CROSS FACULTY
Showcasing Graduate Research at Wits
Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 September 2019
New Commerce Building, Braamfontein Campus West
POSTGRADUATE ASSOCIATION
INTRODUCTION
The 10th Cross-Faculty Postgraduate Symposium will take place on 3 and 4 September 2019. This series of symposia consistently attracts the top postgraduate students from across the five University faculties.
This year we are introducing an exciting new format that will be used – the GradFlash presentation in which presenters have 60 seconds to present their research. The use of traditional poster and oral presentations will again be used at this Symposium. Another key incentive is the increase in prize money across all categories and a surprise overall award and opportunity.
Our keynote speakers include Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, our DVC for Research, Ms Keabetswe Khutsoane, former Chairperson of the Postgraduate Association (2018/19) and Ms Babalwa Bekebu, the Chairperson of the Postgraduate Association (PGA) (2019/2020).
The Symposium will provide students from the different Faculties with the opportunity not only to learn about research activities in the different Schools in their Faculty, but also to hear about activities going on in other Faculties.
Finally, a thank you to Lucille Mooragan who has been the person who did all the ‘behind the scenes’ work. She has coordinated the numerous activities that have allowed for this event to happen.
I hope that all the delegates will enjoy the event and I wish all well as they compete for the various awards.
Professor Robert Muponde Director, Postgraduate Affairs
University of the Witwatersrand
Keynote Speakers Prizes General Information
Thank you’s Programme
Participants (Orals, Gradflash, Posters)
Wits Postgraduate Association Committee
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Bibliographical Profile
Zeblon Zenzele Vilakazi is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Postgraduate Affairs) and a Professor in the School of Physics at the University of the Witwatersrand, a position he has held since January 2014.
He was appointed Group Executive for Research and Development at the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) in 2011, while also serving as the Director of iThemba LABS, the largest nuclear research laboratory in the Southern Hemisphere – a position he has held since 2007. He was also a visiting scientist at the Atomic Energy Commission and Alternative energy (CEA), Saclay, France.
He obtained his PhD from Wits on a project undertaken at CERNNA43 experiment, in 1998, followed by a National Research Foundation (NRF) postdoctoral fellowship at CERN. He took up an academic post at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 1999 where he was the Group Leader of the UCT team that developed the High-level Trigger (HLT) tracker for the ALICE experiment at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. This effort involved design of algorithms using highly complex real-time data transportation framework. The HLT was successfully commissioned at Large Hadron Collider in 2008. The group he led was the first on the African continent to independently launch an effort of this magnitude at frontier level. He initiated the search for electroweak probes (W and Z bosons) for the study of the quark-gluon plasma – using the HLT – which is now a sub-project lead by a young team member (Dr Zinhle Buthelezi) from iThemba LABS whom he mentored.
He is an Honorary Professor of Physics at the University of Cape Town. Dr Vilakazi currently serves – among others – as a member of the Program Advisory Committee of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia. He also served as a chairman of the IAEA Standing Advisory Committee on Nuclear Applications from 2009 to 2011. In 2010 he was nominated by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader. He is a member of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa (ASSAf) and also serves on the ASSAf Council. He was recently awarded the Fellowship of the African Academy of Science(FAAS). Prof Vilakazi’s research interests include the study of relativistic nuclear collisions and computational physics. He has served as MSc and PhD external examiner amongst others, at Wits, UCT and Aarhus University, Denmark. He has more than 160 publications and an H-index of 41.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Bibliographical Career Profile
Keabetswe Khutsoane is the former Chairperson of the Postgraduate Association (2018/19). She is a Masters student in the department of Political Studies and is a fellow of numerous academic institutes which including the Wits Institute of Social and Economic Research-WISER. She is a former student representative at the Gender Equity Office and is a student representative of two important task teams at Wits University, namely the Gender Studies curriculum establishment task team and the Student success framework task team.
Keabetswe’s research interests are Healthcare and Sexual citizenship in South Africa. She theorizes through a human rights and legal lens for the normalization and legalization for sex work, particularly sexual surrogacy in South Africa. Keabetswe’s future research plans include exploring the position of the African women and youth and sexuality in the fourth industrial revolution.
Keabetswe is a former member of Council, Senate, the Graduate Student Committee, Convocation and an outgoing member of the Postgraduate Representative in the Student Representative Council (SRC).
