Introducing Dr. Wernher Friedrich Botlhale Village Head Lecturer
This year Belgium Campus welcomed charismatic, multifaceted Dr. Wernher Friedrich into the Belgium Campus family. He is the new head lecturer at Belgium Campus’ research and innovation hub, Botlhale Village, a position that allows him to showcase both his research and development expertise, as well as his seamless ability to bring this research to life through his lectures.
Dr. Friedrich holds an impressive set of qualifications namely: a BCom in Information Systems, a BSc Hons in Computer Science, a MSc in Computer Science and a PHD in Computer Science with a specialisation in neurology and telecommunications.
He has been in the IT environment for over 20 years, making use of his IT expertise within a number of fields, including: medical, education, government, banking and insurance. This experience has equipped him with the ability to effectively bridge the gap between theoretical concepts and practical implementation, and explain this in a way that is easily grasped by those he lecturers. He believes in teaching students to use “in the box tools (theory), to solve out of the box problems (world issues).” He is using this principle to enrich the curriculum at Belgium Campus, to ensure that our qualifications remain timeless.
His research is currently focused on two main areas, both of which relate to integrated domains. The first area involves the investigation of neurological brain patterns and communication protocols and the second involves the investigation of cancer cells and the frequencies related to them. Both these ventures make use of the principals of computer science in order to develop a solution to the problems at hand.
In addition to the above, he also spearheads a number of groundbreaking projects at Botlhale Village. One such project termed EcoDrive, which is currently being developed, is a highly collaborative and innovative eco driving engine. The engine will allow collaboration between companies, graduates and industry experts in an effort to fuel idea formation and IP development, with the end goal of increased knowledge valorization, job creation and economic growth.
Dr. Friedrich stresses that as IT continues to evolve and grow, so will he, “my experience, skills and background have prepared me for the numerous roles and challenges that companies and industry face on a daily basis and if I require knowledge in a certain area, I will learn and incorporate it into my foundation to make it stronger and more versatile as time goes on.”
We have no doubt that Dr. Friedrich will help provide a strong foundation both for Belgium Campus’ curriculum, as well as for the innovative projects that continue to mushroom from Botlhale Village. We, along with our students, are excited for the future!