Date: 29/06/2004
Source: Ministry of Science and Technology
Title: M Mangena: Launch of Science Centres of Excellence
ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, MR MOSIBUDI MANGENA, AT THE LAUNCH OF THE FIRST ROUND OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE, Pretoria, 29 June 2004
Director of Ceremonies,
Director-General of the DST, Dr Rob Adam,
President and CEO of the NRF, Dr Khotso Mokhele, Distinguished Awardees of the 2004 DST Centres of Excellence,
University Vice-Chancellors,
Presidents of Science Councils,
Leaders of Research in Industry,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen
The idea of strengthening South Africa's Science and Technology system has been a common thread from the acceptance of the National Research and Development Strategy by Cabinet in 2002, to the establishment of a distinct Ministry of Science and Technology. And we give expression to this idea through the investments we are making in the development of research and in the education, training and career development of some of the individuals who possess the most sought-after science, engineering and technological skills in the world.
The launch of the DST Centres of Excellence initiative marks the beginning of a new era at the level of endorsing and resourcing collective world-class research and development on the South African science and technology landscape. Investments made in research and development creates advances that literally "change the world".
Within the science and technology sphere, we would like to consolidate the gains made by government in the last ten years by utilising science and technology and the outputs of R&D to improve the delivery of the most basic needs of our people. We would like to see local enterprises benefiting from government's investment in science through positive corporate innovation outcomes produced by our highly trained scientists and engineers.
The Centres of Excellence have been established to enhance the pursuit of research excellence and capacity development. These will be "physical or virtual centres of research", which concentrate on existing capacity and resources, to enable researchers to collaborate across disciplines on long-term projects that are locally relevant and internationally competitive. This launch, therefore, marks further progress towards the realisation of that mandate, both for our research community and the DST.
It is not a trivial undertaking to conceptualise a funding framework that is accepted by the academic community, and to identify the six Centres of Excellence that I will be announcing today, from the seventy original proposals. The National Research Foundation contributed enormously to the practical realisation of the department's vision of the Centres of Excellence programme. It is for this reason that it is the implementing agency of this programme, which is one of the primary components of the National Research and Development Strategy.
This initiative has established the NRF as a valuable partner to the DST in bringing to life this cornerstone of government's policy on the development of our human capital. Together with the science councils, the NRF will now be in a better position to address and reverse the shortcomings relating to the development of our human capital.
The National R&D Strategy emphasises the improvement of the quality of life of our citizens. It is envisaged that the Centres of Excellence will stimulate sustained distinction in research, as well as generate highly qualified human resource capacity in order to impact meaningfully on key national and global areas of knowledge. The CoE programme is strategically positioned within the broader funding framework, which the NRF provides to researchers and research groups, at different points of development on the research spectrum. It stands at the pinnacle of the Focus Area Programme and is designed to raise the research and capacity development ceiling for top-level scientists and researchers, by emphasising trans-disciplinarity and collaborative efforts.
The Centres of Excellence model of research financing is globally accepted as one of the most effective in realising sustained production of new knowledge. With the human capital challenges faced by our Science System, particularly with respect to participation by women, blacks and young people, the Centres of Excellence funding model will provide opportunities not only for education and training, but also for the employment of knowledge workers in the early stages of their careers in research. The collaborative nature of a Centre of Excellence responds to the modern global trend of knowledge production that is more collective, as could be seen in, for example, the increase in the average number of authors per scientific article.
The six Centres of Excellence and the higher education institutions that host them are embarking on an exciting voyage with the DST and the NRF. They represent a concentration of resources, both knowledge and financial, and will form an enabling environment for the pursuit of knowledge and the training of a new generation of scientists, engineers and technologists. These elements are vital in establishing our country as an international investment destination, and enhancing the competitive advantage of South African enterprises. It could be reasonably expected, therefore, that this investment will leverage other sources of funds, particularly from industry, in order to increase our national R&D investment, which will be a reliable indicator of the future health of our economy.
In this first round of Centres of Excellence, the disciplines of biodiversity and biotechnology, physics, engineering and health have been represented. It makes us proud that we have been in a position to produce research scientists of a world class standard. The response to the initial call for proposals by the NRF, which numbered 70, is also a good indication of the capacity of our science system to absorb additional funding. The DST will work tirelessly to increase the funding available for this CoE programme from the R56 million already committed over the next 3 years, to an amount that accurately reflects the true capacity for globally excellent scientific endeavour in our country. It is encouraging to learn from the NRF about the high level of interest within the research community, and its readiness for the next call for proposals on the CoE programme.
