Academic Achievers 2013

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Welcome

The University of Pretoria's standing as one of South Africa's leading research-intensive universities is largely due to the achievements of its academic staff. Through our annual awards ceremony we have an opportunity to pay tribute to our academic staff who have distinguished themselves in teaching and research.

The Achievers featured in this publication have each achieved significant milestones in their careers and collectively reflect the breadth and depth of scholarly work at the University across nine faculties and a business school.

Congratulations to all the Academic Achievers and academics successfully rated by the National Research Foundation (NRF). You are a source of great pride to the University. We salute your achievements!

As we look ahead there is no doubt that with such outstanding academic talent and expertise, the University will make an even greater impact in developing people, creating knowledge and making a difference locally and globally.

The Chancellor’s Award in the Category Research

The Chancellor’s Award is made in recognition of exceptional achievement in the field of research aimed at the advancement of science and the associated promotion of the interests of the University of Pretoria. Click here for more infromation

Exceptional Academic Achievers

This award is made annually to senior academics who have already achieved the status of professor, are regarded highly by their peers and have consistently excelled in the areas of under- and postgraduate teaching and learning, research, community service and administration over a period of time. Any academic who has been awarded an A-rating by the NRF automatically qualifies as an Exceptional Achiever for as long as he or she remains an A-rated researcher. Only 50 such awards are made in a three-year cycle.

Prof Sue Nicolson
Prof Danie Auret Prof Nigel Bennett
Prof Theo Bothma
Prof Teresa Coutinho Prof Ian Craig
Prof Madeleine du Toit
Prof Andries Engelbrecht Prof Johan Kirsten Prof Jean Lubuma
Prof Andrew McKechnie Prof Josua Meyer
Prof Robert Millar
Prof Zander Myburg
Prof Louis Nel
Prof Robert Pattinson

Exceptional Young Researchers

This award is given to exceptional emerging scholars in the field of research, who foster the University's strategic goal of achieving excellence in various research fields.

Any person who has been evaluated by the NRF as a P-rated researcher automatically enjoys Exceptional Young Researcher status. Any school within a faculty, and any faculty without a school may recommend one candidate per year. Only ten awards are made annually, excluding those who have acquired P-ratings.

Prof Maryna Steyn Prof John Taylor
Prof Karin van Marle
Prof Charles van Onselen Prof Frans Viljoen Prof Mike Wingield
Prof Xiaohua Xia
Prof Lyn-Marie Birkholtz Dr Folorunso Oludayo Fasina Prof Lorenzo Fioramonti
Dr Christine Maritz-Olivier Dr Marietjie Oosthuizen Prof Bernard Slippers

Prof De Wet Swanepoel

Newly Rated NRF Researchers

Prof Patricia Alexander

Prof Alexander is an extraordinary professor in the School of Computing at the University of South Africa. Until her retirement at the end of March 2013, Prof Alexander was an associate professor in the Department of Informatics at the University of Pretoria.

Prof Alexander's research covers the management of change triggered by new information systems and technology, particularly in eHealth. She heads interuniversity research on factors that influence students in choosing computingrelated majors at university.

In the past five years she has published, among others, in accredited international journals with co-authors from other South African universities. Prof Alexander received a C3-rating from the NRFF.

Prof Roumen Anguelov

Prof Anguelov is a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. His primary research area is differential equations and their numerical analysis, with the main emphasis on reliable numerical computations. He has also received recognition for his work on Spaces of Interval-Valued Functions, Type-Independent Theory of Partial Differential Equations, and Image Analysis.

In recent years Prof Anguelov's work has focused largely on applications to biological sciences. He plays a key role at the University in promoting interdisciplinary collaboration in the general field of biomathematics, and is instrumental in the organisation of many activities such as the Biomath Forum series of lectures at the University. Prof Anguelov is a co-chair of the organising committee of the International Conference on Mathematical Methods and Models in Biosciences (BIOMATH) taking place annually in Sofia, Bulgaria. Prof Anguelov received a B3-rating from the NRF.

Prof Zeno Apostolides

Prof Apostolides is an associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. He is the founder and leader of the Tea Research Laboratory that has been doing research on various projects in the tea industry for black and green tea since 1984.

Most of his work has been on metabolomic studies to predict the value of tea. Currently, he is working on genome-wide association studies for traits of agronomic interest in tea, especially drought tolerance. He was a member of the organising committee for the 4th International Conference on O-CHA (Tea) Culture and Science – ICOS 2010 – which took place in Shizuoka, Japan, in October 2010. He has presented keynote addresses at international conferences in Kenya, China and Japan.

Prof Apostolides contributed a chapter on 'Health properties of black, green and oolong tea from Camellia sinensis' in the publication Trends and developments in ethnopharmacology, edited by Resia Pretorius, 2009. Two patents were granted to the University of Pretoria in 2012 – one in South Africa and another by the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO). He has co-authored a book with Liang Chen and Zong-Mao Chen entitled Global tea breeding: achievements, challenges and perspectives, released in early 2013. His research team has produced 21 publications that have generated an ISI h-index of 13. Prof Apostolides received a

Prof Karel Bakker

Prof Bakker (PhD) is a professor in the Department of Architecture in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology.

Prof Bakker's research is interdisciplinary and comprises theoretical, technological and applied aspects in the fields of architecture, management of historic environments, urban regeneration, historical studies and pedagogy. His fields of specialisation are urban and architectural conservation, urban regeneration, heritage theory, heritage impact management, interpretation and presentation of heritage, shared built heritage, African built heritage and architectural history and pedagogy.

He has received international recognition from the UNESCO World Heritage Centre as an international educator in heritage impact assessment for the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) in Shanghai. He was an invited speaker at the UNESCO workshop on the application of the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) approach in Africa that culminated in the Zanzibar Declaration on the Conservation of Historic Urban Landscapes.

Prof Bakker has been involved in numerous internationally reviewed, invited specialist reports for reactive monitoring missions, state of conservation missions and impact assessment missions involving World Heritage Sites. These sites include the Richtersveld, the Kasubi tombs in Kampala (Uganda), Le Morne Cultural Landscape and Aapravasi Ghat in Mauritius. He has undertaken numerous missions to Zanzibar Stone Town. He was an invited co-author of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) publication, Guidance on heritage impact assessment in Cultural World Heritage properties. He has received a creative output award for the design of the UNESCO Slave Route Monument in Mauritius. Prof Bakker received a C3-rating from the NRF.

Prof Johan Beckmann

Prof Beckmann is a professor in the Department of Education Management and Policy Studies in the Faculty of Education. His main research areas are education and law, educational governance, human rights, educational reform, and education and culture.

Prof Beckmann has been appointed until June 2014 as adjunct professor at the National Training Centre for Secondary School Principals, East China Normal University, Shanghai. He is a guest lecturer at the Institute of Educational Leadership at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland and was appointed with Justus Prinsloo, a researcher at the Faculty of Education (University of Pretoria) and an advocate of the Supreme Court of South Africa, as co-editor of Juta's education law and policy handbook. Prof Beckmann received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Andriëtte Bekker

Prof Bekker is an associate professor and acting Head of the Department of Statistics in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.

The focus of Prof Bekker's research is the study, development and expansion of distributions and of addressing their parametric statistical inferential aspects within the classical as well as the Bayesian framework.

One of the more recent articles co-authored by Prof Bekker in 2012 is entitled 'A generalised multivariate beta distribution: control charting when the measurements are from an exponential distribution', published in Statistical Papers (53, 4, 1045-1064). Another co-authored article published in 2012 is entitled 'Distribution of the product of determinants of noncentral bimatrix beta variates', published in the Journal of Multivariate Analysis (109, 73-87. Prof Bekker received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Dave Berger

Prof Berger is a professor in the Department of Plant Science, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. He is the leader of the Molecular Plant-Pathogen Interactions Research Group.

His study of plant transcriptional responses using microarrays has led to the development of five bioinformatics software packages, which have been applied for gene discovery. His work has shown that the fungus Cercospora zeina is the cause of the economically important grey leaf spot disease of maize in Southern Africa. Studies are continuing to identify pathogenicity genes in the fungus, as well as resistance genes in maize.

Prof Berger's laboratory is also involved in a more basic research project on the model plant

Arabidopsis and a bacterial wilt pathogen. In this work, his research group has uncovered the genetic basis of a novel mechanism of disease tolerance. As part of a European Union project, he led the development of the first tomato diversity array for genetic mapping in wild tomato species. He was awarded a prize by the Department of Science and Technology for Capacity Development in the European Union Framework Programmes. Prof Berger received a C1-rating from the NRF.

