Rhodes Business School and the Anglican theology studies-based College of the Transfiguration (COTT) have been working to strengthen the College’s leadership, refine its strategy, and build institutional resilience through an executive education initiative.

Building on the expertise of researchers at Paris Observatory, an international team has developed a novel analysis method capable of uncovering previously undetectable stellar and exoplanetary signals hidden within archival radio-astronomical data. Thanks to this innovation, known as Multiplexed Interferometric Radio Spectroscopy (RIMS), scientists have discovered new radio bursts originating from dwarf stars. Some of these signals are consistent with star-planet interactions, analogous to the mechanisms responsible for auroral emissions in the Solar System. These results are published in Nature Astronomy, 27 January 2026.

As the city of Makhanda navigates the complexities of a protracted water crisis, which includes ageing municipal infrastructure, four dedicated members of the Rhodes University community begin their labour before the first light of dawn. Their mission is fundamental: to ensure that the "lifeblood" of the institution – its water – continues to flow during frequent municipal outages.

The 2025 SARAO Postgraduate and Postdoctoral Scholarship Conference (24–27 November), a vital gathering for South Africa’s rapidly advancing radio astronomy community, marked its 20th anniversary this year. Yet to understand the momentum behind the Rhodes University researchers presenting their work, one has to look back to a moment when the field itself nearly vanished from the South African landscape.