The Vice-Chancellor, Dr Theuns Eloff
The Deputy Vice-Chancellors, Professors Martin Oosthuyzen and Frikkie van Niekerk
The Rectors, Professors Dan Kgwadi, Herman van Schalkwyk and Thanyani Mariba
The Vice Rectors, Deans, and Research Directors
Good evening, and thank you for the very kind invitation extended to me to attend this prestigious event at which North-West University gives special recognition to its outstanding researchers.
At the heart of the government’s National Development Plan, which encapsulates our vision for 2030, is a focus on capabilities of people and of our country, and of creating opportunities for both. The department of Science and Technology believes that it has been playing its part in pursuit of this national vision for the future. Developments in science and technology in this country – and I’ll touch on some of these in a moment – are radically changing people’s lifestyles, with fundamental effects on economic development.
These developments and breakthroughs are not “eureka” moments. They come about after long and often painstaking research by dedicated researchers, many of whom are based at tertiary institutions such as this university.
South Africa’s participation in a number of research partnerships allows it to make a significant contribution to knowledge, both domestically and internationally. Our investment in research continues to reap rewards in a wide number of fields, and the benefits are passed on to our country’s citizens, helping to improve their quality of life. Allow me to cite a few examples of these research outcomes.
Following research undertaken by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), the Department of Science and Technology last year provided clean drinking water to six remote rural villages in the Eastern Cape by installing solar-powered water purification units and ceramic water filters. More than 1 775 households in these villages now have access to safe drinking water, showing how even relatively simple innovative technologies can make a difference in the lives of ordinary South Africans, particularly those in poor and vulnerable communities.
In August this year we announced the identification of a possible single-dose, orally administered malaria cure following extensive research undertaken by the Medicines for Malaria Venture based in Switzerland, and the Drug Discovery and Development Centre, led by Professor Kelly Chibale, at our very own University of Cape Town. Professor Chibale quite rightly called this “a proud day for African science and African scientists.” The Chief Scientific Officer of Switzerland’s Medicines for Malaria Venture, Dr Tim Wells, called this breakthrough, and I quote, “a great achievement and an excellent example of the quality of research that can be fostered in Africa.”
So these are indeed exciting times for research and science. At a press conference in Johannesburg this past Monday, we talked about a recent HIV antibody study that had discovered a unique feature in HIV which enables the infected person to make antibodies that kill up to 88% of HIVs found throughout the world. With regard to another scourge in South Africa, tuberculosis, the Global Alliance for TB drug development announced that results of a clinical trial of a new combination of drugs to treat TB offered new hope to TB patients, including those who are HIV-positive.
The new drug cocktail was found to kill 99% of TB bacteria within two weeks. This is a phenomenal development, especially given the fact that there have been no new drugs to treat TB in the past 40 years.
Ladies and gentlemen, the government is the largest funder of research and development in this country, with the Department of Science and Technology prioritising Research, Development and Innovation in seeking to provide policy leadership with regard to, for example, Space Science and Technology, Hydrogen and Energy, and Biotechnology and Health Innovation. Our department has developed a Research, Development and Innovation Infrastructure Funding Framework to improve the research infrastructure of South Africa’s higher education and research institutions to make them more globally competitive and more attractive to international students and researchers.
The funding framework prioritises four areas: scientific equipment, specialised facilities, high-end infrastructure and access to global infrastructure.
To be able to respond to some of the fundamental questions of science we simply have to participate in research efforts using that global infrastructure, as it provides capability beyond the resources available at regional or national level. A pertinent example of this sort of global infrastructure is the Square Kilometre Array, of which Africa will be the major host. Sharing infrastructure means sharing resources and skills, which in turn facilitates research on for example aspects of global change – the kind of research that individual countries would not be able to undertake in isolation. I’d like to briefly share with you some key examples of South Africa’s international research co-operation ventures.
Today, this country has more than 30 bi-national science and technology agreements, compared to a mere handful in 1994. In 1996 we signed a science and technology agreement with Germany, resulting in the establishment of a joint research fund. To date, ladies and gentlemen, this partnership has funded more than 400 research and development projects. We are also celebrating the joint Germany / South Africa Year of Science this year.
At the end of March of this year, 67 students were involved in the research projects under the Swiss / South African Joint Research Programme. In 2011 and in the first half of this year, 22 young South African researchers attended a summer school in Switzerland. Four of these entrepreneurs have subsequently started their own companies, creating 17 jobs.
We have also formed international research partnerships on this continent. To date, we are funding joint projects with African partners to an estimated value of over R50 million, helping to facilitate active research networks between South African researchers and researchers from African partners such as Algeria, Namibia, Kenya, Mozambique, Zambia, Egypt and Angola.
Domestically, the South African government continues to provide resources in support of scientific research partnerships. Our eight science councils are all engaged in technology transfer and capacity-building by undertaking research for social, scientific and technological development – development that leads to an improvement in living standards for all South Africans.