Prof James Blignaut

Prof Blignaut is a professor in the Department of Economics in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. He is an environmental resource economist focusing on the interface between economics and the natural environment, and specialising in food, water and energy security in the context of restoring degraded natural capital. He is engaged in several research initiatives dealing with the management of water catchments, the introduction of payments for ecosystem goods and services, the management of natural resources, and climate change adaptation and mitigation measures.

Prof Blignaut has a strong publication record in journals, such as Ecological Economics, Ecological Engineering, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustain-ability, the Journal of Energy of Southern Africa, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, Conservation Letters, Applied Energy and the South African Journal of Science. He received a B3-rating from the NRF.

Prof André Boraine

Prof Boraine is the Dean of the Faculty of Law. His current research interests include insolvency law, the law of civil procedure, and aspects of property law and consumer protection.

Over the years, Prof Boraine has taught a variety of law subjects at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and supervises doctoral students on a regular basis. He is on the roll of practising attorneys and is still involved in practical legal training programmes for candidate attorneys, as well as insolvency practitioners. He was the International Association of Restructuring, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Professionals (INSOL) scholar for 2008, and is recognised as an Exceptional Academic Achiever at the University of Pretoria.

He has published widely and regularly presents papers at local and international conferences. During 2011, he served as a consultant to the World Bank in relation to the Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC) analysis of the South African insolvency law system. Prof Boraine received a B1-rating from the NRF.

Prof Phil Botha

Prof Botha is a professor in the Department of Ancient Languages in the Faculty of Humanities.

His primary area of research is the Biblical Book of Psalms, with a specific interest in the intertextual influence of the Book of Proverbs on the Psalter. He has published articles on a number of individual psalms, in which he showed that these were either composed by or, alternatively, extensively edited by people who lived during the late Persian or early Hellenistic Period, and who tried to apply the teaching of Proverbs to the problems of economic hardship and religious apostasy which the Jewish community in Jerusalem was experiencing at the time.

A member of six academic societies, Prof Botha also conducts research in the field of patristics, concentrating on the work of a fourth-century Syriac-speaking theologian, Ephrem the Syrian. During the past five years, Prof Botha has published 14 articles in accredited journals, two chapters in refereed conference proceedings and two chapters in academic books. Prof Botha received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Adam Bumby

Prof Bumby is an associate professor in the Department of Geology in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.

His research interests are in structural geology and the development of the Precambrian basins on the Kaapvaal Craton, together with the structural controls on the emplacement of the Bushveld Complex.

In addition to numerous projects within these fields, he also supervises postgraduate projects on the structural development of the Lufilian Arc in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Pan-African tectonic event in the Nuba mountains of Southern Sudan, and the tectonic history in Western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. Prof Bumby received a C3-rating from the NRF.

Prof Drucilla Cornell

Prof Cornell is an extraordinary professor of Jurisprudence in the Faculty of Law. Her areas of research are jurisprudence, legal philosophy, the living customary law, indigenous values and subaltern legality.

Her most important publication in the past year was uBuntu and the law: African ideals and post-apartheid jurisprudence. Prof Cornell is the founder of the University of Pretoria's uBuntu Project, with a number of constitutional justices regularly participating in the Project's annual conferences and seminars. She received the Frantz Fanon Award from the Caribbean Philosophical Association in 2010. Prof Cornell is ranked as an A1 researcher by the NRF.

Prof Don Cowan

Prof Cowan is Director of the Institutional Research Theme in Genomics, a virtual institute comprising some 35 academics working in a wide range of genomics fields. He is also Director of the Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, housed in a newly refurbished 800 m2 laboratory suite. Prof Cowan has published over 215 research papers, review articles and book chapters, and serves on the editorial boards of nine international journals. He holds the post of adjunct professor at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa in 2007, member of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa in 2008, and an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2009. He was awarded the UWC Vice-Rector's Award for Research Excellence in 2008 and the Silver Medal of the South African Society for Microbiology in 2009. He is currently President of the Royal Society of South Africa.

Prof Cowan's research work includes microbial ecology, microbial processes, genomics, metagenomics and gene discovery, and applied microbiology. For the past decade, he has worked with scientists in New Zealand and America, studying the microbiology of the Dry Valleys of Eastern Antarctica. His interests also extend to the microbial ecology of the halo-alkaline African Rift Valley lakes, the prokaryotic and phage communities in high salt environments, and the structure and function of hot desert communities. His collaborators include researchers in South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, Zambia, Argentina, New Zealand, the UK, Germany and the US. He received a B1-rating from the NRF.

Dr Bridget Crampton

Dr Crampton is a senior lecturer in the Department of Plant Science in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences and a research leader at the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI). She leads the Cereal Foliar Pathogen Research Group, which studies two economically important maize diseases.

In Africa, one of the diseases, grey leaf spot in maize, is caused by the destructive fungal pathogen Cercospora zeina, and the research group focuses on functional genomics of virulence factors of C. zeina. Northern corn leaf blight (NCLB), caused by the fungus Exserohilum turcicum, is a devastating leaf foliar pathogen that occurs in most maize-growing areas throughout the world. As part of a long-term project to identify and isolate virulence factors from maize foliar fungal pathogens, the research group is characterising E. turcicum isolates from South Africa using simple sequence repeats (SSRs) as molecular markers.

In 2007, Dr Crampton was awarded a bronze medal from the South African Association of Botanists for the best botanical PhD thesis. Dr Crampton received a Y2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Philip Crouse

Prof Crouse is a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology. He is the current SARChI chair of Fluoro-materials Science and Process Integration.

His research covers industrial fluorine chemistry and technology, and has a strong focus on fluoropolymer synthesis, characterisation and applications. In addition to NRF funding, the chair is financially supported by the Fluorochemical Expansion Initiative (FEI) of the Department of Science and Technology, and has several industrial contracts. Prof Crouse received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Elmarie de Klerk

Prof De Klerk is an associate professor and Head of the Department of Consumer Science in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.

Her

in the field of clothing) and to contribute, through the development of products and services, to the well-being and quality of life of diverse consumer groups in South Africa and in other African countries. Her focus falls under two major themes, namely socio-psychological and cognitive aspects of consumer behaviour, the latter primarily involving apparel sizing, fit and quality.

Prof De Klerk is the most experienced and most cited South African researcher in the field of apparel sizing, fit and quality. Through an anthropometric survey conducted in Kenya it was possible to establish the most prevalent Kenyan female body shape, which displays totally different characteristics to the more prevalent Western female body shapes. This work contributed to the knowledge regarding the importance of body shape in the development of apparel sizing systems, and demonstrated the important role of body shape in perceived apparel sizing and fit problems experienced by the female population, specifically those in emerging economies. Prof De Klerk received a C3-rating from the NRF.

Dr Rian de Villiers

Dr De Villiers is a senior lecturer in the Department of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education in the Faculty of Education.

His research focus areas are inter- and intracontinental teacher migration studies, teacher training in life sciences education, and community-based service learning. His research career in the field of education started in 2002 when he was awarded one of the most prestigious fellowships of its kind in the world – a Commonwealth Academic Fellowship. Dr De Villiers received a C3-rating from the NRF.

Dr Jules Djoko Kamdem

Dr Djoko Kamdem is a senior lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.

He works on numerical solutions for partial differential equations (PDEs). The aim of his research is to design numerical algorithms for solving PDEs. He is particularly interested in mathematical aspects of numerical schemes, such as convergence, stability, reliability, and efficiency. Dr Djoko Kamden received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Dr Suné Donoghue

Dr Donoghue is a senior lecturer in the Department of Consumer Science in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. She obtained a PhD in 2008 from UP and specialises in consumer behaviour, specifically consumer complaint behaviour and consumer protection (consumerism). She is especially interested in consumers' cognitions, emotions and behaviour following product and service failures, as well as the implications for retailers and service providers.

Dr Donoghue co-authored various articles that were published in the Journal for Family Ecology and Consumer Sciences (JFECS) and the International Journal of Consumer Studies (IJCS). One of the articles, published in the JFECS, was chosen as the best paper published in 2006/2007. Her most recent article published in the IJCS is entitled 'Consumers' anger and coping strategies following appraisals of appliance failure' (2013). She has presented various research papers at national and international conferences. She currently supervises or co-supervises four master's students. Her first postgraduate student graduated with distinction. Dr Donoghue acts as a reviewer for the IJCS. Dr Donoghue received a grant from the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA) and a Research Development Programme (RDP) grant from the University of Pretoria. She received a Y2 NRF rating.

