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COVID-19 Home

At the NWU Faculty of Engineering we change the world for the better. We do this, first, by educating and developing exceptional engineers who can and want to change the world and, secondly, by finding answers to current and future real-life challenges of our industries and communities, through our cutting-edge as well as applied research. We value our industry, academic and community partners, who enable us to develop relevant, sustainable, multi-disciplinary solutions, as well as engineers with the ability and attitude to do the same.

During the COVID-19 crisis, the faculty engaged in a number of outreach initiatives that assisted the community during these difficult times. 

Food security project

Face shields project

Ventilator project

Digitized Health Screening System

News Articles

OPINION: Extrusion - one of the solutions for the looming humanitarian food crisis during Covid-19

We are already experiencing a humanitarian food crisis due to Covid-19. It is therefore important that private-public partnerships be established to feed the people of South Africa, writes LJ Grobler and Theo Venter. Read more

NWU engineers rising to the Covid-19 challenge

The world, and now more recently our nation, is faced with difficult times as the recent Covid-19 pandemic turns life as we know it upside down. A team at the Faculty of Engineering from the North-West University (NWU), in collaboration with other experts involved in this unsettling battle, is rising to the challenge to support our government in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Read more

Our hope lies in the power of our people

Students and staff from the North-West University’s Faculty of Engineering have been burning the midnight oil to assist wherever they can. Years of research and development of extrusion technology at the NWU have resulted in the birth of a spin-off company, CFAM Technologies, in which the NWU is a shareholder. In close collaboration with CFAM Technologies, the need for food supplies is currently being addressed on a huge scale by the committee. Read more

NWU engineers rising to the Covid-19 challenge (Ornico)

A team at the Faculty of Engineering from the North-West University (NWU), in collaboration with other experts involved in this unsettling battle, is rising to the challenge to support our government in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Read more

NWU engineers rising to the Covid-19 challenge (Social TV)

Prof Leenta Grobler, one of our own experts at the NWU, also forms part of the steering committee of the team. According to the South African Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, South Africa has an already strained healthcare system, and if we do not take the Covid-19 pandemic seriously, the system will be overburdened. He also explained his concerns regarding the upcoming winter season. Read more

NWU engineers rising to the Covid-19 challenge (Bizcommunity)

The world, and now more recently our nation, is faced with difficult times as the recent Covid-19 pandemic turns life as we know it upside down. A team at the Faculty of Engineering from the North-West University (NWU), in collaboration with other experts involved in this unsettling battle, is rising to the challenge to support our government in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Read more

Radio Interview (RSG)

Radio Interview on the Ventilator Project. Listen

NWU ingenieurs maak gesigskerms vir gesondheidswerkers (Potchefstroom Herald)

‘n Span ingenieurs van die Noordwes-Universiteit (NWU) werk tans saam om gesondheidswerkers ekstra veilig te maak met gesigskerms wat hulle met behulp van 3D-drukkers vervaardig. Lees meer

Kitsbank vir gaar pap mos nét die ding (Netwerk 24)

Groep meganiese ingenieurs van die Noordwes-Universiteit glo hul nuwe 'kitsbank' vir pap kan Suid-Afrikaners se honger teen. Lees meer

NWU engineers create solution for school-based Covid-19 screening congestion

Very few schools have adequate capacity to thoroughly screen and upload the records and status of every learner who enters the school premises. However, engineers at the Faculty of Engineering of the North-West University (NWU) have once again come up with a sustainable solution to do this in a much faster and more reliable manner. Read more

NWU-ingenieurs kry ’n oplossing vir die opeenhoping met skoolgebaseerde Covid-19-sifting

Baie min skole het voldoende kapasiteit om deeglike sifting te doen van elke leerder wat die skoolterrein betree, en elkeen se rekords en status op te laai. Ingenieurs by die Fakulteit Ingenieurswese van die Noordwes-Universiteit (NWU) het egter weer eens met ’n volhoubare oplossing vorendag kom om dit baie vinniger en op ’n betroubaarder manier te doen. Lees meer

NWU help skole so om kinders 'tjop-tjop' te sif

Prof. Leenta Grobler, projekleier en spesialis in gesondheidsverwante ingenieursinnovasie aan die NWU, is self die ma van drie skoolkinders. Sy het Vrydag gesê sy kan haar net indink hoe moeilik dit sal wees wanneer kinders terugkeer skool toe en almal moet in ’n lang tou staan om deur die siftingsproses op ’n klaslys te gaan. Lees meer

North West University creates app to help with screening of learners

While there is a cacophony of voices on what needs to be done, the app can alert school management when a learner’s temperature is above the threshold. Read more

NWU comes up with creative solution to screen pupils for Covid-19 using cellphones

In the times in which we currently find ourselves, adequate healthcare and accompanying screening are of the utmost importance to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Read more

New app to help schools and businesses with health screening

A collaboration between Nelson Mandela and North-West universities will soon see a smartphone app rolled out to schools to digitise health screening and attendance records of pupils and provide alerts about possible coronavirus cases in real-time to health and safety representatives. Read more

NWU comes up with a solution screen, upload the records and status of every pupil who enters a school premises (Radio interview)

Engineers at the Faculty of Engineering of the North-West University (NWU) have come up with a solution to thoroughly screen, upload the records and status of every pupil who enters a school premises. The screening and data-recording kit issues every person entering with identification token and all points of entry are equipped with a recording station.
Guest: Prof. Leenta Grobler - Faculty of Engineering of the North-West. Listen

COVID-19 Engineering solutions

Click here to view all the solutions that the faculty have developed 

 

 

For more information please contact the following individuals:

  • General enquiries and donations: vanda.pretorius@nwu.ac.za or 018 299 1972
  • Protective face shields for healthcare workers:  vanda.pretorius@nwu.ac.za 
  • Ventilator re-engineering and telemonitoring: Leenta.Grobler@nwu.ac.za
  • Click here for more COVID-19 updates from the NWU
  • For frequently asked question (FAQS) for STUDENTS about COVID-19

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“It is encouraging to witness the collaboration and camaraderie developing among peers from different institutions and disciplines in this crisis. Relationships of this nature between various university teams, clinicians and the industry normally would have taken years to foster, but now – united against a common enemy, working towards to a common good – these timelines have been accelerated, as extreme measures are called for,” Prof Grobler concludes.

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