I am pleased to note that the University of North-West had 135 National Research Foundation rated researchers last year. The National Research Foundation (NRF) rating system plays an important role in nurturing scholarship and growing the country’s research capacity. Peer review and recognition not only reinforce the career paths of researchers, but also assure their world-class status.
The NRF Rating System provides for A, B and C categories for established researchers while young researchers who display exceptional potential based on their published doctoral work and research outputs are recognised with the P category. It is a valuable tool for benchmarking the quality of our researchers and our entire research system against the best in the world. The intention of North-West University must be to expand the pool of rated researchers across all disciplines.
This is important because rated researchers qualify for preferential access to research funding and also receive institutional recognition, as NRF-ratings are viewed by universities as an objective inter-institutional indicator of research capacity. There are therefore strong incentives for active researchers to apply for rating.
I am also delighted to see that North-West University has made great strides in increasing its research output over the past three years, with a current productivity rate of 0.67 articles per full-time equivalent academic. The challenge for the university would be to boost this research output and level of research and development productivity even more, at all its campuses. North-West University currently holds four SARChI Chairs in Astrophysics and Space Physics, Pebble Bed Modular Reactor, Coal Research, and Early Detection and Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Africa.
This is an important achievement, since the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) is focused on strengthening research leadership and capacity in South Africa by helping to retain existing researchers and attracting new ones to the higher education sector. In doing so, the initiative will increase the number of world-class researchers in the country, stimulate strategic research, create career pathways for young researchers, and enhance the training of qualified staff.
The joint Department of Science and Technology (DST) and NRF Centres of Excellence programme supports scientific research excellence with the focus on concentrating existing capacity and resources to allow interdisciplinary research collaboration. In striving to develop a creative research training environment that is internationally competitive, these Centres of Excellence also pursue the highest standards of quality, international competitiveness and esteem for their particular branch of science.
Ladies and gentlemen, the transition from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy is triggered and fuelled by the production of new knowledge. South Africa’s growing knowledge economy, based on research and development, and innovation, requires a strong and sustainable human resource base.
The North-West University is well placed to support my department’s mission of promoting internationally competitive research as a basis for SA’s knowledge economy, and the creation of a representative science and technology workforce. Scientific eminence and research excellence have become vital to the success of my department’s 10 Year Innovation Plan and to achieving our national goal of building a substantive knowledge-based economy.
The quest for achieving excellence has become one of the leading themes of the Report of the Ministerial Review Committee on the Science, Technology and Innovation Landscape in South Africa. The South African PhD Project is, for example, geared towards boosting research capacity by increasing the number of PhD graduates produced by the country’s higher education institutions to 6 000 per year.
Research sustains innovation and innovation is one of the main driving forces behind economic growth and development. Therefore, the need to connect knowledge from North-West University to wealth creation and wellbeing in three localities where you have campuses – Mafikeng, Potchefstroom and Vanderbijlpark – is an important priority.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a special evening because we are here to celebrate, honour and reward the outstanding achievements of scholars who have excelled in their various research studies. Their achievements and contributions exemplify the highest levels of excellence in research, and epitomise the true spirit of the researcher and the innovator. I am confident that the winners of awards today will continue to contribute to a vibrant national innovation system, helping to stimulate an increase in research, technology development and innovation.
Given its long and proud history and tradition, I am equally confident that North-West University is ideally positioned to become a leading academic institution that is recognised around the world for its strong reputation of teaching, research and community engagement.
My congratulations go to all the researchers who have won an award for producing high quality research outputs. I wish you every success in your research endeavours. Your steadfast dedication and exceptional contributions to North-West University place you in good stead for developing our next generation of researchers and for advancing the knowledge economy. You have truly done the University proud.
As you continue your important research, remember that scientific research leads to scientific knowledge – the key to building a more equitable and humane world. The three most important drivers of research excellence are the creation of new, high-quality scientific and technical knowledge, its transmission to user communities, and the commercial exploitation of that knowledge. In August this year, at the International Research Conference at the Walter Sisulu University in East London, Mr Tjama Tjivikua of Namibia’s University of Science and Technology said that research was about connecting ideas to reality, and people to people.
He also said that the relevance of research lies in the fact that it brings solutions to problems besetting people. This connection between research and practical outputs is very important. Research would, after all, be merely an academic exercise if it did not lead to solutions to problems and to an improvement in people’s lives. This must be the ultimate goal of research.
To conclude, allow me to leave you with a quote from the American economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen who said: “The outcome of any serious research can only be to make two questions grow where only one grew before.”
To the young researchers being honoured here this evening, may your research lead to more questions, but ultimately to definitive, practical answers.
I thank you.
Keynote Address by the Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Derek Hanekom, At the Annual Prestige Function for North-West University Researchers, Potchefstroom