Prof Elfriede Dreyer

Prof Dreyer is an associate professor in fine Arts in the Department of Visual Arts. She is the Head of the Fine Arts section and her teaching activities focus on senior undergraduate and postgraduate students. She has revised the postgraduate degrees in fine arts to offer three specialisations: theorising and writing about art, producing art (creative production), and showing art (curatorial practice).

Prof Dreyer was educated in South Africa and the Netherlands in French literature, philosophy, music, multimedia, art history and fine arts. As a specialist in curatorial practice, she engages

discursively and creatively with the genre of utopia/dystopia, technologisation and post-Africanism. She has curated extensively and published several book reviews, chapters, articles and catalogues on utopian/ dystopian/heterotopian world-making and art production, specifically of black artists from Gauteng and Limpopo.

She has produced a large body of her own creative work (most of which is in public collections) and curated exhibitions that have regularly received awards from UP since 2006. She was shortlisted for the Chancellor's Prize for Excellence in Research at Unisa, and received artist's awards and curatorship grants, such as the Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) (originally KISC) grant of the NRF and an Absa Bank grant in 2012. Prof Dreyer received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Amanda du Preez

Prof Du Preez is an associate professor in the Department of Visual Arts, where she teaches Art History and Visual Culture Studies. She obtained a DPhil in English on the topic of cyberfeminism and embodiment in 2003.

Her current research interests include social media platforms and visual identity constructions, as well as dissenting scopic regimes in contemporary South African visual culture. She has published widely on a variety of topics, mainly pertaining to gender, embodiment and the sublime.

Prof Du Preez co-edited South African visual culture (2005), which introduces visual culture studies to a broader South African audience. This was followed by an edited volume entitled Taking a hard look: gender and visual culture (2009), which mainly focuses on the intersection between gender and contemporary visual culture. In 2009 she also published Gendered bodies and new technologies, unravelling the complicated way in which technologies – specifically image technologies – are implicated in constructing and perpetuating gender biases. The co-editor of two South African journals, namely De Arte and Image & Text, Prof Du Preez also serves on the governing board of the Inter-national Association for Visual Culture. Prof Du Preez received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Rocco Duvenhage

Prof Duvenhage is an associate professor in the Department of Physics in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.

His research area is operator algebra and dynamic systems. His work involves studying the long-term behaviour of dynamic systems or ergodic theory, with a focus on mathematical structures emanating from quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics.

Prof Duvenhage regularly publishes articles in peer-reviewed journals. The most significant acknowledgement of his work was the citing of two of his articles by leading Australian mathematician Terence Tao, who was awarded his PhD at the age of 20. Prof Duvenhage received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Brighton Dzikiti

Prof Dzikiti is an associate professor in the Department of Companion Animal and Clinical Studies in the Faculty of Veterinary Science. He obtained a BVSc degree from the University of Zimbabwe in 1997, followed by an MSc in veterinary anaesthesia from Utrecht University in the Netherlands in 2001, and a PhD from the University of Pretoria in 2010. He is a recipient of the Exceptional Young Researcher of the Year Award (University of Pretoria) 2012 and was a runner-up Young Researcher of the Year in the Faculty of Veterinary Science in 2011. He was the Head of the Veterinary Anaesthesia section from 2011 to 2012.

His most cited research publication to date is a 2003 paper, 'Effects of intravenous lidocaine on isoflurane concentration, physiological parameters, metabolic parameters and stress-related hormones in horses undergoing surgery'. Currently his main research area is the development of partial and total intravenous anaesthetic protocols for goats.

He has a made a considerable research impact, despite the heavy clinical and lecturing workload he carries in his day-to-day duties. Prof Dzikiti received a Y2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Jan Eloff

Prof Eloff is an extraordinary professor in the Department of Computer Science in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology. His research focuses on information security and software innovation. In 2002, he established the Information and Computer Security Architecture (ICSA) Research Group in the Department of Computer Science. He is a member of the review boards of international journals, including Computers & Security. He is the research director for SAP new business and technology, South Africa. In this role, he focuses on software innovation with the emphasis on emerging economies. Under his leadership, a number of

innovative software prototypes were developed that are in various phases of commercialisation.

Eleven PhD and 46 master's degree students have graduated under his leadership. Prof Eloff has published 111 peer-reviewed papers over the past seven years. He was recognised as one of the University's Leading Minds in the 2008 centenary year. He received a B3-rating from the NRF.

Prof Schalk Els

Prof Els is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology.

His current research efforts are focused on the dynamics of off-road vehicles. This includes characterisation and modelling of rough off-road terrains and off-road tyres. The use of semi-active dampers, combined with semi-active springs and ride-height adjustment to improve ride comfort, handling, rollover propensity and structural durability of off-road and heavy vehicles, is investigated. As the leader of the Vehicle Dynamics Research Group (VDG), Prof Els is also the Faculty advisor of UP's Baja Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) team (TuksBaja). He has published 15 peer-reviewed journal papers in the past five years which have received 109 citations. A number of his papers have been listed for several years on the 'ScienceDirect Top 25 Hottest Articles' (ie most downloaded papers), which attests to the relevance of his research. His papers on ride comfort and handling criteria for off-road vehicles have attempted to deal with long-standing problems in his research field and have been frequently cited. A major contribution of his work is the use of non-linear, multi-degree-of-freedom full-vehicle models that have been verified against experimental results. Prof Els received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Alet Erasmus

Prof Erasmus is an associate professor and Head of the Division of Clothing, Interior and Textiles in the Department of Consumer Science in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. Her primary research concern is consumer decision making, particularly an individual's ability to conclude informed, responsible consumer decisions. Prof Erasmus also focuses on how external problems and individual characteristics as well as shortcomings – such as lack of education or limited consumer socialisation – may jeopardise consumers' ability to optimise their resources, satisfy their needs, or to cope in a competitive marketplace. Most of her research involves partners from industry, and focuses on complex consumer decisions, such as the acquisition of sophisticated household technology, coping with credit or household debt, as well as functional illiteracy.

Prof Erasmus is a member of the Association of Consumer Research, serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Consumer Studies, was a guest editor for a 2012 edition of this journal, and is a book review editor. In 2011, she received an award for the best article for the preceding three years in the Journal of Family Ecology and Consumer Sciences. Prof Erasmus received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Rinelle Evans

Prof Evans is an associate professor in the Department of Humanities Education in the Faculty of Education. Her area of research is in the domain of instructional design and communication, with a focus on instructional dissonance – which refers to the extent to which the learning experience is hampered by teachers' inability to transcend linguistic, cultural and conceptual borders. The gradual deracialisation of South African schools, the concomitant shifting demographics and introduction of apparent democratic policies imply that many teachers who do not speak English as their mother tongue are compelled to teach by means of this language – on the erroneous assumption that their oral proficiency, as well as that of their learners, is adequate.

Prof Evans breaks new ground in the understanding of how critical it is for teachers to possess full proficiency in the language of instruction, as well as cross-cultural and pedagogical competence, in order to attend adequately to diverse learners' sense-making efforts. She received NRF funding for a postdoctoral fellowship in Canada. Her most recent publication is a scholarly book entitled Complex classroom encounters – A South African perspective. On several occasions her innovative teaching style has been formally acknowledged, most recently by the awarding of an Education Innovation Laureate in 2010. Prof Evans received a C3-rating from the NRF.

Prof William Fraser

Prof Fraser is a professor in the Department of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education in the Faculty of Education. He is a chartered biologist (CBiol), a fellow of the Society of Biology (FSB) and member of the South African Academy for Science and Arts (M.Acad.SA). He serves as advisor on the editorial boards of the Turkish Journal of Distance Education, the Journal of Instruction and the Journal of Biological Education. Prof Fraser is a guest editor of the South African Journal for Science and Technology.

As a subject methodologist and learning theorist, he specialises mainly in curriculum development, instructional design with specific reference to scientific inquiry, learning theories, and the teaching of life sciences to blind and visually impaired learners. He currently focuses on knowledge acquisition, cognitive load, scientific inquiry and the development of research as scholarship among life sciences educators. Prof Fraser received numerous research and teaching awards from both the University of South Africa and the University of Pretoria. In 2008, he was awarded the University of Pretoria's Chancellor's Award for teaching and learning, recognising him as an Exceptional Achiever in the Faculty of Education. He has held a C2-rating from the NRF since 2007.

