International honour: Prof Karen Sliwa-Hahnle, director of UCT's Hatter Institute for Cardiovascular Research, has been awarded the Paul Morawitz Award for her research into cardiovascular prevention, heart failure, and the pathophysiology of cardiomyopathy.

Karen Sliwa-Hahnle, professor of cardiovascular research and director of UCT's Hatter Institute for Cardiovascular Research, has been awarded a top international award for her research into cardiovascular prevention, heart failure and the pathophysiology of cardiomyopathy.

The Paul Morawitz Award is the highest annual award for exceptional cardiovascular research for people from German-speaking countries (Austria, Switzerland and Germany), and can be given to scientists, cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons or paediatric cardiologists.

The award's laudation notes that Sliwa-Hahnle studied as a physician in Berlin, Germany, and subsequently worked at the University of the Witwatersrand.

"In 2010 she was appointed as professor of cardiovascular research and the director of the Hatter Institute for Cardiovascular Research in Africa, at the prestigious University of Cape Town, South Africa," the laudation says, adding that, "due to her scientific excellence and international success, she made German cardiology internationally visible."

Sliwa-Hahnle said cardiovascular research was performed at a very high standard in Germany, with a huge funding volume and many innovations over the past 100 years. "It is a great honour to receive this very prestigious award."

During her years in cardiovascular research, Sliwa-Hahnle established a theme of projects called the Heart of Soweto Studies, which are recognised worldwide. The projects investigate the prevalence, presentation and management of cardiac disease in an urban African population.

"These studies on more than 8 000 patients highlighted the high prevalence of hypertension, obesity and cardiac disease in Africa, and have resulted in more than 20 publications so far. They have also been used to train eight postgraduate students, mainly physicians, who did their doctoral theses and PhD projects using aspects of these studies," said Sliwa-Hahnle.

She recently expanded the project to include other African countries such as Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya and Sudan, and has also designed a number of innovative research programmes and has leveraged funding for several major research projects - not only in South Africa and the rest of Africa, but also internationally.

Sliwa-Hahnle's research on the physiology, clinical outcome and therapy of peripartum cardiomyopathy, a disease affecting women post-delivery, resulted in the establishment of the Peripartum Cardiomyopathy Working Group, which she chairs.

This group has leveraged funding for a 1 000-patient international registry on PPCM, and the project is expected not only to improve knowledge of this disease (which occurs in 1 in 1 000 South African women), and - ultimately - patient outcomes, but also to further enhance UCT's international reputation as a centre for leading medical research.

Her special focus on heart disease in pregnant women also addresses the World Health Organisation's Millennium Goal 5: to reduce maternal and child mortality.

"I see myself as a mentor for young academics struggling to lead a balanced life which incorporates clinical work, enjoying research, having a partner and children and finding some time for themselves," says Slilwa-Hahnle.

"The award is important for strategic planning, as we have just submitted an application for a large German-African collaborating group. Hopefully, having received the Paul Morawitz Award will increase our chances of success."

"Should anyone be tested for a condition that is fatal and devastating to both the patient and the patient's family?" - Prof Jacquie Greenberg at her inaugural lecture on 17 April.

While stem cell technology is a real and present key to cures for inherited disorders, the watchword is caution, said Professor Jacquie Greenberg in her inaugural lecture on 17 April.

"Stem cell prospects are the fuel of false promises. Many people want to hear they can be helped, but we must balance hype and hope." Greenberg, based in the Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, is co-head of the Faculty of Health Sciences' new UCT Stem Cell Initiative. With a UCT career spanning over four decades, she was able to give a lecture detailing a journey along the double helix of the human genome, moving from basic science to translational genetics, to therapeutics directed at South African families with genetic conditions. Although much of the current thinking around genetic therapeutic intervention has been saddled with the 'baggage' around the science and ethics of culturing embryonic stem cells, new stem cell technology has changed that.

In 2012, Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka won the Nobel Prize for pioneering induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), using technology to turn cultured skin and other cells into iPSCs. Scientists can now take primitive human cells and develop these into any type of cell in the body, even sperm. They're an ideal source of cells for the 'disease-in-a-dish' study of diseases affecting inaccessible tissues, such as the eyes and brain.

"Stem cells are cruising into clinics," Greenberg remarked. "Patients are being treated with their own cells." Collaborating with researchers in Oxford and Japan, scientists from the UCT Stem Cell Initiative have established the first iPSCs from South African patients suffering from the inherited neurodegenerative disease spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 (SCA7). They're also in the process of deriving cells from patients with the neuromuscular disorder myasthenia gravis, a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disease characterised by skeletal muscle weakness.

But geneticists working with stem cells aren't just "tinkering with cells" said Greenberg. Although iPSCs skip the ethical brouhaha associated with embryonic stem cell research, the technology is still very new.

"What we do must be scientifically safe and ethically sound."

Greenberg wrapped up her PhD in 1990 in UCT's Division of Human Genetics, now part of the Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences. The work stimulated a lifelong interest in the late-onset neurodegenerative diseases, the inherited ataxias and Huntington's Disease, a genetic disorder that affects muscle co-ordination and leads to cognitive decline and psychiatric problems.

Importantly, this research alerted her to the complex ethical considerations of genetic counselling - and the dilemmas of predictive testing. Typically, the onset of the disease is between the ages of 30 and 50, and there's a 50% chance of it being passed on by mother or father to their sons or daughters.

"It's a Sword of Damocles," said Greenberg. "Would you, as a child, want to know? Would you need to know? Should anyone be tested for a condition that is fatal and devastating to both the patient and the patient's family?"

It's an area in which she's made a significant contribution. In 1996 Greenberg became one of the first genetic counsellors to register with the Health Professions Council of South Africa. She's also the course convenor of one of only two master's programmes in genetic counselling in South Africa, which remains "much in demand and much needed". Sadly, a lack of posts is resulting in the slow demise of this vital service, despite the World Health Organisation's recommendation that there should be two genetic counsellors per million people.

Since 1990 Greenberg has worked closely with long-standing colleague Professor Raj Ramesar, head of the Division of Human Genetics, on the Retinal Degenerative Disorders screening programme. Currently, the registry has clinical and genetic mutation data on a wide range of patients affected by a range of retinal degenerative disorders.

To date, this research - which is supported by Retina SA, and funders such as the Medical Research Council - has led to several advances in the identification of the genetic causes of the disease and new retinal disease genes RP17 (CAIV) and RP13 (PRPF8). These genes were originally mapped uniquely to South African families.

As a result, the affected families are receiving better genetic management and will be able to track developments - and potentially, even participate in research towards future therapies for their disorders. An offshoot of this work is the ophthalmic genetic service now offered, with four genetic counsellors trained at UCT.

Greenberg also serves on the committee of the national Department of Health team tasked with drafting regulations and guidelines for the new National Health Bill's section on human cloning and stem cell research.

As for their future work, the UCT Stem Cell Initiative is generating stem cell lines for other conditions. These will be used for future investigation into disease modelling and possible therapeutic screening.

"We do research not for the sake of science, but for the sake of patients - and to do what we do better. "As excited as we are about stem cells, we need to restore balance. There are many people who hope it's a cure for the future; and yes, it is, but the future is not yet now."

(You can listen to the full audio recording of the lecture or visit the UCT Stem Cell Initiative website.

Out there: PhD student and botanist Rob Skelton downloading sap flow and weather data from a station at Jonaskop in the Riviersonderend Mountains. Sap flow sensors (which measure the flow of water through a plant) and meteorological sensors allow Skelton to monitor both plant functionality and weather conditions almost continuously.

Last year was something of an annus mirabilis for PhD botany student Rob Skelton. First, he flew the South African flag as part of the national Mambas team (in which he's known by the tag 'Helter') at the Ultimate world championships in Japan. As an encore, he netted the Australian Journal of Botany's Best Student Paper of 2012 award.

The award sets a precedent for a researcher with plans to pursue postdoctoral studies. Along this path lie many more papers. "But it's good to get the recognition," said the plant scientist. "It helps me get my research and ideas out there."

