UCT R&I Highlights 2020-21 High res - Flipbook - Page 42
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NRF RECOGNISES
UCT RESEARCH LEADERS
New P-rated researchers
Dr Chris Trisos, who directs the Climate
Risk Laboratory at the African Climate
and Development Initiative (ACDI), was
awarded a P rating. His research focuses
on climate change risks, building tools
to predict where and when these risks
appear, and how best to respond to them.
Five UCT researchers are newly acknowledged as leaders in their fields, with
prestigious ratings from South Africa’s National Research Foundation (NRF).
Supporting its aims to build a “globally
competitive science system in South
Africa”, the NRF’s ratings are a valuable tool
for benchmarking the country’s researchers
against the best in the world.
There are five categories of ratings (A,
B, C, P and Y) and all are allocated based
on a researcher’s recent outputs and
impact, as perceived by international peer
reviewers. In 2021, two UCT researchers
have been given A ratings (leading
international researchers) and three
others earned a P rating (prestigious
awards for young researchers who are
likely to become future international
leaders in their field).
New A-rated researchers
Michael Claeys, professor in the
Department of Chemical Engineering,
whose research focuses primarily on
catalysis for energy applications including
the Fischer-Tropsch process. The new
rating is also acknowledgement of his role
in various catalysis societies, committees
and advisory boards.
“Greater visibility of
my work will hopefully
generate further
interest in Literary
Studies research,
which compared to
the sciences, has sadly
been neglected.”
“My research in catalyst
preparation and design
has strongly improved,
often facilitated
by international
collaborators.”
Giona Tuccini, professor in the
Department of Italian Studies, who
specialises in the field of mysticism and
religion in Italian literature, medieval/
early-modern Italian authors, as well as
in Italian prose, cinema and drama of the
20th century.
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Dr Ryan Nefdt, a senior lecturer in
UCT’’s Department of Philosophy, who
also received the 2020/21 Human Sciences
Research Council (HSRC) Emerging
Researcher Award. Nefdt’s research is
centred in the broad area of cognitive
science. He is the only P-rated researcher
in humanities at UCT and one of only two
in South Africa.
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Dr Rosalie Tostevin, who heads up the
Ancient Life and Environments (ALE)
Lab in the Department of Geological
Sciences, where she studies interactions
between life and the environment
millions to billions of years ago.
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Growing up in Cape Town
with its fynbos and the
ocean but also deep
inequalities in income
inspired an interest in
ecology and economics.”