Inaugural lecture by Professor Raju and other updates

Dear colleagues and students

The next lecture in the UCT Inaugural Lecture series will be delivered by Professor Jaya Raju on Wednesday, 18 October 2023. Read more on this and other upcoming events on campus.

1. Inaugural lecture by Professor Raju

Professor Jaya Raju, the head of the Department of Knowledge and Information Stewardship, will deliver her inaugural lecture titled “Leading a ‘decolonial turn’ in research methodology from a knowledge and information stewardship perspective” on Wednesday, 18 October 2023 at the Chris Hani Lecture Theatre on upper campus at 18:00. The lecture focuses on questioning dominant western epistemology used in knowledge and information stewardship research, and in social science research generally, and positions the knowledge and information stewardship discipline to take the lead in effecting a ‘decolonial turn’ in research methodology generally.

• RSVP for the lecture by Professor Raju.

The fourth UCT Inaugural Lecture for the month of October will be delivered by Professor Nancy Odendaal on Tuesday, 24 October 2023 at the Snape Teaching Studio 3B, Snape Building on upper campus at 17:15. The lecture is titled “Reframing African Smart Urbanism”. Through this lecture, Odendaal, the director of the School of Architecture Planning and Geomatics, will counter mainstream claims that the standardised smart city represents a panacea for intractable urban problems.

• RSVP for the lecture by Professor Odendaal.

2. Research symposium and UCT Press relaunch

The university will host two exciting opportunities – the research symposium and the UCT Press relaunch – which researchers can join to learn more about research projects, practices and publishing experiences at UCT.

The research symposium will take place on Wednesday, 18 October 2023 from 08:30 to 14:00. This year’s theme is “Sustainable research impact: sharing practices and experiences”. It will be held at the Auditorium, Neville Alexander Building, School of Education, 6 Lovers Walk on lower campus.

• RSVP to attend the symposium.

On Thursday, 19 October 2023 from 13:30 to 15:30, the university will relaunch the UCT Press. It will be held in a hybrid format with the in-person event at Level 6, Hlanganani Junction, Chancellor Oppenheimer Library (Main Library) on upper campus.

• RSVP to attend the relaunch.
• Read the full DVC Desk: Upcoming research symposium and UCT Press relaunch.

3. UCT Sustainable Campus Guided Walking Tour

The university will host the UCT Sustainable Campus Guided Walking Tour, which is an opportunity for postgraduate students to see how the Khusela Ikamva initiative is transforming UCT into a sustainable campus for the future. The tour will be held on Thursday, 19 October 2023 from 12:00 to 13:30. It will start at Sarah Baartman Hall, main entrance. Attendance is free but places are limited.

• Register online before 16 October 2023.

The Khusela Ikamva project will host an online webinar for postgraduate students early in November to give an overview of the initiative currently underway. A particularly important part of this session will also include gathering ideas on how UCT’s postgraduate students think the university can make the campus more sustainable.

• Register your interest to attend the webinar.
• Read the full DVC Desk: Join UCT’s Sustainable Campus Guided Walking Tour.

4. UCT to co-host African Universities Gender Equality Forum in November

UCT, the Shared Value Africa Initiative, and the #ITSNOTOK movement will co-host the African Universities Gender Equality Forum on Thursday, 23 November 2023. It will be held via Zoom from 14:00 to 15:30 CAT.

The forum aims to cultivate awareness about sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), and foster dialogue to introduce cultural norms that prevent SGBV and catalyse programmatic change in the higher education sector.

It is intended to serve as a platform through which participants can work towards driving meaningful conversations and change to eradicate SGBV and increase gender equity within African universities.

• RSVP to attend the event online.

5. Properties & Services to launch new Archibus modules

Since the launch of the Properties and Services (P&S) workplace services portal, Archibus, in August 2022, the department has been providing the UCT community with easy access for submission of service requests across the vast array of services offered within the maintenance, estates, building services and projects portfolios.

In striving to continuously improve the catalogue of available services and service delivery standards, P&S will launch two modules – building operations and assets management – in Archibus.

Building operations will allow P&S to not only improve back-office and field operations but also engagements with clients. The module includes preventive and corrective maintenance. The maintenance module helps to manage reactive (corrective) and preventive maintenance, enabling system processes to facilitate scheduling of requests, assignment of craftsperson (internal resources and external contractors), budgeting, invoicing, work request approvals, updates to requests as well as maintaining details about completed jobs, and assessing performance and responses spanning the request lifecycle.

The asset management application provides the ability to manage assets through their full operational lifecycle – from purchase to disposal – and includes properties, buildings, structures, land, furniture and equipment.

P&S’s planned go-live date is Monday, 16 October 2023.

As a result, there will be a downtime period on the Archibus system from 17:00 on Friday, 13 October until 22:00 on Sunday, 15 October 2023.

For any emergencies during this period, please contact the relevant maintenance area managers for assistance.

Communication and Marketing Department

Read previous communications:

• From the UCT Executive
• Campus Announcements