Prof Daan Gouws

Prof Gouws is a professor in the Department of Financial Management in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. His research focuses on applying a transdisciplinary approach to accounting and financial management constructs. The laws, principles and concepts from the disciplines of the natural sciences are applied to construct financial realities. Findings from human-oriented disciplines are considered in order to understand risk, enable financial decision-making and promote sustainability. In this regard, Prof Gouws conceptualised a new concept of 'corporate readiness'.

Prof Gouws received the first Most Outstanding Accounting Educator Award from the Southern African Accounting Association and Deloitte based on teaching, research output, facilitating postgraduate students and service to the accounting and financial community. Over the past five years, he has authored or co-authored nine articles in refereed journals, supervised three doctoral candidates and 22 master's candidates to completion of their degrees, and two of his papers won best paper awards at international conferences. He received a C3-rating from the NRF.

Prof Rosemary Gray

Prof Gray is an emeritus professor in the Department of English in the Faculty of Humanities. She has been a nationally-rated researcher since the inception of the system in 2002. In the most recent round of assessments, reviewers stated that 'she has made valuable contributions to the criticism of Ben Okri', a 'very difficult and challenging' writer, bringing 'new impetus to scholarship on Okri, particularly illuminating the spiritual aspects'.

Recent publications include a special guest-edited issue of the Journal of Literary Studies/Tydskrif vir Literatuurwetenskap, dedicated to Okri's works. This contains her 'Interview with Ben Okri' (London, February 2011 - 28(4)2012: 4-13) and her article entitled 'Mythic conjunctions in transit: ontopoiesis in Ben Okri's An African elegy and Mental fight and Wole Soyinka's A shuttle in the crypt' (2012: 25-37). In print are 'Rediscovering an axis mundi in Ben Okri's Starbook', a position paper in Research in African Literatures 44(1); and 'Ontopoiesis in Ben Okri's poetic oeuvre' in Analecta Husserliana, vol CXVI.

Prof Gray is working on two papers for 2013 at Cambridge, Mass, and Athens: 'The creative imagination as metanarrative in Okri's The landscapes within (1981)' and 'A lucid stream of "everywhereness": Ben Okri's Wild (2012)'.

She will also be collaborating with the author on a musical of his Booker Prize novel, The famished road. She received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Bruce Gummow

Prof Gummow is an extraordinary professor in the Department of Production Animal Studies in the Faculty of Veterinary Science. He is also a professor of Epidemiology and Director of Research Training at the School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences in the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Molecular Sciences at James Cook University, Townsville, Australia.

Prof Gummow, is a registered specialist in veterinary preventive medicine (epidemiology), a diplomat of the European College of Veterinary Public Health with European certification as a specialist in population medicine, and a fellow of the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine.

Since 2008 he has co-authored 21 articles in refereed scientific publications. Prof Gummow has published a chapter on 'Vanadium: Environmental pollution and health effects' in the

Encyclopedia of Environmental Health since 2009, and nine dissertations were completed under his supervision. He has managed several grants and other research funding, including the Rhovan Project on cattle sentinel studies within the vanadium industry, which was in excess of R2 million. He manages an AusAid Grant of US$1,7 million, awarded to the Pacific Public Sector Linkages Program (2009–2013) for funded PhD students and projects that examine the food security network in the Pacific Island region.

Prof Gummow received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Dr Chaya Herman

Dr Herman is an associate professor in the Department of Education Management and Policy Studies in the Faculty of Education. Her main areas of research are doctoral education in South Africa, higher education policy and qualitative research methodology.

In 2009, the Academy of Science for South Africa (ASSAf) commissioned Dr Herman to conduct a number of studies related to a consensus study on the status and place of the South African doctorate in the global knowledge economy.

Her recent publications include 'The purpose of the PhD – A South African perspective' in Higher Education Policy, 25: (2012), 'Expanding doctoral education in South Africa: Pipeline or pipedream?' in Higher Education Research & Development, (2011), and 'Industry perceptions of Industry-University partnerships related to doctoral education in South Africa' in Industry and Higher Education (forthcoming). Dr Herman received a C3-rating from the NRF.

Prof Carin Huyser

Prof Huyser is an adjunct professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the Faculty of Health Sciences. She manages the Reproductive Biology Laboratory as part of the Assisted Reproduction Programme at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital.

Prof Huyser's areas of research include assisted reproduction, sexually transmitted diseases and affordable in vitro fertilisation (IVF). The development of infertility care in low-resource settings and specialised assisted reproductive treatment (ART) for HIV-seropositive patients are Prof Huyser's major research areas. Semen disinfection procedures to eliminate a variety of pathogens in human semen have been developed through in vitro testing, and thereafter applied in therapeutic ART procedures.

She is part of the Task-force for Developing Countries and Infertility of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) (see: http://www.eshre.eu/ESHRE/English/Task-forces/Task-force-Developing-Countries-and-Infertility), and the Belgian – USA-driven research in the development of a simplified ART embryo culture system (the Walking Egg Project: see: www.thewalkingegg.com). Prof Huyser represents the reproductive biology category at the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) in curriculum development for intern training, and accreditation of ART training units. Prof Huyser received a C3-rating from the NRF.

Prof Pete Irons

Prof Irons is a veterinary specialist in animal reproduction and Head of the Department of Production Animal Studies at the Faculty of Veterinary Science.

His research interests include ruminant reproduction, with a primary focus on infectious diseases transmitted by breeding bulls. Results from his work on trichomonosis, an important disease in the local beef industry, have been incorporated into the profession standard for the evaluation of bulls. An on-going programme on lumpy skin disease, showing that transmission in bull semen is possible but easily preventable, has given impetus to biosecurity measures in the artificial insemination industry.

Spermatogenesis and assisted reproductive technologies in goats have been a recent research focus, with the objective of developing new options for the preservation and propagation of desirable genetic material. Prof Irons' leadership in veterinary education has resulted in curricular and other scholarly reviews on this topic internationally. He maintains a high profile as a clinician and specialist in animal reproduction. Prof Irons received a C3-rating from the NRF.

Prof Annie Joubert

Prof Joubert is a professor in the Department of Physiology at the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Her research focus entails the design and synthesis of new anticancer compounds and the study of the mechanisms of how these novel drugs kill cancer cells while leaving normal cells unharmed. The newly designed compounds are the first antimitotic compounds that are capable of selectively inhibiting carbonic anhydrase IX and therefore show promise of inhibiting cancer metastasis. Assessment of these potential anticancer agents are currently being conducted to

determine their possible clinical application in cancer therapy, and to contribute to improvement of treatments through targeting cancer cells at low drug dosages with less frequent treatment intervals.

Prof Joubert collaborates with iThemba Pharmaceuticals (Pty) Ltd and researchers in France (Grenoble), the Netherlands (Amsterdam), Turkey (Istanbul), Finland (Helsinki) and the USA (Houston and Miami). She has received research awards and prizes including the University of Pretoria's Exceptional Young Researcher Award in 2005, best publication awards on several occasions in the Faculty of Health Sciences, a prestigious research award muniment, the Albert Beyers travelling fellowship from the University of Oxford, and the Cancer Association of South Africa AG Oettlé silver medal for cancer research. Prof Joubert received a C3-rating from the NRF.

Prof Steven Koch

Prof Koch is a professor and Head of the Department of Economics in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Prof Koch serves on the Senior Appointments Committee of the Council and the Research Committee of Senate.

His research focuses on the application of applied microeconomics and microeconometrics to the understanding of health, health behaviours, health policy and the relationship between health and other activities. Recently, that focus has been extended to include other household-level decisions and behaviours, especially within energy, forestry and forestry policy.

Prof Koch has been the managing editor of the ISI-accredited South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences from January 2008 through December 2012. He has also served on the Council of the Economic Society of South Africa, as well as on the Academic Committee of Economic Research Southern Africa (ERSA). Prof Koch received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Anton Kok

Prof Kok is an associate professor in the Department of Jurisprudence in the Faculty of Law and the Deputy Dean of the Faculty. His main area of research is the impact of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, No 4 of 2000, (the 'Equality Act') on societal transformation in South Africa, and how the Act may be utilised by litigants and civil society to address the problems of unfair discrimination, hate speech and harassment.

He received funding for 2010 to 2012 from the University's Research Development Project to undertake empirical research on the profile of cases lodged at South Africa's equality courts. As part of the same project, Prof Kok visited the Faculty of Law at Maastricht University in December 2010 to undertake comparative research on the Dutch approach to combating discrimination and hate speech. All of his recent publications and presentations at conferences have focused on the Equality Act. Prof Kok received an Y2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Lise Korsten

Prof Korsten is a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. She is the Head of the thematic focus area of Food Safety, Biosecurity, Public Health and Regulatory Control within the Institute for Food, Nutrition and Well-being.

