Four outstanding researchers have been announced as finalists in the 2019/2020 National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF)-South32 Awards.

Known as the Science Oscars of South Africa, the awards recognise excellence and outstanding contributions to science, engineering and technology (SET) and innovation in South Africa.

The four CPUT finalists are:

• Prof Jeanine Marnewick, Director of the Applied Microbial and Health Biotechnology Institute and Research Chair: Biotechnology, in the Communication Award category.
• Prof Victoria Jideani, Leader: Cereals and Legumes Biopolymer Research for Food Security, in the category TW Kambule-NSTF Award: Researcher.
• Prof Vernon S Somerset, Associate Professor: Environmental Chemistry, in the category TW Kambule-NSTF Award: Researcher.
• Dr Mahabubur Chowdhury, Senior Lecturer: Department of Chemical Engineering, in the category TW Kambule-NSTF Award: Emerging Researcher.

The awards are the largest, most comprehensive, and sought-after national awards of their kind in the country and were also the first science awards in South Africa. The theme for the 2019/2020 NSTF-South32 Awards is Plant Health. This is in recognition of the 2020 International Year of Plant Health as declared by the United Nations. The annual awards function is expected to be held in an online format this year.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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Prof Penelope Engel-Hills’ decades-long contribution to her field has earned her a nomination for the Lifetime Award of the prestigious National Science and Technology Foundation (NSTF)-South 32 Awards.

The Acting Dean of the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences started her radiography studies as a 17-year-old at Groote Schuur Hospital and, while she may have taken different paths along the way, has never veered away from the health sciences.

Engel-Hills is a dual qualified radiographer (diagnostic imaging and radiation therapy) and over the years completed her Higher Diploma, BSc (Hon) in Medicine (Radiotherapy), MSc In Medicine: Medical Physics, DTech: Radiography Education and PGC: International Research Ethics.

“The qualifications allowed me to contribute to developing radiography degrees and research ethics at my institution. I am appointed as; Interdisciplinary Researcher: Health Sciences with research interests in professional education, medical imaging, radiation therapy, and social transformation,” said Engel-Hills.

“In my community-based research project, I seek community wellbeing by gathering stories of lived experiences and observing responses to violence in society”.

She joined the then Peninsula Technikon as a senior lecturer in 1992 and later became a founding member of CPUT’s Professional Education Research Institute. This group continues to make a contribution to higher education through research on many aspects of professional education.

She enjoys being a part of developing the next generation of health care practitioners and researcher and especially doing this with a faculty team with “motivated and enthusiastic staff members”.

The National Research Foundation C2-rated researcher has over the years supervised a large number of BTech and postgraduate students. The many accolades she has received during her career include: the Society of Radiographers of South Africa Award for contribution to Radiography in 1992,  the Elsevier Best Paper of the Year Award: Radiation protection in medical imaging (published in Radiogragraphy) in 2006 and Radiography, Official Journal of the College of Radiography: Award of Excellence in Reviewing in recognition of outstanding contribution to the quality of the journal in 2015.

Asked about her career highlights, she replies: “There have been many highlights along the way. But maybe the most satisfying thing is to have found a place where my four passions; professional education, health and wellbeing, ethics and research are able to sit comfortably together and intersect in a cohesive and meaningful way through community-based research.”

• The announcement of the NSTF-South32 Awards finalists will be made during May and the 22nd annual awards function will be in an online format this year. 

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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Prof Victoria Jideani’s pioneering research has earned her three nominations for the NSTF-South 32 Awards, known as the Science Oscars of South Africa.

Jideani’s research in: transforming the science of Bambara groundnut [BGN] into innovation: gluten-free, lactose-free, plant-based proteins and meat alternatives value-added products has propelled her to the three nominations for the prestigious awards.

She is the project leader: Cereals and Legumes Biopolymer Research for Food Security.  

Jideani has been nominated for the TW-Kambule-NSTF Award for her contribution through research and its outputs over a period from six years up to 15 years from the commencement of the research career, predominantly in South Africa. Her second nomination is for the Innovation Award: Corporate Organisation Award; for her innovations, research and/or development – contribution through a corporate organisation over the last five to 10 years.

The third nomination is for a Special Annual Theme Award: Plant Health which is awarded according to criteria in any of the categories.

Grown in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Kwazulu-Natal, BGN (Vigna subteranea) is commonly cultivated by women and called “the groundnut of the women” and “a poor man’s food”. 

“BGN is regarded as an inferior crop and its full economic significance remains to be determined,” said Jideani.

“My pioneering research harnessed the abundant protein, phenolic and antioxidant content of BGN into functional food for consumer wellness.”  She said these value-added products and patents include gluten-free flour (BamFlour), baked goods (BamBiscuits and BamBrownies), fibres (BamFibre-I, BamFibre-S), lactose-free beverages (BamMilk, BamPro), plant-based protein (BAMOLP, BamTofu) and meat alternatives (BamPolony). 

These products are high in protein, polyphenols and antioxidants and may, therefore, ‘break the cycle of poverty, malnutrition and contribute to a healthy diet’.  The differentiation of BGN products is in their pleasant taste.  CPUT Aonyx Foods spin-off company will be commercialising the technology.

Jideani’s painstaking efforts earned her first-time nominations for these awards.  “Apart from the recognition, putting together the nomination application enabled me to become more competitive and increased my visibility… it created an opportunity to receive useful feedback about my research and how it is perceived from CPUT who nominated me, and the National Science and Technology Forum Awards Committee.”

