UP alumni take pride of place on the global stage

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The University of Pretoria (UP) Museums are partnering with the UP Alumni Relations Office to launch a cultural art campaign named GLAM – Galleries/Gardens, Libraries, Archives and Museums.

“I have been thinking about developing an African GLAM for a number of years now, bringing together the colleagues and collections we most often partner with,” said Sian TileyNel, Head of the UP Museums. It is hoped that GLAM would spread across university networks in South Africa as well as engage with the art and heritage sector, whether private, government or for non-profit. Museums, including arts, archives and libraries are key contributors to community, providing material and information that affect public discourse and encourage rigorous academic debate. a collective responsibility of a wide diversity of information resources. With the support of UP Alumni Relations Office, GLAM brings together the UP Museums, the UP Archives and the UP Library and has the potential to expand to the institution’s much-adored Botanical Gardens. Such collaboration provides a means to leverage the expertise and resources, to move across disciplines and, more importantly, to exercise greater influence both within and outside of the University of Pretoria.

Internationally, GLAM is a well-recognised acronym for “galleries, libraries, archives and museums” and is an industry sector used in Australia, Canada, the US and the UK. Its earlier form in the 1990s was LAM, which did not specify galleries. Many GLAMs started out as small initiatives to create a working group to bring wider value to collections. Later they expanded to identify areas where partnerships could be developed that would enhance engagement and spark creativity. Objectives ranged from widening research into GLAMs on their social and economic value of memory institutions, which is why several GLAMs originated within university collections. GLAM is an ideal conduit for the UP Museums to raise awareness of their efforts in curating and conserving valuable collections that form an integral component of the memory of an institution. According to Samantha Castle, Senior Manager for Alumni Relations: “GLAM is an important initiative in promoting art and heritage, and showcasing our beautiful Botanical Gardens at the University. Our alumni will find a lot of value in learning more about GLAM through tours, features in alumni publications, special GLAM events and online discussions. We are excited to collaborate with the UP Museums on this project and hope our alumni will enjoy this new offering.”

GLAM also has the potential to expand to become an alumni benefit to include access to unique GLAM museum interpretative tours, Javett-UP and access to the institution’s offerings in art and culture. UP is taking charge of its collections that fall under the oversight of the University of Pretoria Heritage Committee. It is the only university in South Africa with a Heritage Committee whose purpose is to ensure and sustain a dynamic institutional repository that reflects the history, heritage and standing of the University as a cultural and educational institution. GLAM-UP hopes to be a convergence of institutional collections to foster greater collaboration and strengthen partnerships within the institution. Later, this will move to networks at local, national and global levels in the hope of catalysing new partnerships. The aim is to build generational bridges, to form new linkages and create new synergies within the domains of the creative and research.

This overlap of collecting, maintaining and preserving accessible primary sources of the institution’s collections is valuable for both researchers and public interest. According to Sian: “The GLAM campaign through UP Alumni Relations Office allows us to tap into UP’s vast alumni networks (locally and abroad) and to promote UP’s museum, art, archive and library collections. GLAM would enrich and expand access to the collection to ensure that UP contributes significantly to the public good of promoting and sustaining the arts, archives, libraries and museums.

GLAM has the potential “to give voice back to the history of the institution’s unique and diverse collections, preserved and promoted in the present and as a safeguard for the future of the institution’s memory”.

1 – The largest collection within the Special Collections Unit is the African Collection which focuses on all disciplines within the heritage of sub-Saharan Africa. (Courtesy of the Department of Library Services)

2 – The UP Museums entrance to the Mapungubwe Gallery dedicated to southern African ceramics

3 – The UP Archives is an active and integral part of university activities (Courtesy of the UP Archives)

Author: Prim Gower

A dedicated wildlife clinic opened its doors at UP’s Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital (OVAH) in March 2020.

The Faculty is the only one of its kind in the country and celebrates its centenary this year. The OVAH provides world-class practical training to final-year veterinary and veterinary nursing students. Its facilities render myriad services to all animal species and can accommodate anything from a pet lizard to a large bull.

According to Dr Paul van Dam, newly appointed Director of the OVAH, “having facilities on the Onderstepoort Campus allows easy access to all the clinical specialists as well as services offered by the OVAH and the diagnostic laboratories on campus”.

Being able to accommodate the animals in these facilities has the additional advantage that a more comprehensive and dedicated

The new clinic comprises two buildings – herbivore bomas and one that accommodates carnivores. It meets the legal requirements of the Department of Environmental Affairs and the Department of Agriculture.

service can be provided. In the past, wildlife had to be released to the owner’s farm after initial treatment, making follow-up treatment a challenge.

“The facility is unique in that it will be used to hospitalise clients’ animals. Similar facilities exist, for example at zoos, but these are all only used for the entity’s own animals,” he said.

The clinic can accommodate carnivores up to the size of lions, as well as herbivores, from small antelope to the size of young rhino. Patients come from South African game farms, zoos and other registered wildlife breeding and holding facilities. “With the new facilities, animals can be kept under close supervision and regular treatment is now possible. It also allows the wildlife clinicians to perform more specialist diagnostic procedures than would be possible on the farm,” said Dr Van Dam.

