College of Business and Economics | Annual Report 2023 75 proposals, publications and, most importantly, skills development. We had a total of nine interns who were all UJ undergraduate and postgraduate students. The volunteer opportunity ended in November 2023 and PEERC took on two students to work on other projects. RESEARCH ASSOCIATES AND SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATES The Centre strives to attract internationally recognised researchers. Currently, some of the Centre’s research associates include researchers Dr Lina Isacs from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, and Dr Alain Pholo Bala from the Federal Public Service of the Federal Government of Belgium. Prof Stephen Hosking has also asked for an extension for his senior research associate appointment and that was successful. SUSTAINABILITY, ENVIRONMENT AND FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (4IR) The research Centre is currently engaged in new and innovative research aligned to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the use of technology and artificial intelligence to improve efficiency and effectiveness of existing systems. One of these is looking at the possibility of introducing dynamic pricing into the South African water pricing system. This entails examining the possibility for water tariffs charged by municipalities to adjust to changes in the supply of water, i.e. current water supply in reservoirs. In implementing such a system, the use of new and innovative technologies becomes key in monitoring water levels in reservoirs and monitoring household water usage for pricing purposes. PEERC is working on a collaboration project with HydroDrip Limited that looks at introducing a virtual water credit market for water consumers. The aim is to pilot new technology to measure water consumption in water consumer units and to develop a virtual water credit market where consumers can trade water savings with other water users. This system intends to improve the allocative efficiency of water by promoting water savings in lower water users and allocating such savings to higher water users. This project has fulfilled one of the requirements of the University to pilot on the premises, namely to obtain ethical clearance. The team has been engaged in talks with the Sustainability, Environment and Utilities Department to move forward with the pilot.
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