PAST EVENTS

CHROMSA POSTGRADUATE STUDENT WORKSHOP

21 September 2023

As part of an initiative to promote chromatography-related research, ChromSA held the 2023
edition of the postgraduate student workshop at the University of Pretoria’s Sanlum
Auditorium on 21 September. The aim of the workshop was to promote chromatography and
present a platform where students can present their chromatography-related research to a
diverse audience consisting of fellow students and supervisors from different institutions,
industry experts, and a panel of judges. Some of the benefits of such a platform to students
involve (i) an opportunity to showcase their work, (ii) getting inputs, tips and tricks from a
diverse audience including experts in the field (iii) sharpening science communication skills,
and (iv) networking.
This year, the workshop was a great success with five MSc and nine PhD students selected
to give presentations and a large and diverse audience of attendees. While few students
couldn’t present due to various reasons, the presentations that were head were of very high
quality and standard – as attested to by the judges – and stimulated a lot of interest and
discussion in the audience during the question and answer sessions. Broadly, the talks
highlighted chromatographic method development and application across themes like
environmental monitoring and phytochemical screening, with chemometrics featuring across
all themes.
To top it all up, the last presentation was a Special Invited Talk titled “Life After University”
which was given by Sonja Oosthuizen from PerknElever. Sonja’s talk was well received by
the students as she gave an industry perspective on the possible career pathways they can
pursue after completing their postgraduate studies. For ChromSA, it was important to have
such a talk in the programme as it positions chromatography as more than just an academic
exercise, but a specialisation that one can make a career out of.
To wrap up the day, the panel of judges gave comprehensive feedback to the student –
highlighting the things they were doing right and more importantly, areas they needed to
improve on an general tips on improving their science communication skills. In the end,
judges had to select winners from the two categories. In the MSc category, Mashilo
Ronnie Kgosana (TUT) won the first place price and Ronewa Netshithothole (UNISA) was
the runner-up. In the PhD category, Ramoagi Segone (TUT) won in first place, while
Ndumiso Mofokeng (Wits) was the runner-up.