While the Faculty’s wildlife clinicians have the expertise to treat all species of wildlife, they can now also call on specialists from other disciplines in the OVAH for procedures – including radiology, surgery, anaesthesiology, medicine and reproduction.

Dean of the Faculty, Professor Vinny Naidoo, said in addition to the actual management of wildlife under hospitalised conditions, the general training of students in hospitalised care of wildlife is important. “This will allow our new graduates the opportunity to be more innovative in how they manage wildlife when they get into practice. If one looks at the equine industry, the introduction of specialised equine care at the academic hospital many years ago has completely changed how equine patients are managed nowadays.”

He predicts the same positive effect of training veterinary students in the hospital care of wildlife – the major impact of the facility will be the advancement of the field of wildlife medicine in the near future.

Prof Vinny Naidoo, Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Science (left) and Prof Tawana Kupe, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria, who officially opened the wildlife clinic, at the entrance to the herbivore bomas.

Author: Primarashni Gower Engineering 4.0 building, a collaboration The University of Pretoria (UP) and the Roads Agency (SANRAL) and the CSIR which Council for Scientific and Industrial Research will be launched soon, hosts Africa’s first (CSIR), an entity of the Department of Science independent transport reference and testing and Innovation (DSI) signed a memorandum facility, which will test materials for the road of agreement (MoA) on 22 July 2020, to construction industry. collaborate in the area of smart transport, will further develop the skills required to design, construct, maintain with the Engineering Faculty of UP as an integral component of its The collaboration includes the cooperative use of the CSIR laboratories and UP’s Engineering 4.0 facility. These facilities complement each other and allow for larger research projects to be executed, with the involvement of postgraduate students. The collaboration also entails jointly working towards the establishment of a CSIR Research Chair in Smart Mobility at UP. This Chair funds senior researchers and postgraduate students who will conduct research in areas of targeted need. between UP, the South African National cities and environments. Disruptive technologies are changing the face of transportation in the world, Prof The aim is to reduce energy consumption Maharaj said, and transport systems will look levels in transportation, maximise a lot different in 20 years. “Due to the vast productivity in industry, and provide a higher distances between communities, economic quality of life for citizens. opportunities and agricultural resources in Africa, an extensive transportation network According to Professor Wynand Steyn, Head of some sorts will remain essential for the of the Department of Civil Engineering in UP’s social and economic development of the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment Professor Sunil Maharaj and Professor Wynand continent in the next few decades.” According and Information Technology (EBIT), “The Steyn to UP Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor cooperation means that UP can focus on creating a pipeline of Tawana Kupe: “We signed this MOA following a national and global potential researchers in these areas. fight against the COVID-19 health crisis. This pandemic requires us “In order to work towards smart cities, there is a need to develop higher education sector, in partnership with institutions like the CSIR. researchers with advanced skills in robotics, artificial intelligence, the It is a big wake-up call to think and do things differently if we want to Internet of Things, and satellite technology. To this end, researchers take the lead as South Africa, with our universities playing an essential will be trained through complementary skills at UP and the CSIR.” This role in co-creating the continent we want beyond COVID-19.” and rehabilitate the extensive roads network in South Africa. He said in this partnership UP seeks to advance the United Nations’ Kenny Kistan, CSIR Executive Cluster Manager: Smart Mobility, innovation, infrastructure and sustainable cities and communities as said: “The Smart Mobility Cluster of the CSIR sees the collaboration critical for developing any economy. strategic initiative to address transport and infrastructure challenges Speaking at the signing ceremony, CSIR CEO Dr Thulani Dlamini said in the country and the continent. This will undoubtedly contribute that the collaboration with UP has a long history and has always been to improving and advancing economic activity. This partnership will productive. This agreement is further testimony to the enduring enable us to share our expertise to accelerate technology solutions in partnership between the two institutions. “Our collaborations with South Africa’s smart mobility sector.” higher education institutions such as the University of Pretoria “Besides, this initiative is a positive start to co-create scientific through production of high-quality knowledge, technologies knowledge and multi-faceted technological innovation and solutions, and innovations in the chosen sectoral areas of focus. Further, which is in line with our implementation plan and is linked to the they provide a solid platforms for advancing our human capital CSIR’s mandate to support and strengthen industrial activity in the development skills objectives and in this case we will jointly be country,” Kistan said. developing skills of the future as part of the scope of the agreement.”

to look at innovative and unconventional ways of doing things in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with particular focus on enhance CSIR’s research, development and innovation activities Dr Dlamini further said the partnership was truly synergistic in that the envisaged application of emerging and fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies, among others, in this collaboration in fact executes the new CSIR strategy and does so as the CSIR mandate intended.

“What is even more meaningful is that through this partnership, we will also contribute to addressing the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality in our country, as smart transport, cities and environment are key to addressing these challenges,” Dr Dlamini said.