Meet polymath scientist Zeblon Vilakazi - the Katlehong kid who became Wits Vice Chancellor via a PhD, nuclear physics, CERN - and discipline

Loading player...
Prof Zeblon Vilakazi is a nuclear physicist who was employed at CERN, focal point of Europe's nuclear sector and one of the world's most respected centres for scientific research. He also speaks nine languages, including French, German and Russian. In this podcast we neet this much-referenced researcher and academic leader who last January returned to Wits University (where he received a PhD in 1998) to succeed Adam Habib as vice chancellor. Vilakazi is passionate about the role brainpower can and, he believes, will play in developing Africa; unpacks how Wits is replicating the partnership-with-business models pioneered by Oxford University and MIT - and shares how his university is one of only a baker's dozen sites worldwide linking-in to IBM's Quantum Computer project. Fascinating and uplifting. He spoke to Alec Hogg of BizNews. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
28 Sep 2022 9AM English South Africa Investing · Business News

Other recent episodes

Tim Cohen: Doubling down on transformation

The fight over transformation policy in South Africa is intensifying as four of the biggest law firms legally challenge the new legal sector codes. Currency News Senior Editor Tim Cohen joins Irakli to discuss the deeper fault lines exposed by this clash, questioning whether the push for 50% black ownership…
18 May 11AM 9 min

Juanita du Preez: The police generals are falling like dominoes…

The deepening crisis in the South African police force has seen generals toppled either through suspension or arrest. In this interview with Chris Steyn, Action Society's Juanita du Preez comments on the suspensions of the National Commissioner, the Mpumalanga Provincial Commissioner, and the Head of Supply Chain Management, as well…
18 May 7AM 16 min