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24 October 2022 | Story Andrè Damons | Photo Monsoon Photography
Prof Paul Oberholster
Prof Paul Oberholster was one of 29 scholars and scientists that were inaugurated as new ASSAf members in earlier this month (19 October 2022).

Prof Paul Oberholster, Director of the Centre for Environmental Management at the University of the Free State (UFS), is the newest academic from the university to be inaugurated as a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf). 

Prof Oberholster was one of 29 scholars and scientists who were inaugurated as new ASSAf members earlier this month (19 October 2022). At the same time, 10 new members of the South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS) were inaugurated.

As the official Academy of South Africa, ASSAf honours the country’s most outstanding scholars by electing them to membership of the Academy. ASSAf members are drawn from the full spectrum of disciplines. New members are elected each year by the full membership of the Academy in recognition of scholarly achievement. Members are the core asset of the Academy and give of their time and expertise voluntarily in the service of society. The 29 new ASSAf Members bring the total membership of ASSAf to 659.

Science must be in the service

“I feel very honoured to have been selected as a member of the official national academy of science which represents South Africa in the international community of science academies. I am a strong believer that science must be in the service of society. In all my research, I have shown an interest and determination to bring practitioners, students, and scholars together to pursue and foster the betterment of the human condition through its intimate relation to the natural world. The latter is in strong relationship with the vision and mission of the Academy,” says Prof Oberholster about being included in the academy of science.

This honour comes almost a year after Prof Oberholster won the NSTF-Water Research Commission (WRC) Award for his contribution to water resource management in SA over the past five years, with special reference to the field of biological passive wastewater treatment.

According to him, the ASSAf membership means providing evidence-based scientific advice on water resource issues of public interest to government and other stakeholders. He was nominated by Prof Eugene Cloete, the previous Vice-Rector Research and Innovation at Stellenbosch University for his research focus related to water resource management.

Research has direct impact on the most important resources

Prof Corli Witthuhn, Vice Rector: Research and Internationalisation, says the UFS staff and students are proud of the national recognition that Prof Oberholster received for his lifetime achievements in research on water resource management. His research has direct impact on the managing, protection and rehabilitation of one of the country’s most important resources.  

“The demands on our water supplies will increase in the future as a result of climate change globally. We believe his research will become even more important and relevant in the next decade. We are looking forward to his future achievements and will work with him to provide him with the appropriate UFS support.  Congratulations,” says Prof Witthuhn.

News Archive

‘Language central to multidisciplinary society’
2012-03-22

 

Dr. Neville Alexander (right) discussed the role of language and culture in creating tolerance in South Africa. On the left is Prof. André Keet, Director of the UFS' International Institute for Studies in Race, Reconcilliation and Social Justice.
Photo: Johan Roux
22 March 2012

A multilingual state and culture could lead to more tolerance in South Africa, and schools and universities could play a leading role in the creation of a multilingual culture.

This is according to Dr Neville Alexander, one of South Africa’s foremost linguists and educationalists.

Dr Alexander spoke during a discussion session on language issues in a new South Africa at the University of the Free State’s (UFS) International Institute for Studies in Race, Reconciliation and Social Justice.

He said in a multidisciplinary society, language is central to everything we do. 

“Language has the ability to empower people or to disempower them. Yet the present government failed to value the other official South African languages, apart from Afrikaans and English.”

Dr Alexander said it is “convenient and cheap” for the government “to only govern in English”.

Government officials and academics often used the shortage of terminology and glossaries in various African languages as an excuse to use only English as the medium of instruction. This tendency puts young children in the South African school system at a disadvantage since it deprives them of their right to mother tongue education.

According to Dr Alexander, this is similar to the problems that academics experienced centuries ago when only Latin terminology existed for certain disciplines.

“It is the task of educationalists and experts to develop the necessary word lists and terminology to offer more economic value to all our official languages.”

If multilingualism was promoted at school level, a multilingual culture would become more acceptable in future. In this way, we could have an isiZulu of isiXhosa dominant university in South Africa in 30 years time.
 

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