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28 May 2018

The National Research Foundation (NRF) ratings are considered the benchmark for research excellence. This year the University of the Free State (UFS) has 17 newly NRF-rated researchers. This brings the total number of NRF-rated researchers at UFS to 160.
 
NRF ratings are allocated based on a researcher’s recent research outputs and impact as perceived by national and international peer reviewers. The rating system encourages researchers to publish high-quality research papers in journals of high impact and to publish books through reputed academic publishers. The NRF rating system is a valuable tool for benchmarking the quality of our researchers against the best in the world.

Research at the heart of the UFS
Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, has indicated that the UFS provides significant support to researchers to apply for new NRF ratings or to re-apply for rating. These initiatives include the mock NRF rating panels managed by the Prestige Scholars Programme (PSP), evaluation of individual research outputs and recommendations on timely applying for rating, and improvements on rating applications by a panel consisting of internal and external members. These initiatives are bearing fruit by increasing the number of rated researchers who will transform the research profile and increase the diversity of UFS researchers.
Cultivating the best researchers.

According to Eleanor van der Westhuizen, from Research Development: “The rating of individuals is based primarily on the quality and impact of their research outputs over the past eight years, taking into consideration the evaluation made by local and international peers. It identifies researchers who count among the leaders in their fields of expertise and gives recognition to those who have a sustained production of high-quality research outputs. Several South African universities use the outcomes of the NRF evaluation and rating process to position themselves as research-intensive institutions, while others such as the UFS provide incentives for their staff members to acquire and maintain a rating.”

Cream of the crop
The UFS has also upped the ante with regard to its total number of NRF-rated researchers during the latest rating and evaluation, with an increase from 149 to 160 rated researchers in 2018.
 
Prof Heidi Hudson, Dean of Humanities, received an NRF B-rating, which brings the total of B-rated researchers to six. Other B-rated researchers incude Prof Johann Meyer (Mathematics), Prof Fanie Snyman and Prof Francois Tolmie (Theology), Prof Felicity Burt (Medical Microbiology) and Prof Andre Roodt (Chemistry). A total number of 10 new C-ratings and six new Y-ratings were achieved during the 2018 evaluation process.

“NRF-rating is indicative of the university’s drive to enhance its research profile nationally and internationally. Congratulations to all the scientists and scholars who received a rating in 2017. I am thankful to our academics for their commitment to the rating process,” said Prof Corli Witthuhn, Vice-Rector: Research at the UFS.

News Archive

Free State Receives R7 Million Grant from the Mellon Foundation for Arts Innovation
2015-11-30


Man in the Green Blanket, Lesiba Mabitsela.
Photo: Karla Benade

Bloemfontein will experience a flood of new, experimental art over the next four years as a result of R7 million that has been received to develop experimental art projects in central South Africa. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation recently awarded the grant to the University of the Free State (UFS) for the Programme for Innovation in Artform Development (PIAD). Initiated jointly by the UFS and the Vrystaat Arts Festival in 2014, PIAD was established as a programme to promote the exploration of the arts to advance interdisciplinary research and to impact on human development.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is a New York-based, non-profit organisation which endeavours to strengthen, promote, and, where necessary, defend the contributions of the humanities and the arts to human flourishing, and to the well-being of diverse and democratic societies.

“The Innovation in Artform Development initiative will provide an important contribution to the ways in which the university hopes to broaden and deepen research and dialogue about the humanities in South African society. Using the arts as a vehicle to engage communities around issues of social significance, makes for an exciting endeavour, and we are happy to have Mellon’s financial and partnership investment in this initiative,” said Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor of the UFS.

“This substantial support from the Foundation will play a pivotal role in facilitating collaborations with national and international artists to explore new, innovative modes of artistic practice and creative production in South Africa,” said Angela de Jesus, UFS Art Curator and Co-Director of PIAD.

“A series of First Nations projects, arts/science research and artist residencies, arts laboratories for creative practitioners, the production of exciting new work for Bloemfontein, and critical debates/forums is expected over the next few years,” she added.

PIAD focuses on supporting cross-cultural, experimental art programmes that can assist South African society creatively. For this process, PIAD is engaging the skills and expertise of South Africa artists in collaboration with several international partners, who are recognised as global leaders in this field, to develop a mutually- beneficial programme of engagement.  

Innovation, technology, and new forms of art will be explored and international collaborations that have the potential to attract benefits for the creative industries in Bloemfontein and beyond will be introduced.

“The artistic landscape of the Free State - in fact the whole South Africa - will be forever changed because of this extraordinarily generous grant. Rarely does a regional community get a chance to lead innovation on a national scale, and also impact on experimental art internationally. We are in for an incredible artistic journey,” said Dr Ricardo Peach, Director of the Vrystaat Arts Festival and Co-Director of PIAD.

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