A treatment system developed by a team of innovators at CPUT’s Flow Process and Rheology Centre is set to boost the textile industry by significantly reducing the amount of potable water the industry uses.

“We are developing a one-step treatment reactor using locally developed nanopowders for treating textile wastewater. This treatment system offers an almost instantaneous removal of the colour from the water,” says the Centre’s Prof Veruscha Fester.

“This treatment system will not only be able to treat wastewater for disposal to municipal treatment systems, but to a standard suitable for re-use. If the water can be re-used, millions of litres of potable water will be saved.”

Fester is developing the treatment reactor with the Centre’s Dr Mahabubur Chowdhury and Gunnar Visser.

The laboratory prototype has already been upscaled from 6 L/hour to 72 L/hour.

Fester says R4.8 million has been received from the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) Technology Development Fund to upscale the reactor to a 1 000 L/hour industrial prototype in the next year.

“The textile industry is really coming on board. Some of the companies use about 2 million litres of water a month so if we can save at least 75 percent of that water to be recycled and re-used on site – that will make a huge difference.”

The initial research was also started from TIA seed funding administered by CPUT’s Technology Transfer Office (TTO).

The TTO has subsequently filed a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application. It is hoped that a spin-off company will be formed in South Africa that will provide further social benefits beyond water treatment, including the creation of jobs.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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It started as a student project but an innovative tool, which revolves around one of SA’s favourite pastimes, has become a blazing success, which could soon hit the international market.

The Braai Tool (TBT), is multifunctional and incorporates five key braai utensils into one sleek product.

The idea was born in 2014 during the Industrial Design BTech course at CPUT when students had to design, prototype, manufacture, market and sell a product they created for a net profit of at least R5 000.

The product proved to be a winner and, with the help of CPUT’s Technology Transfer Office, its magnetic hinge and groove system were patented.

“We’ve also done some research into the Australian market because barbecuing is huge in Australia. So, with the help of CPUT’s Technology Transfer Office (TTO), we have also filed for a patent in Australia” says TBT’s Sebastian Bosman.

Bosman said The TTO would also subsidise his participation in the LaunchLab - which is designed to take entrepreneurs through the process of building a viable company.

He says the TTO has given him the ingredients to turn a university project into a commercial product.

“The TTO gave us the financing to produce our initial units. They have paid for the patent, both locally and internationally and they’ve given us great legal advice. They also sent us to Design Indaba, funding our first step into the commercial space.”
TBT has just placed an order for another 1 000 units of the product.

• TBT operates from the communal work hub at 75 Harrington Street, Cape Town.

For more details click here

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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Delegates from a number of national educational institutions that offer rescue training for emergency medical service personnel recently gathered at CPUT for the annual inter institutional rescue week.

This annual meet was started by the Department of Emergency Medical Sciences (EMS) at CPUT in 2012 with the aim of getting other institutions that offer rescue training to engage on standardising and benchmarking rescue as a specialist field within emergency medical care.

The first day of the four-day event consisted of an academic workshop where delegates discussed the future academic landscape of rescue qualification.

Marianne Bester and Frederika de Graaff from CPUT’s Fundani department provided vital information on the academic design of new qualifications and the RPL policy.

The delegates used the remaining days of rescue week to engage in cave, mountain and industrial types of rescue simulated scenarios at variety of locations around Cape Town.

According to EMS lecturers Justice Bosman and Ryan Matthews the event was regarded as a success as the objectives around the current needs and future direction within rescue were met as was the objective to introduce new teaching methodologies, showcase new equipment and techniques from different institutions offering rescue in non- or formal training.

“It also provides other institutions with  access to training sites, scenarios and possible contexts, which may not be always available due to their own geographical constraints, where they may develop or obtain some opportunity to test and practice their skills and systems,” says Bosman.

Matthews said next year’s event would be held at the Durban University of Technology.

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Staff members, students and members of the public are invited to get their hands dirty in support of Mandela Day at CPUT.

CPUT will be celebrating Mandela Day with former and current District Six residents on July 31 when a general clean-up of the former horticulture nursery on the Cape Town Campus will take place.