Prof Korsten developed South Africa's first biological control agent for fruit and has established a research group in sanitary and phytosanitary aspects of international trade. She has expanded her research portfolio to include aspects related to post-harvest pathology and food safety in the fresh produce supply chain.

Prof Korsten serves on the boards of the National Laboratory Association (2005–2013) and the Post-harvest Innovation (PHi) programme from the Department of Science and Technology and the Fresh Produce Exporters Forum (2009–2013). She is also a member of the Specialist Technical Committee of the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS).

Prof Korsten has received a number of special awards; for the third time the University of Pretoria Exceptional Achiever Award (for the period 2011–2013) and, for the second time the South African National Accreditation System SANAS) special recognition award for her significant contribution to improving and promoting SANAS accreditation. Prof Korsten received a B2-rating

Prof Christa Krüger

Prof Krüger is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry in the Faculty of Health Sciences, as well as a specialist psychiatrist and head of a clinical unit at Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital in Pretoria.

She conducted her doctoral research at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom, on dissociation – an unconscious protective psychological process for managing overwhelming traumatic experiences, involving a loss of awareness and control over the connections between one's mental processes. Prof Krüger's research focuses on clinical, psychosocial, neurophysiological, and cultural aspects of dissociation. She has also developed a scale of dissociation that has been translated into other languages and is used in studying the neurophysiological changes that occur in the brain during dissociative states.

A member of the Board of Directors and the Scientific Committee of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD), Prof Krüger has also served as research supervisor to many successful psychiatry registrars, as well as doctoral candidates. Prof Krüger received a C3-rating from the NRF.

Prof Neels Kruger

Prof Kruger is an associate professor in the Department of Informatics in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology. His research interests lie in strategic information and communication management, as well as knowledge management in a multicultural and developing context.

Over the past five years, recognition for his PhD work has been evident in the publication of eight of his PhD chapters in peer-reviewed journals, with one more chapter reworked as an article (currently under review). Most of these papers have been published in journals such as Journal of Knowledge Management, Aslib Proceedings, the International Journal of Information Management, and VINE – the Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems – all of which are considered leading journals in the fields of knowledge and information science. To date, his articles have received more than 90 citations.

Prof Kruger received the University of Pretoria prize for best performance in general management in the MBA course 1998. He received honorary academic colours in 2002 and 2008 for being the first student to complete the Master's in Information Technology (MIT) degree with distinction at the University of Pretoria. He was the keynote speaker at the Third Annual Knowledge, Archives and Records Management Conference (KARM), held in May 2009 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Prof Kruger received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Namrita Lall

Prof Lall is an associate professor in the Department of Plant Science in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. The focus of her research is the scientific validation of the medicinal properties of plants and their efficacy as immune modulatory agents for tuberculosis patients; their potential value as a source of novel anticancer drugs, skin-depigmentation agents and compounds for periodontal diseases; and the mechanism of action of identified extracts/compounds and the purification of compounds using modern chromatographic technologies. She has published 82 research articles in peer-reviewed journals and her H-index is 18.

A potent anti-tuberculosis compound identified during her research is one of the top three discovered in natural products thus far to combat tuberculosis. This compound showed inhibitory activity against drug-sensitive, seven drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The South African Department of Science and Technology (DST) selected Prof Lall as the coordinator of the Bioprospecting Cosmeceutical project in October 2009. Five samples are under consideration as possible products for acne, oral care and skin-hyperpigmentation problems. One international and five national patents were granted for anti-tuberculosis and skin-hyperpigmentation projects respectively. In 2011, Prof Lall received the Distinguished Women in Science Award from the DST. She has been recognised internationally for her research, has presented talks at many international conferences and recently received the prestigious United Kingdom Royal Society-NRF grant. Prof Lall received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Berendien Lubbe

Prof Lubbe is a professor and Head of the Division of Tourism Management in the Department of Marketing Management in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Her research in the tourism field focuses on the role of air transport in tourism, as well as corporate travel management. She established corporate travel management as a subdiscipline of the tourism

management degree programme at the University of Pretoria and has supervised an increasing number of master's and doctoral students in this field.

Her research into corporate travel management has been recognised internationally through publications in high-ranking journals such as Tourism Management and the Journal of Business Ethics. She collaborates closely with universities in Finland and the Netherlands in her research and regularly presents guest lectures on corporate travel management in both countries. In 2006, Prof Lubbe received a Laureate Award from the University of Pretoria for her contribution to educational innovation. In 2011, she became the first South African to join the board of the International Federation for Information Technologies in Travel and Tourism (IFITT) which is headed by leading international academics in the field of tourism. Prof Lubbe received a C3-rating from the NRF.

Prof Thokozani Majozi

Prof Majozi is a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology. His main research interest is batch chemical process integration, an area in which he has made significant scientific contributions that have earned him international recognition. Some of these contributions have been adopted by industry.

An associate professor in Computer Science at the University of Pannonia in Hungary from 2005 to 2009, Prof Majozi completed the PhD in Process Integration at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology in the United Kingdom. He is a member of various international scientific committees for leading process systems engineering symposia and conferences, and serves on the editorial board of the Chemical Engineering Transactions Journal.

Prof Majozi is a member of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa, a fellow of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and a fellow of the Academy of Engineering of South Africa. He has received numerous awards for his research, including the Burianec Memorial Award (Italy), P-rating (NRF), recognition as one of the University of Pretoria's Leading Minds in 2008, an S2A3 British Association medal (silver), the South African Institution of Chemical Engineers' Bill Neal-May gold medal, and the NSTF-BHP Billiton Category B Award. He received the AU-TWAS Young Scientist Award in 2012. Prof Majozi is an author or co-author of more than 100 scientific publications, including a book on batch chemical process integration published by Springer in 2010. His current NRF rating is B1.

Prof Wanda Markotter

Prof Markotter is an associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. Her research focuses on the ecology, epidemiology and pathogenicity of rabies, as well as zoonotic pathogens associated with African bats. National and international recognition for her research is reflected in the engagement with researchers around the world. Dr Markotter has published articles in a variety of high-impact journals, including six papers in Emerging Infectious Diseases and two papers in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology. These publications reflect her original research, focusing on rabies and rabies-related viruses associated with African bat species, involving research on the understanding of viral pathogenicity, virulence determinants, development and testing of new diagnostic methods, epidemiological studies and discovery of new viruses.

In 2008, Prof Markotter received the L'Oreal-UNESCO and Department of Science and Technology 'For Women in Science' fellowship. She serves on the editorial board of the journal PLOS ONE, an open-access peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Public Library of Science. Prof Markotter received a C1-rating from the NRF.

Dr Machdel Matthee

Dr Matthee is a senior lecturer in the Department of Informatics in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology.

The main focus of her research is technology-enhanced education and its effect on the broader education environment. Related to this is her interest in defining, teaching of and designing curricula for content-related skills necessary in a knowledge society – also referred to as e-skills. A recent paper related to Dr Matthee's research focus describes the establishment and use of a mobile post-training support network for more than 3 000 data capturers during the so-called '3 535' project of the National Department of Health. Two more of her papers report on the adoption

of cellular phones and tablets for the teaching of Mathematics in high schools.

Dr Matthee's recent work related to the design and implementation of curricula, includes a paper on students' experiences of an interdisciplinary degree in the School of Information Technology at the University of Pretoria. She was also involved in the collaborative design and implementation of an ICT management degree at Uganda Martyrs University, where Critical System Heuristics (CSH) were used to evaluate the sustainability of the project. Dr Matthee received a C3-rating from the NRF.

Prof Cheryl McCrindle

Prof McCrindle, a registered veterinarian, is currently an extraordinary lecturer at the School of Health Systems and Public Health in the Faculty of Health Sciences. She has a particular interest in the One Health concept, especially as it relates to food safety and security, as well as zoonotic diseases.

In 2012, Prof McCrindle was chairperson of the scientific organising committee for the International Dairy Federation's World Dairy Summit, held in Cape Town. She has led a bilateral collaboration programme between UP and Italy, specifically the University of Perugia, for more than ten years, and this has resulted in the introduction of a joint MSc in Veterinary Public Health. Her publications over the last five years have mainly been in the field of veterinary public health and food safety. Prof McCrindle received a C3-rating from the NRF.

