Center for Cyber - Physical Food, Energy & Water Systems

15/05/2026

The Center for Cyber - Physical Food, Energy & Water Systems held another session of its FEWS research webinar today. The webinar, themed Electrifying Mobility, held at the University of Johannesburg provided a highly insightful and intellectually stimulating exploration into the past and future of electric vehicles, energy systems, and sustainable urban development.

The session, facilitated by Mr Carel Snyman, offered a comprehensive overview of the evolution of electric mobility technologies, tracing the journey from some of South Africa’s earlier experimental electric vehicle projects to the rapidly advancing global electric vehicle ecosystem shaping modern mobility today.

The webinar highlighted how the transition toward electrified mobility is no longer simply a transportation discussion, but rather a broader conversation about energy efficiency, environmental sustainability, economic transformation, and the future resilience of cities and societies. Mr Carel showed through several practical examples and case studies, the significant advantages electric mobility offers in reducing energy losses, lowering operational costs, minimizing carbon emissions, and supporting decentralized electricity generation through renewable energy integration.

The session compared the efficiency of internal combustion engine vehicles with battery electric vehicles, and illustrated the remarkable gains achievable through electric propulsion systems.

The session also explored innovative developments in solar-powered charging infrastructure, electric utility vehicles, electric buses, e-bikes, smart city integration, and vehicle-to-grid concepts. The session pointed out the rapidly declining cost of renewable energy technologies and battery systems, alongside major improvements in charging speed, energy density, and battery lifespan. These developments continue to position electric mobility as a key driver in the global transition toward cleaner and more sustainable energy systems.

Several pioneering projects and prototypes showcased during the presentation reflected the enormous potential for African-led innovation in sustainable mobility, clean transportation, and future-ready infrastructure systems. The webinar concluded with a sight-seeing tour to showcase some of the innovative electric vehicles and bikes being built by the students in the centre. The sightseeing tour confirmed the closing statement of Mr Carel, where he affirmed that “the best way to predict the future is to create it.”

13/05/2026

The Center for Cyber - Physical Food, Energy & Water Systems (CCP-FEWS), University of Johannesburg, invites you to another insightful seminar exploring the future of electric mobility, sustainable transport, and Electric Vehicle (EV) infrastructure development.

Guest Speaker: Mr Carel Snyman; Electric Vehicles & Solar Energy Consultant and Pioneer of EV in ESKOM

Come and Learn about:
✅ Eskom’s Electric Vehicle Initiative
✅ Evolution of EV Technology
✅ Future of Electric Vehicles in South Africa and beyond
✅ Charging Infrastructure & Renewable Energy Integration
✅ Sustainability and Smart Mobility Insights

Date: 15 May 2026
Time: 09:30 AM – 10:30 AM
Venue: Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Science
B2 Lab 219, Auckland Park Kingsway Campus

Live-streamed on CCP-FEWS YouTube

Register here:
https://blockchain.uj.ac.za/event/ccpfews/

11/05/2026

24/04/2026

FEWS Seminar Series: From Innovation to Market Success

Dr. Kim Lamont-Mbawuli delivered the second session on the Commercialization Blueprint. Her session emphasised the process of taking ideas beyond the laboratory and into real-world impact, emphasising that innovation is not complete at discovery, but at successful adoption and value creation.

Her session bridged the critical gap between research and commercialisation, where many innovations stall. Dr. Lamont-Mbawuli illustrated how promising intellectual property often fails to progress due to limited funding, lack of prototyping support, regulatory barriers, and inadequate market validation. She presented a practical framework that consisted of innovation acceleration funding, early-stage prototyping, regulatory readiness, and collaborative partnerships in overcoming this gap. She emphasised the importance of validating market demand early, defining a viable commercial pathway, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements, building scalable models, and securing appropriate funding and industry partnerships.

She concluded by saying that the true value of innovation lies in its ability to move beyond theory and deliver tangible, scalable, and sustainable impact.

24/04/2026

The Center for Cyber - Physical Food, Energy & Water Systems (CCP-FEWS), University of Johannesburg, held its second seminar in the FEWS series today, 24th April 2026.

The first session was delivered by Prof. Mpekoa Noluntu, Associate Professor at the University of South Africa (UniSA). Prof Mpekoa structured data security within the FEWS Nexus into three critical dimensions: The Garbage In, Garbage Out (GIGO) Problem, the Auditor’s Eye, and data Integrity and IT governance. While discussing the GIGO problem, she emphasized that poor-quality input data inevitably leads to unreliable outputs, and there is a need to ensure that only verified , high quality and trustworthy data enters your system's storage. She positioned the auditor’s eye from a systems and security perspective that reinforced the need to build systems that are not only functional but secure, traceable, and accountable by design. She stated that the auditor's eye will help researchers identify, diagnose, and fix security vulnerabilities in their own projects before they reach the deployment stage. In her emphasis on data integrity, she emphasized the need for a comprehensive framework for ensuring data trustworthiness. She discussed that data integrity and IT governance requires simple actionable steps to protect identity and ensure provenance using industry-standard governance principles. She presented a framework that included data contracts and guardrails to enforce quality standards, metadata and provenance tracking for traceability, human oversight and data stewardship to maintain accountability and continuous monitoring and quality.

