Vol 1 - Support Services Ufs Ac Za - University of the Free State

Qwaqwa Campus, also fulfils the role of ResearchCo ordina tor by liaising with the Main Campus andfacilitating the mentorship of young and emergingresearchers. Furthermore, the Strate gic AcademicCluster on New Frontiers in Poverty Reduction andSustainable Develop ment includes a specific focuson the Qwaqwa region with the intention ofutilising its distinctive research opportunities andinvolv ing emerging researchers from this Campus.Evidence of the success of the University’sinvestment in its young researchers is reflected in thefact that 14 of our NRF rated researchers areconsidered to be promising emerging researchers(see Table 1). For the first time at the UFS, this groupincludes two researchers rated at the highest level(Y1), namely Prof Frikkie Booysen of the Departmentof Economics and Prof Gustav Visser of theDepartment of Geography. These two individuals arerecognis ed by their peers as having demonstratedpotential, through their research outputs, to establishthemselves as outstanding research ers and tobecome future leaders in their respective fields.Prof Gustav Visser (left) of the Department of Geography and Prof Frikkie Booysen of theDepartment of Economics, are the UFS’s first two Y1-rated researchers, confirming theirdemonstrated potential of becoming leading researchers in their respective fields.18