National Research Foundation accolades for Wits scientists
- Wits University
The Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience won the National Research Foundation Science Team Award while seven Witsies received A-ratings.
The 2022 NRF Awards took place on Thursday, 1 September 2022 at Century City Conference Centre, Cape Town.
Regarded as the benchmark for research excellence, the annual awards recognise individual academics and teams for their recent outstanding scientific achievements.
The NRF assesses scientists’ internationally competitive work for its contribution to the field of study, research quality, and societal impact.
Science Team Award for advancing human genetics in Africa
Professor Michèle Ramsay is the Department of Science and Innovation-NRF Research Chair in Genomics and Bioinformatics of African Populations and the Director of the SBIMB.
She and her senior research team, including Professor Scott Hazelhurst, Dr Ananyo Choudhury, Distinguished Research Professor Collen Masimirembwa, and Professor Chris Mathew, won the 2022 NRF Science Team Award.
This award recognises a team’s contributions, creativity and achievements in expanding the boundaries of scientific research in Africa, producing science outcomes which have positively impacted society, and raising South Africa’s international stature as a world-class research destination.
“It means a great deal to receive this recognition and is the culmination of the work of a great team, supported by postdocs and students and partnerships with many collaborators both within and beyond Wits,” says Ramsay.
The SBIMB was established in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Wits in 2014. The institute has been key to advancing multidisciplinary knowledge and developing the next generation of African scientists in the fields of genomics, population genetics, bioinformatics, biomedical informatics, computational and structural biology, and epidemiology.
Under Ramsay’s leadership the SBIMB has contributed world-class biomedical research that addresses some of Africa’s most critical health challenges. Current research includes genetic and environmental factors that contribute to cardio-metabolic diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, glaucoma, cancer, and the role of the microbiome in obesity, diabetes and hypertension.
In February 2022, SBIMB scientists were part of the team that published research in Nature Medicine, which interrogated how and why Africans need to participate in genetic studies to ensure that these underrepresented populations benefit from research that explores how unique genetics affect health.
Newly minted as A-rated
Seven Wits researchers were awarded, or re-awarded, NRF A-ratings. To obtain an NRF A-rating, a researcher must be recognised by their peers as a leading international scholar in their field based on the high quality and high impact of their recent research output.
The NRF awarded A-ratings for the first time to Emeritus Professor of English Victor Houliston, Applied English Language Studies Emeritus Professor Hilary Janks, and endocrinologist Professor Derick Raal.
Emeritus Professor Victor Houliston is a literary historian, bibliographer and textual critic. His recent research has focused on a multi-volume, multi-lingual edition of The Correspondence and Unpublished Papers of Robert Persons, for the Royal English College in Valladolid, Spain. Houliston has played a leadership role in the Southern African Society for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, both as President of the Society and Editor of the journal. His reputation is founded on his monograph Catholic Resistance in Elizabethan England and the publication of the first volume of the Persons Correspondence, with a second volume in press and a third in preparation.
The research of Emeritus Professor Hilary Janks focuses on the relationship between language, literacy and power as well as early childhood education. She holds degrees in English Literature and Applied Linguistics. She has published two widely cited books: Literacy and Power and Doing Critical Literacy. Janks received the Medal of Honour from the Education Association of South Africa and was the first recipient of the Literacy Association of South Africa’s Significant Contribution to Literacy award. She is a Fellow of the American Education Research Association and a member of the Reading Hall of Fame.
Professor Derick Raal is a leading expert on familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH). He is the Head of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism and the Director of the Carbohydrate and Lipid Metabolism Research Unit at Wits. He is a member the European Atherosclerosis Society and the World Heart Federation, and on the Steering Committee developing a worldwide registry of homozygous and heterozygous FH subjects. Over the last eight years, he has published 119 peer-reviewed articles and seven book chapters and delivered 31 keynote addresses.
Consistently world-class
Mathematician Professor Florian Luca, medical anthropologist Professor Lenore Manderson, and Wits’ own Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation, Lynn Morris, an HIV virologist, were awarded A-ratings for the second time, while Emeritus Research Professor of African Ecology, Norman Owen-Smith was A-rated again for an astonishing fifth time.
Professor Florian Luca’s mathematical sciences and applied mathematics research interest is Number Theory with a focus on the areas of Diophantine equations and Multiplicative Number Theory. He is a Distinguished Research Professor at Wits. He has published more than 750 articles and is a leading contributor to major journals such as the Journal of Number Theory and Acta Arithmetica. He has supervised 11 PhD students with another one currently in progress.
Professor Lenore Manderson’s work focuses on the intersections of health, inequality and structural divides. After completing her PhD in Asian Studies at the Australian National University, she held various academic positions in Australia. She is currently a Distinguished Professor of Public Health and Medical Anthropology in the School of Public Health at Wits. She has authored and co-authored more than 90 articles, over 35 book chapters, and authored and edited seven scholarly books. She has made major contributions to global policy through her work with the WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases.
Professor Lynn Morris is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation at Wit and the Founding Director of the Antibody Immunity Research Unit at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases. Morris was formerly the Interim Executive Director of the NICD and Principle Medical Scientist. Her research interest is in HIV/Aids, particularly the development of a vaccine and HIV prevention. She has published more than 270 papers in journals including Nature Communications and The Lancet HIV. She served on South African Medical Research Council Board as well as on various working groups during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Professor Norman Owen-Smith’s research investigates the ecology of large mammalian herbivores and their interactions with vegetation, supported by computational models to advance theory and conservation science. He consulted to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research before joining Wits, where he held a number of positions. He is currently Emeritus Research Professor of African Ecology at the University. He has written or edited seven books and published more than 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals since 2013. His work has earned numerous scientific awards, including the Harry Oppenheimer Fellowship and the Bill Venter/Altron Literary Award. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa and an Honorary Life Member of the Ecological Society of America, amongst others.