She said her nominations increase the visibility of CPUT, and validate the institution’s recruitment ability while positioning it as a university of choice for future employees. The National Research Foundation rated researcher aspires to raise a new generation of researchers who are passionate to transform indigenous cereals and legumes for sustainable food and nutrition security. Jideani said their research will ‘act as a motivation for all’. 

“CPUT recognised creativity in me...  I owe my success to CPUT, the Department of Food Science and Technology for providing the appropriate environment, research facilities and infrastructure.  I am very grateful to all my undergraduate, postgraduate students and collaborators who contributed immensely to the research outputs,” the modest professor remarked.

She said it took many years of research activities in an effort to be at the heart of innovation and to be respected in the area of value-addition to cereals and legumes in Africa.

“In particular, we focus on design, modelling and optimisation of food processes.  Our primary focus is to train the next generation of scientists while creating an environment that is conducive to learning and testing new skills.”

The announcement of the NSTF-South32 Awards finalists will be made in May and the 22nd annual Awards function will be in an online format this year. The date for the function is yet to be announced.

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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CPUT has received six nominations in the 2018/19 NSTF-South32 Awards, known as the Science Oscars of South Africa.

The awards were established in 1998 and recognise excellence and outstanding contributions to science, engineering and technology and innovation in South Africa.

Prof Tandi Matsha, the National Research Foundation SARChI Research Chair: Cardiometabolic Health, received two nominations.

She was nominated in the categories TW Kambule-NSTF Awards: Researchers (contribution through research over a period up to 15 years) and Data for Research.

Prof Izak van Zyl, Associate Professor: Transdisciplinary Studies in the Faculty of Informatics and Design and Dr Mahabubur Rahman Chowdhury, Senior Lecturer: Chemical Engineering were nominated in the category TW Kambule-NSTF Award: Emerging Researcher.

In the category Innovation Award: Corporate Organisation for innovations and their research and/or development (by a team or an individual over the last five to 10 years) the CPUT nominee was Africa Space Innovation Centre - Director Prof Robert van Zyl.

Dr Kessie Govender, senior lecturer in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, was nominated for the Engineering Research Capacity Development Award.

The winners will be announced on June 27 during the NSTF Awards gala dinner.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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Two outstanding CPUT researchers have been selected as finalists in the NSTF-South32 Awards, known as the ‘Science Oscars’ of South Africa.

The awards celebrate the top South African minds in science, engineering and technology and winners will be announced at a gala dinner at Emperors Palace tonight (June 28).

The two finalists are Prof Tandi Matsha, who was recently awarded the National Research Foundation’s SARChI Research Chair in Cardiometabolic Health and Prof Jeanine Marnewick, who was recently appointed as Research Chair of the Institute of Biomedical and Microbial Biotechnology.

Matsha is the founder and lead researcher of CPUT’s Cardiometabolic Health Research Unit in the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences and was nominated in the category: TW Kambule-NSTF Awards: Researcher (contribution to research and its outputs over a period of up to 15 years as a researcher, predominantly in South Africa).

Her current research focuses on diabetes and cardiovascular risk in the coloured community of Bellville South.

Marnewick has made a concerted effort to get the word out about the research she is doing into how rooibos is useful as a way to reduce and protect against the impact of non-communicable diseases because of the tea’s antioxidant activity.

EXCELLENT: Prof Jeanine Marnewick

She heads up the Oxidative Stress Research Centre and was nominated in the category Communication for outreach and creating awareness of SET and innovation award.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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If you do a Google search for “rooibos” and “Marnewick”, you get more than 9000 and that is no accident.

Professor Jeanine Marnewick, a researcher on the Bellville campus, has made a concerted effort to get the word out about the research she is doing into how rooibos is useful as a way to reduce and protect against the impact of non-communicable diseases because of the tea’s antioxidant activity.

That effort is not going unnoticed as she has just been nominated in the NSTF-South32 Awards category: Communication for Outreach and Creating Awareness of SET and Innovation (by a team or individual over the last 5 years).

The National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) started the NSTF-South32 Awards 20 years ago as the country’s first science awards and it has grown into the NRF’s flagship event, sometimes referred to as the ‘Science Oscars’ of South Africa.
The Awards recognise excellence and outstanding contributions to science, engineering and technology and innovation in South Africa and prizes will be awarded on June 28 at a Gala Awards Dinner.

Recently appointed the research chair for CPUT’s Institute of Biomedical and Microbial Biotechnology, Marnewick also heads up the Oxidative Stress Research Centre in the Faculty of Health and Wellness Science.

This is the first time she has been nominated for an NSTF-South32 award, and this particular one is for science communication beyond academic writing.

“It’s not focusing on the academic work but more on my informing communities and the lay person about the outcomes of our research. That’s the big thing, the application of our research, because if no-one is going to tell the man on the street about our research how is anyone going to know about it?” asked Marnewick.
“I always tell people if you want me to be interested in your research, tell me the bottom line. In all my research I focus on getting to some type of application from it.

“We are government funded and we owe the public feedback on our research and we don’t always get to that lay feedback going back to the public.”
Working with The South African Rooibos Council and Cancer SA has given her a bigger platform to get the word out, but she urges any academic interested in publicising their work to the broader public to start by working through their existing channels, particularly using social media.

“I’ve also been invited to a couple of schools just to talk to them about our research and firstly make them aware about science,” she said.

Over the years Marnewick has noticed a decided “knowledge growth” in the public audience around the concept of antioxidants and sees this as a clue that repeated public communication around scientific concepts can be effective.

Marnewick says she can see the difference continual outreach has made, raising the example of a recent series of community talks she did.

Written by Theresa Smith
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Provides coverage for the Applied Sciences and Engineering Faculties and the Wellington Campus.