Bibliographical Career Profile
Babalwa Bekebu is the Chairperson of the Postgraduate Association (PGA) (2019/2020), a student body that works to represent and protect postgraduate students’ interests within the University. Bekebu’s interests in student leadership have long existed before she joined the PGA, she leads in the David Webster Hall House Committee (2016/2017) and in the Wits Bioethics Student Society (2018/2019).
Her passion for leadership was groomed during her high school years, at Get Ahead College in a small town called Queenstown, where she was a prefect. Her vibrancy and eagerness to help others have contributed towards making her a leader that is compassionate, intentional and head-strong.
She is studying towards an MSc in Medicine: Bioethics and Health Law by dissertation. Her research interests lie within the ethics of healthcare access in rural areas and foreign nationals’ access to healthcare. Before she ventured into this research, she studied a BSc in Biochemistry and Physiology and a BHSc (Hons) in Bioethics and Health Law. She has an unwavering passion for advocating for equal access to quality healthcare and healthcare rights.
Prof. Zeblon Vilakazi
Babalwa Bekebu
Ms Keabetswe Khutsoane
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Prof. Robert Muponde
Bibliographical Profile
Professor Robert Muponde is a rated scholar whose work encompasses a broad but interconnected range of literary and cultural studies themes. It can best be described as characterised by a politics of critical redress, innovation and renovation. He situates his work in global scholarship rooted in local contexts.
Global Childhood studies led him to enduring questions of memory, politics and family, and resulted in the publication of his critical monograph, Some Kinds of Childhood: Images of History and Resistance in Zimbabwean Literature (Africa World Press, 2015), and inevitably to father figures, the so-called founding imaginaries of cultures and nations. He conceptualised and co-edited Manning the Nation: Father Figures in Zimbabwean Literature and Society (Harare & Johannesburg: 2007) as well as Versions of Zimbabwe: New Approaches to Literature and Culture (2005) which sought to undo the cultural, literary walls and imaginaries that contributed to the political blindness that led Zimbabwe into a multi-layered crisis. Prior to 2005, he coedited Sign and Taboo: Perspectives on the Poetic Fiction of Yvonne Vera (Harare & Oxford, 2002), widely considered by researchers as the locus classicus on the internationally acclaimed Zimbabwean writer. The idea was again to address the poverty of local and international perspectives on a leading African author.
His recent co-edited publication is While the Harvest Rots: Possessing Worlds of Kudzanai Chiurai’s Art (The Goodman Gallery, 2017). It is a close, critical visual analysis and interpretation of one of the leading African voices in the field, and attempts to deepen and complicate perspectives on his art beyond the usual, stereotypical vocabulary reserved for the criticism of African art. His just-completed solo research project is titled, The Scandalous Times of a Book Louse: A Memoir of a Childhood (to be published by Umuzi, an imprint of Penguin Random House), which depicts and questions the nature of social transitions and pedagogic transformations and aesthetic transfusions on growing up an African child in a turbulent time.
Professor Muponde also worked as Assistant Dean of International Affairs and Partnerships in the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand (2008-2011). He became Wits’ Director of Postgraduate Affairs in August 2018.
PRIZES
I would like to thank Professor Vilakazi and the Research Office for the generous support given to run the Symposium. The Office covered all costs associated with the venue, catering, bags, memory sticks etc. Most importantly they have provided the prizes that will be awarded to the best Oral, GradFlash and Poster presenters Oral:
GENERAL INFORMATION
The event will be held at the New Commerce Building on the Wits West campus on 3 and 4 September 2019.
THE PROCESS
1 Registration. This will start at 8 am on 3 Septembe 2019.
2 ALL delegates and observers must register.
3 On registration you will be given a bag. This will contain a memory stick, booklet, a copy of the programme, plus advertising material. Please wear the name tag supplied at all times during the symposium.
4 Tea, coffee and biscuits will be available on arrival as well as full catering for the 2-day event.
5 The symposium will start at 9 am on 3 September 2019. The programme in this booklet gives an approximate breakdown of the events on those days.
6 The event will commence with some talks by invited speakers. This will be followed by the GradFlash presentations and Poster viewing. The Oral presentations will then follow.
7 Tea and coffee/water will be available throughout the day.
8 Lunch will be supplied, including halaal, kosher and vegetarian options.
9 The event will end by 4:30 - 5:30pm. The finalists will be announced at the end of the day
10 On the 4 September 2019 the event will start at 8 am. Tea/coffee/biscuits will be available from 8.15 am onwards.
11 The finalists in the Oral, GradFlash and Poster events will compete in the inter-Faculty competition on the 4 September 2019.
