Senior Professor Michael Savage of the Discipline of Agrometeorology and his former student Dr Mussie Fessehaye of the University of Bern, have had their research on fog-water collection referenced in a technical report by United Nations Water on unconventional water resources. The analytical brief highlights the impact of water scarcity on sustainable development, social unrest and conflict, and human migration, and emphasises the need
Professor Albert Modi, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science recently participated in a webinar on the benefits of eating local, indigenous foods. The 101 Reasons to Eat Local webinar was presented by VKB and digital news site Food For Mzansi as part of their annual Power Talk series, usually hosted on University campuses but now expanded to
UKZN’s College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science (CAES) did not let the national COVID-19 lockdown cancel its 2020 Open Day… it held the event online! The University usually hosts its annual Open Day event for scholars interested in studying at the Institution over two Saturdays in May on the Pietermaritzburg and Westville campuses. With a
A team of scientists from data cybernetics in Germany, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), and UKZN’s Centre for Quantum Technology has published research in Nature Quantum Information about the successful application of a machine learning tool known as the “kernel method to quantum computers”, which could enhance various machine learning methods. Quantum computing, which solves some computational problems far faster than
The School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science (SMSCS) at UKZN is putting its expertise in Data Science and Education to work to provide a brand new Data Science course for second-year students enabling them to learn how to mine data using machine learning. This course forms part of an initiative by SAS, a leading company specialising in
The Hydrogen and Real time Analysis eXperiment (HIRAX) project led by UKZN is achieving milestones on its journey towards the ultimate installation of a dish array at its site in the Karoo by deploying and testing two prototype telescope dish designs at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) in Hartebeesthoek, Gauteng. The prototypes, one made of fibreglass and
A UKZN Marine Biology honours student’s experiences while doing research on the impact of climate change on sex ratios of turtle hatchlings has been published by journalism training agency Roving Reporters and online newspaper the Daily Maverick. Ms Natalie dos Santos did the research at Bhanga Nek in northern KwaZulu-Natal in 2019 and earlier this year,
Mr Lungelo Zuma, a final-year BSc student in Microbiology and Genetics, is making just some of his many dreams come true by cultivating a career as a musician, building an e-commerce site he believes could make life easier for students, and focusing on his studies with the aim of establishing a microbiology company. Originally from
Emeritus Professor Manfred Hellberg of the School of Chemistry and Physics has been profiled among 62 long-standing members of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) in its Legends of South African Science II publication. ASSAf commended the members featured, whose disciplinary diversity contributes to the strength of the academy, for their academic excellence and scholarship. ‘It is hoped that
PhD candidate in the Centre for Quantum Technology at UKZN, Ms Amira Abbas has been featured in ITWeb’s Brainstorm magazine discussing the role of quantum computing in financial applications. Abbas is currently exploring quantum neural networks and finance applications at IBM’s quantum computing research lab in Switzerland as part of her PhD research into new financial instruments that could arise from