Optentia Research Programme at the Vanderbijlpark Campus of North-West University is pleased to announce that it will be hosting the 2nd South African Symposium on Positive Social Sciences 2013: Towards Thriving Youth on 28-29 October 2013 in Vanderbijlpark, South Africa. Workshops will be presented on 30 October 2013.
The youth in southern Africa is an important focus area for research and intervention. For example, in South Africa, unemployment is mostly experienced by youth. Almost all of the job losses in 2009/10 were experienced by those under the age of 30, and with less than a Grade 12 education. Poor health and well-being, crime and corruption are serious issues in South Africa. Education also faces important challenges and young people are poorly prepared for further training and work. Therefore, research and intervention regarding leadership, employability, resilience, talent, positive relations and thriving are vital to optimise potential of individuals, institutions and communities. The aim of the conference is to provide an update on theory, measurement and application in the domain of positive social sciences in general, and in particular as pertains to individual, social and institutional potential of youth in a multi-cultural context. The conference will provide opportunities for discussion, debate, promotion of knowledge, development of skills, and future networking.
We invite you to submit abstracts for papers. General symposium themes are:
The symposium takes place at the Quest Conference Centre of the North-West University in Vanderbijlpark, South Africa. A wide variety of guesthouses in the Vanderbijlpark area will be available to conference participants. A list of addresses of guesthouses appears on the symposium website (http://www.optentia.co.za).
Two workshops will be presented after the conference:
Workshop 1: Positive education (Dr Hans Hendrik Knoop) - 30 October 2013
Workshop 2: Manuscript Development Workshop (Prof. Elias Mpofu) - 30 October - 1 November 2013
Positive Social Sciences Symposium 2013
North-West University
P O Box 1174
Vanderbijlpark
1900
Tel: +27 (016) 9103410 (Lynn Booysen)
Email: lynn.booysen@nwu.ac.za or ian@ianrothmann.com