The site is the ideal spot for a community urban garden, which could benefit the community and CPUT.

The activities will include:

• A general clean up - clearing of the vegetation and rubble
• Gardening: cleaning of herb garden, composting and planting
• Maintenance: cleaning walls, painting, fixing the panels etc.
• Fixing the boundary fence
• Bricklaying of composting bays
• Cleaning and reviving the fish pond
• Cleaning and marking the location of the original Horstley Street

Register by July 21 and submit to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. For more information contact Desmond Jackson on 021 959 6868/9 or Civic Engagement Office, New Science Building, Bellville Campus.

Mandela Day is celebrated on July 18, (Mandela’s birthday) every year and commemorates the lifetime of service the late Nelson Mandela gave to South Africa and the world.

The Mandela Day campaign encourages South Africans to spend 67 minutes to support a charity or serve in their local community. The 67 minutes symbolically represent the number of years the former President fought for human rights and the abolition of apartheid.

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Learners from three Cape Town schools had a ball when CPUT and the Parliament Squash Club joined forces to teach them basic squash skills in celebration of Mandela Day.

The theme for the event, which was held at the CPUT Sports Centre on the Cape Town campus, was "Parliament Squash and CPUT Celebrating Mandela Through Action."

Learners from Holy Cross, Good Hope and Intshayelelo primary schools participated in the event.

The objective was to familiarise the learners with the game of squash as it supports physical and mental fitness. Forbes magazine has rated squash as one of the healthiest sporting codes to be active in.

“You are our VVIP’s (very, very important people). Tata Madiba used to love to spend time with kids,” Kholekile Gorata, chairman of the Parliament Squash Club, told the learners.

CPUT Sport Development Officer, Quinton Summers says the university was privileged to be part of this celebration.

Before participating in a squash demonstration and clinic, the pupils received a motivational talk from top professional squash player, Siyoli Waters.

Mandela Day is celebrated on July 18, (Mandela’s birthday) every year and commemorates the lifetime of service the late Nelson Mandela gave to South Africa and the world.

The Mandela Day campaign encourages South Africans to spend 67 minutes to support a charity or serve in their local community. The 67 minutes symbolically represent the number of years the former President fought for human rights and the abolition of apartheid.

CPUT’s official Mandela Day activity will take place at the old Horticulture Building at the Cape Town campus. Staff, students and members of the public are invited to help clean the site in preparation for its eventual restoration.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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Students and staff members are invited to enter CPUT’s inaugural Choir Festival competition, which will be held on July 28.

Great cash prizes are up for grabs for the winning choirs and the local organising committee has its sleeves rolled up to ensure a successful competition.

The core objective of the competition is to revive the culture of choral music in promoting cultural diversity and social cohesion in a unitary institution. It is also aimed at creating a balance between the academic environment and social activities for the purpose of nation building through music.  

The competition is open to both students and staff members, who have to form a choir consisting of a minimum of four members and a maximum of fifteen choristers.  

All logistical arrangement for the competition are fully funded by the National Lottery Commission.

To enter, interested choirs have to register by July 19.

The Choir Festival competition will be held on July 28 at the Major Sports Hall on the Bellville camps from 6pm to 10 pm.

It will be adjudicated by independent and professional judges that will impartially allocate points according to the quality of presented music.

Prizes will be awarded to the top three choirs. The prizes are:

1st Prize - Trip to Namibia Cultural Festival (All expenses covered)

2nd Prize - R 5000

3rd Prize - R3000

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Written by Ilse Fredericks
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Three bright students will soon be jetting off to Norway where they will gain valuable skills and experience in their field as part of their work integrated learning experience.

Third year BHSc: Medical Laboratory Sciences students Erin Jacobs, Linah Mjuleni and Renaldo Pool will spend three months in Norway where they will be based in the city of Bergen. Prof Tandi Matsha, head of the Biomedical Sciences Department, says a two year grant was received from the UTFORSK partnership programme and this would enable the three students to travel to Norway for their training.

