The programme director
The CEO and President of the National Research Foundation (NRF), Prof Albert van Jaarsveld
Trustee of the First Rand Foundation, Professor Mmamokgeti Setati
Representatives from business and industry
The Chief Executives of Science Councils and National Facilities
The Deputy Vice Chancellors and Directors of Research in Higher Education Institutions
The awarded research chairs
Members of both the print and electronic media
Distinguished guests, esteemed ladies and gentlemen
Good morning. I am pleased to welcome representatives from business, government and academia, here today.
In the 2010/11 financial year, there will be a ring fenced amount of approximately R50 million to fund new Research Chairs
The Research Chairs initiative is a key part of our strategies for enhancing human resources in Science and Technology. The Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the National Research Foundation (NRF) have recently been inundated with inquiries on the state of funding for our various programmes, particularly on the state of funding for the Research Chairs initiative.
The department will continue to prioritise human resource development in its funding priorities. The Research Chairs initiative will continue to be prioritised. In the 2010/11 financial year, there will be a ring fenced amount of approximately R50 million to fund new Research Chairs. This amount escalates to R100 million on the outer year of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for purposes of funding new Research Chairs.
The Research Chairs initiative allows our higher education institutions to attract and retain the best and brightest.
Our investment in the Research Chairs initiative will allow our higher education institutions to attract and retain the best and brightest amid intense sustained international competition for scholars and scientists. The investment will build a larger base of scientific expertise than currently exists, thus enhancing South Africa’s international reputation in research and innovation.
This, in the long run will help create jobs, increase economic growth and improve our standard of living.
I would like to challenge all the professors appointed under the Research Chairs initiative to go on to create very large and vibrant academic groups through which we can achieve our global targets for PhD trained knowledge workers.
We introduced the Research Chairs Initiative (SARCHI) with the explicit purpose of renewing and regenerating higher education research and knowledge in critical areas closer to our national needs and priorities.
We have already awarded 72 Research Chair positions 21 took up their appointments in the 2007 academic year and the other 51 in the 2008 academic year.
Of the 72 research professors already appointed, 16 were new additions to the higher education sector in that they were either drawn from outside the country (from countries such as Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya, Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom, Italy and the Netherlands) or from the private sector.
Building on this established momentum, today’s announcement entails the award of a further 10 Research Chairs bringing the total number of awarded Research Chairs to 82. There are a number of unusual features about these new 10 Research Chairs awards:
First, the majority of the Research Chairs (seven) are in the human and social sciences.
We believe that the social sciences are important in scientific and technological innovation.
Second, two of the ten Research Chairs are supported by the private sector, the First Rand Foundation (FRF) and the Rand Merchant Bank (RMB). Their focus is on research and development in mathematics education.
Apart from conducting research, these professors will each work with 10 schools in improving the teaching and learning of mathematics in those schools.
I would like to acknowledge the role played by the then Department of Education (DoE) in both the selection process for these Research Chairs and the subsequent selection of participating schools.
Third, two research professors will be appointed at historically disadvantaged institutions, and one is a US-based former South African woman. Fourth, one research professor comes from within the country but from outside the higher education system.
A call for five research chairs in astronomy
As you all know South Africa has bid to host the world’s largest telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).
As apart of the bid, South Africa is busy building the MeerKAT Telescope near the site proposed for the SKA. The MeerKAT is developing and testing some of the very cutting edge technologies which are needed for the SKA and will be itself one of the largest and most powerful telescopes in the world for a long time.
The MeerKAT, the world class SALT optical telescope at Sutherland and the HESS Gamma Ray telescope in Namibia, will together provide South African and international scientists with very powerful tools to investigate the universe.
The excitement and challenge of astronomy and space science are already attracting some of our best students into studying science and engineering.
We want to continue to attract the best astronomers and engineers to work in South Africa on our SKA, MeerKAT and other astronomy programmes.
As part of the South African Research Chairs Initiative, I have the pleasure of announcing that we will be supporting five Research Chairs that will be dedicated to research and innovation relating to the SKA and to solving some of the most exciting and challenging problems of astronomy.
The creation of these Research Chairs will be a significant investment over 15 years that will enable us to attract even more of our young people within South Africa and from other African countries into science and engineering.
The five Research Chairs in astronomy will be allocated to higher education institutions through an open and competitive process and the institutions will then be expected to find internationally recognised and dynamic researchers to take up these posts and to build world class research and teaching at these institutions.
The creation of these Research Chairs will strengthen our bid to host the Square Kilometre Array and show yet again the South African government’s commitment and dedication to bringing one of the world’s most exciting science and technology projects to Africa.
A call for four Research Chairs in mathematics education
Apart from the Research Chairs in SKA, a further call for new Research Chairs will be made in this month, including a call for an additional four Research Chairs in mathematics education.
The new research professors are
Ladies and gentlemen, I’m honoured to announce to you and to South Africa today, and in no particular order, the names of the 10 new South African Research Chairs. Their full profiles appear in the packs handed out to you:
* Professor P Harisson, a Research Chair in Development Planning and Modeling, to be hosted by the University of Witwatersrand
* Professor B Cousins, a Research Chair in Development Economics, to be hosted by the University of Western Cape
* Professor J. May, a Research Chair in Development Economics, to be hosted by the University of KwaZulu Natal
* Professor P Alexander, a Research Chair in Social Change, to be hosted by the University of Johannesburg
* Professor G Minkley, a Research Chair in Social Change, to be hosted by the University of Fort Hare
Prof H Bhorat, a Research Chair in Econometric Modelling, hosted by the University of Cape Town
* Professor S Chakraborti, a Research Chair in Statistics to be hosted by the Univeristy of Pretoria
* Professor N Goduka, a Research Chair in Indigenous Knowledge Systems, to be hosted by Walter Sisulu University
* Professor J Adler, a Research Chair in Mathematics Education, to be hosted the University of Witwatersrand
* Professor M Schafer, a Research Chair in Mathematics Education, to be hosted by Rhodes University
The ten new research professors will take up their appointments during the course of this academic year or at the beginning of the 2010 academic year.
I hope you will join me in congratulating and accepting our new Research Chairs to eminent seats in our academia and research institutions.
To the new Research Chairs I would like to say ‘to whom much is given, much is expected’ (Luke 12:48).
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Science and Technology
6 August 2009
Source: Department of Science and Technology (http://www.dst.gov.za/)
