Bringing researchers together through science and technology
Bringing researchers together through science and technology
One of the guest speakers: Dr Tshepo Mokoka
Puleng Maphisa & Teboho Mofokeng
The Vaal University of Technology (VUT) hosted the 11th South African Conference on Computational and Applied Mechanics (SACAM 2018).
The SACAM conference is one of the premier international conferences on Computational and Applied Mechanics in the African Continent that attracts both local and international particpants. This year event was organised by the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, in partnership with the South African Association for Applied Mechanics (SAAM) under the theme: Science and technology transfer. Particpants at the SACAM 2018 conference came from different countries from around the world including Botswana, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, France, Germany, Kenya, Kuwait, Nigeria, Poland, South Africa, Sweden, Uganda, United States of America and Zimbabwe.
The SACAM conference is held every two years as a forum to present current cutting-edge developments in Computational and Applied Mechanics. Its main function is to bring together engineers, scientists and applied mathematicians from academia, research institutions and industry from all over the world in order for them to engage with other and exchange ideas.
The SACAM 2018 conference, held from 17-19 September, was opened by the Vice-chancellor and Principal of VUT Professor Gordon Zide, who noted that there might be plenty of opportunities at the bottom if scientists and researchers would not only end with “Applied and Computational Mechanics” but should start thinking of “Applied and Computational Anthropology”.
The Minister of Science and Technology’s advisor, Dr Tshepo Mokoka who is also an academic at the University of the Witwatersrand in the field of Economics, then followed and gave the opening keynote address to set the tone for the conference. Dr Mokoka, during his presentation, said: “One of the goals of the National Development Plan is to increase investment in research and development from 0.7% to 1.2% of the GDP.” He further stated that the White Paper was recently released by the Minister of Science and Technology Ms Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane.
A gala dinner, which started with a boat cruise, was held at Stonehaven on 18 September, where Prof Zide spoke about ethical leadership in a disrupted world.
Ms Zeldra Schutte, from CSIR and who won first prize for her contributions
The conference was closed with variety of awards being handed out. Ms Zeldra Schutte, from CSIR and who won first prize for her contributions, said that the conference was interesting and informative and that she had learned a lot from different researchers.