There was a fantastic response to our first Alumni Business Breakfast of 2015, which was attended by 72 alumni. Alumnus and Laureate recipient Riaan Rademan was the guest speaker. He is the Executive Vice-President of upstream and business enablement at Sasol.

Mr Rademan retains a close personal involvement with his alma mater as a member of the advisory committee of the Department of Mining Engineering, and as a member of an advisory board committee for the Faculty of Engineering, the Build Environment and Information Technology. 

Prof Ströh, UP’s Vice-Principal: Institutional Planning, acted as programme director. He emphasised the long partnership between UP and Sasol. Sasol and its subsidiaries have links with researchers and students in the faculties of Engineering, Built Environment and IT (EBIT), and Natural and Agricultural Sciences (NAS), as well as with the departments of Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Chemistry, Mining Engineering and Plant Production, and Soil Science. There are also several projects in which the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering works closely with, among others, the Material Characterisation Group of Sasol.

Sasol is committed to supporting students in their research projects and provides postgraduate support. The company also invests in the Sasol Chair in Safety, Health and Environment. The Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering benefitted from the establishment of the Sasol Laboratory for Structural Mechanics on the Hatfield Campus in 1985.