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Dr Matteo Grilli achieves top NRF rating

08 January 2021 | Story Charlene Stanley | Photo Charlene Stanley

Dr Matteo Grilli with his first book in front of the North Block on the Bloemfontein Campus. — Dr Matteo Grilli from the International Studies Group (ISG) became the second ISG scholar in just four years to receive a coveted P-rating from the NRF.

A P-rating (Prestigious Awards) by the National Research Foundation (NRF) is the holy grail for all young researchers at all South African universities and across all disciplines. It is a valuable tool for benchmarking local researchers against the best in the world. But it is hard to come by. Only one or two researchers are normally granted this sought-after standing each year.

Dr Matteo Grilli, a young Italian historian from the International Studies Group (ISG), says he was “pleasantly surprised” when he recently got the nod from the NRF, attributing his P-rating to the “excellent training and support” that he received from the UFS, and specifically the ISG and its head, Prof Ian Phimister.

Unique achievement for ISG

What makes this achievement even more significant, is that the ISG produced another P-rated scholar a mere four years ago (Dr Daniel Spence in 2016).

“For Prof Phimister to produce two P-rated researchers in such a short time is really an unbelievable achievement. I am not aware of any other department at any South African university that could achieve this,” says Dr Glen Taylor, Senior Director: Research Development.

P-rating requirements

The NRF’s P category honours young researchers (normally younger than 35 years) who have held a doctorate or equivalent qualification for less than five years. Researchers in this group are recognised by all or the vast majority of reviewers as having demonstrated the potential to become future international leaders in their field based on exceptional research performance and output from their doctoral and/or early postdoctoral research careers.

UFS becoming a mecca for African studies

Dr Grilli produced his first book, Nkrumaism and African Nationalism: Ghana's Pan-African Foreign Policy in the Age of Decolonisation around two years ago, after being accepted as a postdoc scholar by the ISG in 2015.

This unique research centre was established towards the end of 2012, with the aim of attracting and recruiting high-calibre postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows from all over the world to the UFS.

“Working at the ISG has undoubtedly been the best experience of my life and made me the solid scholar I am today. At the ISG, I found the best working environment you could possibly have in an academic setting, even compared to the Northern Hemisphere,” Dr Grilli says.

He believes the centre’s strength lies in the “exceptional exchange” that researchers have with their peers, allowing them to not only master their research subject but also to learn from other members’ research and methodologies.

“In my view, the ISG is concretely contributing to bringing the centre of African studies back to the African continent,” he enthuses.

Passion for Southern African politics

Dr Grilli specialises in the political history of Ghana and Southern Africa, focusing on transnational histories of African liberation movements, the history of Pan-Africanism, the Cold War and decolonisation in Africa, and the history of European migrations in sub-Saharan Africa (particularly Italian communities in Ghana and the Congo DRC).

He is currently working on a book project about the history of Pan-Africanism, Socialism, and Nationalism in Southern Africa, particularly in Lesotho, eSwatini, and Botswana.

Asked what advice he had for young researchers, he echoes the counsel he received from Prof Phimister at the start of his tenure at the ISG:

“Always aim high. Don’t be intimidated by the fact that there is a lot of competition in the academia, nor that you might be disadvantaged because you work in the Global South. If you work hard, your research will speak for itself and you will be able to publish solid works even in the most prestigious journals of the Northern Hemisphere.”

News Archive

UFS experimental farm to be redesigned as a training facility

2004-10-25

Back fltr:
Dr Léan van der Westhuizen, Manager: UFS Sydenham Experimental Farm; Prof Herman van Schalkwyk, Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS and Councilor Thami Stander, Chairperson: Mangaung Municipal Portfolio for Agriculture and Rural Development

Front fltr:
Mr Hanz Nketu, Chairperson: Free State Legislative Committee on Agriculture and Mr Peter Frewen from the Free State Legislature

The Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences of the University of the Free State will soon sign a tri-partite cooperation agreement with the National African Farmers Union (NAFU) and the Mangaung Local Municipality with the aim of providing training and mentorship to small-scale and emerging farmers, including those recently settled under the on-going land redistribution programme.

The agreement is part of the Faculty’s strategic plan to support the on-going reform process in the country, of which Black Economic Empowerment in Agriculture (Agri-BEE) is an important part. The Free State Provincial Department of Agriculture is also actively supporting this initiative.

Under the plan, the Faculty is redesigning its experimental farm, located about 12 kilometers south of Bloemfontein, as a training facility to build up skills in among others broiler and egg production, dairy farming, animal husbandry, piggery, sheep and goat production. The idea is to introduce a comprehensive package that empowers the small and emerging farmers and the local communities adjoining the farms through simultaneous investments in research, extension, and practical agricultural training.

Learnerships are also being drawn up to provide productive skills in order to contribute to addressing the national skills gap and enhancing opportunities for both self and wage employment.

The residents of the adjoining informal settlement known as Mangaung Phase II where unemployment is currently at extremely high levels are primary targets of this component of the project. The Faculty intends for this project to service the farming communities of the Free State Province and gradually spread to other Provinces in the country.

Having recognised this training programme as a potential instrument for achieving “a united and prosperous agricultural sector”, the Free State Legislature has shown considerable interest in the programme.

Following a preparatory visit to the farms by the Agriculture Committee of the Free State Legislature a request was made to the Faculty to host a larger visit by the Legislative Committees of the Free State, North West and Eastern Cape Provincial Legislatures on Monday 25 October 2004 and present details of the training programme.

The President of NAFU in the Free State Province, Mr Nox Nonkonyana, the Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Prof Herman van Schalkwyk, the Chair of the Mangaung Municipal Portfolio for Agriculture and Rural Development, Councilor Thami Stander, and the Chairperson of the Free State Legislative Committee on Agriculture, Mr M Nketu, will address the Legislators during the occasion.

Prof Herman van Schalkwyk

Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences

University of the Free State, Bloemfontein

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
25 Oktober 2004

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