'Out there' sums it up. This international journal is a repository of leading plant science research in Southern Hemisphere ecosystems. Co-authored with UCT's Professor Jeremy Midgley and Associate Professor Mike Cramer, and the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Professor Steve Johnson, Skelton's winning piece came out of his MSc work on leaf pubescence in Leucospermum, a genus of some 50 species of evergreen flowering shrubs in the family Proteaceae.

Leucospermum species are common to the scrub and mountain slopes of the Cape Floristic Region - and probably best known for their 'pincushion' flowers. (And there's even an Australian connection: the genus is closely related both in evolutionary terms and in appearance to the Australian genus Banksia.)

Their tough and leathery leaves are either glabrous (smooth) or pubescent (hairy). Initially, Skelton had wanted to show that the reason for this difference was linked to water economy, and then move on.

"The view at the time was that increased cover, or hairiness, reduced water loss." But his findings didn't align with the water conservation theory: surprisingly, the smooth-leafed sub-species lost less water. He then had to develop and test alternative hypotheses for the functional significance of leaf pubescence. The silvery appearance of hairy leaves led him to investigate whether pubescence could act as a kind of reflective layer.

"Plants can get too much light," Skelton explained. The hairiness could act as a natural sunscreen. His results showed that pubescent leaves do reflect more light, and that this reduces light-induced damage to the leaf. He also showed that hairy species were more common in drier, hotter environments; this led him to a link between aridity and pubescence.

"The hairy leaf is a radiation-protective trait, a way of reducing light-induced reduction in the photosynthetic capacity of a plant. On top of that, pubescence - by increasing the reflection of light from the leaf - also cools the leaf in stressful times of little water. "As you move towards drier environments, plants are able to rely less on water for cooling, and use pubescence instead. So it's an adaptation to extremely dry habitats."

Skelton's work has broader implications vis-à-vis climate change and encroaching aridity in the Cape Floristic Region. His current fieldwork takes him on bi-monthly excursions to camp out at a remote site near Jonaskop, among the highest peaks of the Riviersonderend Mountains ("It's pretty cold there at the moment!"), private land bordering the Cape Nature Reserve, with limited public access.

Limited is good, he says. "We want to understand what plants are doing outside of human interest.

"We now have a finer-scale-understanding picture of what variables plants are responding to. Determining which variables are important to which groups will tell us which plants will be vulnerable to climate change."

Energy future: Prof Harald Winkler, new director of the Energy Research Centre in the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment.

Professor Harald Winkler's summary of his vision for UCT's Energy Research Centre could be encapsulated in only seven words, Use less energy, more efficiently, mostly renewables. The centre's new director offers a reflection on the world's energy troubles - and the factors driving climate change. A lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change since 2005, Winkler has a special interest in the area.

The UCT alumnus (he has a PhD from UCT, in addition to an MSc in energy and resources from UC Berkeley, and a BA in sociology and politics from Wits) is internationally renowned for his research work in energy and climate policy. He's also taught and supervised students at postgraduate level since 2000.

The ERC is "unique" in South Africa; a multi-disciplinary academic centre producing high-quality, targeted and relevant research that will articulate precise, practical and progressive alternatives to the energy challenges of South Africa, Africa and beyond. What will it take to imagine a different energy future? Broadly, four things, says Winkler.

Firstly, affordable access to energy is pivotal, especially in South Africa. "This is critical to alleviating poverty and inequality," adds Winkler.

Second, the fuel mix must change; South Africa is too coal-dependent. Diversity is an energy policy goal in its own right, but also critical to the third priority: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "Weaning the world off coal and fossil fuels will take decades," he adds. "South Africa is building two new coal-fired power stations to fill energy needs."

But carbon taxes are changing the way the world views fossil fuels and will grease the wheels of transition. Talking to ERC's renewable energy focus, Winkler points out that "huge amounts" of renewable energy sources are available: solar, wind, hydro-electricity, and biofuels among them."And we have the technologies to use them and the economics of many are improving."

And this is where the fourth pillar, improving governance, fits neatly. "An independent system and market operator is a crucial reform for SA's energy sector."

Winkler's vision is that together, doing excellent research on the four broad areas will "add up to imagining a different energy future in our economy and society".

The centre plays an important role in Africa. In 2010 the ERC was selected as Africa's Regional Designated Centre in energy planning, training African energy planners and thereby providing support to African Regional Co-operative Agreement (AFRA) member states. As a result, a "good number" of African energy students are making their way south to UCT.

The centre has also begun a feasibility study on climate change mitigation plans with Latin American and African partners - and partners within UCT, like the African Centre for Cities. This is just a hint of the interdisciplinary work that's growing in the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment.

Geared for learning: Engineering student Priyashnie Govender was the first recipient of a laptop through ICTS's Laptop Pilot Project.

Laptops became compulsory this year for four courses at UCT - in physics, chemical engineering, architecture design and theory, and law. And a UCT researcher will be tracking just how useful they are in the learning process.

The Laptop Pilot Project began in ICTS, spearheaded by Kira Chernotsky, director of the Customer Services Division. Chernotsky will investigate the merits of making a laptop a requirement for students. The project will provide students with the knowhow and tools to study and compete in the electronic age and in the globalised workplace.

All students registered for the four selected courses were asked to bring a laptop to class, or to buy one at a reduced price through the Student Laptop Initiative. To ensure that financially constrained students were not excluded, ICTS gave 82 laptops to financial aid students, with 18 going to chemical engineering students, 37 to law, 22 to physics and five to architecture students.

These were given on the understanding that if the students drop out or change course, they'll return the machines to ICTS. They'll also be responsible for loss or damage. All going well, graduates from the courses will be able to keep the computers.

The 500 students participating in the pilot project benefited from hands-on ICT training, and informational materials and useful software, provided on a 2GB flash drive.

The Centre for Educational Technology has assigned a researcher to the pilot to examine how teaching and learning is affected by students having laptops. She will also list the practical or infrastructural challenges presented by having so many students with laptops on campus. The pilot will be used to determine what impact a possible university-wide rollout of the programme would present.

Chernotsky, who was responsible for initiating the project and procuring funding, said: "This has been one of the most exciting projects I've been involved in at UCT. It has the potential to be a real game-changer in terms of how teaching takes place - and in terms of how students learn. It's only once lecturers can be sure that every student in their course has a laptop (regardless of their economic situation) that they can use technology to fundamentally change the classroom experience.

"The level of enthusiasm and co-operation shown by all involved is an indication of widespread support for the pilot." She hopes many more departments will want to roll the initiative out to their students from next year.

Do you, or does your Department, own a 'content collection'? For the uninitiated, a content collection is any collection of useful, archival, or scholarly content in physical or digital format - such as theses, articles, photographs, business documentation, websites or web-based portals.

If you own such a collection - and there are likely to be many on our campuses - the Metadata Working Group (MWG) would like to hear from you.

Jointly managed by UCT Libraries and Information and Communication Technology Services (ICTS), the MWG was formed to implement and manage the Metadata and Information Architecture Policy, one of the Council-approved governance policies developed by UCT's Enterprise Content Management (ECM) programme.

The policy aims to ensure that all content objects generated and managed by UCT have metadata that meets international standards and is applied consistently.

Co-chaired by Libraries' Mandy Noble and ICTS's Jenny Wood, the MWG aims to implement the policy by assisting those responsible for content collections to manage and apply metadata to their collections. They explain that 'metadata' refers to the structured information provided in the records that describes objects in a collection and facilitates their retrieval.

"The addition of standardised metadata optimises the sharing of information between related initiatives and portals," says Noble. "Accurate and consistent metadata enables the content to be retrieved easily, thus making it accessible to a wider, international community." Wood adds that in the future UCT's Open Content/Open Data policy may require content to be easily discoverable, for research reproducibility. "Adding metadata to your collection will prepare you for this next step," she said.

"However, before the MWG can help, we need to know how many content collections exist at UCT, who manages or owns these collections, and what their needs are in terms of metadata and information and communication technology (ICT) support," Wood added.

