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UCT Research Report '11
174
Dean’s report
Research and innovation remains
one of the key pillars of the faculty
strategy and we continue to build
and strengthen work undertaken
in these areas. Research edu-
cation is fundamental to the
faculty and underpins everything
we do.
I am pleased to report that our academic staff continues
to be recognised for their research work and have
received a number of prestigious awards, fellowships, and
memberships to international associations and science
academies. In 2011, the number of NRF-rated researchers
increased to 37. A total of 63 academics participated in
the activities of the Emerging Researcher Programme to
develop their research skills in order to obtain NRF rating.
2011 saw 1 096 postgraduate students registered in the
faculty and 15 doctoral, 209 master’s, and 122 honours
degree students graduate at the two graduation ceremonies.
Through strategic partnerships and ongoing facilitation with
government, the private sector, and industry, the number of
research contracts has increased steadily over the years,
and in 2011, the faculty was awarded 299 contracts, to the
value of R94,18 million. The Faculty Research Committee
continues to develop a strategy to increase research output
and I am pleased to note that there has been a steady
increase in the number of publications in peer-reviewed,
accredited journals from 71.36 in 2005 to 94.68 in 2010.
Funding has been secured from industry for three
research chairs in the fields of transport, energy efficiency
and materials science. The Department of Mechanical
Engineering’s research capabilities were extended into the
area of computational fluid dynamics, with the appointment
of Associate Professor Arnaud Malan, an internationally
recognised leader in this field.
This year saw the introduction of the new master’s degree
programme in radar and the faculty is in the process of
finalising the curriculum and governance structure for a
master’s degree in Education for Sustainable Development.
The South African Minerals to Metals Research Institute
was created as a partnership between
government, industry and academia, to
promote the development of research
needed by the mineral processing
industry in South Africa, and to increase
the number of postgraduate students
entering the mineral processing industry.
Faculty highlights
Professor Alphose Zingoni, head of the
Department of Civil Engineering, was the
first South African to be made a fellow of
the International Association for Bridge
and Structural Engineering.
Associate Professor Genevieve Langdon from the
Department of Mechanical Engineering was selected as
a founding member of the South African Young Academy
of Science.
Professor Vanessa Watson was elected as a fellow of the
university in recognition of her work in the field of planning.
Professor Daya Reddy, director of CERECAM, had his
DST/NRF SARChI Chair in Computational Mechanics
renewed after the first cycle review.
Associate Professor Francis Carter and Emeritus
Professor Dave Dewar received honourable mentions for
the papers that they submitted to the first international
competition for research papers in
Architecture and
Urban Design
.
Associate Professor Kobus van Zyl in the Department
of Civil Engineering was appointed to the board of the
Urban Water Journal
.
Dr Dyllon Randall, a research officer in the Department of
Chemical Engineering, was awarded second place at the
2011 Young Persons’ World Lecture competition.
Dr George Vicatos, of the Department of Mechanical
Engineering, was named South Africa’s Inventor of
the Year by
Popular Mechanics
, for his development
of a versatile and potentially life-changing facial
reconstruction system.
Professors Alison Lewis, Dave Deglon and Eric van Steen
were elected as fellows of the South African Academy of
Engineering.
Faculty of Engineering &
the Built Environment