12 Lunch will be served approximately 1-2pm
13 Prizes will be awarded at the conclusion of the event and after lunch at about 2-3pm
THANK YOU’ S
I would like to recognise all those who have assisted in making this event a success.
• Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, DVC Research at the University
• The Faculty Assistant Deans, Post graduate Affairs They had to ensure there were post graduate speakers and judges who could assist with the symposium.
• Professor Robert Muponde, Director, Postgraduate Affairs. For awarding the prizes
• The Keynote Speakers Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, Ms Keabetswe Khutsoane, Ms Babalwa Bekebu and Professor Robert Muponde.
• Ms Lucille Mooragan. Lucille is the one who worked overtime to ensure the logistical success of the event.
• The judges and the student session chairs. They are the ones who gave up time to ensure the smooth running of the Symposium.
• The Postgraduate Association. For assistance with bag filling and registration
• Prof Robert Muponde. The new Director, Postgraduate Affairs
• Dr Sadhna Mathura and Ms Bianca Davids. For assistance with the administration and judging process
• Ms Rechelle Tsunke: Our Functions and Events Coordinator
• Olives and Plates, for the catering and refreshments throughout the day.
PROGRAMME
3/09/2019
8.00 - 8.50 Registration and coffee Posters on boards
9.00 - 9.10 Welcome Lucille Mooragan
9.10 - 9.20 DVC Research Prof Zeblon Vilakazi
9.20 - 9.30 Keynote Speaker Ms Keabetswe Khutsoane
9.30 - 9.40 PGA Speaker Ms Babalwa Bekebu
9.40 - 9:50 Director: PG Affairs Professor Robert Muponde INTRO and SURPRISE ANNOUNCEMENT
9.50 - 10.00 TEA BREAK
10.10 - 11.10 Session 1 GradFlash presentations and Poster viewing
11.15 - 12.15 Session 2 (Orals) And concurrent session 2C (Orals)
12.15 - 1.00 LUNCH (45 MINUTES ONLY) and poster viewing
1.10 - 3.10 Session 3 (Orals) And concurrent session 3C (Orals)
3.10 - 3.45
TEA BREAK AND POSTER VIEWING
3.50 - 4:00 Winners announced
4/09/2019
8.00 - 8.30 Session 1: GradFlash presentations and Poster Viewing
8.35 - 10.35 Session 2 (Orals) Talks 1-8
10.35 - 10.50
TEA BREAK AND POSTER VIEWING
11.00 -1:00 Session 3 (Orals) Talks 9-15
1.00 - 2.00 Lunch
2.10 - 2.30 Award ceremony
FACULTY OF COMMERCE, LAW AND MANAGEMENT
C17 TONDERAI
FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
FACULTY OF SCIENCE
GRADFLASH: SESSION 1 10:10 - 11:10
S25 Pious Shuro Chemistry 1706354 The design and synthesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis caseinolytic protease inhibitors GRADFLASH
S26 Lineo Mxakaza Chemistry 1465370 Preparation of Cu2ZnSnS4/N-MWCNTs nanocomposite as potential Pt free counter electrode in dye sensitized solar cells
S27 Josiah Oluwaleye GeoSciences 2091818 DO THE SYENITES AND THE CARBONATITES ROCKS FROM THE PHALABORWA COMPLEX, SOUTH AFRICA FORMED FROM THE SAME MANTLE (MAGMA) SOURCE? GRADFLASH
S28 Eunice Niyobuntu Molecular and Cell Biology 903879 Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha is a putative regulator of peroxidasin
S29 Snegugu Ziqubu GeoSciences 808528 The intention and impact of visible rewards as school-wide practice: a mixed methods study
S30 Masethabela Maphatsoe Molecular and Cell Biology 1316723 Identification of novel carboxylic acid reductase enzymes for biocatalytic applications
S31 Siyabonga Nkabinde Chemistry 564058 MoP and β-WP2 nanoparticles as non-noble electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction
S32 Zakhele Ndala Chemistry 491384 Colloidal synthesis of ReSe2 nanomaterials and their carbon nanocomposites for applications in hydrogen evolution reactions
S33 Rufaro Razuwika Chemistry 2060726 GOLD (III) CARBOXAMIDE PINCER COMPLEXES: SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERISATION AND BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY STUDIES.
