For many young South Africans, it’s probably hard to get excited about the annual Youth Day (16 June) celebrations when they can’t even get a decent job. In this podcast, Prof Dieter von Fintel from the Department of Economics addresses the high unemployment rate among the youth and also offers some suggestions to help young people find work.

The “IT” series is designed to help you navigate complex, volatile and uncertain business environments with the innovation and insights required to foster transformation. In this podcast Doris Viljoen, Director of the Institute for Futures Research, at the Stellenbosch Business School, will share the guide to playing the FLIP-IT game​, that she designed.

FLIP-IT is a game that unlocks innovative ideas, and asks participants to imagine next ways to do business from fresh perspectives.

The potential economic impact of the polyphagous shot hole borer in South Africa amounts to a whopping R275 billion over the next ten years, if nothing is done to stem the tide. The shot hole borer was first detected in South Africa in 2012 and has since spread to eight of South Africa’s nine provinces, making it the largest current outbreak of this invasive pest globally. In this podcast, ecologists and an economist from Stellenbosch University explain why the impact of the polyphagous shot hole borer is not only an ecological, but also an economic problem.

Speakers:

Prof Francois Roets, Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Faculty of AgriSciences

Prof Brian van Wilgen, Center for Invasion Biology, Faculty of Science

Prof Martin de Wet, School for Public leadership, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences

South Africans have been living with loadshedding for years now and there doesn’t seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel. In this podcast, Prof Sampson Mamphweli, Director of the Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies, talks about our continuing electricity woes and how renewable energy could help us resolve this crisis.

World Hypertention Day is observed every year on 17 May and aims to communicate to the public the importance of hypertension and to provide information on prevention, detection and treatment.

Dr Lynne Julie, a general practitioner at the Stellenbosch University Campus Health Service talks about this condition.

On Wednesday 27 April South Africans celebrate Freedom Day. In this podcast, Prof Reggie Nel, Dean of the Faculty of Theology, talks about whether the concept of freedom still has meaning for us today and what a future vision of a free South Africa should look like.

World TB day is commemorated every year on 24 March to raise public awareness and understanding about Tuberculosis. Although TB is a curable disease, many survivors of TB will continue to suffer from Post-TB Lung Disease. Professor Brian Allwood, Associate Professor in the Division of Pulmonology at the Stellenbosch University Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences tells us more about Post-TB Lung Disease.

International Women’s Day is celebrated annually on 8 March. In this podcast, Dr Efua Prah from the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology talks about why we need to change the conversations about women’s reproductive health which is still considered a taboo subject in some societies.

In 2022, World Wildlife Day (Thursday 3 March) is celebrated under the theme “Recovering key species for ecosystem restoration”. In this podcast, marine biologist Dr Sara Andreotti from the Evolutionary Genomics Group in the Department of Botany and Zoology talks about the conservation of sharks and why this is important for the restoration of the marine ecosystem.

February is Rare Disease Month with Rare Disease Day being observed on the 28th. In this podcast, Prof Shahida Moosa (Tygerberg Hospital / Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics / Research Group on Rare Disease Genomics in South Africa) talks about the importance of paying more attention to rare diseases and supporting families and individuals affected by these neglected conditions.

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