Professor Robin Crewe
Members of the academy council
Members of the academy
Newly elected members
Distinguished awardees
Guests
It gives me great pleasure to be here with you tonight and I am delighted that the academy has asked me to present the awards to the recipients once more. Early in July this year, I visited Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), and Professor Crewe and Roseanne Diab outlined to me the studies that the academy is undertaking, and showed me some of the reports the academy has produced.
I took note with keen interest of the reports on; ‘local economic development in small towns, housing delivery and impact on the environment’, ‘science based improvements of rural/subsistence agriculture’ and the recent initiative on ‘genetically modified organisms (GMOs): improving the productivity of African agriculture: opportunities and challenges’, ‘improved nutritional assessment in South Africa’ and ‘maternal, newborn and child health’ as well as the study to enhance the scope and quality of postgraduate studies.
I trust that these studies, and others, will provide credible evidence-based recommendations to guide policy and practice in relation to government’s priority areas.
The Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) for 2009 to 2014 spells out 10 priorities. These 10 priority areas are intended to guide all government departments, implementing bodies and other statutory organisations in the focus of their endeavours. If you look at the priority areas, you will see they reflect the basic needs of our society, which include access to high quality education, improved health care, enhanced economic and social infrastructure, a greater emphasis on rural development, a major effort to fight crime and corruption, provision of sustainable livelihoods.
I hope that we will work together to make a significant contribution in these priority areas.
During the awards ceremony in November 2007, I asked the academy to address three key issues: women in science, the international ranking of our universities, and the accreditation of publications. To date, I have not seen any work from the academy that explicitly promotes South African university international rankings.
As for the accreditation of publications, I was concerned that the majority of publication units are allocated for research published in journals and not books. The vexed question of what to do about scholarly books remains; we don’t reward sufficiently the immense effort that goes into the publication of books.
However, I’m pleased to note that ASSAf has now released a consensus report on ‘scholarly books: their production, use and evaluation in South Africa today’ (August 2009).
I hope that the academy will pursue the recommendations made in the report, including the establishment of a national scholarly book publishers’ forum, freeing book publishing from overriding commercial interests, maximising open access for books, implementing a quality assurance system for book publishing, as well as exposing teachers, teachers in training and learners to locally published scholarly books.
The third point I made in my November 2007 speech seems to have been implemented by ASSAf.
I’m told that the ASSAf Council has decided to oversee the establishment of a South African chapter of the Third World Organisation for Women in Science (TWOWS). I will be looking with keen interest at the activities of this woman in science organisation, and how it fits in other women in science initiatives in the country. Tonight five South African scholars will receive medals, prizes and fellowships.
I’m very pleased to note that four of the five awardees on this occasion are women, respectively receiving a science for society gold medal award, the ASSAf/Department of Science and Technology/Third World Academy of Science Young Scientist prize, and two Sydney Brenner Fellowships. This shows that the Academy is indeed making attempts to improve the participation of women in science.
It’s a concern that the profile of South African scholarship is still embedded in the racist distortions of the past regime. I’m interested in how the academy plans to address this legacy further. I will be making a follow up on some of the initiatives listed in this year’s ASSAf business plan, such as the online service to improve scientific writing, and the young scientists’ association, as both of these carry the potential to improve the lot of previously disadvantaged communities.
I close by again congratulating the awardees at this evening’s ceremony, and wishing the academy much success in its important endeavours.
Issued by: Department of Science and Technology
5 October 2009
Source: Department of Science and Technology (http://www.dst.gov.za/)
