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SU student to represent SA in international lecture competition
Author: Media and Communication, Faculty of Science
Published: 22/09/2017

Matthew Mayne, a PhD student in earth sciences at Stellenbosch University, will represent South Africa in the Young Persons' World Lecture Competition to be held in Perth, Australia, later this year.

With his lecture entitled “How do rocks melt? A question requiring both chemistry and thermodynamics", Mayne recently won the national finals of the competition, which took place on 27 June 2017 at St George's Club in Port Elizabeth.

This annual competition is held by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) Southern Africa and is open to students and graduates aged 28 or under in academia or industry. Participants are given 15 minutes in which to present their research to a generalist audience after which they receive questions from the audience and a panel of judges.

Mayne's lecture describes a cataclysmic world governed by simple laws and presents a new software tool (https://tinyurl.com/Rcrust) which will assist geologists in investigating the earth processes that form our planet.

Mayne obtained his MSc in Geology at SU in 2015. He is currently enrolled in a joint PhD programme between SU and Université Jean Monnet (UJM) in France. His research focuses on the development and use of a new software tool that aids in the modelling of mineral stabilities inside rocks. His research is currently funded by the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) and the French Embassy of South Africa.

On the photo above, from left to right, SU's Matthew Mayne with runnerups Oscar Tarique from the University of Pretoria (second) and Bridget Nomshado Zuma from the University of the Witwatersrand (third).