The session provided a strong foundation for researchers, engineers, and policymakers to rethink how data is governed, protected, and utilized across complex systems.

23/04/2026

🚀 From Lab to Market: The Science of Secure Data: Beyond the Hype

Are you ready to transform your innovation into a market-ready solution?

Join the Center for Cyber - Physical Food, Energy & Water Systems (CCP-FEWS), University of Johannesburg, for an insightful seminar in the FEWS Nexus Series focused on bridging the gap between research and real-world impact.

🔍 What to Expect:

How to move from prototype to global marketplace
Building secure, trustworthy, and scalable cyber-physical systems
Practical strategies for data integrity, governance, and risk mitigation
Navigating legal frameworks and commercialization pathways

🎓 Come and learn from Experts in the field:

Prof. Noluntu Mpekoa (UNISA)
Dr. Kim Lamont-Mbawuli (Tshwane University of Technology)

📅 Date: 24 April 2026
⏰ Time: 9:00 AM
📍 Venue: University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park Campus (Lab B2 219)
💻 Live streaming available

🔗 Register here: https://blockchain.uj.ac.za/event/ccpfews

This is more than a seminar; it’s your roadmap to turning research into impact.

23/04/2026

Hands-on Training Session on Smart Contracts and Solidity

The South Africa-Swiss Bilateral Research Chair in Blockchain Technology ( ) invites you to a training session on Smart Contracts and . This is an opportunity to master the fundamentals of blockchain development and learn how to build secure, real-world smart contracts.

Guest Facilitator: Mr Peter Manda, Lead Blockchain Elective Facilitator at WeThinkCode

📅 Date: Saturday, 25th April 2026
🕤 Time: 09:30 AM (prompt)
📍 Venue: Lab B2 219, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Science, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park Campus

Seats are limited. Secure your spot by registering here: https://blockchain.uj.ac.za/event/registration

22/04/2026

17/04/2026

Dr David Love Opeyemi gave another presentation on behalf of Prof. Johnny dladla; focused on Building Climate Resilience in Rural Communities: A Food–Energy–Water (FEW) Nexus Planning Perspective.

The presentation challenged conventional development thinking by demonstrating that food, energy, and water systems are not separate challenges, but a single interconnected system under stress. He showed how declining crop yields, rising energy costs, and water scarcity interact to create cascading vulnerabilities across communities.

He pointed out an urgent need to rethink planning approaches in the face of climate change, increasing droughts, rising temperatures, and energy instability, which compound WEF Nexus risks.

• From sectoral approaches to integrated systems thinking
• From reactive interventions to resilience by design
• From centralised models to decentralised, community-driven solutions
• From linear resource use to circular economy systems

The presentation also emphasised the leadership imperative, calling for professionals and researchers who can think across disciplines, translate complexity into actionable strategies, and drive innovation within the WEF Nexus. He concluded that “The difference between vulnerability and resilience is not circumstance; it is integration.”

17/04/2026

The FEWS seminar featured an insightful and thought-provoking presentation by Prof. Sylvester Mpandeli, Adjunct Professor at the University of Venda and Vice President of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID).

Prof. Mpandeli started his presentation by challenging the current conventional approaches to development, emphasizing that linear, infrastructure-focused models are insufficient to address complex socio-economic and environmental challenges. Instead, he advocated for integrated, systems-based thinking that incorporates social, economic, and institutional dimensions alongside technical solutions. Prof Mpandeli praised the University of Johannesburg for aligning efforts to solve economic issues, and aligning itself to global challenges through several research initiatives, such as the Center for cyber-physical food-energy-water System

The central focus of his presentation was the urgent need to address climate vulnerability and resource constraints, particularly in South Africa, due to its classification as one of the world’s driest countries. He highlighted pressing rural challenges, including poor services, climate impacts, capacity challenges, degraded environments, access to appropriate technologies, lack of operations and maintenance, migration of people from rural to urban areas, and lack of adaptive capability.

Prof. Mpandeli underscored three critical pillars for sustainable transformation:

1. Capacity Development: Strengthening skills among postgraduate students and empowering rural communities not just to adopt, but to manage and sustain development systems.
2. Knowledge Sharing & Collaboration: Promoting continuous partnerships between Higher Education Institutions and industry, supported by initiatives such as the Water Research Commission.
3. Behavioural Change: Encouraging shifts in attitudes and practices towards more responsible and efficient resource use.

He further illustrated practical applications through impactful initiatives such as the Multiple Use Systems (MUS) project in Limpopo, integrating water, energy, and food security, and biogas innovations and early warning frameworks for droughts and floods, which are all aimed at enhancing resilience, livelihoods, and food security.

He called for a strategic shift from reactive adaptation to proactive climate change mitigation. And called for alignment between integrated policy, innovation, and stakeholder engagement frameworks. Concluding his presentation, he reinforced the importance of holistic, nexus-driven approaches, where science, policy, and society are interconnected to drive sustainable development outcomes.