The anticipated establishment of these large programmes is intended to produce knowledge, and provide career opportunities for our next generation of scientists and researchers. We are also mindful of the potential threat of losing our highly trained scientists to better-resourced science systems as is the case everywhere in both developed and developing countries. Africa, in particular, is losing the battle of keeping its high level skills within the continent. It is our intention to support the NEPAD Science and Technology plan of action, which envisages the creation of Networks of Excellence across the continent. Through this initiative, we believe that, together with our partners in NEPAD, we can create momentum to reverse the current brain-drain trend.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is now my pleasure to announce the six Centres of Excellence that have earned the right to be named the Department of Science and Technology Centres of Excellence. As I indicated earlier, these fields represent biodiversity and biotechnology, engineering, health and physics. These research groups have been selected through a rigorous international peer review process, and rightly deserve our congratulations.
* The Centre for Invasion Biology led by Professor Chown of Stellenbosch University addresses the biodiversity consequences of biological invasions. This centre will focus on understanding the determinants of invasion success, the impact of invasive alien species from other parts of the world or other eco-systems within South Africa, and the consequences of remediation attempts. The issue of integrating human resource requirements with those of conservation into a dynamic landscape planning framework, to enable long-term persistence of diversity, whilst maintaining ecosystem services on which humans rely, is central. This centre will also provide scientific information that will assist in rational decision-making regarding invasive species.
* The second centre of excellence in the biodiversity arena is led by Professor Du Plessis of the University of Cape Town, and is based on 'Birds as Keys to understanding and maintaining biodiversity'. The research programme that Professor Du Plessis and team undertake is based on two inter-linked themes - understanding and maintaining biodiversity. The first investigates the composition and structure of biodiversity, the processes responsible for its generation, and how relationships between organisms and their environments influence the form and functioning of biological systems. The second builds on the strong theoretical and empirical foundation provided by the first to assess, predict and manage human impacts, with emphasis on understanding dynamic links that lead to biodiversity loss, developing effective strategies to stem this loss, and discovering ways to use components of biodiversity sustainability to the benefit of South Africa.
* Prof Mizrahi of Stellenbosch and Prof Van Helden of WITS respectively, co-lead the Centre for Post-Genomic Research for the Development and Evaluation of New Tools for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of Tuberculosis. South Africa has the third highest rate of incidence and second highest mortality rate of Tuberculosis in the world. We are thus a Tuberculosis problem of such magnitude that this disease has been declared a national health emergency. The rampant HIV co-epidemic plaguing this country has exacerbated the problem enormously. Although some improvements could be made in controlling TB through reform of existing control programmes, it is widely acknowledged that a quantum leap in the quality of tools for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of TB is required if there is to be any hope at all of eradicating this devastating disease. The recent advances in genomic and the molecular biosciences have created the opportunity for investigating the biology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the interaction of this organism with its human host at a level that was previously unimaginable. Its unique position as a high-burden, African country with a well established scientific, technical and medical infrastructure, places a particular onus on South Africa to contribute significantly to global research efforts that are aimed at developing new tools for controlling TB.
* Engineering has, and will continue, to underpin our economy and its ability to generate wealth. This discipline is represented by two centres in this first round. The Centre for Chemical Processing led by Professor Fletcher of UCT, will address the area of catalysis, which lies at the heart of almost all chemical transformation processes. The outputs of this centre will be particularly useful to the manufacturing sector, which as we know, is the largest contributor to the GDP. The centre relates directly to the chemical manufacturing sector.
* The Centre of Excellence in Strong Materials led by Prof Comins of Wits seeks to understand and improve the properties of strong materials that are currently used in order to increase their efficiency and reduce their cost. Strong materials are those that retain their distinctive properties under extreme conditions. Knowledge and high-level skills development in this area will result in wide applications in the manufacturing and mining industries throughout the world. The objectives and intended outcomes of this centre speak directly to the DST's Advanced Manufacturing Technology Strategy and the associated initiatives in the area of nanotechnology.
* Professor Wingfield leads the Centre for Tree Health Biotechnology at FABI at the University of Pretoria. The very broad field of Tree Health is of tremendous importance, both nationally and internationally. Yet it is also one that is not particularly known outside the agricultural and forestry domain. Other than being highly relevant to South Africa, a country that depends heavily on agriculture and forestry, this field has the attraction of being strongly multidisciplinary. This is because the environment, the inherent nature of trees, and a wide range of organisms, which impact negatively upon them, crucially affect tree health. Thus the fields of silviculture, agronomy, genetics, plant pathology, microbiology, entomology, molecular genetics, and others are all important and relevant to this domain. The proposed Centre will thus seek to integrate research in these fields. It will furthermore develop human resource capacity in a wide range of disciplines that are crucially important to the future of Forestry and Agriculture.
We wish to extend our warmest congratulations to all the leaders of these Centres of Excellence, their institutions and institutional partners, and wish them all the best in the next ten years of our relationship.
I thank you.