Prof David Medalie

Prof Medalie is a professor in the Department of English in the Faculty of Humanities.

His research interests lie chiefly in the areas of early twentieth-century literature (especially modernism) and South African literature. He is also an award-winning fiction writer who has published two collections of short stories and a novel. He is an acknowledged expert on the work of the British writer EM Forster, and has published a study of Forster's writing.

Prof Medalie's recent publications include a chapter on Forster's non-fiction in The Cambridge Companion to E. M. Forster, edited by David Bradshaw, a volume in the prestigious Cambridge Companion series. His publications on South African literature include an article entitled 'To retrace your steps: the power of the past in post-apartheid literature', originally delivered as a lecture in the University of Pretoria's Expert Lecture Series and subsequently published in English Studies in Africa. His second collection of short stories, The Mistress's Dog, was shortlisted in 2011 for the University of Johannesburg Literary Award. The title story was shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing. Prof Medalie received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Marion Meyer

Prof Meyer has been the Head of the Department of Plant Science in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences since 2001. His research is focused on phytochemistry and the secondary compounds that plants produce to defend themselves against pathogens and herbivores. His research team has isolated many novel compounds from plants with in vitro activity against tuberculosis, malaria, HIV, herpes viruses and other pathogens and problems such as erectile dysfunction. Four patents have resulted from this work and more than 100 papers have been published in ISI journals. ISI has identified him as a highly cited scientist in pharmacology and toxicology. His current research focus is on the metabolomics of the secondary compounds of medicinal plants.

He is active in professional societies in his field of research. During his term as president of the South African Association of Botanists (2005 to 2007), he negotiated a contract with Elsevier for the publication of the Association's journal, the South African Journal of Botany. He is on the editorial boards of three ISI journals, and referees about 30 papers a year for these and other international journals. He recently received the South African Association of Botanists silver medal for his research achievements and his contribution to plant sciences in general. Prof Meyer received a B3-rating from the NRF.

Prof Julian Müller

Prof Müller is an emeritus professor in the Faculty of Theology. He retired in August 2012 as Deputy Dean of the Faculty, where he was head of the Department of Practical Theology until 2010.

Prof Müller's research is primarily focused is on narrative theology, which led him to research the fields of pastoral counselling, family and marriage therapy, care for people living with HIV and Aids, intercultural communication and reconciliation, and social cohesion in communities.

One of Prof Müller's books, Die erediens as fees, won the Andrew Murray Prize for religious literature in 1992. His latest book, Om te mag twyfel, was shortlisted for the same prize in 2012.

His book on narrative pastoral counselling, Companions on the journey / Reis-geselskap was translated and published in South Korea. In 2012, Prof Müller delivered one of the three lectures in the University's Expert Lecture Series. His paper was entitled '(Practical) theology – a story of doubt and imagination'. Prof Müller received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Marth Munro

Prof Munro is an extraordinary professor in the Department of Drama in the Faculty of Humanities.

The monist approach of body-mind and voice-in-performance education is the primary focus of Prof Munro's research. Her research philosophy is informed by the trajectory of learning, applying, assessing and expanding new knowledge. She supervises and executes primarily praxis-based projects, where experiential and cognitive processes are interrelated.

As body-mind and voice-in-performance pedagogy focuses on an interwoven relationship of function and expression of the various strands, her research is of inter- and multidisciplinary nature. This can be observed in articles that she has co-authored, such as 'Lessac's structural NRG as an aid to Zulu performers' production of English vowels: a preliminary exploration', published in A World of Voice, and 'Creativity, emotional intelligence and emotional creativity in student actors: a pilot study' published in the South African Theatre Journal Prof Munro received a C3-rating from the NRF.

Prof Laurie Nathan

Prof Nathan is an extraordinary professor and the Director of the Centre for Mediation in Africa, based in the Department of Political Sciences in the Faculty of Humanities. He is also a visiting professor at Cranfield University in the United Kingdom.

He conducts research on international mediation, regional security, security sector reform and intelligence transformation. Prof Nathan's most recent book is Community of insecurity: SADC's struggle for peace and security in Southern Africa (Ashgate, 2012). He has published in top international journals, including African Affairs, International Affairs, the European Journal of International Relations, the Journal of Southern African Studies and Human Rights Quarterly (forthcoming).

In 2012, Prof Nathan was invited to serve on the United Nations Academic Advisory Council on Mediation, and received a research grant from the Social Sciences Research Council in New York. In 2013, his co-edited volume on the security dimensions of the South African Constitution will be published by University of Cape Town Press. He received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Johan Nöthling

Prof Nöthling is a professor in Reproduction in the Department of Production Animal Studies in the Faculty of Veterinary Science. His area of research is reproduction. Recent research outputs include studies on the seroprevalence of the canine herpes virus in breeding kennels in Gauteng. He has developed a simple multidimensional system for the recording and interpretation of sperm morphology in bulls.

Prof Nöthling has identified which fields under a coverslip can be assessed in order to estimate sperm motility. He has also done research on the ontogeny of the ovarian follicular reserve in the African elephant (Loxodonta africana) and the seasonality of reproduction in the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus). Prof Nöthling received a C3-rating from the NRF.

Dr Nanette Oberholzer

Dr Oberholzer is a senior lecturer in Histology, Cell Biology and Embryology in the Department of Anatomy, in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

During her MSc and PhD studies, she was involved in animal studies, investigating the effect of alternative treatment regimes such as herbal en homeopathic products on the ultrastructural, haematological and immunological parameters of asthma in the BALB/c murine asthmatic animal model. Her subsequent research involved investigating the effects of weight-loss-promoting substances such as sibutramine on the morphology and ultrastructure of organs, as well as the coagulation system of obese rats by using scanning and transmission electron microscopy.

As an active member of the Applied Morphology Research Centre (AMRC), Dr Oberholzer was involved in studying the ultrastructure of platelets, fibrin networks and red blood cells in different illnesses such as HIV, stroke, renal clear-cell adenocarcinoma, macrothrombocytopenia, diabetes and asthma, by using scanning electron microscopy. Since 2008, she has had 32 articles published in ISI-listed journals. Dr Oberholzer received a Y2-rating from the NRF.

Prof André Oelofse

Prof Oelofse is an associate professor in the Department of Human Nutrition in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Prior to his employment at UP, he was a research scientist at the Medical Research Council of South Africa in Cape Town. He has vast experience in public health nutrition and has worked in many African countries, as well as in developing countries in Asia.

At UP he directed the Centre for Nutrition until its incorporation in the institutional research theme Food, Nutrition and Well-being at the similarly named institute, where he is the research leader for Nutrition. He has published widely on public health nutrition as well as molecular nutrition, and was instrumental in establishing the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Medicine. Prof Oelofse has a well-established international collaborative network and has supervised a number of postgraduate students. He recently published a comprehensive report on a collaborative project studying the nutritional value and water use of indigenous African crops and their potential contribution to improve livelihoods. Prof Oelofse received a C3-rating from the NRF.

Dr Jason Pienaar

Dr Pienaar was a senior lecturer in the Department of Genetics in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences until June 2012. He now has a faculty position at the University of Oregon in the USA, and maintains an association with UP as a part-time extraordinary Faculty member.

His primary research area is evolutionary biology. He focuses on macro-evolutionary processes –the effects of evolutionary forces over long periods of time, spanning speciation events. In this regard he has developed a statistical evolutionary model, based on comparative methods, that makes it possible to explore the long-term evolution of groups of species, and to disentangle the various evolutionary forces acting on them. He uses a specific natural-model system (figs and their pollinating fig wasps) to test specific macro-evolutionary hypotheses, such as the importance of natural selection versus other evolutionary forces in shaping organismal traits over time – for example, sex allocation in different species of fig wasps.

Dr Pienaar has participated in a collaborative programme between scientists in the USA and Norway to develop the theory and software for a sophisticated comparative method, known as Stochastic Linear Ornstein-Uhlenbeck models for Comparative Hypotheses (SLOUCH). SLOUCH makes possible the modelling of natural selection over long time frames. This work is published in leading journals in the field such as Evolution, The American Naturalist and PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America). Dr Pienaar received a C3-rating from the NRF.

Prof Tinus Pretorius

Prof Pretorius is a professor in Technology and Innovation Management in the Department of Engineering and Technology Management and is the chairperson of the Graduate School of Technology Management.

He obtained the master's (cum laude) and doctoral degrees in engineering management at the same university and completed an Executive Certificate in Strategy and Innovation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His areas of research include various aspects of technology management, such as technology analysis, planning and commercialisation, innovation networks, and technology strategy. Prof Pretorius has undertaken research for industry and government in various sectors, including energy, automotive manufacturing and mining.