Alerting the campus community to a questionnaire that will be sent out soon, Noble and Wood requested collection owners' cooperation in completing and returning the questionnaires. If you do not receive a questionnaire, and are a collection owner, please assist the MWG by requesting a copy, by emailing Jenny Wood or Mandy Noble.

Ensuring academic success: Commerce Education Development Unit (EDU) Programme Co-ordinator, Daniel Munene and Commerce EDU director, Associate Prof June Pym.

An educationally challenged background need not hamper success at university level, as has been shown by a number of UCT Education Development Unit (EDU) commerce students who have walked off with top marks in what are often believed to be the most difficult commerce courses, including financial accounting, economics and statistics.

In the past six years, students enrolled in the EDU Academic Development Programme (ADP) have often outperformed mainstream students in some key areas, achieving top honours.

Several students have achieved subject distinction in recent years; and in 2011, the top first-year commerce student in mathematics was Sakhe Mkosi, a BCom EDU undergraduate who averaged above 93% for his courses that year. Subsequently he remained on the Dean's Merit List throughout his studies at UCT, and is on track to graduate with a BCom (Chartered Accounting) degree this year.

Over the years the Commerce EDU has become recognised as one of the country's most successful academic development programmes in terms of graduation and throughput success rates for black students, says Daniel Munene, EDU's Programme Co-ordinator. The EDU falls under UCT's Centre for Higher Education Development (CHED), which is responsible for the university's academic development programmes.

Munene believes these success stories are in large part due to the unit's interventions in supporting under-prepared students, but he also pays tribute to the students' determination and hard work.

"The EDU definitely walks the walk when it comes to putting transformation into action," he says. "We in the EDU feel we have a responsibility not only to take in deserving students who demonstrate potential, but also to enable them to succeed in their degrees and graduate at the end of the day. Transformation is not just about student numbers at entry level, but also about numbers at exit level."

Built on years of academic development experience at UCT, the EDU, under the direction of Associate Professor June Pym, was conscious of these imperatives when the present model of this pioneering academic development programme was established in 2001. The programme has grown from strength to strength since then and is now considered a model of good practice in academic development circles.

While some EDU students may study for a longer period of one to two years, and have more flexibility in their choices, they do the same subjects and curriculum, write the same examinations - and obtain the same degree. The EDU focuses on the whole degree time period, and is now also incorporating postgraduate students.

According to Munene, there used to be a perception that students who came to EDU would be getting a lesser degree to that offered to mainstream students. This perception has since been turned around completely, especially as EDU students are now excelling in many subjects. Economics is now one of the students' most popular subjects, a result of innovative workshops that help them get to grips with the subject. In statistics lectures, students use interactive 'clickers' that electronically convey their answers to class questions. As a result, the lecturer is able gauge students' responses and demonstrate the correct answer.

In financial accounting, students use their home language to explain concepts to classmates who share the same first language. "This not only elevates people's mother tongue, but also shows that cognitively there is no problem in understanding an accounting course in Xhosa, or Zulu, because a concept is a concept!" Munene explains.

Other interventions monitor how students cope with their studies and how they integrate into the university community. One of the most important aspects of the EDU's work lies in creating a safe space for students, says Munene. "Aside from the extreme academic demands that students face, many also have to juggle a number of familial responsibilities. We do our best to advise and help students where we can, to ensure a sense of trust and community."

There is a strong focus on engaging with both academic and affective factors, as well as developing graduate attributes that will make a meaningful contribution to a socially conscious South African society. This ethos of engagement has also led to a marked increase in students' involvement in extracurricular activities and leadership programmes such as the Students' Representative Council. EDU students have also started their own society, the Education Development Unit Student Society (EDUSO).

"These are tremendously positive developments. They indicate that EDU students feel part of the fabric of UCT and that they've gained more self-confidence." Munene also praises the teaching and administrative staff for building appropriate skills and support in the unit.

The unit also sees that the students are supported financially, through bursaries and other funding initiatives. Funding from several partners, including the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Susan and Michael Dell Foundation, Investec, Deloitte and the Saville Foundation, has been instrumental in supporting the unit's range of work.

"We are indebted to these organisations for sharing our transformative vision and for having the confidence that we can achieve that vision," says Munene.

A delegation from the Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen visited UCT earlier this month to discuss intensifying existing collaboration between South Africa and Germany, in this the 2012/2013 German/South African Year of Science. Pictured (left to right) are Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen's Exchange Co-ordinator, Ms Nici Sauer; UCT deputy vice-chancellor Professor Danie Visser; Universität Tübingen's Vice President: International, Prof Heinz-Dieter Assmann; UCT School of Economics' Dr Patrizio Piraino; and Acting Director of UCT's International Academic Programmes Office (IAPO), Lara Dunwell. Prof Visser and Prof Assmann agreed to continue the work between the two universities and to seek opportunities for reciprocal student exchange, as well as enhanced research collaborations. UCT and Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen have been connected for almost 15 years, through the IAPO, which receives their students on semester study abroad.

Student opinion matters when it comes to maintaining UCT's high academic standards, said Vice-Chancellor Dr Max Price at a student-hosted discussion on the subject. UCT pays careful attention to maintaining the highest academic standards, continued Price, and the student voice was an important factor in measuring how well UCT is performing. The discussion kicked off the annual Academic Activism Week, between 22 and 26 April, which is organised by the university's Students' Representative Council (SRC) to raise awareness among students about issues that affect their academic well-being. The theme for 2013 was Quality Assurance at UCT. Other events included a panel discussion on the balance between teaching and research, the setting-up of the mobile SRC office on Jammie Plaza, and a book drive by activist student societies.

Prof Jill Farrant below a poster of herself, part of the 15th anniversary exposition on the Champs-Élysées in Paris of the 77 winners of L'Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science Award. Farrant won the African/Arab states title in 2012, one of three UCT women scientists to have done so. Other UCT Laureates are Emer Prof Jennifer Thomson (2004), and Prof Valerie Mizrahi (2000). Thomson and Farrant work in the area of plant biotechnology and molecular physiology respectively, and Mizrahi in infectious diseases.The award recognises women whose exceptional careers in science have opened up new and sometimes revolutionary ways of improving human well-being.

The Mother City wore her finest on Saturday 13 April to welcome hundreds of prospective UCT students to Open Day. Pupils from schools as far afield as Grahamstown, Johannesburg and Oudtshoorn jostled for information; particularly in the Jameson Hall, where the Faculty of Science's hands-on exhibitions drew scores of interested viewers (in picture). Particularly visible were groups of pupils participating in UCT's Schools Improvement Initiative's 100Up project. Some 20 schools in Khayelitsha take part in this initiative, designed to help prepare 100 pupils from the area for possible admission to UCT in 2014.

More than 7 000 participants attended the annual UCT Mathematics Competition on 17 April, representing a record 164 Western Cape schools. The question papers were set by more than 200 high school mathematics teachers - one for each grade - with the assistance of 30 UCT students. The competition is the biggest of its kind in the world. All participants write the papers at the same time and place. The 30 best-performing students from each grade will be invited to join the UCT Mathematics Circle, a programme of lectures and discussions during which UCT academics introduce the young mathematicians to topics outside the school curriculum. From that pool, and after a few more selection funnels, the South African team for the International Mathematics Olympiad - a competition that will be held in South Africa (and at UCT) for the first time next year - is selected.

Dr Moonira Khan, executive director of UCT's Department of Student Affairs (DSA), recently graduated with a doctorate from the University of Kwazulu-Natal (UKZN). The DSA is responsible for providing support and development services for UCT's more than 24 000 students. Khan's study, in the discipline of public governance, was titled Student Governance in Higher Education Institutions in the Western Cape, South Africa: A Case Study. Khan says that the study has deepened her insights and critical reflections on student affairs, particularly the significance of a robust student governance environment in higher education, and the role of student leaders in contributing to the democratisation of universities.

