universit y of kw azulu-na tal research repor t 2008/2009 - UKZN ...

nrf a-rateD reSearcherSnrf a-rateD reSearcherSProfessor Michael ChapmanProfessor Michael HenningMProfessor Michael Chapman,MProfessor Michael Chapman,MSenior Professor of EnglishMand University ResearchMFellow was UKZN’s firstMNRF A-rated researcher inMthe arts and social sciences.The rating indicates thatProfessor Chapman isrecognised by his peers asa world leader in the field ofSouth African and African literature.Professor Chapman has produced major works on, among others,the poets Roy Campbell and Douglas Livingstone, the new black poetsof the 1970s, and the Drum short-story writers of the 1950s. His study,South African English Poetry: A Modern Perspective(1984) won theSanlam Award for literary criticism.His literary history, Southern African Literatures(1996) receivedboth the University of Natal Book Prize and the prestigious Bill VenterPrize for academic writing. His collection of essays, Art Talk, PoliticsTalk (2006), was the winner of the 2006/2007 University of KwaZulu-Natal Book Prize.As project leader of the UKZN-based South African Literary-Cultural Group, Professor Chapman edited the collection of essays,Postcolonialism: South African Perspectives(2008) and, together withcolleague Emeritus Professor Margaret Lenta, compiled the special 21stanniversary issue of the accredited journal, Current Writing (21,1&2,2009), entitled: Beyond 2000: South African Literature Today.A member of the advisory board of the Ferguson Centre for Africanand Asian Studies (Open University, UK), the intercultural committee ofthe International Comparative Literature Association, and a researchfellow of the Stellenbosch University Institute for Advanced Study,Professor Chapman was awarded the Gold Medal of the EnglishAssociation of Southern Africa in recognition of his services to Englisheducation.DDeveloping new techniquesDin the mathematical area ofDgraph theory and embarkingDon collaborative researchDprojects that has advancedDresearch in his field earnedProfessor Michael Henningthe National ResearchFoundation (NRF) A-ratingfor the period 2009-2014.In awarding Professor Henning his latest research accolade, theNRF commended him for his “deep breadth in his collaborations”and “for introducing completely new techniques and results in a veryaccessible way”.Professor Henning, a Pure Mathematician based at the School ofMathematical Sciences at the Pietermaritzburg campus, has focusedhis recent research on the interplay between total domination in graphsand transversals in hypergraphs. His research accomplishments todate include the publication of over 250 research papers in internationalmathematics journals.Professor Henning received the award for Research Distinction bythe South African Mathematical Society in 2005, and in 2000 was therecipient of the Hall Medal which “recognizes outstanding researchachievements” by the Institute of Combinatorics and its Applicationsbased in Canada. He serves on the editorial boards of two internationalscientific journals.He obtained his PhD in mathematics in 1989 from the formerUniversity of Natal and began his academic career as a lecturer at theUniversity of Natal in January 1991.Professor Rob GousProfessor Steve JohnsonRespectedacademic,Rleading scientist andResearch Fellow, ProfessorRob Gous of the School ofRAgricultural Sciences andRAgribusiness, was awardedthe prestigious ‘A’ ratingstatus by the NationalResearch Foundation (NRF)following a re-evaluation ofhis research progress. It was the second time that Professor Gous hasreceived the rating, the first time being about 10 years ago.Both awards were in recognition of his contribution in the field ofpoultry science.Professor Gous’s research over the past 20 years has involved thedevelopment of simulation models that predict food intake and growthof broilers and pigs. The simulation models initially provided answersto ‘what-if’ scenarios but he and his team have moved on from thereand they now optimise the way in which broilers and pigs should befed to maximise any one of a number of objective functions, such asmargin over feed cost or feed conversion efficiency.Professor Gous said the models were being used successfullyaround the world, adding that the great advantage of modelling was thatit identified areas of research which were useful and usually unique.As a result he has been in a position to give his postgraduatestudents interesting projects to work on from which they have benefittedenormously.Professor Gous has been Chairman of the South African Branch ofthe World’s Poultry Science Association (WPSA) for many years, andwas recently elected senior Vice-President of the World body of theWPSA, having served on it previously from 2000-2004.He retired from the University of KwaZulu-Natal at the end of 2007but has an office at the University’s research farm where he continuesto conduct research, write and referee scientific papers. He regularlyreceives invitations to present papers at national and internationalconferences.PProfessor Steve JohnsonPholds the South AfricanPResearch Chair inPEvolutionary Biology and isPa Professor in the School ofPBiological and ConservationSciences on UKZN’sPietermaritzburg campus.His PhD on the pollinationof plants in the Cape flora was obtained from the University of CapeTown in 1994 and he has since become a leading specialist in the fieldof plant pollination biology.Professor Johnson’s research is aimed at understanding theevolutionary diversification of plants, particularly in southern Africa,the conservation of plant-pollinator mutualisms, and the reproductivebiology of invasive species. He has recently developed a strong interestin the role of floral volatiles in mediating specialised plant-pollinatorinteractions, and has established a state-of-the-art laboratory for thestudy of chemical cues used by plants to attract insect pollinators.Professor Johnson has published more than 160 peer-reviewedscientific papers, co-authored a book on the Natural History of TableMountainand has also written many popular science articles. He iscurrently on the editorial boards of two international journals, Oecologiaand Arthropod-Plant Interactions, and was guest editor for a specialissue of the South African Journal of Botanyin 2009. He received theNational Research Foundation (NRF) President’s Award in 1999 andcurrently holds an A2-rating from the NRF.42 UKZN Research Report // 2008/2009UKZN Research Report // 2008/2009 43