Prof Francis Petersen to open 2018 Conference

Rector and Vice-Chancellor of UFS, Prof Francis Petersen will present the welcoming Keynote Address at the 2018 PURCO SA Conference, to be held at the Birchwood Conference centre from 24-26 October.

Professor Petersen was the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town in South Africa until March 2017. He has formerly been Dean: Engineering & the Built Environment at the University of Cape Town, the Executive Head: Strategy at Anglo American Platinum, Executive Vice-President: Research and Development at Mintek, and Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Cape Technikon (now the Cape Peninsula University of Technology). He graduated from the University of Stellenbosch with the B. Ing (Chem), M. Ing (Metal) and Ph.D (Ing) degrees, and completed a short course on Financial Skills for Executive Management with IIR Training. He is a recipient of the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Trust and the Cape Technikon (now the Cape Peninsula University of Technology) Researcher of the Year Awards and is a regular reviewer, and member of a range of editorial boards for international journals.

He is a non-executive director on the Board of the Fruits Unlimited. He is the former chairman of the Board of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), a former non-executive director on the Board of the Royal Bafokeng Platinum and former member of the South African Minister of Science & Technology’s National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI). He is also a former member of the Council of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), and the Board of the National Research Foundation (NRF). Francis is a registered professional engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa. He has been a member of an International Panel on Sustainability for Anglogold Ashanti, a former advisor to the Anglo American Platinum Beneficiation Fund, and is a Fellow of both the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and the South African Academy of Engineers.

Francis has extensive experience of management at various levels within the University and industry sectors. He believes in teamwork, and has played a key role in various initiatives within higher education, industry and science councils. He is the founder of the first cohort of industry research organisations in the minerals and energy sectors (M & E G9), and has been actively involved in strategic planning with regard to R&D in the Science & Technology Sector, Joint Venture formation and Scenario Development. Francis is serving on various national and international technical, editorial and advisory committees, is actively involved and has consulted widely to the South African engineering & the built environment industries. He has published over 150 technical papers & conference proceedings in international journals.

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