UCT participates in National Science Week launch

The National Science Week fair was launched on 1 August 2015 at the North-West University Mafikeng Campus. Started in 2000, the National Science Week is an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology in partnership with South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement. The launch included a career exhibition, in which over 82 exhibitors from across the country representing various stakeholders in the scientific community took part.

The purpose of the National Science Week initiative is to contribute to the development of a society that values and appreciates science, engineering and technological fields, to provide a platform for scientists to instill interest in learners to follow careers in the scientific community.

“The National Science Week is a very important celebration of excellence in the science, technology and allied fields. We hope to demonstrate and celebrate many the scientific contributions made by scientists from our country and showcase their talent to the world,” said the Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor.

 The program ran from 1 August to 8 August 2015, and had approximately 4000 learners present from in and around the town of Mafikeng, university students, government officials, university management as well as the Minister of Science and Technology along with the department’s ministry officials.

Representing UCT at the career expo on 1 August were members of the RCIPS Commercialisation team, Dr Revel Iyer and Francois Oosthuizen. Building on the theme for this year’s Science Week, The International Year of Light and Light-Based Technologies, UCT took the opportunity to showcase some of the innovations taking place at the institution “along the spectrum” in order to engage with the learners present at the expo.

“As a university it is quite an honour to host such a prestigious event in the science community. We continue as an institution to make significant contributions and advancements in the field of science through our various projects like the Science Centre, and a food production project,” commented Prof Dan Kgwadi, NWU’s Vice-Chancellor.