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05 May 2022 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied
Prof Hennie van Coller and Prof Hendrik Swart
Prof Hennie van Coller, left, received the the NP van Wyk Louw medal, and Prof Hendrik Swart, right, received the Havenga Prize for Physical Sciences.

The board of the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (SAAWK) recently (22 April) announced the winners of the 2022 prizes. The academy, which was established in 1901, aims to promote the use of Afrikaans in science and the arts.

Havenga Prize for Physical Sciences

Prof Hendrik Swart, NRF B1-rated researcher, SARChI Research Chair in Solid-state Luminescent and Advanced Materials, and Senior Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of the Free State (UFS), received the prestigious Havenga Prize for Physical Sciences.

He says it is an honour to receive this award. “When I look at the list of names that have received the award in the past, I am very humbled and surprised to receive such an award.”

The Havenga Prize, for which candidates are specifically judged on research publications and evidence of their promotion of Afrikaans, has been awarded annually for the past 77 years for original research in the natural sciences or a technical field. 

A collaboration with researchers from the Nelson Mandela University (NMU) on semiconductor materials that improve the efficiency of solar cells, resulted in Prof Japie Engelbrecht (Emeritus Professor, NMU) nominating Prof Swart for this award. He is involved in an NRF collaborative research project with NMU and Linköping University in Sweden.

Prof Swart has played an important role in the acquisition of numerous research devices for analysing the thin layer of phosphor, and the semiconductor devices that can be made from such materials. His research and zeal for his work led to the establishment of the national nano-surface characterisation facility (NNSCF) containing state-of-the-art surface characterisation equipment. 

The PHI Quantes XPS system, for instance, is the first in Africa and one of only 20 in the world. The Quantes XPS system uses X-rays to determine the chemical composition of molecules on the surface of a sample. The system is unique in the sense that it also has an extra X-ray source that can determine the chemical state below the surface, which was not possible in the past. This will help to dictate the position of defects in phosphor materials, which will consequently enable the department to create better phosphor for solid-state lighting as well as solar cell applications.

The most meaningful for him, however, was the production of several well-trained postgraduate students and the generation of high-impact, well-cited scientific publications.

This award, one of several awards he has received during his career, does not signify the end of the road. On the contrary, he is looking forward to improving solar cells by using the phosphor materials they have manufactured, applying it on glass windows doped with phosphors to generate electricity.

NP van Wyk Louw Medal and Alba Bouwer Prize for children's literature

The NP van Wyk Louw Medal was awarded to Prof Hennie van Coller, a researcher who is also affiliated to the UFS. Prof Van Coller, currently an emeritus outstanding professor and research fellow at the university, was a former Head of the UFS Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French, as well as Chairperson of SAAWK. He is known for his impact on the literary world, both locally and internationally, through the quality of his scientific articles and books. 

According to SAAWK, the body awards the NP van Wyk Louw Medal for a person’s creative contributions to the exploitation, organisation, and continuous development of a section of the humanities, significantly contributing to the advancement of the humanities.

Jaco Jacobs, the children’s author of more than 170 books who recently presented the 35th DF Malherbe Memorial Lecture at the UFS, was also awarded for his work. Jacobs, also a UFS alumnus, received the Alba Bouwer Prize for children's literature. The prize, which is awarded every three years, was presented to Jacobs for the book Die boekwinkel tussen die wolke, written during the COVID-19 lockdown period. 

SAAWK will present the awards later this year during two virtual award ceremonies in July. 

News Archive

First Global Leadership Summit brings partner universities to our university
2012-05-17

The University of the Free State (UFS) is gearing up for the Global Leadership Summit when students from universities all over the world will visit the UFS. The summit will take place from Sunday 8 July to Friday 20 July 2012. About 180 staff and students from universities in the United States, Asia and Europe are expected to visit the UFS during these two weeks and eminent scholars and politicians have already confirmed their participation. Among them are Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Dr Tim Murithi, Prof. Mark Solms, Fulbright Scholars who were previously tenured at the university, and a number of ambassadors.

Prof. Aldo Stroebel, Director: International Academic Programmes, Office of the Vice-Chancellor, says that our university has increasingly embedded internationalisation in its strategic priorities. The Leadership for Change Programme, jointly hosted by International Affairs and Student Affairs, is a significant step forward in this context. This innovative and unique programme, initiated in 2010, serves as a leadership development programme focused on first-year students. It aims to build layers of new thinking and engagement among students from diverse backgrounds. As part of a year-long engagement, each student spends a period abroad where there is intense exposure to the academic, social, cultural and residential lives of students in other countries. A formal mentor development programme for staff runs concurrently with the initiative.
 
In the 2010 programme, 71 students in various cohorts were placed at nine universities in the USA. Following on the success of this initiative, in 2011, 150 students were hosted at partner universities in the USA, Europe and Japan. The impact of cross-cultural and cross-border experiences on changing and enriching the participants’ minds and attitudes has been manifested in a wide variety of ways at both the UFS and the partner institutions.
 
The Global Leadership Summit, with the theme, “Transcending Boundaries of Global Change Leadership”, is a reciprocal programme of the Leadership for Change initiative. It will focus on international engagements in addressing salient issues around change leadership, diversity and racial reconciliation in Higher Education through critical dialogues between staff and students from all over the world.
 
The programme will be continued during 2013 when 150 students will again be selected for participation and placement abroad.


Media Release
17 May 2012
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: +27(0)51 401 2584
Cell: +27(0)83 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za

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