Issued by: Ministry of Science and Technology
29 June 2004
Source: Ministry of Science and Technology
Title: M Mangena: Launch of Science Centres of Excellence
ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, MR MOSIBUDI MANGENA, AT THE LAUNCH OF THE FIRST ROUND OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE, Pretoria, 29 June 2004
Director of Ceremonies,
Director-General of the DST, Dr Rob Adam,
President and CEO of the NRF, Dr Khotso Mokhele, Distinguished Awardees of the 2004 DST Centres of Excellence,
University Vice-Chancellors,
Presidents of Science Councils,
Leaders of Research in Industry,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen
The idea of strengthening South Africa's Science and Technology system has been a common thread from the acceptance of the National Research and Development Strategy by Cabinet in 2002, to the establishment of a distinct Ministry of Science and Technology. And we give expression to this idea through the investments we are making in the development of research and in the education, training and career development of some of the individuals who possess the most sought-after science, engineering and technological skills in the world.
The launch of the DST Centres of Excellence initiative marks the beginning of a new era at the level of endorsing and resourcing collective world-class research and development on the South African science and technology landscape. Investments made in research and development creates advances that literally "change the world".
Within the science and technology sphere, we would like to consolidate the gains made by government in the last ten years by utilising science and technology and the outputs of R&D to improve the delivery of the most basic needs of our people. We would like to see local enterprises benefiting from government's investment in science through positive corporate innovation outcomes produced by our highly trained scientists and engineers.
The Centres of Excellence have been established to enhance the pursuit of research excellence and capacity development. These will be "physical or virtual centres of research", which concentrate on existing capacity and resources, to enable researchers to collaborate across disciplines on long-term projects that are locally relevant and internationally competitive. This launch, therefore, marks further progress towards the realisation of that mandate, both for our research community and the DST.
It is not a trivial undertaking to conceptualise a funding framework that is accepted by the academic community, and to identify the six Centres of Excellence that I will be announcing today, from the seventy original proposals. The National Research Foundation contributed enormously to the practical realisation of the department's vision of the Centres of Excellence programme. It is for this reason that it is the implementing agency of this programme, which is one of the primary components of the National Research and Development Strategy.
This initiative has established the NRF as a valuable partner to the DST in bringing to life this cornerstone of government's policy on the development of our human capital. Together with the science councils, the NRF will now be in a better position to address and reverse the shortcomings relating to the development of our human capital.
The National R&D Strategy emphasises the improvement of the quality of life of our citizens. It is envisaged that the Centres of Excellence will stimulate sustained distinction in research, as well as generate highly qualified human resource capacity in order to impact meaningfully on key national and global areas of knowledge. The CoE programme is strategically positioned within the broader funding framework, which the NRF provides to researchers and research groups, at different points of development on the research spectrum. It stands at the pinnacle of the Focus Area Programme and is designed to raise the research and capacity development ceiling for top-level scientists and researchers, by emphasising trans-disciplinarity and collaborative efforts.
The Centres of Excellence model of research financing is globally accepted as one of the most effective in realising sustained production of new knowledge. With the human capital challenges faced by our Science System, particularly with respect to participation by women, blacks and young people, the Centres of Excellence funding model will provide opportunities not only for education and training, but also for the employment of knowledge workers in the early stages of their careers in research. The collaborative nature of a Centre of Excellence responds to the modern global trend of knowledge production that is more collective, as could be seen in, for example, the increase in the average number of authors per scientific article.
The six Centres of Excellence and the higher education institutions that host them are embarking on an exciting voyage with the DST and the NRF. They represent a concentration of resources, both knowledge and financial, and will form an enabling environment for the pursuit of knowledge and the training of a new generation of scientists, engineers and technologists. These elements are vital in establishing our country as an international investment destination, and enhancing the competitive advantage of South African enterprises. It could be reasonably expected, therefore, that this investment will leverage other sources of funds, particularly from industry, in order to increase our national R&D investment, which will be a reliable indicator of the future health of our economy.
In this first round of Centres of Excellence, the disciplines of biodiversity and biotechnology, physics, engineering and health have been represented. It makes us proud that we have been in a position to produce research scientists of a world class standard. The response to the initial call for proposals by the NRF, which numbered 70, is also a good indication of the capacity of our science system to absorb additional funding. The DST will work tirelessly to increase the funding available for this CoE programme from the R56 million already committed over the next 3 years, to an amount that accurately reflects the true capacity for globally excellent scientific endeavour in our country. It is encouraging to learn from the NRF about the high level of interest within the research community, and its readiness for the next call for proposals on the CoE programme.
