Arina Muresan

Call for chapters: The Routledge Handbook of South Asian Development which I'm co-editing with @CMihika and @MathildeMaitrot @CDS_Bath @bathsps Esp keen to hear from ECRs, S Asia-based scholars. Deadline: 5 June 2026. Full call: docs.google.com/document/d/1hw… Pls RT.

Interested in critique and International Relations? Join the 1st Barcelona Conference in Critical International Relations, 8-9 October 2026. Deadline for submitting abstracts is 30 April (barcelonacritical@gmail.com). All info: linkedin.com/groups/1667300…

From the Engineer's Desk Some thoughts on South African engineering, unemployment, and where our graduates actually end up. The unemployment rate gets plenty of airtime. Understandably so. But there's a quieter story underneath that's worth paying attention to—and it has to do with what kind of work our economy can actually sustain. Here's the distinction that doesn't get made often enough. Engineers with a BEng or BSc are trained for design, R&D, and setting assets to work—including plant modifications. Taking a concept from nothing and turning it into something physical. New mines. New factories. New aircraft. That kind of work requires an economy that's expanding, investing in the future, building things that didn't exist before. Technologists with a BTech or Advanced Diploma are trained for operations, maintenance, and implementation. Keeping existing systems alive. That work doesn't dry up when the economy slows. If anything, it becomes more urgent. Infrastructure still ages. Plants still need to run. Planes still need to be serviceable. You can see this playing out in renewable energy. The jobs created by REI4P sit in project execution, site supervision, installation, and long-term maintenance. It's implementation work. Necessary, valuable—but not design and R&D. Not the kind where you're figuring out what hasn't been built yet. And where design engineering roles do exist, the industry wants experience. A graduate with a degree but no solar project on their CV doesn't slot in easily. The result is predictable. Engineering graduates wait. Technologists tend to find work sooner. And many of those waiting engineers eventually stop waiting. The destinations tell their own story. Austria. Sweden. Germany. The Netherlands. Places with active industrial policy. Places still designing and building new things. They need engineers, not just maintainers. The UAE is another common landing spot. But the work there is different. It's high-level implementation. Fleet management for Emirates. Operations at a desalination plant. Project delivery on a new terminal. Sophisticated work, well paid—but still largely about running complex systems, not inventing them. The difference is that the systems actually exist there. The jobs are real. China sits at the other end of the spectrum. They're building out the full engineering stack. Domestic aerospace programmes. New chemical plants. New materials research. They need designers and R&D engineers at enormous scale. But access for South African graduates is limited. The door isn't open the way it is in Europe or the Gulf. So the talent flows elsewhere. What all this points to is something a standard jobs report won't capture. South Africa is not just losing people. It's losing a particular kind of capability. We're keeping the capacity to maintain and operate. We're exporting the capacity to design and create. That shift matters. And it won't reverse itself just because the unemployment rate eventually moves. It requires an economy that decides to build again. Until then, the planes will keep leaving. Engineer Matshela Koko

in case you were wondering why Namibia's uranium is sought after? soft surface mining combined with high concentrations discoveryalert.com.au/namibian-urani…

@AMDujon @jaredrhoads 🤣 but surely such an app should have a journal vetting system?

@jaredrhoads Be ready for your manuscript to be claimed by 50 predatory journals within minutes of it to be submitted to the database.

Hear me out: Common App, but for submitting manuscripts to journals. (Submit one place. Journals claim. Authors have 12 hours to accept or hold out.)

@USEmbassySA @BrentBozell South Africa has a problem with the US bombing an elementary school in Iran and killing about 160 children and their teachers. South Africa has a problem with the US supplying military aid to a country that is committing unspeakable atrocities in the Middle East, including a genocide. South Africa has a problem with the gun violence in America, which has claimed the lives of elementary school children. This violence is perpetrated by people who can buy a gun at a convenience store without checks and balances, because US law allows it. South Africa has a problem with the reversal of Roe V Wade, which has denied women their reproductive rights and criminalised even medically recommended termination. South Africa has a problem with voter suppression which denies mainly Black and poor voters their democratic rights. South Africa has a problem with a US president initiating a rebellion against an election outcome. This included the storming of the Capitol, wherein the SON of THIS Ambassador to South Africa, participated and was convicted as a felon in that crime. South Africa has a problem with Africa's debt crisis that has been created by US-led Western institutions. South Africa has a problem with the UN Security Council and its resistance to reform. Resistance led mainly, by the USA. There are MORE problems but I have to go do my nails.

