Pan African Universities debate enters Season II

THE Pan-African Universities Debating Championship (PAUDC) will enter its second season from December 12 to 18. The edition holds in Gaborone, Botswana,.
The University of the Free State from South Africa won the inaugural tournament, in a final that also comprised Namibia and Lesotho.
According to the organisers, either Namibia or Nigeria, will be the next PAUDC host. This will be decided by the PAUDC board meeting in Gaborone.
The championship will be held at the University of Botswana’s main campus in Gaborone and will have a team cap of four teams per university with strict compliance with the N-1 rule:
Each African country can only enter up to seven universities at the cost of P650 per person for early registration (about USD 90), which is inclusive of accommodation for seven days, meals, events (Opening and Break night parties, Cultural Expo night, Championship dinner and a visit to the Mokolodi nature reserve to experience Africa’s Big 5)
Other highlights of the one week talk contest which will bring together universities from 15 African countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa and Swaziland, include a speaker and coach training workshop for two days and adjudication tests, board meeting with representatives from all African debate institutions, to build a cooperative framework to promote debate and to vote for the next PAUDC host between Namibia and Nigeria.
There will also be in attendance 40 Botswana secondary schools and 10 invited schools across Africa, who will have their own parallel tournament
Early registration runs for two months from August 15 to October 15 at P650 per person. The registration form and due registration fees should have been sent before the deadline to qualify for early registration.
Late registration runs for one month from October 20 to November 20 and is set at P800 (around 110 USD). Further information, you can contact the championship’s website:
www.botsdebating.com/






Dublin-based Nigerian don emerges tops in ‘Green Talents’ environmental research
BY TOPE TEMPLER OLAIYA
DR. AKINTUNDE Babatunde of the University College, Dublin, Ireland, can now refer to himself as a “Green Talent” alongside other young scientists from across the world, having won the Environmental Technology Competition “Green Talents” of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
The competition, which held for the first time this year set out to discover outstanding scientific talents in the field of environmental technology. The winning scientists were selected because their research is making a long-term contribution to resolving global challenges such as climate change, diminishing energy resources and large-scale environmental pollution. A jury of renowned German experts selected a total of 15 winners, who would be invited to a one-week science forum in Germany at the end of August.

BABATUNDE among other topics is investigating the use of wastewater for power generation. He was among the 156 young scientists from 43 different countries who applied for one of the 15 places.
“We are delighted to have received so many outstanding applications from around the world. This response reflects the great international interest in Germany as an environmental technology location. With the ‘Green Talents’ competition, we can help ensure that promising new environmental technologies are deployed more quickly. It is all about taking joint responsibility for our future,” said the Federal Research Minister, Annette Schavan, patron of the “Green Talents” competition.
Germany is one of the world‘s leading environmental technology locations. By early September, “Green Talents” would visit German universities, research institutes and companies to get exemplary projects from different fields of technology. The week would end with a symposium, in which “Green Talents” will meet young German scientists.