The anticipated establishment of these large programmes is intended to produce knowledge, and provide career opportunities for our next generation of scientists and researchers. We are also mindful of the potential threat of losing our highly trained scientists to better-resourced science systems as is the case everywhere in both developed and developing countries. Africa, in particular, is losing the battle of keeping its high level skills within the continent. It is our intention to support the NEPAD Science and Technology plan of action, which envisages the creation of Networks of Excellence across the continent. Through this initiative, we believe that, together with our partners in NEPAD, we can create momentum to reverse the current brain-drain trend.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is now my pleasure to announce the six Centres of Excellence that have earned the right to be named the Department of Science and Technology Centres of Excellence. As I indicated earlier, these fields represent biodiversity and biotechnology, engineering, health and physics. These research groups have been selected through a rigorous international peer review process, and rightly deserve our congratulations.
* The Centre for Invasion Biology led by Professor Chown of Stellenbosch University addresses the biodiversity consequences of biological invasions. This centre will focus on understanding the determinants of invasion success, the impact of invasive alien species from other parts of the world or other eco-systems within South Africa, and the consequences of remediation attempts. The issue of integrating human resource requirements with those of conservation into a dynamic landscape planning framework, to enable long-term persistence of diversity, whilst maintaining ecosystem services on which humans rely, is central. This centre will also provide scientific information that will assist in rational decision-making regarding invasive species.
* The second centre of excellence in the biodiversity arena is led by Professor Du Plessis of the University of Cape Town, and is based on 'Birds as Keys to understanding and maintaining biodiversity'. The research programme that Professor Du Plessis and team undertake is based on two inter-linked themes - understanding and maintaining biodiversity. The first investigates the composition and structure of biodiversity, the processes responsible for its generation, and how relationships between organisms and their environments influence the form and functioning of biological systems. The second builds on the strong theoretical and empirical foundation provided by the first to assess, predict and manage human impacts, with emphasis on understanding dynamic links that lead to biodiversity loss, developing effective strategies to stem this loss, and discovering ways to use components of biodiversity sustainability to the benefit of South Africa.
* Prof Mizrahi of Stellenbosch and Prof Van Helden of WITS respectively, co-lead the Centre for Post-Genomic Research for the Development and Evaluation of New Tools for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of Tuberculosis. South Africa has the third highest rate of incidence and second highest mortality rate of Tuberculosis in the world. We are thus a Tuberculosis problem of such magnitude that this disease has been declared a national health emergency. The rampant HIV co-epidemic plaguing this country has exacerbated the problem enormously. Although some improvements could be made in controlling TB through reform of existing control programmes, it is widely acknowledged that a quantum leap in the quality of tools for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of TB is required if there is to be any hope at all of eradicating this devastating disease. The recent advances in genomic and the molecular biosciences have created the opportunity for investigating the biology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the interaction of this organism with its human host at a level that was previously unimaginable. Its unique position as a high-burden, African country with a well established scientific, technical and medical infrastructure, places a particular onus on South Africa to contribute significantly to global research efforts that are aimed at developing new tools for controlling TB.
* Engineering has, and will continue, to underpin our economy and its ability to generate wealth. This discipline is represented by two centres in this first round. The Centre for Chemical Processing led by Professor Fletcher of UCT, will address the area of catalysis, which lies at the heart of almost all chemical transformation processes. The outputs of this centre will be particularly useful to the manufacturing sector, which as we know, is the largest contributor to the GDP. The centre relates directly to the chemical manufacturing sector.
* The Centre of Excellence in Strong Materials led by Prof Comins of Wits seeks to understand and improve the properties of strong materials that are currently used in order to increase their efficiency and reduce their cost. Strong materials are those that retain their distinctive properties under extreme conditions. Knowledge and high-level skills development in this area will result in wide applications in the manufacturing and mining industries throughout the world. The objectives and intended outcomes of this centre speak directly to the DST's Advanced Manufacturing Technology Strategy and the associated initiatives in the area of nanotechnology.
* Professor Wingfield leads the Centre for Tree Health Biotechnology at FABI at the University of Pretoria. The very broad field of Tree Health is of tremendous importance, both nationally and internationally. Yet it is also one that is not particularly known outside the agricultural and forestry domain. Other than being highly relevant to South Africa, a country that depends heavily on agriculture and forestry, this field has the attraction of being strongly multidisciplinary. This is because the environment, the inherent nature of trees, and a wide range of organisms, which impact negatively upon them, crucially affect tree health. Thus the fields of silviculture, agronomy, genetics, plant pathology, microbiology, entomology, molecular genetics, and others are all important and relevant to this domain. The proposed Centre will thus seek to integrate research in these fields. It will furthermore develop human resource capacity in a wide range of disciplines that are crucially important to the future of Forestry and Agriculture.
We wish to extend our warmest congratulations to all the leaders of these Centres of Excellence, their institutions and institutional partners, and wish them all the best in the next ten years of our relationship.
I thank you.
Issued by: Ministry of Science and Technology
29 June 2004
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