Ding Xuexiang丁薛祥 is the most important Chinese official you’ve never heard of. He’s the head of China’s Central Science & Technology Commission 中央科技委员会as well as Vice Premier and Politburo Standing Committee member. He’s an engineer by training and was brought on by Xi Jinping as a close aide from their Shanghai days to oversee China’s tech-industrial strategy. His job and the goal of the CSTC more broadly is to help coordinate efforts across China’s fragmented S&T ecosystem, including ministries (NDRC, MOST, MIIT), SOEs, private firms, national labs, and other S&T organizations. The CSTC, a Party rather than a state institution, was established in 2023 and represents an elevation of China’s overall S&T efforts to the highest level of the Party-state system, particularly given China’s urgent push for tech self-reliance in the face of US-led tech controls.

Even wars have rules. The Geneva Conventions protect civilians in conflict and help ensure assistance reaches those in need, without discrimination. ohchr.org/en/instruments…

Don’t let them know your next move.

Gauteng’s new executive: 1. Bonginkosi Dlamini, e-Government MEC 2. Lebogang Maile, Education and Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation MEC 3. Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, Transport, Roads and Logistics MEC 4. Vuyiswa Ramokgopa, Economic Development and Agriculture and Rural Development MEC 5. Nkululeko Dunga, Finance MEC 6. Faith Mazibuko, Health and Wellness MEC 7. Tasneem Motara, Human Settlements MEC 8. Ewan Botha, Environment MEC 9. Jacob Mamabolo Infrastructure Development and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs: 10. Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, Department of Social Development MEC @eNCA

Only 3 days left to apply to the 2026 Hong Kong Summer School, taking place on June 22-26, 2026. 📅 Dates: June 22-26, 2026 📍 Location: Hong Kong, China ⚠️ Application deadline: April 3, 2026 Apply now! bit.ly/4kgfIVo

At the invitation of Deputy President of South Africa Paul Mashatile, Vice President Han Zheng will visit South Africa from March 25 to 27, and co-chair the ninth plenary session of the China-South Africa Bi-National Commission.

Finding the essence of the paper.

Applications are OPEN for the Model BRICS Simulation Programme 🌍 Join a 2-month diplomacy experience, build leadership skills, and engage in real policy negotiations. Limited spots! Apply: sabya.co.za/event/model-br… #ModelBRICS #YouthInDiplomacy #FutureLeaders #BRICS

We are now accepting applications for the tralac Certificate Course 2026! Individuals from African countries with experience in trade policy, trade law and regional integration are encouraged to apply. Application form: forms.gle/M4dJQCyMRZZ82P… Deadline: 4 April 2026

I feel panic every time I look at this chart

@Freelancer_Ib Similarity does not mean plagiarism 1. It is incredibly common to have matches. MANY universities “exclude common matches” in the upload. 2.Go through your report. Stop traumatizing students where the similar text is a reference or common phrase.

Plagiarism is not a research method 🤣🤣🤣 This supervisor no want wahala. Tell us any funny experience with your supervisor..

WHY BOOKS ARE EXPENSIVE IN AFRICA. Thread. In 2022, I was commissioned by a representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Culture to conduct a desktop study on how nations successfully commercialise literature and write recommendations to their ministry.

If you intend travelling abroad for business, studies or leisure, please download the #DIRCO Travel Smart App from any App store. Use it to register with us. Since Saturday, more than 5 000 #SouthAfricans🇿🇦 have used it to register.

Guys, check on your friends in IR. We are not OK.