Staff Achievements

• Dr Anke Wilhelm and Prof Alice Brink attended the internationally renowned course: Welcome Connecting Science Course: Practical Aspects of Small Molecule Drug at the Welcome Genome Campus, Cambridge in June 2022.  Prof Brink continued as a Fellow of the South African Department of Higher Education and Training: Future Professors Programme (FPP) – a flagship programme of the Department of Higher Education and Training. It is a national, collaborative initiative, aimed at developing the qualities of academic excellence and leadership in university scholarship in order to contribute to the development of a future South African professoriate.

• Prof Lizette Erasmus received a C3 rating from the NRF.  Profs Jannie Swarts, Jeanet Conradie and Lyudmila Moskaleva hold a C1, Prof Deon Visser a C2, and Dr Marianne Conradie-Bekker a Y rating at the NRF.
  

• Dr Eleanor Müller, Dr Anke Wilhelm and Dr Marietjie Schutte-Smith were selected for the UFS Industrial Mentorship Program.
  

• Dr Ernie Langner and Prof Lyudmila Moskaleva successfully hosted the International FreeStatePhyChem Symposium as a face-to-face event on 18 November 2022, fb.me/FreeStatePhyChem.
  

• Prof Jeanet Conradie has been ranked amongst the top 2% scientists in the world on both the lists “Career-long data are updated to end-of-2021” (ranking 203199 of 4883325, the top 2% for 1788 - 2021) and “single recent year data pertain to citations received during calendar year 2021” (ranking 89746 of 7948526, the top 2% for 2021).  Lists published by Stanford University in the United States. (Published October 10, 2022)
  

• Prof Vladimir Azov continued working on the joint NRF/FWO (Research Foundation - Flanders) grant with his Belgian collaborator, Prof Ulrich Hennecke, at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Dr Charlene Marais received Thuthuka funding from the NRF.
  

• Dr Maretha du Plessis was one of the recipients of the 2022 Khothatsa awards during the annual UFS Teaching and Learning awards ceremony for her excellence in teaching.
  

• Dr Orbett Alexander received the Emerging Researcher award from the Qwaqwa campus research committee.
  

• Prof Deon Visser, Prof Lizette Erasmus and Dr Marietjie Schutte-Smith received funding from Avacare Health for their work on female sanitation products. Also, the Small Molecule Unit started in November 2021 to improve third-stream income, and found an industrial partner in the USA. Agreements are currently being drafted.
  

Student Achievements

• PhD Student Lenard Carroll (Moskaleva research group) was selected to deliver an oral presentation at a prestigious international Psi-K 2022 conference in Lausanne, Switzerland on 22 – 25 August 2022.

• Postdoc Dr Okikiola Olaniyan (Moskaleva research group) was selected to deliver an oral presentation at the 44^th National Convention of the South African Chemical Institute (SACI) in Stellenbosch on 8 – 13 January 2023.
  

• PhD Student Kgalaletso Otukile (Moskaleva research group) received the best poster prize at the South African Chemical Institute (SACI) in Stellenbosch on 8 – 13 January 2023.
  

• Nandi Mateyise (Supervisor: Dr MM Conradie Co-supervisor: Prof J Conradie) received an award for the best MSc student in Chemistry in 2021 on 20 April 2022 at the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences Academic Awards Ceremony 2022
  

• Hannah van Dyk, from the Inorganic Division, was awarded First Place in the MSc Poster Presentation category at the SACI National Young Chemists' Symposium, in October 2022, Johannesburg.
  

• Francois Jacobs (Inorganic Chemistry PhD student) was awarded a full bursary to attend the Legacy of START: Synchrotron Techniques for African Research and Technology in October 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa.
  

• Four students from the Department of Chemistry participated in the South African Academy for Science and Arts student symposium in Natural Sciences (Studentesimposium in die Natuurwetenskappe 2022 in November in Pretoria, South Africa). Francois Jacobs, Christo van Staden and Leandri Liebenberg won student oral presentation awards at the Student symposium.