Four UCT postgraduate students have been awarded the Schlumberger Foundation Faculty for the Future scholarship, a prestigious international fellowship given to women from developing countries who are currently studying abroad. The scholarship is aimed at academically excellent women in the fields of science and technology who wish to teach in their home countries on completion of their PhD programmes. Recipients are (from left), Liabo Motleleng from Lesotho (Department of Chemical Engineering), Taryn Morris from South Africa (Biological Sciences Department and a current recipient), Tsungai Jongwe from Zimbabwe (Department of Medicine) and Antonina Wasuna from Kenya (Department of Chemistry). Another recipient, Naa Dedei Tagoe from Ghana (Department of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics) is not pictured.

UCT will hold its annual Candlelight Memorial Ceremony on Jammie Plaza at lunchtime on 9 May, coinciding with memorials held internationally that commemorate those who have died from HIV/AIDS. Organised by the HIV/AIDS Institutional Co-ordination Unit (HAICU), the Memorial Ceremony is also used as an opportunity to create awareness about issues associated with HIV and AIDS. This year a special dance piece, choreographed by UCT alumnus Sacha Hendricks, will depict the breaking-down of the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS. HAICU's Lucina Reddy explains that Hendricks was approached because she has choreographed work that speaks to social justice issues. In addition, first-year Fine Art students from Michaelis will exhibit art reflecting the theme of the event.

The national strike led by the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union affected UCT's Jammie Shuttle service last week. Reduced capacity on 24 and 25 April saw long queues at major shuttle stops around campuses as some drivers joined the strike. Some students were put out by delays, while others sympathised with the drivers, saying it was their right to air their grievances. "We do understand that it's a strike and we have no control over that; people want more wages because the cost of living is high," said Yonique Morta, a first-year BCom student. "I've been late for one or two classes, but not that many," remarked Neo Mayo, a first-year music student."

Giving expression to UCT's Afropolitan vision during Africa Month: Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Thandabantu Nhlapo.

On the eve of Africa Month in May, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Thandabantu Nhlapo urges members of the university community to celebrate together and to use the next four weeks to reflect on the ways in which UCT can continue to use its human, intellectual and material resources to give expression to its Afropolitan vision.

"There are good reasons for celebrating Africa Month. Africa is the continent on which we are situated, with which we feel a sense of kinship and whose histories and problems are inseparable from ours.

As a university community, the more immediate reasons are academic and social. In pursuing our core business of teaching and learning, and research, we have the capacity to directly address the legacy of the histories mentioned above and do something tangible about the problems. But in doing so, we also have the obligation to put in some work towards improving the institutional culture of our university.

The greatest outcome of the extended Africa Month celebrations in 2012 was the overwhelmingly positive response from staff and students who said that in that period they could see themselves reflected in the mainstream culture of UCT. It did not matter whether this was in the form of the increased visibility of cultural symbols or attending a lecture on their currency or religion or home region, or hearing their language spoken; the verdict was the same.

I would like to think that this coming Africa Month can build on the accomplishments of 2012 - when UCT succeeded in combining the scholarly with the cultural in the exuberant celebration of our African identities. Africa Month in 2013 will be about maintaining this momentum, highlighting aspects of identity that at are once personal and institutional; academic and cultural.

This year will feature an expanded programme of events and activities, resulting from an increase in the scholarly work with an African focus that is conducted at UCT.

Notably, there will also be stronger student participation; in addition to a Plaza event, both the SRC and its Societies will be rolling out round-table discussions and seminars.

The year 2013 is significant because it marks the 50th anniversary of African Unity (in the form of the OAU, established in 1963, and its successor, the African Union) and gives us the opportunity to reflect on the role of these organisations in ushering in the changes and developments that many Africans are seeing today.

At its best, Africa Month should be an opportunity to flesh out the framework we call the Afropolitan vision - in many weird and wonderful ways. If we do it properly, we will be left in no doubt that we are good continental citizens in both our scholarly outputs and in our hearts. At that point it will begin to dawn on us, I hope, not only that every month can be Africa Month at UCT, but also that Afropolitanism has become embedded in our culture."

Accolade: IIDMM director Prof Valerie Mizrahi has been awarded the coveted Grand Prix Christophe Mérieux Prize by the Institute de France in Paris, for her TB research and her ability to mentor young researchers.

Professor Valerie Mizrahi, director of UCT's Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IIDMM), has been awarded the coveted Grand Prix Christophe Mérieux Prize by the Institute de France in Paris.

The €500,000 award (over R6 million), made by the Institute's Academy of Sciences, is a highly prestigious international accolade and will be presented to Mizrahi at a ceremony in Paris on 5 June.

Paying tribute to Mizrahi's research, member of the Academy of Sciences Pascale Cossart said: "What characterises Valerie Mizrahi's work is not only her excellent research on Mycobacterium tuberculosis and tuberculosis, but also her very active involvement in the tuberculosis community in South Africa, on the African continent, and internationally."

The Academy of Sciences, which makes awards to the most meritorious scientists and promising research projects, also lauded Mizrahi for her special qualities in mentoring students, particularly those engaged in TB research.

"Valerie's work is characterised by an incredible ability to engage with students in research, through supervising and coaching. The way she does this is widely acknowledged," added Cossart.

In her response to the prize Mizrahi said: "For me the most gratifying part of it is that the award committee recognised my commitment to, and passion for, developing people. I've trained so many young scientists - and this award is for them."

She plans to use most of the prize money to hire senior researchers who are able to bring new skills to the laboratory that she runs with IIDMM colleague Dr Digby Warner, particularly in chemical biology and bioinformatics.

"Given the shortage of career opportunities for outstanding early-career scientists who are interested in pursuing a career in biomedical research in South Africa, I believe this would be a great investment," she said.

Mizrahi also plans to purchase laboratory equipment to provide opportunities for students from the laboratory to travel abroad for specialised training.

The IIDMM is a centre of excellence where world-class scientists work collaboratively to tackle diseases of importance in Africa. As the largest postgraduate research institute at UCT, the IIDMM is a major training hub in Africa for biomedical, clinical and public health researchers, and currently hosts some 150 postgraduate students and 80 postdoctoral research fellows in more than 20 multi-investigator research groups.

The IIDMM has a very strong thrust in TB research, hosting the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative, the Clinical Infectious Diseases Research Initiative, the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, and the UCT node of the DST/NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical TB Research.

The Institute de France consists of five academies with a rich history spanning several centuries. The Institute's Academy of Sciences was founded in 1666.

Mental health care should be urgently integrated into primary health care to address Africa's social, economic and health priorities. This was the message delivered to members of the Africa-led mental health research project, the Programme for Improving Mental health carE (PRIME), at the third annual PRIME meeting in Addis Ababa in April.

The meeting was hosted by the Ethiopian Ministry of Health and Addis Ababa University, and reviewed the implementation of mental health care plans in Ethiopia and the other PRIME countries: India, Nepal, South Africa and Uganda.

UCT's Associate Professor Crick Lund leads this UKAID-funded programme across the five partnering countries. The University of KwaZulu-Natal is leading the South African implementation of PRIME, and was represented at the meeting by Professor Inge Petersen.

Mental health care is critical in Africa. Research indicates that more than 13% of the global burden of disease is due to mental illness. Although the vast majority of people affected by mental illness live in low-and middle-income countries, most mental health care resources are located in high-income countries. This lack of resources for effective treatment has contributed to a large 'treatment gap'. Up to four out of every five people with mental illness in these countries do not have access to mental health care.

Addressing the meeting, Dr Mustapha Idiki Kaloko, Ethiopia's Commissioner for Social Affairs, said: "The continent's greatest asset, the budding youth and future leaders of tomorrow, are more susceptible to mental ill health than any of the other segments of society. Therefore, if we do not address this problem now, the future of our youth will become bleak and uncertain, and will impact negatively on the continent." Speakers said a host of issues such as poverty, unemployment, substance abuse, conflict and crime had exacerbated mental illness in their countries.