The three students said their studies had prepared them well for the experience and they were looking forward to the opportunity to develop and hone their practical skills. 
“In terms of theory I think we know what to do but I am expecting to learn a lot in Norway and to see how the Norwegians work in their labs and how they do things differently,” said Jacobs.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I have never even been on plane. This is going to be such a good learning curve. It will be good to explore what’s happening elsewhere in the world, for example certain diseases are more endemic in other countries,” says Mjuleni.

Pool said he looked forward to seeing the different techniques used in the laboratories in Norway.
“We could bring some of those techniques back and try to implement it here.”
The UTFORSK Partnership Programme supports project cooperation between higher education institutions in Norway and higher education institutions in Brazil, China, India, Japan, Russia and South Africa.

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CPUT lecturers have contributed their own time and skills to assist disadvantaged individuals empower themselves with a saleable skill.

The Technology Station Clothing and Textiles (TSCT) along with the City of Cape Town Enterprise Development Unit have been visiting impoverished communities around the Peninsula, informing them about support they could provide.

On one of these visits the TSCT met up with a group of SMME’s (small, medium and micro enterprises) in Mfuleni that required support, says TSCT manager, Shamil Isaacs.

The TSCT developed a six-hour pull-on skirt programme, which enables the SMMEs to gain enough basic skills to develop and sew a basic pull-on skirt which they can make to sell.   

The main objective is to transfer knowledge through university resources to empower disadvantaged communities.

This will allow them to create opportunities for themselves and indirectly stimulate a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.

The programme was conducted over two half days.

Deidre Windvogel, the lab technician responsible for product development at the TSCT, provided instructions on how to make a pull-on skirt pattern and using simple techniques create individual designs and make fit adjustments. This was conducted at Lookout Hill in Khayelitsha.  

Norma Wagenaar, the lab technician responsible for garment technology in the Clothing and Textile Technology Department, took the participants through the paces of sewing the skirt and ensuring that a high, saleable quality standard was achieved. 

A total of 32 participants from Mfuleni received training and a more advanced programme is being planned for the future. 

The TSCT is based at the Bellville Campus and provides support to SMMEs in the Clothing and Textile sector

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CPUT has benefited from a fellowship program, which gives African-born scholars in the United States and Canada the opportunity to collaborate with universities in six African countries.

A collaborative application between Dr Kareemah Gamieldien from CPUT’s Department of Emergency Medical Sciences (EMS) and Prof M. Faadiel Essop from the Physiological Sciences Department at Stellenbosch University, saw them being awarded the prestigious Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship. This accolade presented them with the opportunity to invite Dr Ismail Laher, a professor in the Department of Anaesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Medicine, as a visiting academic to their institutions. 

Prof Laher has travelled to South Africa where he has been collaborating with CPUT’s EMS Department as well as with Stellenbosch University's Physiological Sciences Department on teaching, curriculum, research and mentoring. Laher said he was motivated to apply for the fellowship as he had been following Essop’s research and was keen on collaborating with him and the Department. Another motivating factor was the fact that the Western Cape is a hub for excellence in cardiovascular research.
“There are some interesting opportunities here because of the changing nature of the population - obesity is on the increase and there are other metabolic diseases. It’s an opportunity for sharing and exchanging ideas. I’ve come to learn from people here but I also have some ideas of how they can do things differently,” said Laher.

Gamieldien and Essop decided to collaborate on the fellowship because of its potential for research and education. Gamieldien said that Prof Laher had provided her with valuable feedback on improvements that could be made in terms of helping students to better learn and understand physiology.
“The main outcome is that this will help us to improve teaching physiology,” she said.

Opportunities for networking between various institutions in terms of research and teaching was also expected to flow from the initiative. Gamieldien said the program and collaboration were also in line with the vision for the Human Anatomy and Physiology in Emergency Care (HAPEC) endeavour, which was established in 2015 and strives to align anatomy and physiology to EMS.

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Experts in the field of radiography recently gathered for a symposium at CPUT where some of the latest technology in the field was discussed.

The theme of the symposium, which was hosted by CPUT’s Department of Medical Imaging and Therapeutic Sciences (MITS) and presented by GE Healthcare, was Imaging for the Future and covered all four disciplines of radiography.

