Shaping the future through science
Sabelo Mhlanga garners recognition for EU appointment
Prof Sabelo Mhlanga (Deputy Director at Unisa's Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability (NanoWS) Research Unit).
Prof Sabelo Mhlanga, Deputy Director at Unisa’s Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability (NanoWS) Research Unit, has been acknowledged by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in a big way. The DST has recognised his knowledge and experience of South Africa’s research strengths in the Nanotechnology field, and therefore has appointment him as the South African ‘Nanotechnology’ National Contact Point (NCP) for the European Union’s Horizon 2020 (H2020) Programme.
The appointment is from August 2016 until the end of the programme in 2020. Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly €80 billion of funding available over seven years (2014 to 2020), in addition to the private investment that this money will attract. It promises more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great ideas from the lab to the market.
Mhlanga will be the main NCP working with Dr Manfred Scriba from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), fulfilling a number of responsibilities. This includes analysing the H2020 calls in Mhlanga’s area, facilitating local call information sessions amongst targeted SA research communities and creating a database of SA researchers in his thematic area. A key requirement is that Mhlanga’s appointment should benefit the entire SA National System of Innovation (NSI) and not just Unisa.
Mhlanga sees the benefits of this appointment as wider than his personal prestige. “It is an important appointment and I am excited about it. It comes with a great deal of responsibility but it is very good exposure not just for me but for Unisa,” he said.
Mhlanga was also recently appointed as the chairperson of the South African Chemical Institute (SACI) Gauteng South Division (October 2015) and as a subject editor of Water SA (February 2016).
*Compiled by Kirosha Naicker
Publish date: 2016-08-31 00:00:00.0
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