The University of Pretoria’s (UP) Department of Institutional Advancement (DIA) recently held a two-day media networking event with 19 journalists who visited four campuses.

The event, which was hosted by the DIA’s media team, culminated in journalists and academics who are visible in the media enjoying lunch with UP Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Tawana Kupe and other members of staff. Prof Kupe informed the media representatives about UP’s achievements and plans for the future, and thanked them for publicising the University’s activities.

Journalists from The Cape Times, Cape Argus, Cape Talk/702, SABC radio, eNCA, University World News, Pretoria News and the agriculture media, among others, attended the event. They networked with the academics, taking note of several ideas for stories.

During the lunch, Thembi Tlale, Deputy Director of Marketing and Communication at UP, thanked journalists for covering news from UP. “The University sees the media as a valuable stakeholder in making science accessible to the public in an age of misinformation and fake news.” She also thanked the attending academics for taking the time to talk to the media about their work.

Some visitors were taken on a tour of the Kumba Virtual Reality Centre in the Department of Mining Engineering and were hosted by its Head, Prof Ronny Webber-Youngman. Prof Jan Eloff, Acting Dean of the Faulty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology (EBIT), hosted a discussion about his faculty’s work, while Head of the Department of Civil Engineering Prof Wynand Steyn took the media on a tour of the Engineering 4.0 complex. The road engineer spoke passionately about his work on smart cities and transport.

Liesel Swart, in floral shirt with journalists outside Engineering 1, Hatfield Campus. From left to right: Kevin Brandt, CapeTalk/EWN; Siskone Mlamba, Cape Argus; Francesca Villet, Cape Times; Salma Patel, SABC radio and Engela Duvenage, agriculture writer.	Journalists visited the Faculty of Veterinary Science, where they were addressed by several academics on their areas of research.

The media also toured UP’s Future Africa Institute, which hosted five journalists for a two-night stay. In addition, nine journalists were hosted at the Faculty of Veterinary Science by Prof Marinda Oosthuizen, Deputy Dean of Research and Postgraduate Studies. They visited the Animal Hospital and Wildlife Clinic, and heard about what the faculty is doing in terms of food security, production animal studies and wildlife conservation.

Public Relations and Events Manager Primarashni Gower thanked Estie Powell, Marketing Manager of EBIT; Chris van Blerk of the Veterinary Science Faculty; Media Relations Specialist Liesel Swart; Events Manager Laverne Gardner; as well as the Future Africa Institute for their help. “I also want to thank the academics, some of whom were on leave, who took the time to meet the media. Good relationships with the media are important for UP to get its work out into the public domain. Media relations are ongoing.”

Gower encouraged academics to share their research findings with the media team. They can contact Thembi Tlale at [email protected]; Liesl Swart at [email protected]; or Primarashni Gower at [email protected].

Tlale reminded academics that the DIA media team will be facilitating media training workshops again in 2022. “We urge you to attend these workshops as we will share information on how to interact with the media.” Eight workshops were held this year and more than 250 staff members received training.