WSU PARTICIPATES IN SWEDEN BASED RESEARCH AND INNOVATION WEEK

Walter Sisulu University’s (WSU) Research Team led by the Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Rushiella Songca, left South Africa to participate in the South Africa-Sweden Universities Forum (SASUF) Research and Innovation Week in Sweden from 13 – 17 May 2024.

WSU joined SASUF from its inception in 2018 under the auspices of WSU’s acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Elphina Cishe.  SASUF coordinates various projects between participant universities in the two countries. These projects address the following six Themes:

• Theme 1: Climate change, natural resources and sustainability.
• Theme 2: Education for a sustainable society.
• Theme 3: Social transformation through change: Knowledge and social development strategies.
• Theme 4: Health - Understanding the burden of disease in Sweden and South Africa.

• Theme 5: Sustainable urbanisation, travel and tourism in the 21st Century
• Theme 6: Digital technologies, big data and cybersecurity

The project is on sustainable communities in both countries in which South African universities will learn best practices around sustainable communities in Sweden, with the choice of Rostanga Sustainable Village in Malmo, Sweden as a case study.

“The project aims to establish a framework for a multidisciplinary platform to support and capacitate postgraduate and emerging researchers to address the health and productivity of smallholder farming communities and their livestock, together with H4H NPO partners, the communities, and government,” added Cishe.

Cishe also said that WSU had team leaders in each of the above themes.

“In addition to the above themes, there are the Vice Chancellors’ (VCs) programmes and Students’ network. Students have their own network and a WSU student, Philile Maseti presented on “The Importance of Students’ Role in Driving Change”. In 2022, he won the SASUF Essay Writing and will be launching the SASUF Student chapter upon his return,” She said.

Four projects were successful in securing the funding from National Research Foundation and the Swedish Research Funding Agency.

WSU successful projects are the following:

1. Project Title: Multidisciplinary research network towards rural resilience through the health of smallholder farming communities and their livestock.

2. Project Title: Sustainable Community Development and Real Estate of Local Communities:  Knowledge transfer from Röstånga, Scania, Sweden to Ibika, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Participation of WSU students: Few 3^rd year Built and Environment students will be incorporated into the project for field work within Ibika community.

3. Project Title:  Investigating the User Experience for Open Digital Platforms as Tools for Research Collaboration.

4.  Project Title: Doctoral education across disciplines for Agenda 2030: Towards a pedagogical framework to address wicked problems in South Africa and Sweden.

The team also intend to further explore sustainable construction practices in Sweden as a nation and advance the use of sustainable materials in housing including social housing.