UJ’s Physics Department excelled at the South African Institute of Physics’ 61st annual conference held recently at the University of Cape Town. The department hosted the conference in 2014. Its team, consisting of academics, postdocs and postgraduate students, delivered 18 presentations where Feraol Dirirsa won first prize for the best PhD poster in the Astrophysics division, and Jessica Tsuen and Chani van Niekerk shared the prize for the best Honours poster in the Condensed Matter and Materials division.

Dr Buyi Sondezi was elected as the new president of Women in Physics in South Africa, taking over from her colleague, the Department’s Professor Aletta Prinsloo, while Senior Lecturer and Physics Deputy HoD for Teaching and Learning, Dr Emanuela Carleschi was elected to serve on the Executive Committee of the Division for Condensed Matter and Materials of SAIP.

The team was congratulated by UJ Physics Head, Prof Hartmut Winkler who said: “The department has once again shown itself to be a force in Physics in this country. Our students and postdocs have impressed at the conference, and have enhanced our reputation”.