Good News

BULLETIN 11 July

Good afternoon, here is your Good News:

# University of the Free State professor Ivan Turok has been named the recipient of the 2025 Distinguished Service Award by the Regional Studies Association. This international recognition celebrates Turok’s significant contribution to the field of urban and regional research, both globally and in Africa. His research has focused on the economic structure and performance of cities in South Africa and across the continent. Turok says receiving this award is a great honour, particularly in representing academics from the global South.

# Walter Sisulu University senior lecturer in the Division of Urology, Jeff John, has completed his PhD in Urology through the University of Cape Town. He becomes only the second person in UCT’s history, and the fifth nationally, to receive a PhD in Urology. John has also designed the IsoWire, intended to improve safety during retrograde intrarenal surgery for kidney stone treatment. He says he is passionate about creating tools that will enhance both patient outcomes and surgical education. 

# Hold My Hand invites children and teens across South Africa to enter a new competition titled Hear Me Out. Children under 18-years-old are encouraged to reflect on what helps them feel safe enough to speak up, what they wish parents, teachers, and caregivers truly understood about their world, and how adults can better show up for them during difficult times. Submissions can be in any creative format: a drawing, rap, voice note, short video, letter, or poem. Entries close on August 8th.

# Original artworks and prints created by award-winning British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran are currently on display in a new exhibition at the Heni Gallery in central London until August 1st. Money raised from the exhibition will go to the Ed Sheeran Foundation, which aims to provide inclusive, high-quality music education to children from all backgrounds. The exhibition is called Cosmic Carpark Paintings. Sheeran says, naturally, he has always been interested in painting:

# And finally, motorsport: Two-time Dakar motorcycle champion Sam Sunderland will try to ride around the world in under 19 days from September. The 36-year-old Briton says he realises it would be mentally more challenging than anything he had ever done before. Kevin and Julia Sanders set the current record of 19-days-eight-hours-25 minutes in 2002, but the Guinness World Records no longer recognise the feat because of the dangers involved. For Sunderland to succeed, he will have to drive over one-thousand-600-kilometres per day.

Stay tuned for more news………….