PRIME consortium members reported back on the peer review of each country's mental healthcare plans. Other sessions included a presentation on maximising the uptake of PRIME's research into policy and practice; gender mainstreaming (the public policy concept of assessing the different implications for women and men of any planned policy action, including legislation and programmes, in all areas and levels); and evaluation design. Since PRIME's establishment in 2011, the programme has attempted to address human capacity development in mental health care to ensure that communities benefit from mental health research, and that women and vulnerable groups can gain access to mental health care.

(Helen Swingler)

Crystal clear: Dr Reyna Ballim, in the laboratory where she works to identify the crystal structure of a cancer-driving protein.

It's rare that a researcher gets to ask questions directly of a Nobel laureate.

For UCT's Dr Reyna Ballim, the 5th HOPE meeting in Tokyo, Japan, provided a scientific feast; the meeting hosted seven laureates (from between 1973 and 2008), in chemistry, physics and physiology or medicine. And all were accessible to the 100 or so researchers, a gathering of the top young doctoral students from the developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region. This includes Israel and Egypt - and, for the first time, also South Africa

The HOPE meetings, with the theme 'hope for the future', are organised by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science. Besides offering networking opportunities, the meetings with Nobel laureates are designed to encourage young scientists to push scientific boundaries. This mentorship role is seen as an important building block in a strong, creative scientific and technological tradition.

Ballim was able to listen to laureates' personal stories and ask questions about their research careers, and about the environments and contexts that turned them into pioneers.

A postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Human Biology, Ballim was one of only two researchers selected by the National Research Foundation to represent South Africa at the HOPE meeting. And she did the country proud by also winning a poster award for her research.

Ballim works in Associate Professor Sharon Prince's cancer research laboratory, where she's attempting to identify the crystal structure of a protein known to drive cancer.

"We want to develop chemotherapy drugs that target this protein," said Ballim. "But there's very little information available on its crystal structure."

The first part of Ballim's postdoc is to identify the crystal structure of TBX2, to enable chemists to design drugs that will target this protein specifically. This will be done using X-ray crystallography. The second part of her project is to find target genes of TBX2 that mediate its oncogenic activity. This is important because to date, very few of TBX2's target genes have been described. This part of her project will be done using ChIP sequencing which analyses protein interactions with DNA and identifies the binding sites of DNA-associated proteins.

The work in Ballim's winning poster was published as part of her PhD which explored a different avenue of research - on the TBX3 protein, a transcription factor that plays an important role in regulating gene expression during development. In a study using both cell lines and mouse models, Ballim investigated the regulation of TBX3 by retinoic acid, and demonstrated that this interaction was relevant during embryogenesis. Retinoic acid plays diverse and critical roles in the process of embryonic development.

(Helen Swingler)

Ground-breaking neuroscience: Prof Jack van Honk (left) and Dr Barak Morgan's work reveals new facts about the role of the amygdala, or the 'social brain', particularly in fear and anxiety disorders.

Research lead by Professor Jack van Honk (Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health) and Dr Barak Morgan (Department of Human Biology) is revealing new facts about the role of the amygdala, or the 'social brain', in an array of social behaviours - and especially its role in fear and anxiety disorders.

A recent paper in Translational Psychiatry, an open-access journal published by the Nature Publishing Group, has described their work on a small group of patients with Urbach-Wiethe Disease, an extremely rare genetic development disorder.

Typically, these patients have bilateral damage (lesions) to the basolateral amygdala, which have been linked to abnormalities in innate fear responses.

The patients - five women - are from a previously described Urbach-Wiethe Disease cohort stemming from a small 'founder' population in Namaqualand. Startlingly, this region is home to 40% of the world's approximately 100 reported cases of Urbach-Wiethe Disease.

Externally, symptoms vary but include a hoarse voice, lesions and scarring on the skin which tends to be wrinkly, and beading of the papules around the eyes. These result from a thickening of the skin and mucous membranes. Internally, there is calcification of brain tissue which can lead to epilepsy and neuropsychiatric disorders. The disease, however, is not life-threatening.

The gene can be traced to German immigrant Jacob Cloete, who arrived in Southern Africa in 1652. He settled in the Northern Cape and married into a Dutch family. Urbach-Wiethe Disease is now found in people of Dutch, German and Khoisan ancestry; and the high frequency is due to the 'founder' effect, when a small number of migrants settle far from home, resulting in a loss of genetic variation.

With colleagues from UCT's Department of Psychiatry and collaborators from the Netherlands, the UCT researchers have been working with the Northern Cape group since 2007. The project is part of UCT's Brain Behaviour Initiative (BBI), a UCT Signature Theme, and also part of the Cross-University Brain Behaviour Initiative (CUBBI).

The amygdalae are the almond-shaped groups of nuclei deep in the temporal lobes of the brain and play an important role in the 'social brain'. This affects key psychological processes, for instance processing emotional memories and emotional reactions - such as social threat, empathy and fear conditioning, and even altruism and trust.

Importantly, the amygdalae play a pivotal role in expressing innate fear responses triggered by appropriate stimuli; such as a dog with bared teeth, or a fearful human face.

Using a multimodal research strategy that incorporates structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging, as well as eye-tracking and behavioural assessments, the group showed that the five women are in fact hypervigilant for fearful expressions. In other words, they show exaggerated fear responses. This contrasts with a single case from America who has complete amygdala damage and a profound lack of fear responses to fearful faces.

Their findings have important implications for the understanding of the basolateral amygdala's role in fear and anxiety disorders. The development comes on the back of recent advances in magnetic resonance scanning, which allowed Van Honk and his team to study and 'dissect' the amygdala at a sub-regional level, and to map reactions in this part of the brain.

"For the first time we saw the selective damage to the specific sub-region of the basolateral amygdala in the scans," said Van Honk. What can also be seen is the activation of the other amygdala sub-nuclei during fear responses. "The pictures we have are unique," he added.

The team will use this work to prepare a model of the brain, showing how the amygdala functions and how it works with other parts of the brain. It's work that Van Honk - UCT's newest National Research Foundation A-rated scholar - believes has put South Africa on the global human neuroscience map.

"Cultural neuroscience holds promise for South Africa, given the genuine cultural diversity of the population and the modern neuroimaging infrastructure in Cape Town."

The team is part of a study to show how the amygdala functions with other parts of the brain and its role in reward, profit/loss calculations, altruism and trust, and in other neuroeconomic factors that are part of economic decision-making. This work has been published in PNAS.

(Helen Swingler)

UCT's links with its counterparts across the seas have been given a major fillip by the first-of-its kind travel grant, sponsored by the European Union (EU).

The European and South African Research Network in Anxiety Disorders (EUSARNAD) research exchange exploits inter-university collaboration to develop a greater understanding of anxiety disorders and develop more effective treatments for patients.

Since 2011 12 UCT psychiatry and mental health students have been able to visit universities in Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK thanks to the EUSARNAD agreement. It has also seen UCT lecturers mentor students from these countries. The grant was awarded through the Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange Scheme.

"What was most pleasing was that many of the awardees developed friendships, so it became a really collaborative and productive network," reports Professor Dan Stein, head of UCT's Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health.

David Baldwin, Professor of Psychiatry and Head of Mental Health Group at the University of Southampton, agreed. "What pleases me is to see the enthusiasm and commitment of the 'exchangees', who are developing new ideas for research collaboration together."

Builder Bob: Postgraduate student Salma Kagee slaps plaster on bricks. Kagee was one of the Faculty of Commerce's volunteers helping to extend the Philippi Children's Centre. It's linked to the R150 million Starting Chance Campaign, initiated by the Southern Africa Sustainable Development Initiative.

It's a wet day in Cape Town, and Philippi's sprawling vegetable fields are caterpillar-green under heavy skies. In one small corner along Varkensvlei Road, beyond the farmlands, there's more activity than usual, with wheelbarrows, trucks and tractors everwhere you look.

A new school building for pre-schoolers is going up, and inside the security gates, small groups of people in hardhats and thick-soled boots wait to be briefed.

