School of Engineering Latest News

Engineering the Future: Nelson Mandela University Hosts Inaugural Postgraduate Research Symposium

Thu, 14 May 2026 22:00:00 GMT

Innovation took centre stage on 15 May as Nelson Mandela University’ School of Engineering launched it’s inaugural Postgraduate Research Symposium. Held at the North Campus Conference Centre, the event served as a high-impact bridge between academic rigour and real-world industrial application

Engineering students collaborate in exciting GT racing project #R2bP

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Reasons to be Proud - #R2bP: The Advanced Engineering Design Group’s (AEDG) engineering students are in an exciting collaborative project with well-known racing team, Scuderia Scribante.

Their project is to categorise the aero profile of their two Lamborghini Huracan GT racing cars, which compete in the newly established and internationally-compatible South African National GT Championship.

Mandela Uni opens dedicated Student Vaccination Centre

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Nelson Mandela University has opened up a second vaccination site, specifically dedicated to its 29 000 students.

North Campus

The new site at the Student Health Services clinic on North Campus and close to the COVID-19 Vaccination Centre, which is presently serving both staff and the public, opens tomorrow (Monday, 19 July).

Using renewable energy in de-urbanising post-COVID Africa

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 22:00:00 GMT

In this professorial inaugural lecture Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Mandela University, Russell Phillips, unpacked the role of renewable energy in de-urbanising post-COVID Africa.

In his lecture, delivered virtually on 28 June 2021, Prof Phillips spoke of how the world is becoming increasingly urbanised with more than half of its population living in cities.

Solar Boat going solo soon in Nelson Mandela Bay

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 22:00:00 GMT

An Autonomous Solar Boat prototype that was designed in Nelson Mandela Bay will soon have its maiden voyage at sea.

The boat is a pilot project of the South African International Maritime Institute (SAIMI)-funded Marine Robotics Centre based at Nelson Mandela University. SAIMI promotes these and other innovative projects to increase technological advancements in the maritime sector through the support of the National Skills Fund (NSF).

First graduates in Marine Engineering

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 22:00:00 GMT

The first two graduates in BEngTech Marine Engineering graduated at Nelson Mandela University’s Autumn Graduation.

Matthew Nel and Aidan August are furthering their studies and have enrolled for the 4th year honours in Mechanical Engineering at the University, taking selective specialist modules in marine engineering focusing on ship and marine craft design.

Top engineering student's tough road to success

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Amber Meyer was the South African Institute of Industrial Engineering’s Best Final Year NDip student in 2019, yet she never thought she would graduate, twice in a row or cum laude, having had to overcome educational and financial hurdles.

This year she is graduating with her BTech in Industrial Engineering also cum laude at the Autumn Graduation. "I cannot believe it".

Engineering student designs bespoke golf putter #R2bP

Sun, 15 Aug 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Mechanical Engineering student, Wian van Aswegen from Port Alfred, has designed and created a unique 3D metal printed golf putter.

Invitation from all India Rail Safety Council

Sun, 09 May 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Congratulations to Dr Mabila Mthebula who has been invited to the Advisory Body as a Hon'ble Advisory Committee Member of the council in India.

Mandela University engineers take their work to theatre

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 22:00:00 GMT

With the Covid-19 pandemic hitting South Africa and starting to take root in the Eastern Cape, medical staff at the local Livingstone Hospital are under enormous strain.

The Advanced Engineering Design Group (AEDG) at Nelson Mandela University received an urgent appeal from anaesthetist Dr Lorenzo Boretti through orthopaedic surgeon Dr Bryan Theunissen, regarding challenges faced by the in-theatre anaesthesia teams in their Covid theatre. In an effort to assist, the AEDG put together a project aimed at helping to protect healthcare workers at the frontline who rely heavily on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

The challenge is to contain aerosolised droplets from patients with possible Covid-19 virus infection during procedures to ensure that the theatre staff assisting in the operation are minimally exposed to these droplets.

The AEDG team as well as multiple contributors from their network of both academic and private sector experts, immediately started an online process of working on a possible solution to the challenge.

Initial information was difficult to come by as the medical staff at Livingstone are constantly on call dealing with the crisis, so a basic set-up was ultimately agreed upon as a starting point which could be updated as more information came to hand. An initial conceptual idea was sent through by Dr Theunissen.

This work-in-progress is being updated continually and the team are now at a point where their initial design has gone into its 3rd version, with the previous version tested in-theatre last week. There has been some interest shown from hospitals in East London and Kwa Zulu-Natal via their network of contacts and it is anticipated that there will be further expansion.

This team effort is an excellent University collaboration example with the AEDG Team (Clive Hands, Dr William Rall, Zaahid Imran, Jode Fourie, Daniel Trask, Sthuthi Varghese, Blessed Tembo, Charl Rossouw and Zain Imran) working with colleagues from eNtSA (Prof Danie Hattingh, Riaan Opperman, Riaan Brown), the Faculty of Engineering; the Built Environment and Technology as a whole (Prof Ben van Wyk, Gideon Gouws, Prof Farouk Smith, Dr Anne Lourens, Prof Hannalie Lombard, Mervin Knoesen and Amish Lalla), the University’s Medical School (Philipp Hoelzer and Dr Elizabeth du Toit) and Innoventon’s Dr Shawn Gouws.

To view videos images of the project as well step-by-step processes and updates, visit the AEDG’s website at https://aedg.mandela.ac.za/Projects/Intubation-Box