UCT sustainability campus projects and other updates

Dear students and colleagues

This campus announcement aims to inform members of the University of Cape Town (UCT) community about:

Funding call: UCT sustainability campus projects

The University of Cape Town (UCT) has made funds available for projects focused on establishing and/or strengthening the university’s environmental, social and financial sustainability on all its campuses. Depending on the scope of the projects, at least two applications will be selected for funding and implementation. The winners will be announced at the International Summit on Sustainable Development Goals in Africa gala dinner, which will be hosted at UCT from 20 to 22 April 2020. Should no applications meet the criteria, the university reserves the right not to award funding.

• Read the VC Desk: UCT sustainability campus projects.

2. Conference scam

UCT has been alerted to an apparent scam advertising a Food Security and Hunger conference that was initially said to be scheduled to take place on campus from 20 to 22 February 2020. The event is advertised online and originally listed UCT as the conference venue. After the conference organisers were contacted by UCT, they changed the venue to another location in Cape Town. However, when UCT contacted the “new” venue they were also not aware of the conference.

This conference has nothing to do with the university – whether as the hosts or conference venue providers. Nor does UCT have any speakers on the programme. The university urges all speakers and participants who might have been affected by this apparent scam to report the matter to both Campus Protection Services (CPS) on 021 650 2222 and the South African Police Service for investigation.

UCT further urges members of the public and the university community to conduct a verification check before accepting invitations for any conference or making payments.

Some questions to ask yourself are:

• Have you previously heard of the organisers of the conference?
• Does the conference have well-known speakers, sponsors and other partners/stakeholders?
• Is the website clear? It should be easy to find dates, venue, attendance fees, speakers and programme details, and contact information.
• Are the organisers easily reachable via the contact details provided?
• Are there high registration fees and/or dubious money requests?
• Is payment done through a recognised and traceable mode?

Any suspicious conference invitations should be reported to CPS on 021 650 2222. Members of the public can also check with UCT’s Conference Management Centre (CMC) via cmc@uct.ac.za for verification of any conferences on campus.

All organisers for conferences on UCT premises are required to complete a CMD01 form as part of an application to host an academic event on campus. This document is forwarded to CMC, which monitors events taking place on campus.

3. ICTS scheduled maintenance

Please note that on Sunday, 23 February, Information and Communication Technology Services (ICTS) will perform maintenance from 08:00 to 17:00 (extended by one hour). Unless advised to the contrary, do not expect any ICT services to be available for the duration of the maintenance slot. Please remember to consult the Scheduled ICTS Maintenance slots for 2020 before planning any teaching, conferences, meetings, etc, that require ICT services.

Communication and Marketing Department

Read previous communications:

• From the UCT Executive
• Campus Announcements