"Who's keen for the heavy machinery?" asks the foreman. Postgraduate student Salma Kagee's hand goes up. "It sounds like a whole lot of fun," she says, straightening her pink hardhat and kicking the mud off her boots. Her co-workers from the Faculty of Commerce are similarly attired. Behind her is a sign: "Danger - Open Holes". "And dangerous," she adds.

Forty Dutch students were on site the previous week - and they've left their hefty footwear behind. They come every year to build infrastructure where teaching can take root and communities can grow.

From here, UCT - high up against Devil's Peak - isn't even visible. It's one of the reasons Kagee and her colleagues are here. They're part of a move to build early learning centres for children in poor areas. It's linked to the R150 million Starting Chance Campaign, initiated by the Southern Africa Sustainable Development Initiative (SASDI). SASDI has put R2.1 million towards this new development, partnering with Granbuild. They also partner with volunteers - like those from the UCT Faculty of Commerce.

"Children need cognitive stimulation from a very young age if they are to become university graduates with good employment prospects," said Stuart Hendry, director of the faculty's Development Unit for New Enterprise. Hendry is the main fundraiser for the Starting Chance Campaign, and a SASDI board member.

In 2011, the faculty worked with the City of Cape Town to deliver the Mfuleni Centre for Early Childhood Development. In the Philippi playground the children are dogging the Monday Paper photographer, Pied-Piper-like, striking exaggerated poses and making gangster signs for the camera.

At the back, Kagee is now slapping plaster on bricks, working her palette up and across. It looks easier than it is. Behind her, Billy Enderstein of the School of Actuarial Science digs spadesful of white sand and dumps them into a wheelbarrow. She stops to discard a jacket.

Afterwards, she says: "I really wanted to see an NGO on the ground and in action - particularly SASDI. The take-home message is that it is amazing to see what is being done to uplift the lives of others, but being involved takes you out of your comfort zone and into a slice of the reality that others have to live... You don't get this by donating money, you have to donate yourself; otherwise, it remains theory."

The goal, says Hendry, is to deliver 30 Early Childhood Development Centres of Excellence in the Cape Metropole over the next five years. SASDI's integrated approach to developing physical infrastructure and the people who will operate the centres will enable registration under the new regulatory requirements, making it possible for the centres to run as sustainable, community-based social enterprises. Amid the cement and mud, he looks pleased. During a 'huddle' at the start of the build, he said: "It makes me feel incredibly proud to be part of such a big-hearted faculty."

Dr Justine Burns of the School of Economics invited several of her students along. "My students amaze me with the creative, innovative community activities they're involved in. I also saw this build as an opportunity for them to get outside the ivory tower, to do something real and practical on the development front. "We talk about development issues in class a lot, but that's 'head' knowledge - the build was 'heart' knowledge."

(Helen Swingler)

Highest honours in the land: Prof George Ekama, who was awarded the Order of Mapungubwe, in silver, by President Jacob Zuma on 27 April; and Dr Neville Alexander, who was posthumously awarded the Order of Luthuli, in silver, for his contribution towards the struggle against apartheid.

President Jacob Zuma has bestowed National Orders on UCT wastewater treatment expert Professor George Ekama, of the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment, and on former political activist and UCT academic the late Dr Neville Alexander. Three other UCT alumni - former politician Colin Eglin, opera star Pretty Yende, and Herbert de la Hunt, a key figure in the South African Scout Movement - were also on the honours list.

The orders are conferred yearly on Freedom Day, 27 April, and as Zuma said, they represent peace, unity and the restoration of human dignity for all South Africans.

Ekama was among those to be awarded this, the highest recognition in the land, when Zuma bestowed on him the Order of Mapungubwe, in silver, at a ceremony in Pretoria.

The award was made "for research that has provided innovative solutions to enhancing and improving wastewater treatment and helped South Africa find answers to its water shortage problems".

Alexander, meanwhile, who died on 27 August 2012, was posthumously awarded the Order of Luthuli, in silver. This honour recognises South African citizens who have contributed to the struggle for democracy, nation-building, human rights, justice and peace, as well as for the resolution of conflict. It was given to Alexander "for his courageous rejection of injustice and his excellent contribution to the struggle against apartheid in striving to ensure equality for all South Africans".

An activist, author and academic, Alexander - who spent ten years on Robben Island - was described by the Cape Times at the time of his death as "a towering figure in South Africa's intellectual landscape".

Initially, Alexander wanted to become a priest, but was advised to register for medicine at the University of Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape, where he grew up. However, he soon found he could not apply, as he lacked the mathematics background required, and he decided to do a Bachelor of Arts at UCT instead, majoring in German and history.

Alexander, best known for his role in the struggle for a democratic and non-racial South Africa, as well as for his scholarly achievements, established the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA) at UCT in 1992. The Cape Times said of him: "Amid the noise which has come to characterise our political debate, his was a quiet voice; reasoned, steadfast and independent."

He had deep roots in Cape Town, and a long and close association with UCT - which did not stop him from disagreeing with the university on the use of race as a criterion for admission.

Ekama, meanwhile, is a civil engineer who is interested in lifting the country's status in the field of wastewater treatment to centre stage in the global community. He lives by a simple research credo: "locally inspired, globally relevant". He has held a National Research Foundation (NRF) A1-rating for more than 10 years. The rating recognises him as a world leader in his field.

After qualifying from UCT in civil engineering, he started work on a construction site, but his interest in wastewater treatment was sparked when he met former UCT Professor Gerrit van Rooyen Marais, an expert in the field, who later became his PhD supervisor. He describes his area of research as "fascinating" and says if you are looking for a biological process that needs to take place before treating water, don't give up: "There are bacteria out there that can do amazing things. You are bound to find one".

Ekama says he is honoured to have been nominated for the award, and it is to the government's credit that it granted the award "for such an unglamorous, yet vital area of research".

Ekama is widely published, with more than 150 papers on wastewater treatment in top international journals, and is also highly cited. He is one of only seven South Africans (and one of only four South African academics) to be listed on www.ISIHighlyCited.com, an international website of the most cited academics globally.

Ekama has remained at the forefront of developments in wastewater treatment since the 1970s, primarily through a strong research group. He says he has always been a team player, working with postgraduate students and remaining focused on the research group's strengths. In 25 years under NRF review, he has supervised 43 master's and 24 PhD students.

With his master's and doctoral students, he has twice won the Water Institute of Southern Africa's (WISA) Umgeni Award for the most significant paper on water, as well as the WISA Piet Vosloo Memorial prize for the development of mathematical models for wastewater treatment plant design and operation.

He is a senior fellow of WISA, and a fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, of UCT and of the South African Academy of Engineers.

Eglin and De la Hunt were awarded the Order of the Baobab which recognises South African citizens who have contributed to community service, business and economy, science, medicine and technological innovation.

Yende was given the Order of Ikhamanga in silver, which recognises South African citizens who have excelled in the fields of arts, culture, literature, music, journalism and sport.

(David Capel)

UCT has been ranked among the top 100 universities in the world for eight of its subject areas, according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject released on 8 May. UCT was ranked at 32 for its Education and Training subject area. The other seven subject areas are: Earth and Marine Sciences, Politics, Psychology, Law and Legal Studies, History and Archaeology, Geography, and English Language and Literature.

Regarded as one of Africa's leading universities, UCT's consistent performance in world ranking systems speaks to the university's commitment to quality research as well as first-rate higher education.

This year UCT features in 19 of the 30 subject areas measured by QS, which ranks the world's top 200 higher education institutions. Three of UCT's subject areas - Agriculture, Civil Engineering and Politics - have also been rated for the first time. For the third edition of the QS World University Rankings by Subject, 2 858 universities have been evaluated, and 678 institutions ranked in total.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Danie Visser said: "The different world rankings of universities each measure different aspects of universities' performance. The methodology of the QS survey relies heavily on a global survey of what academics and employers think of a particular university (50%). One would expect that a university in the global South would not do particularly well in such surveys, since most of the respondents are probably from northern countries. It is therefore most pleasing that UCT's work has registered sufficiently internationally to be placed in the top 100 in no fewer than eight different areas, and in the top 200 in 19 areas."

