Postgraduate students must create essential networking with professionals and other students in order to be successful in their research projects.

This is according to Professor Krishna Bisetty, Associate Professor in the University’s Chemistry Department during the South African Chemical Institute Postgraduate symposium (SACI) on Friday last week (24 October 2014). Prof Krishna Bisetty is the SACI representative at DUT.

The symposium was held at the DUT Hotel School Conference and was attended by students from various institutions in South Africa, research experts, mentors and examiners. Postgraduate students had an opportunity to present their research projects to academic peers who critiqued their work and gave pointers for possible interesting research areas.

Professor Sibusiso Moyo, Director of Research and Postgraduate Support at DUT, echoed Prof Bisetty’s sentiments, saying networking was an opportunity to increase students’ visibility in their academic fields. Students were encouraged to take advantage of technology to collaborate with experts beyond South African borders who are conducting similar research as theirs.

DUT has made great strides as far as research is concerned. The University is among top international journal publishers in the country in fields such as water, enzyme technology, nano-composites and peace studies. More research fields are currently emerging in health studies, urban futures and child welfare.

Bilateral relations with institutions from countries such as China have had a great impact on the development of research and imperative academic exchange. Monga Ilunga, a B-Tech Chemistry student at DUT was one of the presenters at the symposium. Her research topic was The effect of temperature on the extraction of carbohydrates and hydrogen cyanide from cassava leaves. One of the conclusions in Ilunga’s research was that the amount of carbohydrates and hydrogen cyanide extracted decrease as temperature increases.

Upcoming post-graduate students were also encouraged to take up research-work that involves their immediate environment and communities. Researchers at DUT are currently interested in research on whoonga abuse by homeless youths in Durban.

-Gift Nyamapfene

Pictured: Prof Krishna Bisetty, the SACI representative at DUT, conducts proceedings during the symposium.