“The symposium allowed delegates, which also included some of our students, to see what the new advances are in technology and in practice, says Aladdin Speelman, Head of the MITS Department.

Among other things, attendees were exposed to the latest technology in breast imaging.

Speelman said one of the many interesting topics discussed on the day was around the use medical marijuana for symptomatic relief in the management of oncology patients.

Another item discussed was whether radiographers were aligned with their patients’ expectations in the new digital era.

“This was an important topic as clients are much more informed than a few years ago thanks to Google and other technology.” says Speelman.

Other topics that were explored on the day included new advances in CT imaging, theranostics in nuclear medicine, an introduction to musculoskeletal ultrasound and ultrasound fusion and volume navigation. 

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CPUT’s objective of providing students with hands-on training and practical skills has been bolstered through a partnership programme with a Norwegian institution.

The project would also seek to establish research collaborations between CPUT’s Biomedical Sciences Department and the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, says Prof Tandi Matsha, Head of the Biomedical Sciences Department

She recently visited Norway with Microbiology lecturer and third-year co-ordinator, Yvonne Prince, while a team from Norway are scheduled to visit CPUT later in the year.

The project is aimed at developing best practice for training in biomedical laboratory sciences through educational and research collaboration between the institutions.

Matsha said a two-year grant was received from the UTFORSK partnership programme and this would enable three CPUT students to travel to Norway later this year as part of their Work Integrated Learning experience.

The UTFORSK Partnership Programme supports project cooperation between higher education institutions in Norway and higher education institutions in Brazil, China, India, Japan, Russia and South Africa.

The three students are on the BHSc: Medical Laboratory Sciences Programme.

Prince said the students would spent three months in Norway.

A further two students would be given the opportunity to go to Norway next year for Work Integrated Learning.

“An important part of the visit was to discuss areas for research collaboration and looking for funding for this jointly,” says Matsha.

While the students’ accommodation and flights would be covered, funding toward other expenses was still required.

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Written by Ilse Fredericks
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A field trip to a historic village in the Overberg has not only helped a group of students to develop necessary skills in their field but provided them with insights into its historical context.

Architectural Technology and Interior Design students on the Extended Curriculum Programme (ECP) recently visited Genadendal, the oldest Moravian mission village on the continent.

Lecturer Alex Noble says the trip covered work from all of their different subjects while the students also received insights into the history of the village.

She says the visit helped to develop students’ early measuring up and drafting skills, their observational drawing skills and their understanding of place making, allowing students to look into early settlement patterns.

They also investigated street thresholds and explored different building components.

 “The students found it very interesting and insightful. Every year we try to take them on a trip and this is the second year that we’ve taken the ECP class to Genadendal. We find that trips like these bring a level of excitement into the learning,” says Noble.

Noble adds that the trip brought the ECP class closer together and had a strong social cohesion component.

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Emergency Medical Services training at CPUT has received a major boost with the opening of a new immersive simulation centre, which can emulate real emergency scenarios to train students to treat patients in life-threatening emergencies.

The state-of-the art immersive clinical simulation centre can replicate emergency scenarios, such as road accidents, and will be used for learning as well as assessment purposes.

EMS lecturer John Meyer says that before students can do their work integrated learning the university has to ensure that they are competent to perform procedures on real people.

“With the simulation based education we provide a hands-on experience, where real life situations are simulated for students to develop their skills. They can practice over and over again without causing any harm.”

A range of different scenarios can be pre-set for students, including for the delivery of a baby.

In this case the EMS Department has a birthing mannequin which can automatically deliver a baby, including having contractions and making sounds.

“At the back-end, the simulation technician will set up the mannequin to a pre-set scenario and the lecturer can watch the student treat the “patient” from the control room and from there also speak to the student. The technology allows the lecturer’s voice to be transmitted via the mannequin as the voice of the patient.

“We also have an observation room to which we can live stream to the rest of the students and where a facilitator can facilitate discussion. Everything is recorded on the server and this allows the students to review the video footage later.”

Meyer said an important part of the training was the debriefing process.

