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25 August 2020 | Story Andre Damons | Photo Pierce van Heerden
Prof Felicity Burt is a passionate virologist with more than 25 years of research on medically significant viruses that cycle in nature and are transmitted to humans via mosquitoes, ticks, or animals.

Prof Felicity Burt, an expert in arbovirology in the Division of Virology, has been leading the University of the Free State (UFS) COVID-19 Task Team over the past five months. Prof Burt is a passionate virologist with more than 25 years of research on medically significant viruses that cycle in nature and are transmitted to humans via mosquitoes, ticks, or animals.

As the UFS is celebrating its champion women this Women’s Month, Prof Burt gives us some insight into who she is. 

Please tell us about yourself

I am an arbovirologist from the Division of Virology in the Faculty of Health Sciences, and the National Health Laboratory Service. Who am I? I am a mum, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a sister-in-law, a friend, a scientist, a colleague, a professor.  I am passionate about my work and have spent more than 25 years researching medically significant viruses that cycle in nature and are transmitted to humans via mosquitoes, ticks, or animals. 
My research group investigates the various mechanisms that viruses use to cause disease, and I am particularly interested in how our bodies respond to infection that can help us develop vaccines or therapies. Raising awareness of these viruses, profiling disease associated with different viruses, and developing tools for surveillance programmes all contribute towards understanding pathogens and the public-health implications. I am so grateful for the opportunities my career has provided me, which includes travelling all over the world for conferences and meetings and participating in outbreak responses in Africa.   
   
Is there a woman who inspires you and who you would like to celebrate this Women’s Month, and why?

I am inspired by all women who set goals and work to achieve them. The goals may vary, but they are important and challenging to each individual.  Hence, I would like us to acknowledge and celebrate all women who achieve their goals through hard work, dedication, and of course, plenty of passion. 

What are some of the challenges you’ve faced in your life that have made you a better woman?

I have always been quite a shy person and still find it challenging to stand up in front of an audience. I was born in Zimbabwe and when I finished school, I moved to South Africa to study at the University of the Witwatersrand. Moving on my own to Johannesburg at the age of 18 was definitely a challenge for a quiet, reserved girl from Harare. Compared to home, Johannesburg was a mammoth city; however, I absolutely loved university life, met people who became lifelong friends, and pursued a career in science. I try to learn from my many mistakes and treat others how I would like to be treated, especially with kindness. 

What advice would you give to the 15-year-old you?

Dream on girl, and it doesn’t matter if they don’t all come true; life isn’t going to turn out as expected, but as long as you enjoy the journey. You don’t have to be the best, but you have to do your best – with passion of course. 

What would you say makes you a champion woman [of the UFS]?

To be honest, I wouldn’t call myself a champion, but I am quite proud of what I have established at the UFS. With hard work and passion, contributions from colleagues, support from management, and never forgetting a whole bunch of wonderfully enthusiastic students, we have built an active postgraduate research group, graduated multiple students, published scientific articles in international journals, presented our research at conferences, contributed to community engagement, had fun, and still have plenty more to achieve!  

 

News Archive

Inaugural lecture: Prof. Annette Wilkinson
2008-04-16

A strong plea for a pursuit of “scholarship” in higher education

Prof. Annette Wilkinson of the Centre for Higher Education Studies and Development in the Faculty of the Humanities at the University of the Free State (UFS) made as strong plea for a pursuit of “scholarship” in higher education.

She said in her inaugural lecture that higher education has to deal with changes and demands that necessitate innovative approaches and creative thinking when it concerns effective teaching and learning in a challenging and demanding higher education environment. She referred to a recent research report prepared for the Council for Higher Education (CHE) which spells out the alarming situation regarding attrition rates and graduation output in South African higher education and emphasises factors leading to the situation. These factors include socio-economic conditions and shortcomings in the school and the subsequent under preparedness of a very large proportion of the current student population. However, what is regarded as one of the key factors within the sector’s control is the implementation of strategies for improving graduate output.

She said: “The CHE report expresses concern about academics’ adherence to traditional teaching practices at institutions, which have not changed significantly to make provision for the dramatic increase in diversity since the 1980s.

“Raising the profile of teaching and learning in terms of accountability, recognition and scholarship is essential for successful capacity-building,” she said. “The notion of scholarship, however, brings to the minds of many academics the burden of ‘publish or perish’. In many instances, the pressures to be research-active are draining the value put on teaching. Institutions demand that staff produce research outputs in order to qualify for any of the so-called three Rs – resources, rewards and recognition.

“These have been abundant for research, but scarce when it comes to teaching – with the status of the latter just not on the same level as that of research. From within their demanding teaching environments many lecturers just feel they do not have the time to spend on research because of heavy workloads, that their efforts are under-valued and that they have to strive on the basis of intrinsic rewards.”

She said: “It is an unfortunate situation that educational expertise, in particular on disciplinary level, is not valued, even though in most courses, as in the Programme in Higher Education Studies at the UFS, all applications, whether in assignments, projects or learning material design, are directly applied to the disciplinary context. We work in a challenging environment where the important task of preparing students for tomorrow requires advanced disciplinary together with pedagogical knowledge.”

Prof. Wilkinson argued that a pursuit of the scholarship of teaching and learning holds the potential of not only improving teaching and learning and consequently success rates of students, but also of raising the status of teaching and recognising the immense inputs of lecturers who excel in a very demanding environment. She emphasised that not all teaching staff will progress to the scholarship level or are interested in such an endeavour. She therefore suggested a model in which performance in the area of teaching and learning can be recognised, rewarded and equally valued on three distinct levels, namely the levels of excellence, expertise and scholarship. An important feature of the model is that staff in managerial, administrative and support posts can also be rewarded for their contributions on the different levels for all teaching related work.

Prof. Wilkinson also emphasised the responsibility or rather, accountability, of institutions as a whole, as well as individual staff members, in providing an environment and infrastructure where students can develop to their full potential. She said that in this environment the development of the proficiency of staff members towards the levels of excellence, expertise and scholarship must be regarded as a priority.

“If we want to improve students’ success rates the institution should not be satisfied with the involvement in professional development opportunities by a small minority, but should set it as a requirement for all teaching staff, in particular on entry into the profession and for promotion purposes. An innovative approach towards a system of continuous professional development, valued and sought after, should be considered and built into the institutional performance management system.”

As an example of what can be achieved, Prof. Wilkinson highlighted the work of one of the most successful student support programmes at the UFS, namely the Career Preparation Programme (CPP), implemented fourteen years ago, bringing opportunities to thousands of students without matric exemption. The programme is characterised by dedicated staff, a challenging resource-based approach and foundational courses addressing various forms of under preparedness. Since 1993 3 422 students gained entry into UFS degree programmes after successfully completing the CPP; since 1996 1 014 of these students obtained their degrees, 95 got their honours degrees, 18 their master’s degrees and six successfully completed their studies as medical doctors.

Prof. Wilkinson said: “I believe we have the structures and the potential to become a leading teaching-learning university and region, where excellence, expertise and scholarship are recognised, honoured and rewarded.”

 

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