The surveys are complemented by three other measures: the citations per faculty, as indicated by SciVerse Scopus (20%), the staff-student ratio (20%), and the degree of internationalisation, measured by the proportion of international students (5%) and the proportion of international faculty (5%). "Since UCT's research impact is above the world average in many areas, and because we have a very good proportion of international students, these indicators would tend to boost our scores," added Visser. "As always, we are mindful that this is just one view of the cathedral, but we are very pleased about this renewed confirmation of the value of our work."

(For more information on the QS World University Rankings by Subject, please visit Top Universities or QS Intelligence Unit a>)

"South Africa's black middle class continues to expand rapidly, and is more influential and powerful than ever before," said the Unilever Institute's director, Professor John Simpson, at the Cape Town presentation of the 4 Million and Rising study on 9 May.

South Africa's black middle class has more than doubled over the past eight years, growing 250%: from 1.7 million South Africans in 2004 to an estimated 4.2 million last year.

This dramatic growth has been revealed by new research conducted by the UCT Unilever Institute of Strategic Marketing. The Unilever Institute's latest study on the black middle class, titled 4 Million and Rising, has found that the annual spend of the black middle class began pulling ahead of that of their white middle-class counterparts in 2008. It has since skyrocketed to over R400-billion per annum.

"Despite setbacks caused by the recent recession, South Africa's black middle class continues to expand rapidly, and is more influential and powerful than ever before," said the Institute's director, Professor John Simpson. In contrast, the white middle class has remained fairly stagnant over the same period, with its adult population growing from 2.8 million in 2004 to 3 million in 2012.

Simpson, who led the 4 Million and Rising study, said it was important for business and industry to understand this market better, in order to facilitate the provision of goods and services to meet its needs.

"That this market continues to grow and prosper is crucial to the health and future of the economy. The black middle class is helping create a vibrant and stable society by increasing South Africa's skills base, deepening employment, and widening the tax net.

"As this market has matured, it has become much more complex than marketers and advertisers have assumed. Marketers are not adjusting fast enough to meet the needs of this rapidly transforming market segment. This new order demands new strategic thinking from businesses and manufacturers; from how they both create and sell products, to the way they distribute and market," he added.

Simpson said that for marketers, one of the most important changes in this target market over the past decade relates to connectivity. An estimated 95% of the black middle class now own cell phones, compared to 64% in 2004. Correspondingly, the advent of smartphones and increased internet access have seen internet usage quadrupling over this period.

Researchers found radical changes in consumer behaviour over the past eight years, due in part to the intervening recession and the enduring economic downturn. In turn, these factors have affected the job market, and 66% of those surveyed maintain that getting a job is harder now than it was five years ago.

"All these factors have led to a new financial conservatism, with respondents reporting that it is no longer 'bling' at all costs," said Simpson. In contrast to the Institute's studies on the black middle class in the early 2000s, which revealed rampant spending, the majority of participants in the 4 Million and Rising study reported curbing their spending and only using credit when something was absolutely essential. Of those surveyed, 80% reported they were now more cautious about spending, while 22% admitted they were struggling to manage their debt.

The recent study also showed significant changes in consumers' relationships with brands. While respondents had reported previously that brands helped to define their identity, this attitude has shifted, with most of those surveyed now viewing brands as extensions of their identity, said Simpson.

Though AIDS is now a disease one can live with thanks to medical advances, it's still imperative to be tested for HIV, not just once but regularly, Vice-Chancellor Dr Max Price said at the annual Candlelight Memorial Concert on 9 May, organised by UCT's HIV/AIDS Institutional Co-ordination Unit (HAICU). Though the event was curtailed, the theme, Stop Stigma: Connect - Include - Embrace, challenged the campus community to finding new ways of addressing stigma. Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Crain Soudien (in picture) said that much progress made on the HIV/AIDS front reflected in what the university taught and researched. But there was another realm of engagement that was equally important in addressing HIV/AIDS and here he applauded the efforts of students who "are out there" and had trained as counsellors. They had opened the way for important discussions on sexuality and the creation of informal spaces from which UCT had been able to learn.

While visiting speaker and former UCT Vice-Chancellor, Dr Mamphela Ramphele, urged UCT students in the Molly Blackburn Hall on May 2 to "become obsessive about finding the opportunity in the problem", a group of UCT students outside the venue were protesting Ramphele's allegedly 'exploitative' economic policies by staging a placard demonstration. In the main, the placards referred to the fact that during Ramphele's tenure, certain services at the university, including cleaning and estate maintenance, were outsourced. Raphele, the leader of the recently-launched Agang political platform, had been invited by a cohort of business-oriented student societies to talk about the role of youth in entrepreneurship. She advised students to resist "settling for stable jobs" and to consider forging entrepreneurial careers instead. That evening, Ramphele delivered the annual Smuts Hall lecture, telling her audience that while young women in South Africa had role models, young men did not. She said South Africans needed to pay attention to the love and care that should be given towards its young sons and grandsons. "I believe that this sense of powerlessness by men, and young men in particular, is what lies behind the brutal violence against women and children," she said. She asked how South Africans could make sure that hope was restored, and said Agang wanted to build a new political culture, "a culture that is derived from the values of our constitution". That, she said, included participatory democracy, "not just the ticking of ballot papers, but actual democracy".

Music - and its ability to unite cultures - forms a significant focus of celebrating Africa Month. Last week UCT's Faculty of Law held a "Youth in Africa" programme at the Kramer Law Building featuring music and dance performed by students and staff. A competition called Kramer's Got Talent included Sotho dance, gumboot and township jive by UCT School of Dance students, while musical interludes were provided by the UCT Faculty of Law Choir. Various foods from many African countries were also on offer, accompanied by short scholarly presentations on trends in youth culture. This past weekend saw the African Music Student Showcase "Zambezi" at the Baxter Concert Hall. The concert focused on music and dance from countries that the Zambezi River winds through, namely Angola, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique.

Speaking at a Worker's Day commemoration at UCT on 3 May, Zwelinzima Vavi, the general-secretary of Cosatu, said the only way for the South African economy to create sustainable jobs, eradicate poverty and build a "more prosperous and equal society" was by means of a "radical restructuring" away from its current reliance on exporting raw materials to one based on "modern manufacturing industry". The leader of South Africa's largest trade-union federation added that a failure to do so would be "disastrous", not only for unemployed young people but for all South Africans, who would be missing out on the potential contributions these young people could make to the country. Vavi and other prominent trade unionists were invited by UCT's Students' Representative Council to share their insights into the conditions of workers in South Africa.

A new production at the Baxter Theatre, Long Street Nights, celebrates and remembers the rich legacy of South African theatre, in particular the work of playwright and director Barney Simon. Nicky Rebelo directs a cast of six, three of whom are UCT graduates, weaving stories captured by the cast themselves of life on Long Street after midnight. The company includes (clockwise with scarf) Antonio Fisher, Thando Doni, Riana Alfreds, Daneel van der Walt, Nicky Rebelo, Thami Mbongo and Natasha Dryden. In a style made famous by Simon, they spent two weeks exploring Long Street in order to workshop and create the characters,. Long Street Nights premiers at the Baxter Golden Arrow Studio on 8 May and runs to 1 June. Until 18 May, the Baxter is also running a student special for Long Street Nights and another production, The Miser. For R45, students get entry to either of the productions, and a free drink and samoosa. (Only on presentation of a valid student card.)

While high-profile Zimbabwean politicians debated the procedural concerns around Zimbabwe's readiness for general elections scheduled for 29 June - Virginia Muwanigwa (right) approached the debate from a different angle. Speaking at the second instalment of the 'To whom does Africa belong?' series, Muwanigwa, of the Women's Coalition of Zimbabwe, noted with concern that the voice of the people, "who are the victims in all of this", remained suppressed. The debate took place at UCT on 26 April and Muwanigwa shared a platform with Professor Brian Raftopoulus of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition and high-profile representatives of Zimbabwe's major political parties. Selina Mudavanhu, a doctoral student at UCT's Centre for Film and Media Studies, chaired the debate which was jointly organised by UCT's Zimbabwe Students' Society, the university's Students' Representative Council, civil-society movement PASSOP and the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition.

