Robin Wood – director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, emeritus professor in the Department of Medicine and full member of the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IDM) – has been awarded the Weber-Parkes Medal for 2014 from the Royal College of Physicians of London.

Founded in 1895, this prize was originally awarded triennially to the author of the best essay on some subject connected with the aetiology, prevention, pathology or treatment of tuberculosis. The prize is currently awarded for the best work already done on this same subject in the UK or abroad.

Wood will receive his prize in October on the occasion of the Harveian Oration – a prestigious annual lecture – at the Royal College of Physicians of London.

UCT Graduate School of Business' Emeritus Professor Norman Faull is set to become an advisor for the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) within the Presidency, and will set in motion a programme to improve government departments' operations management, with the ultimate aim to boost service delivery in South Africa. Founder of the Lean Institute Africa (LIA) at the GSB, Faull will help the DPME roll out an Operations Management Support Programme on a trial basis. The programme is still in its initial stages, and consideration will be given to the most appropriate approaches in order to foster service delivery improvements while building the public service managers' skills.

The Department of Biological Sciences' Associate Professor Coleen Moloney has become the first woman to win the South African Network for Coastal and Oceanic Research's premier award – the Gilchrist Memorial Medal.

The medal recognises Moloney, who is also the director of UCT's Marine Research Institute, for her research into the variability of marine food webs and ecosystems under global change. This includes the impact of climate change and the influence of fishing and pollution on marine systems.

The citation lauded her services to marine science, commending her committee work and her selfless service to others – especially finding funding to support deserving students from educationally and economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

The American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Litigation presented United Nations special rapporteur on violence against women and University of Cape Town Associate Professor Rashida Manjoo with the International Human Rights Award on 8 August 2014 in Boston, USA.

Described as "one of the world's top experts and combatants of violence against women", Manjoo was recognised for her substantial and long-term contributions to the promotion of human rights outside the USA.

The ABA praised her for devoting her career to "addressing the brutality and oppression rooted in inequality and gender-based discrimination." Manjoo was appointed as the UN special rapporteur on violence against women in 2009.

The Jammie Shuttle Service will be undergoing a number of important changes from 8 September 2014. The West Bus Stop will close, the South Bus Stop will move to the nearby Stop-and-Drop, and the timetable will change. During this time, commuters will make use of North and new South bus stops to access the Jammie Shuttle. Further information, including frequently asked questions, a map of the new stops, and the new route information, can be found in the Jammie Shuttle section on the UCT website.

These changes are part of a pilot project to ensure the sustainability of the Jammie Shuttle. It also follows long-term discussions with university and student bodies, as well as outside consultation.

Professor Francis Petersen, the dean of the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment (EBE) has been appointed as a UCT deputy vice-chancellor. He will take up his new role in October 2014, on the retirement of Professor Thandabantu Nhlapo.

Petersen brings to this position his extensive experience of management in both the industry and academic sectors. He has been the executive head of strategy at Anglo American Platinum and head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Cape Technikon (now the Cape Peninsula University of Technology). He is a member of the UCT Council and chairs the board of the Cape Town World Design Capital 2014.

Petersen's new appointment leaves a vacancy in the dean's position. Until this post is filled, Emeritus Professor Barry Downing will serve as acting dean.

Accomplished columnist, social commentator and political analyst Max du Preez will deliver this year's annual TB Davie Memorial Academic Freedom Lecture on Thursday, 28 August 2014, at 13h00 in Jameson Hall.

In a lecture titled The mediocrity of intellectual discourse: misrepresenting South Africa in the academy and beyond, Du Preez will discuss how public intellectuals, academia and the media often fail to reflect the whole of SA to its citizens, and argues for a need to "move beyond the dominant and predictable discourse dictated by powerful politicians and corporates".

A veteran journalist, Du Preez received an honorary degree, a Master's in Social Science, from UCT in 2002. He is also a fellow of the Centre for Leadership Ethics in Africa at the University of Fort Hare and a visiting professor at the School of Communications Studies at the North-West University.