A celebration of researchers achieving research excellence
- Wits University
Wits recognises more than a hundred scholars for exceptional research accomplishments in 2024.
The University recognised Wits researchers who received (or were re-awarded) National Research Foundation (NRF) ratings and awards in 2023/24, as well as individual recipients of significant international and national accolades.
Click here to see the names of the 70 Wits researchers whom the NRF rated or re-rated in 2023/204.
For the names of the 17 researchers who were still awaiting rating at the time of research celebration, but who were also acknowledged at the event, click here.
The DVC's celebratory and networking event also spotlit 23 early career researchers who had been awarded NRF Thuthuka research grants. Click here to see their names and disciplines.
Our own "small blue dot"
The beautifully presented ceremony, hosted at the Wits Art Museum (WAM) on 7 August 2024, combined science and the arts by aesthetically immersing the academic achievers in the exhibition, Karel Nel: Close and Far.
The artist himself shared a brief, impromptu overview of his art and enduring fascination with the link between art and science throughout his career. A Wits alumnus, Nel said his attendance at the ceremony was “a form of homecoming” and explained that Close and Far represents his efforts “to understand the world.”
Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, commented on the prudence of WAM as venue, “where Wits shakes hands with the City.” A physicist and a jazz aficionado, the VC enthused about Nel’s art, humanity’s place on “the tiny blue dot,” and the need to incorporate ‘A’ into STEM, towards STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics).
Dr Robin Drennan, Director of Research and Development at Wits, was the MC - poignantly, his final overseeing of this his “annual highlight”, ahead of his retirement at the end of 2024 after eight years in the role.
Professor Glenda Gray, formerly CEO of the South African Medical Research Council and now returned to her Alma Mater as a Distinguished Professor and Senior Scientific Advisor at the Wits Infectious Diseases and Oncology Research Institute (IDORI), was the guest speaker. Gray was “welcomed home” by Professor Lynn Morris, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation, who is the patron of the research excellence celebration.
The “poster child for failure” with the NRF A1 rating
Gray said she was “so glad to be back at Wits – an amazing institution.” Recalling her years as a young doctor treating patients with HIV/Aids in the 1980s, she remarked that she and Wits colleagues at the time were “accidental scientists due to the pressing issues of the time”.
She recalled the horror of 350 000 dead from Mbeki’s Aids denialism. In her new role back at Wits, her focus is end-to-end HIV vaccine discovery, because “only a vaccine can cure or prevent HIV.”
Despite a litany of prestigious South African and international research awards and accolades, including being named in TIME’s Top 100 Most Influential People in the world in 2017, Gray quipped that she is “the poster child for failure.”
“I got an NRF-A1 rating for failing [to find an HIV vaccine]," she said. “And that is why it [NRF rating] is so hard.” She concluded that she is determined to relegate HIV to history.
Emerging and established research excellence
Morris said that the 2024 Celebration of Wits Researchers Achieving Research Excellence ceremony both recognises Wits researchers who were NRF-rated in 2023/2024, pays tribute to eminent individual achievements as well as to newly rated emerging early career researchers.
The Vitamin C programme encourages NRF-rating applications by early career researchers, she said, the progress of which has been encouraging. Similarly, the postdoctoral programme has contributed to a four-fold increase in the number of postdoctoral scholars at Wits.
Wits now boasts 16 members in respected scientific and research entities, including the Royal Society of South Africa and the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).
Some 90% of these research achievements are linked to the Sustainable Development Goals and published Open Access – both critical areas for the University, said Morris. She acknowledged the efforts of the Assistant Deans: Research (ADRs) in these areas.
Wits researchers that the University recognised included recipients of the 2023/24 National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF)-South32 Research Awards.
Witsies recognised at the DVC’s Research Excellence Awards had won in five out of 15 categories at the so-called ‘Science Oscars’ in July 2024 and included:
- Dr Tiisetso Lephoto, School of Molecular and Cell Biology: Emerging Researcher category
- Professor Claudia Polese, School of Mechanical, Industrial & Aeronautical Engineering: Engineering Research Capacity Development category
- Dr June Fabian, Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre: Clinical Scientist category
- Professor Igle (Irvy) Gledhill, School of Mechanical, Industrial & Aeronautical Engineering: Science Diplomacy for Africa category
- Professor Jennifer Fitchett, School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies: Communication category.
Furthermore, Achille Mbembe, a Research Professor at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WiSER), was also recognised at the DVC’s Research Excellence Awards. In March 2024, Mbembe was named as the Holberg Prize Laureate for his outstanding research in the humanities, social sciences, law and theology.
Dr Isaac Nape in the School of Physics, to whom the South African Institute of Physics awarded its 2023 Silver Jubilee Medal, was recognised. The Institute awarded Nape in August 2024 for outstanding achievement by a young physicist that contributes to the research education and technology development in Physics.
Celebrated mathematician and Wits alumnus, Professor Peter Sarnak, who won the 2024 Shaw Prize in May 2024 for his profound impact on number theory, was recognised.
Other individuals awardees recognised at the Research Excellence function included Shabir Madhi, Professor of Vaccinology and the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, who along with his mentor and Wits alumnus, Professor Keith Klugman, had received the Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal in April for their seminal combined contributions to the development of vaccines against pneumonia and diarrhoeal disease – major causes of death in children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Professor Rachel Jewkes was acknowledged for having received the Platinum Lifetime Achievement Award at the South African Medical Research Council’s (SAMRC) 2024 Scientific Merit Awards. Professors Cheryl Cohen, Penny Moore, Wendy Stevens, and Stephen Tollman had received Gold Medals at the SAMRC’s awards, while Dr Jinal Bhiman was awarded a Silver Medal.
Distinguished Professor and endocrinologist, Derick Raal, was lauded for having being named as a Highly Cited researcher for the fourth time. This means he once again featured in the top 1% by citations for his field and publication year, globally.
