Session on human augmentation and other updates

15 July 2022

Dear colleagues

University of Cape Town (UCT) Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng will host the second session, focused on human augmentation, as part of a series themed “Using the science of the future to shape your present”. Read more on this and other updates below.

1. Virtual discussion on human augmentation

Professor Phakeng will host a virtual discussion on human augmentation with thought leaders in the field on Sunday, 17 July at 16:00 SAST.

What is the future of humanity in a world of human augmentation and how can Africa be at the forefront of ethical genetic engineering? This session will attempt to shed light on these questions and many others.

Phakeng will be joined by geneticist Professor Ambroise Wonkam and human rights activist Leo Igwe in the second session. Other upcoming sessions will be held on 24 and 31 July.

Join the conversation on UCT’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.

2. VC’s Open Lecture: Vikas Pota

The next VC Open Lecture will be presented by Mr Vikas Pota, founder and chief executive officer of T4 Education, a digital media platform providing opportunities for educators to network, collaborate, share best practices and support each other’s efforts to improve learning.

His lecture is titled “Great change needs great changemakers”. It will show that today’s students can lead the change they want to see in the world if they have a vision and know how to communicate it.

Join this lecture on 27 July 2022 at 18:00 SAST on the Microsoft Teams platform.

Read the VC Desk: VC’s Open Lecture: Vikas Pota.

3. Call for UCT curriculum change grant applications

Individual academics are invited to apply for the UCT curriculum change grants, to be used to support teams with teaching and related costs, aimed at making teaching at the university more effective. Please declare your intention to submit by 18 July 2022. You will be invited to attend a briefing session on 25 July 2022.

The closing date for all applications is 1 September 2022 on Form TGA2.

Read the DVC Desk: Call for UCT curriculum change grant applications.

4. Nominations for the UCT Open Textbook Award

The UCT Open Textbook Award aims to incentivise innovation in teaching and learning, recognise efforts of open textbook authors, and promote the creation and reuse of open educational resources. The award may be made to single or multiple authored books and carries a value of R30 000.

Nominations are now open for the 2022 award and can be submitted either by open textbook authors or by a third party. The deadline for nominations is 15 August 2022.

Read the DVC Desk: Nominations for the 2022 UCT Open Textbook Award.

Communication and Marketing Department

In July 2022, the University of Cape Town (UCT) revised its approach to managing the COVID-19 pandemic on UCT campuses in 2022.
Read the latest document available on the UCT policies web page.

Read previous communications:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.