The University of the Free State (UFS) will be welcoming 36 scholars on Monday 25 November 2013 at the Bloemfontein Campus for the opening of the 2nd Annual Southern African Young Scientists Summer Programme (SA-YSSP).

Date: Monday 25 November 2013

Time: 17:30

Place: Centenary Complex, Bloemfontein Campus

The SA-YSSP is a novel three-month programme for advanced doctoral candidates whose research interests align with the Department of Science and Technology’s (DST) grand challenges and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis’ (IIASA) current research programmes regarding global environmental, economic and social change.

Following the successful hosting of the inaugural SA-YSSP in 2012, the UFS, in collaboration with IIASA, the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the DST, is proud to announce that the second SA-YSSP will be held from 24 November 2013 to 22 February 2014.

The programme will form part of an annual three-month education, academic training and research capacity-building programme jointly organised by IIASA, based in Austria, the NRF and the DST. IIASA is an international research organisation that conducts policy-oriented scientific research in the three global problem areas of energy and climate change, food and water, and poverty and equity. South Africa’s engagements with IIASA, specifically with regard to the SA-YSSP, relate primarily to the DST’s Ten-Year Innovation Plan.

The UFS is the first institution outside Austria to host the Summer Programme. Researchers in the programme are, among others, from South Africa, Egypt, China, Italy, Sweden, Iran, Hungary, India, the USA and Indonesia.