“Students reflect afterwards on how they performed during the scenario and will be given feedback on what went well or what went wrong and how they could better achieve the outcomes and objectives of the scenario. Students are enjoying the immersive training experience and we’ll be able to send out students who are safe and competent.”

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The Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Nomaindiya Mfeketo will be one of the speakers at the Africa Day celebrations presented at the Bellville Campus by CPUT and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) on May 26.

The theme of this year’s event is Telling African Stories.

Africa Day is celebrated annually on May 25 and sees the institution join the rest of the continent in celebration.

It commemorates the founding of the Organisation of African Unity on May 25 1963.

 Zinzi Nkalitshana from the Office of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships said well-known author, director and playwright Gcina Mhlophe will be the Master of Ceremonies at the event while Deputy Minister Mfeketo and Prof Kwandiwe Kondlo will be the speakers.

Mfeketo will speak on the topic of Rich Africa, Poor Africans and Kondlo on the topic of Telling African Stories.

The event will start at 15:00 and can be followed via live streaming at www.cput.ac.za.

On May 25 a series of activations was held at the Mowbray, Granger Bay, Cape Town and Bellville campuses to celebrate the day.

Dancers entertained staff and students and made them aware of the importance of day through song and dance.

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Experts in the field of wound care gathered at CPUT’s Bellville Campus recently for a seminar organised by the Wound Healing Association of Southern Africa (WHASA).

Faiza Kajee, CPUT’s BTech nursing primary health care coordinator, said the seminar was important as wound care would become part of the programme and is an essential part of improving patients’ quality of life.The day-long seminar was aimed at educating attendees about wound care for the lower leg.

Johlene Sander, WHASA’s regional chairperson, said the list of speakers included doctors, plastic surgeons and an expert in the field of Lymphedema management. Attendees ranged from representatives from CPUT to private companies. The attendees had the opportunity to view a variety of wound care products as several providers were also in attendance and had their products on display.  

“The seminar is also a way of networking and getting to know different people in the industry,” says Sander.

The topics discussed included vascular surgery of the lower leg, hyperbaric medicine in wound healing and lymphedema and wound care therapy. 

WHASA’s purpose is to promote and develop skills and specialised knowledge pertaining to wound management. Its objectives include improving the quality of care to patients through clinical practice, education, and research initiatives, among other things.

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CPUT has appointed Prof Thomas Thurner as the new Research Chair for Innovation in Society. 

Over the next five years, Thurner will develop and support research activities in the Faculty of Informatics and Design and the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences. He joined CPUT in April from the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Russia, where he established himself as a leading researcher in innovation management with a specific focus on state-owned enterprises. His research has been published in leading journals like the International Journal of Innovation Management.

AT CPUT, Thurner will focus on collaborative innovation processes through communities of practice. Such informal communities include a wide number of actors and organisations active in a field and cross over different levels and types of knowledge.
“In Africa, we should not focus too much on the supply side of technological innovations, but rather should study users and their processes of making things work. There is enormous potential in innovation processes outside of organisations.”

The aim is to establish a self-financed research group, which will be connected to international universities and provide a steady flow of research papers on African innovation experiences. Thurner says the first major step towards reaching excellence in innovation studies at CPUT is to identify areas with great strategic potential for further excellence in research and the involvement of relevant stakeholders.
Thurner will also work on building up critical research skills in the faculties and actively engage in the supervision of Masters and Doctoral Students.

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FOUR CPUT staff members are celebrating an extra special International Nurses Day today after being inducted into the Honour Society of Nursing.

The four staff members - Dr Theresa Bock, Dr Anso Truter, Dr Evalina van Wijk and Chantal Settley- were among eight new members inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI society during an event hosted by CPUT at the Bellville Campus.

Four staff members from the University of the Western Cape were also inducted.

STTI provides nurses with resources and opportunities to engage with other nursing leaders and develop their professional and leadership skills.

Membership is by invitation to baccalaureate and graduate nursing students who demonstrate excellence in scholarship and to mentor leaders exhibiting exceptional achievements in nursing.

The society has more than 135 000 members in more than 90 countries.

Settley, a nursing educator, said she was honoured to be one of the inductees.