S34 Thabang Mashinini Computer Science And Applied Mathematics 717385 Inspection of Echo State Networks GRADFLASH
S35 Olga Faerch Molecular and Cell Biology
S36 Pratibha Chauhan Chemistry
563776 TARGETTING CLIC4 NUCLEAR IMPORT AS A POTENTIAL ANTICANCER STRAGETY
1778345 X-RAY STRUCTURE ANALYSIS OF DIFFICULT TO CRYSTALLIZE COMPOUNDS USING THE CRYSTALLINE SPONGE METHOD.
S37 Naadira Pahad Molecular and Cell Biology 684121 STRUCTURAL AND DNA-BINDING EFFECTS OF FOXP2 OLIGOMERISATION GRADFLASH
S38 Nndivhiseni Ramunenyiwa Chemistry
730609 Synthesis of Fe/Cdots encapsulated hollow carbon spheres for Fischer-Tropsch process.
S39 Orlette Mkhari Chemistry 1901046 Synthesis, characterization and supporting of carbon dots on the sur face of TiO2, SiO2 and HCSs for methyl orange degradation
S40 Ravin Kara Physics
536692 An ultra-fast method of shaping light
S41 Victor Mashindi Chemistry 1589881 Hollow carbon spheres and broken bowl like hollow carbon spheres as supports for highly active and durable fuel cell catalysts GRADFLASH
S42 Sourav Saha Molecular and Cell Biology 1575707 Mice studies with KS-01 might hold an answer to triple negative breast cancer
POSTERS: SESSION 1 10:10-11:10
S43 Olusola Akinbami Chemistry 1866971 Colloidal Synthesis of Cs2ZnBr4 Perovskite-like Material as Hole Transport Layer for Solar Cell Application
S44 Clinton Masemola Chemistry 2167185 Modified polyaniline salts as potential gas sensors
S45 Ntombizanele Ngqinayo Chemistry 462682 THE DESIGN AND SYNTHESIS OF ANTI-TUBERCULOSIS PEPTIDOMIMETICS FOCUSING ON LASSOMYCIN DERIVATIVES POSTER
S46 Jessica Burns Molecular and Cell Biology 1949504 Investigating the possible role of LRP/LR in the β-Synuclein pathogenesis of Parkinson’s Disease POSTER
S47 Ntakadzeni Nemuvumoni Molecular and Cell Biology 1917821
An investigation into the effects of metformin in combination with nelarabine for the treatment of leukaemia using T-lymphoblastic leukaemia cell lines
S48 Thabiso Miya Molecular and Cell Biology 488744 No association between Secretor phenotypes (FUT2 genotypes) and immune response to Rotarix vaccination in South African infants
S49 Sibongiseni Ntuli Molecular and Cell Biology 687378 ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN GENETIC VARIANTS IN THE IDO PATHWAY AND CD4+ T-CELL RECOVERY AFTER ART
S50 Ndivhuwo Shumbula Chemistry 677753 In-situ synthesis and characterization of silver nanoparticles on the sur face of polydopamine spheres: Towards wound healing application.
S51 Auther Maviza Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies 1056030 ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE/ VARIABILITY AND LANDUSE-LANDCOVER CHANGES ON SURFACE RUNOFF IN THE UPPER MZINGWANE SUBCATCHMENT, ZIMBABWE
S52 Tebogo Marutha Molecular and Cell Biology 1111612 Regulation of PXDN In Eye Development and PXDN Gene Variant Screening Within A South African Cohort of Patients Presenting with Anterior Segment Dysgenesis
S53 Blair Cowie Animal, Plant and Environmental Science 540495 The biological control of Parthenium weed: new insights and future prospects
S54 Bokome Shaku Chemistry 726829 Physico-chemical properties of catalyst-free carbon nano-onions grown by the flame pyrolysis method for possible application in supercapacitors
S55 Monare Thulo Molecular and Cell Biology 1037081 FOXP1 and FOXP2 associate in transcriptional regulation through multiple and distinct dimerisation domains
S56 Floyd Ralepele Animal, Plant and Environmental Science 728878 RESPONSES OF SELECTED METABOLITES IN MORINGA OLEIFERA LEAVES TO SEASONAL VARIATION
S57 Bonakele Mtolo Chemistry 737945 Synthesis of carbon nanofibers made from nickel catalysts confined within hollow carbon spheres
S58 Dineo Nhlane Chemistry 851430 Functionalized Graphene oxide Thin Film Nanocomposite Membranes for Remediation of Acid Mine Drainagecontaminated Waters
S59 Lebogang Mosiane Chemistry 840679 Optimizing the growth conditions for synthesis of few walled CNTs (FWCNTs) using methane
S60 Memory Reid Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies 400526 INTER-ANNUAL VARIABILITY OF CLIMATIC AND HYDROLOGICAL VARIABLES IN THE KARIBA SUB BASIN OF THE ZAMBEZI RIVER BASIN
S61 Heather Donald Molecular and Cell Biology 848182 The characterisation of the interactions between YY1, the FOXP2 FHD and DNA
S62 Ashleigh Blane Molecular and Cell Biology 940523 A study on the dimerisation and DNA binding of the TBR1 T-Box domain.
