User talk:Liphadzis

I was born in Thohoyandou, Limpopo on July 31, 1969. I passed the matriculation exams in 1988 at Dimani High School after which I went to the University of Venda for a degree in agriculture. I worked as a junior lecturer and lecturer between 1994 and 1998 at the University of Venda. After completing MSc degree as a part-time student at the University of Pretoria in 1998, I was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study for a PhD in the United States, a qualification I obtained in 2002. I then worked for the Agricultural Research Council at the Head Office, at Hatfield as Manager for Grain and Industrial Crop division. At the end of the contract, I was employed by the Water Research Commission as a Manager in Water-Linked Ecosystems Key Strategic Area (KSA) and became the Executive Director for the same KSA in April 2009. Career wise, I gained valuable experiences as a researcher, educator and as a manager. I served as a chairperson of the Science Councils and Statutory Bodies Sector of the National Science and Technology Foundation (NSTF) and as the EXCO member of the NSTF. My involvement in the NSTF as a chairperson or representative of all Science Councils and other Statuary bodies has afforded me opportunities to think and understand challenges and opportunities that our country daily presents. I was appointed by the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs to the board of the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) in which I served in two committees- HR and R&D. I was the first president of the Agricultural Students Alumni Association of the University of Venda for Science and Technology. I led a team of water experts and managers as Chairman of Organizing Committee to stage the first International Conference on Environmental Water Allocation in South Africa in 2009. I am an effective communicator who talks about science issues  and writes for Science Journals and magazines, and have participated in radio and TV science programmes. I believe in making science and technology relevant and beneficial to mankind – and that development is for the people and not for anything else.