As the country commemorates the 20th anniversary of Chris Hani's assassination, the struggle to emancipate South Africa's people from their socio-economic troubles must intensify, said Malusi Gigaba, national Minister of Public Enterprises. Gigaba was speaking at the first of what is to be an annual Chris Hani Memorial Lecture in memory of the slain anti-apartheid leader, held at UCT on 25 April. Gigaba said Hani had espoused the most radical solutions to these challenges, and set an example for the next generation of leaders by immersing himself in "the thick of every element of the struggle". The memorial was organised by UCT's Progressive Youth Alliance, a coalition of student political party organisations.

The Building Children's Nursing for Africa conference was hosted by the Child Nurse Practice Development Initiative, in the UCT School of Child and Adolescent Health, last month. This landmark event, held in collaboration with the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, drew over 140 nurses and other health care practitioners from across Africa, as well as representatives from the United Kingdom and Madagascar. Conference presentations, delivered over the course of three full days, focussed on acknowledging and sustaining both existing and future nurse-led research initiatives in Africa to expand the data base on best available evidence for child nursing practice on the continent. Here, Emeritus Professor Marian Jacobs, former Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at UCT, is pictured delivering the opening plenary in which she encouraged nurses' increased involvement in the development of South Africa's National Health Insurance policy in order to advocate for children's health care needs.

On the wing: Dr Silvia Mecenero, project co-ordinator of Africa's first Butterfly Atlas. Launched under the umbrella of the Southern African Butterfly Conservation Assessment, the atlas is a partnership between UCT's Animal Demography Unit , the South African National Biodiversity Institute, and the Lepidopterists' Society of Africa; and offers a complete database of butterfly distributions in Southern Africa, including Swaziland and Lesotho.

Red Listing
Butterflies belong to Lepidoptera, one of the most diverse and species-rich of the insect orders. Importantly, the atlas offers a detailed conservation assessment and Red Listing of all the sub-continent's butterflies, not only for threatened species but also for those species not currently threatened. As such, it will guide government, municipalities, landowners and others on the steps that need to be taken to conserve the region's butterfly populations. The atlas is a sweep of information on butterflies, both in the wild and from specimens in private, institutional and museum collections, such as those at London's Natural History Museum and the African Butterfly Research Institute in Kenya.

Mapping it
For the first time, grid-referenced distribution maps are presented for all the region's butterflies - 794 species and subspecies in total, including 657 distinct species. Launched under the umbrella of the Southern African Butterfly Conservation Assessment (SABCA), the atlas is an alliance between UCT's Animal Demography Unit (ADU), where the project management was based; the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), which provided core funding for the project; and the Lepidopterists' Society of Africa (LepSoc), which co-ordinated and sponsored the field surveys and provided much butterfly expertise. It's the first insect project that SANBI has funded. The ADU is an old hand at running atlas projects, having produced bird (1997) and frog (2004) and reptile atlases (the latter of which is due to be published later this year). Project co-ordinator and alumna Dr Silvia Mecenero, who describes herself as a conservation ecologist, has a long association with the ADU. While a PhD student in the unit in 2001, she infiltrated three breeding colonies of the Cape fur seal in Namibia. For two years she collected and dissected seal scats; the fishy debris yielded information on seal diet, useful in tracking fish populations for fisheries, and for managing the country's valuable horse mackerel resource. "Sorting out, counting and measuring thousands of little fish ear-bones from the scats was blinding work," Mecenero recalls from the ADU in the new Department of Biological Sciences, the product of a merger between Zoology and Botany in 2012.

Orchestrated effort
One of the project's triumphs was the response from citizen scientists. Butterflies are relatively easy to see and identify, even for non-specialists. At the time, citizen scientists yielded over 17 000 photographic records for the project's online virtual museum. LepSoc has continued with the virtual museum, and it now hosts over 30 000 photographic records. Also, as part of SABCA, the first Butterfly Census Week was launched, for public monitoring of butterfly populations. (This bi-annual event is now managed by LepSoc, and the 7th census was held a couple of weeks ago.) "It's been a huge boost to public awareness," says Mecenero.

Conservation threats
While butterflies may seem just the pretty subjects of little girls' dreams, they're also the flagship species for insect conservation. Insects are the most species-rich group of animals, and their vital role in ecosystems - especially those that are insect pollinators - now underpins their conservation status. Naturally, the atlas has a strong conservation message. 151 species and sub-species - one fifth of Southern Africa's butterflies - are of conservation concern, and 8% are threatened with extinction. The most threatened are right under our noses in the Cape fynbos - as well as in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands grassland biome. Fifty per cent of the butterflies listed are endemic, which means they are found only in the atlas region and nowhere else. Sixty species are threatened with extinction, with 14 considered critically endangered, 27 endangered and 19 vulnerable. Three of the critically endangered species are possibly extinct. Until recently, that number was thought to be four - the Waterberg Copper (Eriksonia edgei) of the Waterberg in Limpopo has been considered extinct for more than 20 years. But in March this year it was rediscovered in another locality, by Lepsoc's Professor Mark Williams. Researchers are working on a conservation plan for the new locality in a private nature reserve in the Waterberg. Habitat is vital to butterfly conservation. Many occur in small, limited areas because they are usually associated with specific host plants and host ants that are needed to complete their life cycle. The atlas also comes with useful habitat information that flags conservation concerns. For example, some butterflies, such as the Lycaenids, occur only in a tiny area the size of a rugby field. "If a species occurs in a small area, we flag it for conservation if the area is currently threatened, or in case a threat arises," says Mecenero.

Alien vegetation
Most habitat loss and degradation are due to forestry, agriculture, mining and housing, inappropriate fire regimes, and alien vegetation that is replacing indigenous plants. In the Western Cape, rapid land development poses a significant threat. "Unless South Africa pays careful attention to the conservation of our butterflies now, we could lose many more of these fascinating creatures - and the important services they provide to our ecosystems," warns Mecenero. But indirectly, the atlas is also about other creatures bright and beautiful. "We're identifying butterfly hotspots to see how they overlap with bird areas and nature conservation areas." The project forms the backbone of Mecenero's postdoctoral fellowship, through the University of Pretoria. With the atlas done and dusted, she's clearly chuffed. Much like a conductor, she's led a large and variegated ensemble - ecologists, lepidopterists and Joe Public - through numerous rewrites, edits and revisions. "It's been the best job ever. I've loved it." Looking ahead, she wants to expand the atlas into sub-Saharan Africa, digitise all the collections, and expand the virtual museum. But this will depend on funding. There are also gaps in the records, particularly in the Free State, Northern Cape and Lesotho, more out of reach than other areas to citizen scientists and the coterie of butterfly experts and enthusiasts who have brought this valuable work to fruition.

(For more information: vmus.adu.org.za; census information on LepSoc website) (Helen Swingler)

Fast facts from the Butterfly Atlas

• South Africa is home to 17% of Africa's 4 000 butterfly species.
• French researchers estimate the yearly value of insect pollinators such as butterflies to be some €153 billion.
• While butterflies may not contribute as much as bees, they perform unique pollination functions. Aeropetes tulbaghia is the only known pollinator of several plants with red flowers, such as Disa uniflora, the red Disa orchid.
• Some eight per cent of Southern Africa's butterflies are threatened with extinction. The most threatened are right under our noses in the Cape fynbos - and in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands grassland biome.
• 151 species and sub-species - one fifth of Southern Africa's butterflies - are of conservation concern.
• Fifty per cent of the butterflies listed are endemic, found only in the atlas region.
• Sixty species are threatened with extinction, with 14 considered critically endangered, 27 endangered and 19 vulnerable.
• Three critically endangered species are possibly extinct. Until March this year, when the Waterberg Copper (Eriksonia edgei) was rediscovered in the Waterberg after more than 20 years, that number was thought to have been four.