UCT R&I Highlights 2020-21 High res - Flipbook - Page 48
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SIX NEW ACADEMICS
INDUCTED TO THE UCT
COLLEGE OF FELLOWS
Professor Johannes Fagan
Head of the Division of
Otorhinolaryngology
It dawned upon me that had I turned
out my parachute, which was attached
not to me but to the microlight, I would’ve
fallen out and freefallen down to earth. I
would have most certainly not been here
with you tonight, celebrating my election to
the College of Fellows.”
The annual awards are among the highest accolades an academic
staff member can receive at the university.
Recognising members of permanent
academic staff for original and distinguished
academic work that merits special
recognition, the UCT Council awarded six
new fellows into the UCT College of Fellows.
The celebration of the 2020 fellows, held
online for the first time, invited the fellows
to share personal moments from their
academic journeys, crucible moments,
their biggest mistakes or biggest surprises.
Professor Myer was unable to attend the
event.
Council also recognised seven recipients
of the College of Fellows Young Researcher
Awards:
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Associate Professor Markus Arnold
(Department of French Language and
Literature)
Dr Susan Cunningham (FitzPatrick
Institute of African Ornithology)
Associate Professor Nico Fischer
(Department of Chemical Engineering)
Dr Itumeleng Monageng (Department
of Astronomy)
Dr Ryan Nefdt (Department of
Philosophy)
Dr Elona Toska (Centre for Social
Science Research)
Dr Christopher Trisos (African Climate
and Development Initiative).
Professor Jonathan Blackburn
Professor Haroon Bhorat
SARChI Chair in Applied Proteomics and
Chemical Biology and based in the Institute
of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine
Gone was the pure blue-skies
research that I’d carried out as a
junior academic. It was replaced by an
understanding that unmet biomedical
needs of patients and clinicians
represent a [powerful] starting point
for true translational research.”
Director of the Development Policy
Research Unit
The crucible moment came, almost
by chance, where I stumbled onto an
illegal BBC documentary. The interview I
was engaging with was slightly different
because it wasn’t a South African activist.
Instead, it was a researcher… in fact, he was
a UCT economist.”
Professor Mark Fleishman
Professor Linda-Gail Bekker
Former director of the Centre for
Theatre, Dance and Performance
Studies and the Department
of Drama
My teacher, Professor Mavis
Taylor – literally on her deathbed –
leaned over to me and whispered,
‘It’s up to you now.’ What I think she
was referring was an injunction to
stay in the department at UCT and
to continue the process she had
initiated of what we would today call
transformation”
Deputy director of the Desmond
Tutu HIV Centre at UCT’s Institute
of Infectious Disease and Molecular
Medicine
The fork in the road offers the
option of a planned, well thoughtthrough path, or the way of the heart
and of passion. I’ve been fortunate
that I have not ever regretted following
the path of passion.”
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