Projects

Grassland systems have been in focus for a long time due to their ecological, socioeconomic and cultural importance. If moderately managed, these grasslands may increase the multifunctionality of rural...

Languages change and adapt as they exist in the minds and practices of multilinguals. This has been my research focus for a long time. At STIAS, I work on several projects in this area. One concerns mining...

One of the key assignments for my stay at STIAS will be to work out a proposal for the final agenda and format for a Round Table (RT) meeting to be held at STIAS in February 2016 together with Pontus Braunerhjelm....

Obesity is a medical condition defined as the excessive accumulation of fat that presents a risk to health. Worldwide obesity has doubled since 1980. In 2008, over half billion people were obese. Health...

In rhetorical theory, the question of how meaning is produced has traditionally been dealt with in terms of the intentions of the orator to influence her or his audience through speech. Today, it seems...

The inclusion of a clause protecting the deprivation of property in South Africa’s Constitution was controversial. The meaning of property, its reach and application remains contested. I hope to use...

A second edition of the book (entitled “Biochemical Oscillations and Cellular Rhythms. The molecular bases of periodic and chaotic behaviour”, published by Cambridge University Press in 1996,...

The history of science and of scientific knowledge in South Africa is a growing field of interest but it remains relatively fragmented. There has been work done on particular disciplines and institutions,...

Perched, inconveniently, at opposite ends of the globe, Scotland and South Africa are nonetheless ‘sisters-in-law’ in the sense that their systems of private law are uncannily close. For in both countries...

Stroke care represents one of the major global unmet challenges of the global health care system. Out of the 15 million yearly global sufferers 5 million die and another 5 million are permanently disabled....

The role of literature is always to speak the truth to power (Nietzsche), and even if it cannot pretend to ameliorate material problems it appears to have impact on the way readers respond to reality and...

Drought is the single greatest threat to world agriculture (FAO, 2008) and this is predicted to be increasingly exacerbated by the effects of global climate change. At present 11.6% (14.2 Mha) of South...