media releases - Research and Innovation Awards Dinner

Unisa will conclude its successful Research and Innovation Week on an exciting note when it honours and recognises its top performing academics in the field of research. The awardees will be honoured at a gala dinner to be hosted by the Principal and Vice Chancellor, Professor Mandla Makhanya at the Unisa Main Campus on Thursday, 15 March 2012.

The awards ceremony will bring to a close a very successful week for the annual event, which was attended by local and international delegates. Delegates to each of the sessions held daily across the Unisa campus deliberated on issues such as research leadership, nanotechnology, biotechnology, intellectual property rights, research ethics and integrity as well as access to research and development funding; amongst others.

Speaking during his welcome address on the opening day, Professor Narend Baijnath, Unisa’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor, said that the week was a celebration of a community of researchers who are at the cutting edge of knowledge production. He said that the Research and Innovation Week is an event of major importance since it is increasingly evident that research and innovation are fundamental to the sustainable development of our country and our continent. He concluded by saying that he believes that this event will propel Unisa further along the road to becoming a top producer of high-quality, purposeful and socially relevant research and innovation.

Professor Mamokgethi Setati, Unisa’s Vice-Principal: Research and Innovation, thanked the numerous international and local research and innovation fundis who came to share their expertise at the event for their attendance. She highlighted some of the highlights on the week’s programme, including discussions on the exact nature of innovation, research integrity and ethics, the role of the humanities and social sciences in a developmental context and the commercialisation of innovation, to mention but a few.

Amongst the awards to be conferred during the gala dinner are the Women in Research Awards, Principal’s Awards, Chancellor’s Awards, Hiddingh Currie Awards, External Research Awards as well as NRF-rated Researchers Acknowledgement.