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16 July 2020 | Story Andre Damons | Photo Supplied
Prof Paul Oberholster and Prof Zakkie Pretorius

Two staff members from the University of the Free State (UFS) are nominated for the Science Oscars for their outstanding work and contributions to science over the years. 

Prof Pretorius is nominated in two categories, namely the Special Annual Theme Award: Research and development (R&D) and innovation in Plant Health as well as the Lifetime category.  The Special Annual Theme Awards are made in recognition of the International Year of Plant Health (2020), as declared by the United Nations.

Prof Oberholster is nominated for the NSTF-Water Research Commission Award. This award is for an outstanding contribution to science, engineering, and technology (SET) and innovation in South Africa in terms of sustainable water management, knowledge generation, and solutions over the past five to ten years, and is awarded in recognition of demonstrated leadership and impact.

Science Oscars of South Africa

The NSTF-South32 Awards are referred to as the ‘Science Oscars’ of South Africa and are the largest, most comprehensive, and sought-after national awards of its kind in the country. It was also the first science awards in South Africa.

Prof Oberholster says it is a privilege to be nominated and selected as a finalist in his specific field of interest.
“I always believe the best person will win the award. At this level of competition, it can go both ways. I was nominated by the university for my scientific contribution to water resource management in South Africa over the past 10 years, with special reference to the field of passive wastewater treatment,” says Prof Oberholster.

Although this is the first time that he has been nominated for the NSTF-Water Research Commission Award, Prof Oberholster has previously been nominated in the Innovation category.

Prof Oberholster, whose research focus area is the use of freshwater algae to treat acid mine drainage or domestic wastewater, has previously also won the Excellence Award: CSIR:NRE Outstanding team contribution: Project Leader: Coal tech, WRC and SANBI, Wetland restoration project; and the Excellence Award: CSIR:NRE Innovation: Algae technology for sewage treatment in South African rural areas.

Innovative technology 

This innovative, low-cost green technology assists in the effective and efficient removal of nutrients and bacteria in effluents discharged from wastewater treatment works to improve human health risk, create economic opportunities, and protect downstream ecosystem services. This technology is currently being rolled out to other SADC countries by the African Development Bank. In the case of acid mine drainage treatment, the technology provides a ‘walk-away’ solution for the mining industry. These systems are largely self-sustainable, using no electricity or chemicals, and can be maintained by a semi-skilled workforce.

Prof Pretorius, who has extensive expertise in diseases of field crops – more specifically the rust diseases of small grain cereal crops, has recently been awarded Honorary Membership by the Southern African Plant Breeders’ Association (SAPBA). His colleague, Prof Liezel Herselman, Associate Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences, was presented with a Fellow Award.

• A new, specially arranged virtual Awards Gala Event will be livestreamed on Thursday, 30 July 2020 at 18:45 for 19:00 until 20:30 to honour the finalists and announce the winners.

News Archive

Two Kovsie women involved in international sports events
2012-05-14

 

Hetsie Veitch and Ebeth Grobbelaar
Photo: René-Jean van der Berg
14 May 2012

The organisers of two international sports events will depend on the expertise of two Kovsie women to make the events a major success.

The honour to be involved in international sports event has befallen Ms Hetsie Veitch and Ms Ebeth Grobbelaar.

The honour is the result of many years’ hard work and devotion in their respective fields.

In June, when the USA chooses the team to represent it at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, Ms Veitch will be one of the classifiers who will determine in which categories athletes may compete.

Ms Veitch, Head of the Unit for Students with Disabilities at the University of the Free State (UFS), has been invited to be a member of the Classification Panel at the final USA Paralympic athletics trials. The trials take place from 27 June to 1 July 2012 in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the USA.

Ms Veitch and four other classifiers, two from Brazil, one from Canada and one from the USA, will test and verify the international classification status of the American athletes. No athlete will be allowed to take part without their classification being verified by the panel.

Ms Veitch, who recently achieved the status of International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics Classifier, the highest achievement for a classifier in sport for the disabled, said that this category of sport has always been her passion.

“To have the opportunity to be involved in the classification of the USA team for the London 2012 Paralympic Games is a huge honour. I am going to start working on being chosen for the official IPC classification panel for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Brazil.”

Ms Grobbelaar, Assistant Director of the South African Testing Laboratory for Prohibited Substances at the UFS, was invited to be involved in the Drugs Control Centre in the unit against prohibited substances which will test sportsmen and women during this year’s Olympic Games in London.

Ms Grobbelaar said that even though the future of sportsmen and women would be in her hands, she is totally capable of carrying out the task that awaits her.

“I will be part of the laboratory team who will test the athletes’ samples for prohibited substances. I was part of the South African team who tested samples in our own laboratory in 2010 during the FIFA Soccer World Cup, as well as for the All Africa Games. The task is one I perform every day in our own laboratories. Each sample that I analyse determines an athlete’s future. The circumstances during the Olympic Games are different, but the work remains the same.”

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