The sixth edition of the South Africa-UNESCO Engineering Conference will feature an introduction to coding for high school learners and advanced coding for postgraduates, researchers and industry, as well as expert offerings related to high-performance computing.
Taking place at North-West University's (NWU's) Mahikeng campus from 23 to 27 September 2019, the week-long conference will bring together role players from various engineering fields to discuss opportunities and challenges and propose strategies South Africa can adopt to develop relevant and future-oriented capacity and capabilities.
The conference is a collaboration between the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), and the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA).
This year's event will be held under the theme "Decolonising the 4th Industrial Revolution in support of the Sustainable Development Goals", and will be filled with activities ranging from educational outreach events to a session on young women in engineering.
The event will include activities and workshops for learners, presentations by NWU master's and doctoral students, and parallel sessions focusing, among others, on youth in engineering in the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR), infrastructure for the 4IR, advanced manufacturing, and sustainable engineering and energy.
The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Blade Nzimande, will deliver a keynote address on 26 September 2019.
Among the speakers will be the Premier of North West, Mr Job Mokgoro, NWU's Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dan Kgwadi, NWU's Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, Prof. Nancy Phaswana-Mafuya, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ECSA, Mr Sipho Madonsela, and the Deputy CEO for Research and Innovation Support and Advancement at the National Research Foundation, Dr Gansen Pillay.
The media are invited to the main conference as follows:
Date: 26 and 27 September 2019 (programme attached)
Time: 09:00 – 17:00
Venue: Student Centre, NWU, Mahikeng campus.
To confirm your attendance, please contact:
Zama Mthethwa
Cell: 082 808 3956
E-mail: zama.mthethwa@dst.gov.za.
