Department of Chemistry welcomes distinguished fellows

Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, Dr Ncediwe Ndube-Tsolekile, is thrilled to have recently welcomed three different fellows, The Wallenberg Academy Fellows from Sweden, Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) S Iso Lomso Fellows, and the Department of Higher Education & Training future professor fellows.

Ndube-Tsolekile says the primary aim of the visit was twofold: to showcase the department's facilities and to foster engagement between the visiting fellows and the department's staff members to explore potential collaborations. She said the visit was part of the STIAS Joint Symposium. Ndube-Tsolekile says the Joint symposium was meant to provide a platform where all fellows present on their research work in attempt to find synergies for future collaborations. A total of 16 guests were in attendance from various scientific backgrounds which included professors from different research fields and institutes. Research fields included work on nanomaterials and surface chemistry (Chalmers University of Technology), Medical Chemistry and Biophysics (Umeå University), Immunolog (Karolinska Institutet), Medical Science (Lund University) among others.

The visitors were taken on a bus tour around the Bellville campus. This was followed by a welcome by the Head of Department, Prof Merill Wicht, whereby the visitors were provided with an overview of the institution and the Chemistry Department. The fellows were also provided with a detailed presentation on the Department’s research work and expertise and with a tour around the laboratories of the Chemistry department.

"The selection of CPUT as the host for these distinguished fellows underscores the university's emerging research identity and highlights the Chemistry department's noteworthy reputation for conducting innovative research. While we may not boast state-of-the-art facilities, our commitment to producing high-quality work with the available resources is evident,” Ndube-Tsolekile enthused.

She added that the visit was successful as the delegates were interested in forming collaborations based on the research performed in the chemistry department. This was also evident as a collaboration meeting is scheduled for January 2024. The visitors were very interested in the materials produced within the Bio-Nanotech and Electrochem Research group as such it was recommended that the “Nanotech and Electrochem Research group registers patents and prototypes of the products that we produce”.

“The visit will benefit me in securing international collaborations since the visitors were from various international institutions. The visit could provide the institution an opportunity to sign MoUs across different institutions which would benefit post-graduate students.”

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
Email: boyceap@cput.ac.za