Prof Pretorius has published in leading journals, such as Technovation, Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, the International Journal of Technology Intelligence and Planning, amongst others. He has published more than 60 articles in accredited journals and conference proceedings, and is an active member of the IEEE Technology Management Council and the International Association for Management of Technology (IAMOT). He received a C1-rating from the NRF.

Prof Danie Prinsloo

Prof Prinsloo is a professor in the Department of African Languages and former Chair of the School of Languages in the Faculty of Humanities. The University of Pretoria awarded him a medal as an Exceptional Academic Achiever in 2000 – an award he received for five consecutive three-year periods. In 2008 he was recognised as one of the University of Pretoria's Centenary Leading Minds and also received the 2010 PanSALB Award for effective innovation of technology to promote multilingualism. With co-author Ulrich Heid, he received the African Language Association of Southern Africa (ALASA) Linguistic Prize for best publication in 2011. Prof Prinsloo served as a consultant for the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) to guide the 11 National Lexicography Units, and was recently appointed as the Linguistic Manager of a multimillion rand text-processing project for the official African languages of South Africa, for the

Department of Arts and Culture. His research is focused on Sepedi grammar and on corpus-based African language lexicography. He has published more than 100 articles and chapters in scholarly books and has read an equal number of conference papers. He is a founder member of the African Association for Lexicography and editor of the ISI-indexed journal Lexikos for 2012. Prof Prinsloo received a B2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Ronél Rensburg

Prof Rensburg is a professor in the Communication Management Division. Her areas of specialisation are communication and reputation management, strategic communication in corporate governance, and international communication. She is the former Head of the Department of Marketing and Communication Management in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of Pretoria (2000–2008). She was chairperson of the School of Management Sciences (2002–2008) in the same Faculty. Prof Rensburg is the immediate past president of the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA), a board member of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management (GA), a member of the European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA), and a member of the Eurasian Communication Association and the International Communication Association (ICA). She has coordinated international exchange activities and collaboration initiatives in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (2006–2011). Prof Rensburg is a founding member and the caretaker-director of the recently established Centre for Communication and Reputation Management (CCRM) at the University of Pretoria. She is a speechwriter and trainer for politicians and captains of industry, and writes a regular column for Business24 that focuses on communication and reputation management issues. Prof Rensburg has a B3-rating from the NRF.

Prof Jolanda Roux

Prof Roux is a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. She is a tree health extension pathologist in the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP) and DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Tree Health Biotechnology (CTHB) at the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI). Prof Roux is a forest pathologist and conducts research on micro-organisms, especially fungi, and their insect associates that cause diseases of trees. This involves the early detection and identification of tree diseases, characterisation of the causal agents of tree disease and elucidation of the epidemiology of the pathogens and the diseases that they cause. Over the past five years, Prof Roux has published more than 100 scientific papers in ISI-rated journals. She serves on the editorial boards of a number of ISI journals. She is the research coordinator of the research group on forest pathology of the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO), honorary professor at the Chinese Academy of Forestry, and vice-president of the Southern African Society for Plant Pathology. She was recognised as an Exceptional Young Scientist by the University of Pretoria, was the winner of the distinguished South African Women in Science Award of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), received the Queen's Award for Forestry from the Commonwealth Forestry Association, and recently received an award from the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) in South Africa for capacity building. Prof Roux received a B2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Maxi Schoeman

Prof Maxi Schoeman is a professor and Head of the Department of Political Sciences in the Faculty of Humanities. Her research focuses on African security issues and South African foreign policy. Over the past five years, she has headed a research team in her Department as a partner in an EU Framework 7 project on the external relations of the European Union. In 2009, she was awarded research fellowships to the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation at the University of Uppsala and to the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala. She is also involved in research on South African peace missions with reference to female soldiers and gender issues.

Among Prof Schoeman's most significant recent publications are 'The EU and multilateral crisis management: assessing cooperation and coordination with the UN', (co-authored), and 'Multilateralism in practice: an exploration of international involvement in solving the crisis in Darfur'. She also co-authored an article, 'South Africa in the company of giants: the search for leadership in a transforming global order' in International Affairs, 89 (1). In 2012 she was co-author of an article entitled 'The UN and regional organisations: finding a balance between the UN and the African Union', which was published in The United Nations and the regions: third world report on regional integration. The results of the first part of her research on gender in South African peace missions was published as 'South African female peacekeepers on mission in Africa: progress, challenges and policy options for increased participation' by the Nordica Africa Institute in 2010. Prof Schoeman received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Chika Sehoole

Prof Sehoole is an associate professor and Head of the Department of Education Management and Policy Studies. He conducts research and publishes in the areas of higher education policy, internationalisation and globalisation of higher education and higher education in Africa. He is a New Century Fullbright scholar and Rockefeller postdoctoral fellow.

Recent recognition of Prof Sehoole's academic work includes participation in an international study on academic salaries involving 32 countries, published in the book entitled Paying the professoriate: comparison of academic salaries (Routledge, 2012). He is currently part of another international study involving 11 countries, which looks at the plight of young academics (under 35 years) at universities and their prospects for the future. In 2012, he was elected to chair the Board of the African Network for Internationalisation of Education (ANIE), a non-profit organisation conducting scholarly and advocacy work on the internationalisation of higher education in Africa. Professor Sehoole is also a founding member. Prof Sehoole is currently hosting a postdoctoral fellow, Dr Samuel Adeyemo, from the Philippines, who is working on quality assurance in higher education. Prof Sehoole received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Dr Kgomotso Sibeko

Dr Sibeko is a research officer in the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases in the Faculty of Veterinary Science. Her research interests include the de-velopment of molecular diagnostic tools for rapid detection of blood pathogens and molecular characterisation of haemoparasites. Dr Sibeko was principal investigator in the successful development of the real-time PCR test for detection of T parva in cattle and buffalo. The test is currently employed by the Agricultural Research Council-Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute (ARC-OVI) as an important part of the official diagnostic test package used to certify buffalo in South Africa as 'disease-free', allowing trade in and translocation of these valuable animals.

In June 2011, her PhD thesis entitled 'Improved molecular diagnostics and characterisation of Theileria parva isolates from cattle and buffalo in South Africa' was awarded the Senior W.O. Neitz Medal by the Parasitological Society of Southern Africa (PARSA) at their 40th annual congress in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Dr Sibeko's research findings have been presented at numerous national and international conferences. In the past five years, she has published three research articles in international peer-reviewed journals, two of which she co-authored. Her on-going research work on transcriptome analysis involves local and international collaborators from France and Belgium. Dr Sibeko received a Y2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Wynand Steyn

Prof Steyn is an associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology. He is involved in road pavement engineering, with a focus on vehicle-pavement interaction, accelerated pavement testing and pavement instrumentation.

Prof Steyn was the principal investigator for and author of the US National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Synthesis 433: 'Significant findings from full-scale accelerated pavement testing'. He was also principal investigator for a pilot study investigating the interaction and effects of state highway pavements, trucks, freight, and logistics for the California Department of Transport (Caltrans). He was the principal investigator for two areas (dynamic vehicle loads and pavement response benchmarks) of the SANRAL Mechanistic Pavement Design revision. He has authored or co-authored four book chapters and two journal papers on vehicle-pavement interaction and logistics, four journal papers on nanotechnology, and three journal papers on general pavement engineering.

Prof Steyn has authored a chapter titled 'Applications of nanotechnology in road pavement engineering', in Nanotechnology in Civil Infrastructure – a paradigm shift, published by Springer-Verlag. He wrote a chapter titled 'Sustainable transport from a pavement engineer's viewpoint', in The sustainable transport and mobility handbook, Volume 2. He has also authored or co-authored 34 local and international peer-reviewed conference papers on various aspects of pavement engineering. Prof Steyn received a B3-rating from the NRF.

Prof Maureen Taylor

Prof Taylor is an associate professor/medical scientist in the Department of Medical Virology in the Faculty of Health Sciences and at the National Health Laboratory Service – Tshwane Academic Division. Her research focuses on the prevalence and molecular epidemiology of enteric viruses, which include hepatitis A virus, norovirus, sapovirus and rotavirus, in clinical and environmental samples, with specific reference to viruses that are potentially food- and waterborne.

