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2015 students seen with Dr Jenny Broadhurst, Professor Harro Von Blottnitz (middle), Professor J-P Franzidis (back) and Professor Sue Harrison (insert)

The second cohort of 18 students from the trans-disciplinary and inter-institutional MPhil specialising in Sustainable Mineral Resource Development was at UCT in June to attend two courses. Ten of the students are from UCT and eight from the University of Zambia.

 The group is truly an inter-disciplinary cohort – from a business analyst, geologist, forester to a recent chemical engineering graduate— and the proposed dissertation topics really show this. The programme has been developed for a diverse group and it has the breadth and sufficient depth to develop critical thinking without being too specialised in any particular area.

The programme is run in collaboration with the University of Zambia and is addressing the inter-disciplinary framework that UCT is nurturing, particularly the interface of technology, environment and the community.

Professor Harro Von Blottnitz is the convenor of the course and took over from Professor J-P Franzidis, who retired at the end of the 2014 but is still involved in the programme. Professor Sue Harrison and Dr Jenny Broadhurst lecture on the programme.

The MPhil programme was initiated by the Institute for Sustainability and Peace at the United Nations University through their programme on Education for Sustainable Development in Africa, which they launched in October 2008.