PROGRAM
ATTENTION: Same activities may run across different days and times. Different programs may take place in different locations on the same day.
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9:00-16:00 Hand-On Science: Teacher Training Workshop
Graham Walker and Annelize Potgieter.
Baobab Auditorium, Science Education Centre.
OUTSIDE ACTIVITY
MineLives: Tour of mining sites
Fransje Hooimeijer and Hannah Le Roux
Travel to Mapungubwe, Musina, Makhado.
Internal workshops on book and closing report
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UNIVERSITY OF LIMPOPO
9:00-16:00 Hand-On Science: Teacher Training Workshop
Graham Walker and Annelize Potgieter.
Baobab Auditorium, Science Education Centre.
12:00-17:00 Radio Workshop: Podcasting skills
Naomi Grewan and Kabir Jugram.
Tusk Auditorium, Science Education Centre
OUTSIDE ACTIVITY
MineLives: Tour of mining sites
Fransje Hooimeijer and Hannah Le Roux
Travel to Mapungubwe, Musina, Makhado.
Fransje Hooimeijer and Hannah Le Roux
Internal workshops on book and closing report
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UNIVERSITY OF VENDA
Symposium on Water, Energy and Food Impacts of Mining Landscapes
9:00-9:30 Arrival and coffee
9:30 Welcome (James Chakwizira - UniVen) and project overview (Fransje Hooimeijer - TU Delft and Hannah le Roux - Sheffield/Wits)
10:00 Invited lecture: Extractive Industry Indigenisation in Zimbabwe: Neoextractivism, Resource Nationalism and Uneven Development
Kennedy Manduna, Rosa Luxemburg Scholar
10:45 Invited lecture: The Dzomo la Mupo (DLM) vision
Mphatheleni Makaulule, Director of Dzomo la Mupo
11:30 Break
12:00 Panel Discussion 1: Mining impacts on the WEF nexus in the Limpopo basin
Simpiwe Mhlongo (U Venda)
Catherine Dzerefos (TUT)
Marna Van Der Merwe (CSIR)
Ingrid Watson (Wits Mining Institute)
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Invited lecture: Design after mining for the Royal Bafokeng
Prof Michael Solomon (UCT)
15:00 Panel discussion 2: Bio-economies as alternatives to mining
Sarah Venter (Baobab Foundation)
Andani Budeli (U Venda)
Isabel Recubenis Sanchis (TU Delft)
Mukovhe Matshaya (Vhembe Biosphere Reserve tbc)
16:00 Closing remarks
17:00 Guests leave for Polokwane / home
UNIVERSITY OF LIMPOPO
Eco-Imagining Plenary
LOCATION: Block/Earth Sciences Building, University of Limpopo, Large auditorium
12:30-13:30 Registration and lunch
13:30–14:00 Introduction: Annelize Potgieter
Welcome addresses: Vice Chancellor, Dr Mabelebele, Dean of Science: Professor Mampuru; Professor Lenore Manderson and Professor Eileen Moyer.
14:00 Keynote: Hands-on Climate Connections
Chair: Professor Paulus Mafeo, Director, School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences
Dr Graham Walker, Australian National University: Graham Walker founded Science Circus Africa in 2013, and through partnerships with African organisations, he has trained more than 500 staff and reached 73,000 people in 10 African countries. He established Science Circus Pacific in 2020.
15:30-17:00 Roundtable on Science, Art and Societal Challenges in a Warming World
Chair: Professor Hasani Chauke, Director, School of Physical and Mineral Science, University of Limpopo.
Arnold Sebola
Bronwyn Egan
Farina Lindeque
Lenore Manderson
Ola-Kris Akinola
17:00 – 18:30 Opening reception
Launch of the draft: Water, Energy, Food: A Nexus for Life - A Learners’ Guide, Willem van der Merwe, Lenore Manderson and Annelize Potgieter.
Performance: Tiisetso Seemela, Chris Akinola and colleagues
09:00-12:00 Radio Workshop: Podcasting skills
Tusk Auditorium, Science Education Centre
Naomi Grewan and Kabir
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UNIVERSITY OF LIMPOPO
Joint Meeting: Eco-Imagining and MineLives.
LOCATION: Science Education Centre, Baobab Auditorium
9:00-9:30 Coffee and welcome: Fransje Hooimeijer
9:30-11:00 Using transdisciplinary and transhistorical perspectives
Keynote Address.
Chair: Professor Martin Potgieter
Dr Lebs Mphahlele: ‘Humaneising’ the WEF Nexus: Learnings from Limpopo
11:00-11:30 Morning tea/coffee
11:30-12:30 Panel: Youth Resilience and Future‑Making in South Africa, Part I
Chair: Mr. Marius Marais, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Limpopo.