S63 Macdaline Mathye Computer Science And Applied Mathematics
A Bayesian approach to predicting students’ performance using biographical and enrollment observations
S64 Yongezile Mhlana Chemistry 670607 Heteroatom Carbon Spheres incorporated with Titania for photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants
S65 Sikhumbuzo Masina Chemistry 1762101 Fast oxide ion conductors for solid oxide fuel cells: structure-property correlations in Bi2O3 based solid solutions
S66 Anil Pise Computer Science And Applied Mathematics 1424928 Facial Image Analysis for E-learning using Relational Reasoning
S67 Suramya Bansal Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies
PRACTICAL AND INTERPRETIVE IMPLICATIONS OF EXPERIMENTAL HAND IMPRINTS
S68 Pumza Mente Chemistry 799012 Using functionalized polymers to make hollow carbon spheres to be used as supports in catalysis
S69 Edith Singini Animal, Plant and Environmental Science 804218 The effects of high temperatures on the histology and bioactive compounds of Lippia javanica
S70 Sandiso Mnguni GeoSciences
Orapa Diamond Mine fossil treasures.
S71 Emmah Mandishona Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies 965109 Rural wetlands use and sustainability, the case study of Honde Valley rural area in Zimbabwe
S72 Felix Kwabena Donkor Animal, Plant and Environmental Science 1239639 "Dynamics of effective natural resource governance in transitional social contexts: evidence from traditional versus state institutions in a rural co-management framework." POSTER
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
E2
SESSION 1 10:10-11:10
E18 Lawrence Obidike Chemical and Metallurgical 0312936W Effect of Lamivudine on Nitrification During Biological Wastewater Treatment
E19 Moloko Fridah Moshokoa Chemical and Metallurgical 533003 Adaptation of Actinobacillus succinogenes to an optimized ‘one-pot’ molten hydrate solvent system
E20 Ntombikayise Precious Bhengu Chemical and Metallurgical 547503 Optimization of the Extraction of Silica from Coal Fly Ash (CFA) and Pulp Waste
E21 NNANNA-JNR MICHAEL OKORO
E22 Craig S. Carlson
E23 Sibusiso Luthuli
E24 Poloko Monaheng
and Metallurgical 1582331 SYNGAS PRODUCTION FROM PYRO-GASIFICATION OF INVASIVE ALIEN TREE WASTES
FACULTY OF HEALTH SCIENCE
POSTERS: SESSION 1 10:10-11:10
HS23 Ntombikayise Mhlambi Clinical Medicine 1583242 Novel targets in dysregulated signalling pathways to inhibit metastasis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
HS24 NASIRU MUHAMMAD Physiology 1332380 Neonatally administered zingerone protects against high-fructose diet-induced dyslipidaemia and obesity in male SpragueDawley rats.
HS25 Goodman Bukelani Nyawose Public Health 1508262 Outbreak Investigation of a Suspected Nosocomial Tuberculosis infection in a Psychiatric Hospital, KwaZulu-Natal, December 2018 POSTER
HS26 Maile G Ralefatane Chemical Pathology 866717 Assessing folate sufficiency of samples tested at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital in 2017
HS27 Itumeleng Boshielo Pathology 1144115 Biomarkers to predict TB treatment response
HS28 Previn Ramiah Therapeutic Science 1124742 Novel drug delivery approaches for the treatment of neuropathic pain
HS29 Windy Sekgele Oral Health 669596 Reversal of fluconazole drug resistance in Candida albicans through the inhibition of the ABC drug efflux pumps by Eugenol Tosylate Congeners POSTER
HS30 Kgomotso Motshoane Physiology 831228 4-Hydroxyisoleucine as prophylaxis against high-fructose diet-induced Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in growing rats
HS31 NOMAGUGU NDLOVU Physiology 8900301 Dietary Hibiscus sabdariffa calyces meal: effects on pullet Japanese quail productive performance and egg quality
HS32 Zanele Nsingwane Clinical Medicine 718625 Angiogenic pathways are overexpressed in early pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma in a cohort of South African patients affecting immune response
NOTES
NOTES
www.wits.ac.za/postgraduate www.wits.ac.za/postgraduate
