College of Agriculture & Environmental Sciences
Unisans score research excellence hat-trick at 2023 NRF Awards
Kabelo Mokgalaboni (Lecturer: Life and Consumer Sciences, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences), Dr Athi Mavukwana (Lecturer, Civil and Chemical Engineering, College of Science, Engineering and Technology) and Prof Lawrence Madikizela (Associate Professor, Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability, College of Science, Engineering and Technology) received Special Recognition Awards for Research Excellence at the 2023 National Research Foundation (NRF) Awards on 31 August 2023.
The 2023 NRF Awards took place in Durban on 31 August 2023 (Image credit: NRF)
This trio of awards once again give effect to Unisa’s vision to become a centre of excellence and a lever of optimum, impactful participation in the global knowledge arena, as championed by Prof Puleng LenkaBula, the institution’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor.
Dr Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, speaking at the event (Image credit: NRF)
Viewed as the benchmark for research excellence in South Africa, the annual NRF Awards recognise individual academics and teams for their recent outstanding scientific achievements. Their internationally competitive work is assessed for, among other things, the contribution to the field of study focusing on quality and impact on society.
Mokgalaboni and Mavukwana both received the Research Excellence Award for Next Generation Researchers, while Madikizela received the Research Excellence Award for Early Career/Emerging Researchers.
From left: Kabelo Mokgalaboni (Research Excellence Award for Next Generation Researchers), Dr Athi Mavukwana (Research Excellence Award for Next Generation Researchers) and Prof Lawrence Madikizela (Research Excellence Award for Early Career/Emerging Researchers)
Through the Research Excellence Award for Next Generation Researchers, the NRF provides funding to postgraduate students to address skills shortages in all of the sciences including the natural sciences, engineering, technology, the humanities and social sciences. One of the objectives of supporting next generation researchers is to increase the prospect of retaining suitably qualified young researchers and thus increasing the pool of researchers and knowledge workers in the National System of Innovation (NSI). This award recognises excellence in research performance by doctoral students from any discipline who are currently funded by the NRF.
Through the Research Excellence Award for Early Career/Emerging Researchers, the NRF aspires to develop and enhance the research stature of Early Career/Emerging Researchers, prioritising blacks, females and people with disabilities as part of its transformation agenda which, among others, aims to redress historical imbalances in the South African researchers’ cohort. This award recognises outstanding research performance by current Early Career/Emerging Researchers in any discipline, who are NRF grant holders.
Both awards include a research grant of R50 000.
Prof Thenjiwe Meyiwa, Vice-Principal: Research, Postgraduate Studies, Innovation and Commercialisation at Unisa, commented as follows: "The exponential increases in the number of Unisa academics and researchers receiving NRF and other awards are certainly assurance that Unisa is not just a significant player within the higher education sector, but that, due to the stellar performance of these awardees and many other academics at the university, our future in the research sphere is bright."
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* Compiled by Philip van der Merwe, Editor, Department of Institutional Advancement
Publish date: 2023/09/04
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