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14 December 2020 | Story André Damons
Dr WA Lombard
Dr WA Lombard from the Department of Agricultural Economics in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences was a winner of the Joseph F Donnermeyer New Scholar Award from the International Society for the Study of Rural Crime.

A researcher and lecturer from the University of the Free State (UFS) Department of Agricultural Economics has received an international award for his research on the economic impact of stock theft in South Africa.

Dr WA Lombard from this department in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences was announced as the winner of the Joseph F Donnermeyer New Scholar Award from the International Society for the Study of Rural Crime (ISSRC) earlier this month (December 2020).

Award for an early-career researcher

Dr Lombard received the award for the research he conducted for the article: ‘Economic impact and factors affecting sheep and goat theft in South Africa’, published in Acta Criminologica: African Journal of Criminology & Victimology. The award is bestowed on an early-career researcher for a publication pertaining to rural criminology during the past 12 months. An early-career researcher is someone who has received a PhD within the past seven years and is showing stable research development.

“Winning this award is a very big honour for me. You always wonder if others view the research you are doing as important. It makes it even more special knowing that researchers from around the world could have won this award. I didn’t think I stood a chance,” said Dr Lombard.

According to him, this was the first award he had entered for after being encouraged by Mr Willie Clark from UNISA’s School for Criminal Justice and chairperson of the Stock Theft Prevention Forum.

Rural-crime research receiving attention

“It is great to know that research conducted by the UFS is considered valuable and of good quality by researchers around the world. It is also good to know that rural-crime research is receiving attention. Many feel this field of research is being neglected,” added Dr Lombard.

The award is named after ISSRC president, Joe Donnermeyer, and acknowledges his many years of work, his pioneering role in rural criminology as a sub-discipline, and his strong and ongoing support and mentorship for emerging academics.

• The other winner is Dr Kate Farhall of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and Melbourne Technical College in Australia.

News Archive

Water Awareness Day on campus
2013-03-18

18 March 2013

With water being considered as a threatened resource in the world, the Health and Wellness Centre and the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS), in collaboration with Provincial Government and private stakeholders, is hosting a Water Extravaganza at the Bloemfontein Campus.

  • Date: Tuesday 19 March 2012
  • Time: 09:30 – 14:00
  • Place: Centenary Hall

The UFS has a Strategic Academic Cluster: Water management in water-scarce areas, which has a number of participating academics and postgraduate students who are all looking to combat the problems associated with water, the threatened resource, in South Africa.

Prof Maitland Seaman, Director of the cluster for Water management in water-scarce areas, says South Africans should remember that, when and where there is water, you only have temporary use of it.

He also warns that water needs to work, otherwise it will become useless.

“If water is to work, we must conserve the natural ecosystems that purify it and make it available for further use; we must use it judiciously and optimally (for agriculture, industry and domestic use); and we should not pollute our water sources.”

Prof Seaman will deliver a presentation on the Modder River as the life blood of Bloemfontein at the Water Extravaganza. Other presentations will be on fracking, water-related disasters and the water situation in Mangaung.

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