Preparation is under way for the tenth annual Sasol SciFest science and technology festival, to be held in Grahamstown next year.
The Sasol SciFest, which hosts about 40 000 visitors annually, is described as the largest science festival in sub-Saharan Africa. The festival, themed Face the Future, will focus on the role that science festivals can play in the future of SA.
"The annual Grahamstown-based festival is one of the driving forces in science enjoyment in southern Africa, with school groups from as far as Botswana among the tens of thousands of visitors who come every year," says Tebello Nyokong, a chemistry professor at Rhodes University and vice-chairperson of the SciFest board.
The festival will run from 22 to 28 March and will feature 600 events, including lectures, workshops, demonstrations, exhibitions, a film festival, play fair, science shows and laser shows.
Rockets will be among the event's highlights, says Brian Wilmot, SciFest director. "We are getting some really big rockets from the South African Amateur Rocketry Association which we will be setting off on Gunfire Hill, which overlooks the city." Schoolchildren will also be able to make smaller rockets under the guidance of one of SciFest's volunteers, Christophe Scicluna, an engineer based in France.
Guest speakers for the festival include Prof Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan, a palaeobiologist at the University of Cape Town and the 2005 Shoprite Checkers/SABC 2 Woman of the Year Award winner; Jane Goodall, a primatologist; Dr Khotso Mokhele, president of the National Research Foundation; and Prof Eric Wilcots, an associate professor of astronomy.
Wilcots and his colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have helped with the Southern Africa Large Telescope in Sutherland, Western Cape.
For more information regarding the festival, contact Alexa Kirsten on (046) 603 1106.
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