Ms. Dineo Mtetwa, University of Witwatersrand & University of Amsterdam: Workshops as Engagement: Mobilising Youth and Community Knowledge Around Electricity Infrastructure
Dr. Blessings Kaunda-Khangamwa, University of the Witwatersrand & Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (Malawi), CARTA Postdoctoral Research Fellow
contributors: Andries Bezuiedenhout, Andisiwe Maxela, Akanya Ntame, Mandla Khumsha, Vijay Makanjee, Lenore Manderson): Agency, resilience, and material insecurities among youths in rural and peri-urban, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
Dr. Nirvana Pillay, Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellow, Southern Centre for Inequality Studies and the School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand: “You have to make it alone”: Wellbeing, hope and aspiration of young people in Johannesburg
12:30-13:30 Lunch and Posters Viewing
13:30-14:30 Panel: Youth Resilience and Future‑Making in South Africa, Part II
Chair: Professor Coleen Vogel, Global Change Institute, University of the Witwatersrand
Ms. Isabel Recubenis Sanchis and Ms.Serah Calitz, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology: ‘Follow the slimes’: markers and makers of WEF relations in mining landscapes
Dr. Memory Reid, Global Change Institute, University of the Witwatersrand: Youth Agency and Energy Justice in South Africa's Energy Transition
Mrs. Annelize Potgeiter, Science Education Centre, University of Limpopo & Ghent University, Belgium: Designing for Epistemic Plurality: How Science Centres Imagine the Future
14:30-15.30 Book Launches: Preview of project books in process
Chair: Hannah Le Roux
Engaging Research: Methods for Eco-Imagining (Lenore Manderson and Eileen Moyer)
Engaging Communities: The Workbook for Mine Impacted Places (Ingrid Watson / Sabina Favaro - online)
15:45-16:30 Tour of the Botanic Gardens – Bronwyn Egan OR MineLives Workbook trial
16:30 Transport to Polokwane
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UNIVERSITY OF LIMPOPO
Joint Meeting: Eco-Imagining and MineLives.
LOCATION: Science Education Centre, Baobab Auditorium
9:00- 9:30 Coffee and Welcome from NWO – Matthijs Kallenberg
9:30-10:45 Roundtable: Land, Law and the WEF Nexus
Land tenure and ownership remain central to understanding the Water–Energy–Food (WEF) Nexus in South Africa. Historical legacies of dispossession and diverse forms of landholding—from communal tenure to private ownership—shape access to resources and the possibilities for resilience. This roundtable brings together scholars and activists working in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, and the Northern Cape to examine how law, governance, and community agency intersect in contexts of precarity. Case studies include youth and community struggles over basic needs, local authority responses, and the ongoing land claim in Namaland, where state and mining companies play decisive roles. By foregrounding regional differences and lived experiences, the discussion highlights how land and law mediate WEF relations and future-making.
Chair: Dr. Arda Spijker, Centre for Law and Society, University of Limpopo
Participants
Ms. Sandra Zaroufis – PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology, University of Amsterdam; Eco‑Imagining project researcher with fieldwork in Limpopo
Mr. Marius Marais – Lecturer and Researcher, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Limpopo
Ms. Trishé Farmer – Nama youth activist, Port Nolloth, Northern Cape; affiliated with youth NGO working on promoting indigenous rights and culture.
Prof. Andries Bezuidenhout, Development Studies, University of Fort Hare
Mr. Vijay Makanjee, Director, Ruliv (Rural and Urban Livelihoods), Eastern Cape; practitioner in community development and resource governance
Ms. Andisiwe Maxela – Master’s student, University of Fort Hare, Eastern Cape; researcher collaborating with Bezuidenhout and Makanjee on youth and resilience
10:45 - 11:15 Morning tea/coffee
Performing Arts, University of Limpopo - Spoken Word
11:15 – 11:30 Closing remarks
Dr. Nokuthula Mchunu, National Research Foundation
11:30-13:00 NRF/NWO meeting with research teams
13:30 Lunch
14:30 Visit to Ratanang Vegetable Gardens Co-op (Registration required for transport).
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UNIVERSITY OF LIMPOPO
Youth Engagement Day
LOCATION: Science Education Centre, University of Limpopo.
9:00-10:00 Breakfast and Welcome, Annelize Potgieter
10:00-10:30 Performing Arts
Programme, University of Limpopo, with school children
10:30-12:00 PLAYSTATION Activities
Learners move in their group to different playstations every 25 minutes
Station 1: Land Games
Sandra Zaroufis, Marius Marais and Vijay Makanjee, facilitators
Station 2: Murals and Making Films
Mook Lion, Trishé Farmer, Dineo Mtetwa and Arnold Sebola, facilitators
Station 3: What Streams Can Tell Us
Farina Lindeque and Modjadji Lebepe, facilitators
12:00 Science Circus in Action
Annelize Potgieter
12:30 Lunch
Imagining Futures
Merian-South Africa Research on the Water, Energy and Food Nexus
Imagining Futures: Art/Science Perspectives on Water, Energy and Food brings together two research projects on the WEF Nexus, both funded in 2022 by the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) and Dutch Research Council (NWO) through the South Africa Merian Fund. The projects, Eco-Imagining and MineLives have both taken innovative and creative approaches to studying the social dimensions of water, energy and food. This conference, the workshops, and the associated exhibition, organised by Marius Marais, Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, University of Limpopo, and Annelieze Potgieter, UL Science Education Centre, with colleagues, highlight this work.
Eco-Imagining is led by Lenore Manderson (University of the Witwatersrand) and Eileen Moyer (University of Amsterdam), with academic colleagues Andries Bezuidenhout, Department of Development Studies, University of Fort Hare, Marius Marais, Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, University of Limpopo, and Coleen Vogel, the Global Change Institute (GCI), University of the Witwatersrand, with NGOs Ruliv, Gender CC, The People’s Pantry and Makers Valley. The project included research and art activities in urban and peri-urban settings in three provinces in South Africa – Eastern Cape, Limpopo, and Gauteng.
MineLives is a collaboration between the School of Architecture and Planning of University of the Witwatersrand, led by Hannah le Roux, with GCRO, Wits Mining Institute, University of Venda and Iyer urban design in South Africa; and the TU Delft Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, led by Fransje Hooimeijer,with research groups Delta Urbanism and History of Architecture and Urban Planning, TU Delft Faculty of civil engineering and geosciences, research group Applied Geology, IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Studio Hartzema and UrbaniaHoeve.