Wits University's Press office on Bizcommunity

The School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, invites you to attend the 2013 Rusty Bernstein Memorial Lecture, Making Slum-Free Cities: Global Urbanism in the Asian Century, delivered by Ananya Roy, Professor of City and Regional Planning and Distinguished Chair in Global Poverty and Practice at the University of California, Berkeley. 14 May 2013 Read more >>

Did you know that Johannesburg has the deepest living creature ever found on land? This species commonly known as the Devil's Worm which was discovered only two years ago in a Johannesburg mine, lives 3,5 kilometres below the surface - in a climate so hot that the low levels of oxygen is inadequate to support most forms of life. 8 May 2013 Read more >>

A new species of theropod, or meat-eating dinosaur, an ancient ancestor of today's birds, has been named by newly appointed Wits Evolutionary Studies Institute Senior Researcher Dr Jonah Choiniere and a team of international researchers. 7 May 2013 Read more >>

Wits University would like to congratulate the following three of its alumni who have been awarded National Orders by the President: Prof. Glenda Gray, Dr Ridwan Mia and Dr Bernie Fanaroff. 29 Apr 2013 Read more >>

A team of South African and international scientists from the Evolutionary Studies Institute (ESI) at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and 15 other global institutions, have published six papers and an introduction by Prof. Lee Berger, the lead author and project leader, in the prestigious journal, Science. 18 Apr 2013 Read more >>

Wits University and the International Human Rights Exchange (IHRE) at the University invite the media and the public to a lecture by Navanethem 'Navi' Pillay, UN high commissioner for human rights, entitled Human Rights Achievements and Challenges in a Rapidly Changing World. 16 Apr 2013 Read more >>

The palaeosciences fraternity and academia have welcomed the launch of the South African Strategy for the Palaeosciences and the awarding of the Centre of Excellence (CoE) for the Palaeosciences of the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation to the University of the Witwatersrand and its collaborating institutions, namely the University of Cape Town, Iziko Museum in Cape Town, the National Museum in Bloemfontein, the Albany Museum of Rhodes University, and Ditsong Museum in Pretoria. 13 Apr 2013 Read more >>

The final results of the 2012 national examinations written by prospective chartered accountants have been released and Wits graduates have achieved spectacular success in the exams set by the independent industry body, the South African Institute for Chartered Accountants (SAICA). 8 Apr 2013 Read more >>

The Drama For Life (DFL) Human Rights and Social Justice Season is back at the Wits Theatre. This year's theme is to create awareness around a topic that is often ignored in South African society: the human rights of people living with disabilities. The season aims to provide a platform for both disabled artists as well as artists interested in using art mediums to provoke dialogue around disability access and equality on campus. 18 Mar 2013 Read more >>

The list of the country's brightest minds, as announced by the Minister of Finance, includes Wits students. 4 Mar 2013 Read more >>

The seventh annual Taco Kuiper Award, which celebrates outstanding examples of investigative journalism published or broadcast by South African media, is open for entries. 18 Feb 2013 Read more >>

A Wits student team has been selected as one of only three African teams to proceed to the next stage of a global competition. Wits University and university teams from Kenya and Nigeria are among 100 student teams to go through to the second round of the biennial global Fly Your Ideas competition where entrants are invited to propose new ideas which will help the aerospace and air transport industry to become sustainable and eco-efficient. The teams were selected from over 600 hopefuls who had submitted entries into the third edition of the UNESCO-backed competition. 6 Feb 2013 Read more >>

Welcome to the era of cognitive computing. IBM has unveiled its 5 in 5 - five predictions about technology innovations that will change the way we work, live and interact within the next five years. 30 Jan 2013 Read more >>

The seventh annual Taco Kuiper Award, which celebrates outstanding examples of investigative journalism published or broadcast by South African media, is open for entries. 30 Jan 2013 Read more >>

An insect with a tiny brain and minimal computing power has become the first animal proven to use the Milky Way for orientation. Scientists from South Africa and Sweden have published findings showing the link between dung beetles and the spray of stars which comprises our galaxy. 25 Jan 2013 Read more >>

Wits University students have out-argued the imperious debating teams of Cambridge and Monash Universities. 7 Dec 2012 Read more >>

Six Wits students have been named among the 20 finalists in the Nedbank and Old Mutual Budget Speech Competition. 20 Nov 2012 Read more >>

Having recently hosted the 30th Annual MANEX awards at the Michelangelo Towers in Sandton, The Wits Business School and The Wits Business School Journal would like to congratulate Mark Lamberti on this fabulous achievement. He joined other captains of industry like Maria Ramos, Johann Rupert, Trevor Manuel and Pravhin Gordon as a winner of the award that celebrates excellence in Management. 14 Nov 2012 Read more >>

Africa Check - a brand new fact-checking website devised by the AFP Foundation and run in partnership with the Journalism Department of the University of the Witwatersrand - was launched on 31 October 2012. It is the first website in Africa set up exclusively to fact-check public debate and can be found at www.africacheck.org. 2 Nov 2012 Read more >>

"In remembering Carlos Cardoso, we are honouring all journalists persecuted for the pursuit of their work, particularly those exposing corruption. Carlos was a brave and committed journalist who played a key role in the establishment of an independent media in Mozambique and who suffered the ultimate censorship." - Anton Harber, Caxton Professor of Journalism, Wits University 29 Oct 2012 Read more >>

On a previously non-descript, but historical hill in Johannesburg an imposing new construction has risen, providing residence to Wits postdoctoral fellows, visiting academics and students pursuing postgraduate qualifications. 29 Oct 2012 Read more >>

What makes the big machine that is Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital tick? Who are the people that make it work and what exactly do they do? 26 Oct 2012 Read more >>

It is becoming clear to this reporter that heavily armed police hunted down and killed the miners in cold blood - Greg Marinovich 25 Oct 2012 Read more >>

Internationally acclaimed local documentary film maker, Francois Verster (director, editor and producer), continues his month-long residency at Wits as the Carnegie Resident Scholar, under the auspices of the Wits Television and Film Department, and the Department of African Literature. 24 Oct 2012 Read more >>

The Wits Choir celebrates the anniversary this year of its first public concert in 1962 with a grand 50th birthday celebration concert. 23 Oct 2012 Read more >>

Dung beetles roll their feasts of dung away to avoid the hoards of other hungry competitors at the dung pile. But now a team of researchers from South Africa and Sweden have discovered that they also use their balls in another, rather clever way. The moist balls keep the beetles cool even as they push a weight up to 50 times heavier than their own bodies across the hot sand. 23 Oct 2012 Read more >>