“I see it as an opportunity for professional development and to learn and grow.”

The event also celebrated International Nurses Day, which is held on May 12 every year, and marks the contribution nurses make to society.

Professor Karien Jooste, Head of the Department of Nursing Science at CPUT, said the event showed how nursing colleagues at the Western Cape’s four major tertiary institutions were working together to the benefit of the nursing profession.

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CPUT Information Technology students are sharing their knowledge and helping to excite the next generation of female IT specialists through a unique programme.

The students were selected as facilitators by Code4CT, a programme which hopes to empower young African women, exposes them to opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) careers and encourages them to leverage technology for social change.

Prima Inderlal, Work Integrated Learning Co-ordinator for CPUT’s IT Department, initiated the collaboration with Code4CT. Code4CT’s Andrea Petersen said it recruits facilitators who are enrolled in a STEM field as well as those that have a working knowledge of using HTML, CSS and JavaScript to create websites and mobile applications. 

During the April holidays the students served as facilitators for the Intro to Coding module for Grade 10 learners as well as for the Front End Development and Data Science Modules for Grade 11 learners.

Petersen said Code4CT’s programme runs until December and the facilitators have been invited to teach for any or all of the modules. She said the students completed three days of training earlier this year which focused on what it means to be a Code4CT ambassador, curriculum & LMS (Learner Management System) training as well as classroom conduct and crisis management.

Petersen said CPUT students would benefit from being part of Code4CT in several ways including exposure to the local tech industry through various speakers who attend Code4CT classes and events, increasing their knowledge of web development and having their CVs shared with local tech companies that Code4CT has connections with.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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Third-year Graphic Design students have participated in a project, which has not only increased their skills set and experience but also helped to create awareness about water as a precious resource.

Lecturer Edwin Peacock said the Graphic Design Department was recently approached by NGO, The Watershed Project, to come up with a project for its first Fun Day in Paradise event, which was held at Paradise Park in Newlands.

The event involved a day of experiential learning for young children along the banks of the Liesbeek River.

Peacock, who worked on the project with lecturer Lionel Franciscus, said the project gave students the opportunity to work on a “real life” project instead of one based on a hypothetical situation.

“This involved a real client and it gave the students the opportunity to gain valuable experience while working in the field.”

The aim was to teach people about the importance of preserving the water in the park’s canal as well as about the current water situation and the students had to come up with imagery that “spoke to the children”.

The students came up with the idea of reverse graffiti and created their artworks on a section of canal wall.

“They couldn’t use anything toxic to create their artworks as the canal will at some point fill up with water again. This meant we couldn’t use paint. In the end we decided to use stones from the canal to create the images while at the same cleaning the mould and dirt from the canal wall.”

Peacock said the project was a huge success.

“The client was very happy and our students also learnt about giving back to communities through their work.”

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An ambulance bay, which is being developed in the Department of Emergency Medical Services (EMS), will provide valuable training opportunities for students.

Once the project is completed, CPUT will have an operational ambulance base, from which an ambulance and response vehicle would be able to respond to emergency incidents on campus, should there be a need.

Lloyd Christopher, head of the EMS Department, said the institution is registered and has licenced three emergency vehicles with the Department of Health to render emergency medical services.

These vehicles currently have to park at the Transport Department and would be relocated to the EMS Department once the ambulance bay is ready.

“It won’t just be an environment for us to do in-service training in but also for students to be directly involved in all aspects of operating an ambulance bay. They will be able to learn about stock control, record keeping, and about the storage, charging, servicing and maintenance of equipment,” said Christopher.

While the vehicles would be able to respond to incidents on campus involving the CPUT community and also emergencies in the greater Cape Town area, the intention is not to run a 24-hour ambulance operation.

As part of their training students are sent out to work with private or public ambulance services and, should students need further mentoring and support after this, they would be able to go out on one of the CPUT vehicles with a clinical instructor who could then provide the support they need.

“We also plan to use it for evaluations. All of this could then benefit students when they go out into the workplace.”

The main part of the project has been completed with a ramp and other features to be added before the bay can go into full operation.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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