Program Overview

University of Cape Town Summer School Programs

The University of Cape Town offers a variety of summer school programs, including courses in literature, art, music, current affairs, history, philosophy, politics, economics, medicine, science, conservation, and nature.

Summer School 2026

The Summer School 2026 program includes special lectures, tours, excursions, and workshops. Some of the courses offered include:

• Literature, Art, Music
• Current affairs, history, philosophy, Politics, economics
• Medicine
• Science
• Conservation and Nature
• Information Technology
• Practical Courses

Medicine

The medicine program includes courses such as:

• Current understandings of neurodivergence and practical implications
• Designed for life: the art of human-centred medical innovation
• HIV still matters: exploring progress, challenges, and why collective action remains critical
• Hot Topics in Neuroscience
  • Why empathy is breaking healthcare: The neuroscience of compassion
  • Adolescent mental health: a better understanding
  • Why does that hurt?
  • Traumatic stress across generations: epigenetic insights
  • Growing mini-brains: how stem cells are helping us understand what makes us human
  • How can I find the right person for persistent pain? Navigating the health care system in South Africa
• Music and medicine: integration of health and wellbeing
• The guinea pig club
• The origins of western medicine
• Vula: journeying from an idea in a rural clinic to revolutionising care for 2 million patients

Hot Topics in Neuroscience

The Hot Topics in Neuroscience series includes a lecture on "Traumatic stress across generations: epigenetic insights" by Associate Professor Nastassja Koen. The lecture will give an overview of global evidence, as well as emerging data from South Africa, of observed associations between exposure to traumatic stress (and related disorders) and adverse outcomes, and the potential role of epigenetics in these associations.

Course Details

• Lecture: Traumatic stress across generations: epigenetic insights
• Presenter: Associate Professor Nastassja Koen, Neuroscience Institute; Psychiatric Genetics Group of the Brain-Behaviour Centre, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town
• Date: Thursday 29 January
• Time: 9:15 am
• Course Fee: R115; Staff and Students R58

Research Interests

Associate Professor Nastassja Koen's research interests include the genomic, epigenomic, and transcriptomic neurobiology of traumatic stress and related disorders as well as the adverse effects across generations. She is particularly interested in work in the South African and African contexts; and in mentorship and capacity building in this field.