Though there were a few watershed moments, COP17 was, in many ways, a success. So said a panel of experts at a feedback session titled What happened at COP17? Hear the inside story, held at UCT on 24 January. The panel discussion on the showcase 17th Conference of the Parties, held in Durban at the end of 2011, was convened by UCT's newly established African Climate & Development Initiative (ACDI) and the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership and Sustainable Energy Africa. Read more...

The only thing certain about the future of South Africa's ecosystems is that they are guaranteed to change.This came to light in a recent workshop titled <>Counting the Cost of Land Cover Change, held at the University of Pretoria and attended by a network of scientists, conservationists and policy makers known as the Land Cover Change Consortium (LCCC). Read more...

Everyone agrees that capacity building is the answer to many of Africa's development problems. The Alan J Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health (CPMH), a joint initiative between UCT and Stellenbosch University, has put that into practice with the launch of what is Africa's first postgraduate training programme in public mental health. Read more...

During a 15-minute meeting, one thing quickly becomes clear about Raenette Taljaard: she is one industrious person. She thinks fast, talks fast, walks fast, and does just everything else at the same brisk pace. This could explain why she holds so many positions in so many organisations = all with aplomb. Including, since late last year, that of part-time commissioner with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). Read more...

While UCT commerce students suffer a reputation around campus as being somewhat stodgy, Wednesday morning's Orientation programme suggested that that image may be undeserved. The 400 of the faculty's 1,200 projected new students who filled Beattie Theatre on 25 January were treated to a mixed bag of receptions by various university representatives. Read more...

Incoming UCT first-year students today had the vacation cobwebs blown away by a spectacular case of the Monday blues. Jammie Plaza buzzed as blue-clad Faculty of Humanities orientation leaders (OLs) treated its first group of freshers to a roaring welcome on the drizzly morning of 23 January. As the largest faculty at the university, Humanities kicked off UCT's Orientation 2012, with other faculties joining the fray later this week and next week. Read more...

For so long, African scientists have often looked elsewhere for solutions to the continent's problems. The time has now come for that to change, believes Dr Nyasha Chin'ombe after attending the 16th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Read more...