Prof Taylor has a strong research track record and was invited to represent the University of Pretoria in the European Network for Environmental and Food Virology COST929 ENVIRONET,

which facilitated the attendance of COST929-sponsored meetings and workshops in the Netherlands, Spain and Italy. Through this action collaborative ties were forged with other institutions worldwide. She has excelled in the field of virology, with over 50 publications in ISI-rated journals, and is a member of the editorial boards of Food and Environmental Virology, the Journal of Applied Microbiology and Letters in Applied Microbiology. She is the mentor to a postdoctoral student and supervises a number of postgraduate students, many of whom have received awards for their publications and/or presentations. Prof Taylor has been re-awarded a C2-rating by the NRF.

Prof Philip Thomas

Prof Thomas is an emeritus professor and a research fellow in the Department of Jurisprudence, Faculty of Law. His research interests are Roman law, Roman-Dutch law and Comparative law. A member of the Salzburg Akademie für Europäische Privatrecht since 2009, Prof Thomas was also made a member of the International Scientific Board of European Legal Roots. At the 2010 congress of the Société Internationale d'Histoire du Droit in Barcelona, Spain, he was honoured with a Festschrift containing 45 essays by friends and colleagues from 16 countries.

Prof Thomas was invited to deliver the opening address 'Harmonisation of law: the South African experience' at the Salzburg Summer School in 2011. In the same year he was asked to contribute a chapter to New frontiers: law and society in the Roman world, Edinburgh University Press (to be published in 2013). In 2012, his paper 'A stratagem to avoid the limit on interest' was listed on SSRN's top ten download list for the History of Economics and History of Finance e-journals. Prof Thomas's received a B3-rating from the NRF.

Prof Rudi van Aarde

Prof Van Aarde is a professor in the Department of Zoology and Entomology in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. He directs the Conservation Ecology Research Unit and is widely recognised for his research on the ecology of elephants and the restoration of coastal forests. His development of the 'megaparks for metapopulations' concept has resulted in major changes in conservation activities in several Southern African countries. Prof Van Aarde's research on the restoration of coastal forests provides a recognised scientific foundation for restoration as a conservation incentive in Southern Africa.

The author or co-author of 165 peer-reviewed scientific papers and 11 book chapters, Prof Van Aarde has presented his research findings on 160 occasions at national or international conferences – several of these as an invited speaker or guest lecturer. Fifty-four PhD and MSc students have completed their studies under his supervision. He is an active member of several scholarly societies, regularly reviews papers for high-impact scientific journals and frequently advises industry, government and conservation organisations on conservation-related issues. The University of Pretoria has conferred awards on Prof van Aarde for Exceptional Academic Achievement on four occasions. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa (RSSAf). Prof Van Aarde received a C1-rating from the NRF.

Prof Hein Venter

Prof Venter is an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology. He is one of the founding members and current head of the Information and Computer Security Architecture (ICSA) Research Group in the Department of Computer Science, and provides postgraduate supervision to a number of honours, master's and PhD students. He has been the author or co-author of more than 100 papers delivered at national and international conferences and published in accredited journals. His current research interests include digital forensics, specifically digital forensics standardisation.

In 2011, he received the TWAS-AAS-Microsoft Award for Young Scientists from Microsoft Research, the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS) and the African Academy for Sciences (AAS) for his contributions to the field of digital forensics, particularly in the design, harmonisation and standardisation of the digital forensic investigation process model. He is a member of several professional organisations, including the South African Institute for Computer Scientists and Information Technologists (SAICSIT) and the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS). Prof Venter was successful in a bid to host the Eighth Annual International Conference on Digital Forensics presented by Working Group (WG) 11.9 of the Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) in South Africa in 2012. He received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Pieter Venter

Prof Venter is an emeritus professor of the Faculty of Theology. He was head of the Department of Old Testament Studies from 2004 until his retirement in June 2012. His teaching is in the fields of the wisdom and apocalyptic literature of the Bible and the formation of the Old Testament canon. His research is focused on the literature of the Second Temple Period (516 BCE to 70 CE). This includes both the books in the Bible and the apocrypha and pseudepigraphica outside

the Bible. The research project that Prof Venter is currently engaged on is the conflict between groups that have maintained an inclusive stance, and those that have adopted an exclusive attitude to other groups. His research has resulted in various publications in accredited journals. They include titles such as 'Inklusivisme en eksklusivisme: 'n studie van twee tendense', 'A triadic construct in Jubilees 30', 'Congruent ethos in the Second Temple literature of the Old Testament', 'The function of the Ammonite Achior in the book of Judith', and 'Trito Isaiah, Penitential Prayer and Apocalyptics'. Prof Venter is a member of the Old Testament Society of Southern Africa and the prestigious international Enoch Seminar (membership limited to 200 international members). Prof Venter received the C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Mike Ward

Prof Ward is a professor at the University of Pretoria's Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS).

His research interests include the areas of financial markets, investments and corporate finance. He serves on the editorial committee of the Investment Analyst Journal, and is a reviewer for several other journals. Prof Ward has, with his co-authors, won two 'best paper' awards in the last two years.

Prof Ward is an NRF C2-rated researcher.

Dr Chris Weldon

Dr Weldon is a lecturer in the Department of Zoology and Entomology in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. His research interests are in insect behaviour, ecology and physiology, particularly in relation to mating behaviour, nutrition and tolerance of environmental stress. These research themes are addressed using insects of significance to human activities, with the aim of improving their management.

Tephritid fruit flies are recognised globally as destructive horticultural pests that represent an enormous economic burden due to lost productivity, control costs and trade barriers. Dr Weldon's research has provided tangible benefits for the control of these pests globally, particularly in relation to their management using the sterile insect technique (SIT). Recommendations arising from Dr Weldon's research on optimal irradiation procedures to sterilise male fruit flies while minimising negative consequences on behaviour and survival, and the use of pre-release feeding to improve sterile male performance, have led to changes in fruit fly SIT practice.

Dr Weldon has also contributed to the debate on the relative contributions of energy intake and nutrient balance on aging, finding that nutrients, rather than caloric restriction, increase lifespan. Dr Weldon received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Cas Wepener

Prof Wepener is an associate professor in the Department of Practical Theology in the Faculty of Theology. His fields of specialisation include liturgical studies and homiletics, with a particular focus on ritual and liturgical studies. His research focuses on religious practices within their particular contexts, with a special emphasis on religious rituals and Christian liturgy.

Prof Wepener has received an NRF Focus Areas Grant for the period 2008 to 2011 for a research project entitled 'Religious rituals and social capital formation'. In 2010, he won second prize at the Best of Christian Press Prizes (USA) for an article in Reformed Worship (Calvin College). In 2011, two of his books, Aan tafel met Jesus and Ontdekkings in die erediens, were shortlisted for the Andrew Murray Prize for theological literature. He has received research and development programme funding from the University for the 2011 to 2013 period.

Among other books, Prof Wepener has co-authored Flows of worship in a network culture (Liturgia Condenda 23. Leuven: Peeters Pers, 2013). He wrote From fast to feast. A ritual-liturgical exploration of Reconciliation in South African cultural contexts (Liturgia Condenda 19. Leuven: Peeters Pers, 2009). Prof Wepener received a C2-rating from the NRF.

Prof Andries Wessels

Prof Wessels is a professor and Head of the Department of English in the Faculty of Humanities. His principal research interests include modernism, issues of cultural and national identity, and Irish literature. He has been a visiting scholar at both Queen's University in Kingston, Canada, and University College Dublin, Ireland, in the pursuit of these interests.

Recent publications by Prof Wessels include an article on Afrikaans poet Olga Kirsch in Prooftexts, an American journal of Jewish studies, which raised a broad debate concerning her Jewish identity and liminality, rather than treating her purely as an Afrikaans literary figure. Other recent publications include assessments of the work of South African writers Michiel Heyns and Henriette Grové, as well as a literary evaluation of the work of the internationally popular South African crime author, Deon Meyer.

Prof Wessels has read papers at numerous international conferences, particularly on Irish studies, and has published ten articles in that particular field. He has also published poetry translated into Afrikaans, including a translation of TS Eliot's iconic poem, The waste land, and some short stories. Prof Wessels received a C3-rating from the NRF.

Dr Jiangfeng Zhang

Dr Zhang is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology. He is also affiliated with the National Hub for Energy Efficiency and – Demand-side Management hosted at the University.

His main area of research is energy system modelling and optimisation, and the applications of control techniques in energy systems.

His most important publications in recent years focus on applications of model predictive control in energy optimisation, and optimal control approaches to electric water-heater load-shifting problems. Dr Zhang is an NRF C1-rated researcher.

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