everyday needs and that it’s going to push us to look at all looming and Jammie Shuttles to requirements,” says ICTS’s Dave of our online offerings and question catch, who really has the time? Heyns. “Our goal was to provide a how they look and work in the mobile FNow, the nifty new UCT Mobile platform that would enhance their space. application for smartphones and integration into campus life and make “Another exciting thing is that tablets allows students to – among it easier and more convenient to access we are not reinventing content – just other things – access the online the tools they use every day. We hope taking existing content and packaging catalogue, search for and reserve that they will benefi t from the app it so that it’s more user-friendly.” books, and even check fee account and that they will assist in its further This means, for example, that the balances. Along with library access, development and improvement by ‘Libraries’ function will direct students UCT Mobile zips every conceivable sharing their experiences with us.” to the UCT Libraries website, where bit of information a time-pressed That will come as music to the they can go about their business. student might need to navigate a ears of students who need to check “One of the things that the Appsolute convenience: Now the nifty new UCT Mobile application semester at the university into a their lecturers’ latest notifi cations on app is trying to do is to answer the for smartphones and tablets allows students to - among other things - handy package available in the palm Vula, but fi nd themselves far from a highest-priority needs of students in search for and reserve books, check the Jammie Shuttle timetable, and of a smartphone user’s hand. computer lab. App users can skip the terms of their user-experience,” says even check fee account balances. ICTS’s Niki McQueen shows students Developed by the Information notorious lines at the Fees Offi ce, Hatton. “So we are reviewing existing Bobo Mthombeni (middle) and Jennifer Rackstaw (right), how it works. and Communication Technology too. A glance at your device is all you products, like Vula and the Jammie Services (ICTS) in partnership with need to discover your fee account Shuttle, and looking at how to make “One of the things that we are other collaborative projects CMD the Communication and Marketing balance. Alternatively, if a student is access quicker and easier. trying to create is a user-driven wants to embark on to improve the Department, the app seeks to determined to brave the queue in the “Ultimately, the ideal is that all experience. We’ll ask ourselves: communication experience at UCT.” eliminate the sense of foreboding Kramer quad, he or she can pass the of those different services work who are the people who use these While Hatton admits that that sometimes goes with having to time by streaming UCT Radio, using across multiple platforms, so that products? How can we make it there were some risks involved manage one’s diary. the same app. it doesn’t actually matter where better so that we can communicate in embracing new technology, From course timetables and The vast expanses that are UCT’s you are or what device you’re on, what UCT needs to give them?” she describes the approach as Vula access, to course results and campuses can be a maze for those new because your experience will be Hatton praised ICTS for its “cautiously adventurous”. the Careers Service portal, UCT to the university, which is where the seamless.” work in developing the app, which “It’s new technology for all of Mobile promises to be a one-stop- comprehensive map function comes While users would still need an began around the second half of us. There are always risks with these shop for students’ administrative in handy. active internet connection to awaken 2013. kinds of things; it’s about managing requirements. “The app is the fi rst step in a the app’s full potential, Hatton “We’ve had a very nice working and mitigating those risks, but at the The app has been designed number of steps that we want to gives her assurance that the app was relationship with ICTS [on this same time being willing to try new for – and will work optimally on – take around improving the online designed to be light on data-use. app]. This project is a forerunner of things.”

UCT apps make Medical translator: SA languages app and at it easier to learn n August last year, UCT medical student Saadiq Moolla earning an African language is now as easy as launched the Mobile Xhosa and Mobile Zulu websites to switching on your mobile device, with the help help himself and his English-speaking peers communicate of a suite of applications developed at the UCT with patients in their mother tongue. Samsung Mobile Innovation Laboratory. That website only worked where there was strong LThe idea for the Learn an African Language Apps Imobile reception and a fast internet connection, which is not the (LALA) came to Professor Jean-Paul van Belle while he case in rural parts of the country. was attending Dr Tessa Dowling’s Learn Xhosa in 45 minutes So Moolla, under the auspices of his company, NightForge lecture at the UCT Summer School. “I was thinking up Studios, launched a mobile application to the same effect. Mobile projects for our Samsung Mobile Innovation Lab, and Translate M.D., as the Android-native app is called, can be used thought a simple app would be a perfect way to get people to fully offl ine - the only time you need an internet connection is for talk to each other. downloading. Gaga over LALA: People from around the world are “Part of the lab’s mission is to create African apps, Besides bypassing the need for an internet connection and the downloading Professor Jean-Paul van Belle and Dr Tessa for Africans, by Africans,” explains Van Belle, of the data costs that come with it, the app-platform has a number of Dowling’s language app. Department of Information Systems. other benefi ts, says Moolla. Dowling is a senior lecturer in African Languages, Philippines, Thailand, India and South Africa. “It is much faster, and is much more convenient as it is a native and her course material – which includes sound tracks of Despite an extremely busy academic schedule, he wrote (installed on the phone) app so is easier to use than a website which common phrases in Nguni and Sotho languages – was used the application software over the course of three weekends. must be accessed via the phone’s browser. in the development of the apps. She immersed herself in “It was really fun coding. It was great to be in the fl ow of “The most exciting feature that we were able to implement the Xhosa language and culture during her master’s degree, programming. As an academic, I don’t get this opportunity because of this move is text-to-speech, where the phone gives the when she spent time at Mqanduli, a rural town in the Eastern much anymore,” he adds. correct pronunciation of the phrase. This is particularly important Cape. The insights she gained there came in handy later, The LALA apps are available free on the Samsung and where users aren’t familiar with the language they are translating when she completed her PhD on the forms and functions of Google Play app stores at http://goo.gl/oXem6D , and into, but can also help with learning the new language.” Xhosa humour. if the download statistics are any indicator, they appeal They are also working to include all eleven of South Africa’s Flemish by birth, Van Belle is a linguist of note, being to people from across the world. Aside from signifi cant offi cial languages, while extending the list of phrases available in fl uent in Afrikaans, English, Dutch, German and French. local interest, users hail from as far afi eld as South Korea each module. “This is not including various computer languages such as and Germany; while closer to home, downloads have been “We ask that people contact us about phrases that they Python, BASIC, PHP, and so on, which I fi nd a lot easier to requested by users from Botswana and Namibia. commonly use at the doctor, so that we can add them to the list,” learn,” he jokes. The UCT Samsung Mobile Innovation Laboratory aims says Ashraf Moolla, Saadiq’s younger brother and chief coder of A prolifi c researcher, Van Belle used a semester- to increase mobile innovation and skills development. The the application. long sabbatical last year to produce more than 12 papers. partners in this joint venture include UCT’s Information Mobile Translate M.D. is currently available on Android and Aside from a keynote address in Dubai, these papers were Systems Department and the Computer Science Department, Blackberry devices, but plans are afoot to make it available to Apple delivered in the Czech Republic, Turkey, Bosnia, Poland, the as well as the Cape IT incubator, the Bandwidth Barn. and Windows users, too.

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