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Prof Paul Oberholster latest UFS scientist inaugurated by Academy of Science

24 October 2022 | Story Andrè Damons | Photo Monsoon Photography

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

Linguistic resourcefulness impresses at 15th Student Symposium on the Natural Sciences

2015-11-26

UFS students walk away with more than half the prizes at this year’s Student Symposium on the Natural Sciences.

This year, the fifteenth annual Student Symposium on the Natural Sciences was hosted on the Bloemfontein Campus by the UFS Departments of Chemistry and Physics, together with the South African Academy for Science and Arts (SAAWK).

According to Dr Ernie Langner, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, this symposium provides postgraduate students from all over South Africa the opportunity to present their research in Afrikaans, to learn from each other, receive feedback on their work through the review process, and to build networks. If their abstracts are selected for publication in the Suid-Afrikaanse Tydskrif vir Natuurwetenskap en Tegnologie, it also provides them with further exposure in the broader academic context.

Besides research of the highest quality, this year's symposium had no shortage of linguistic resourcefulness. “Students, accustomed to writing and expressing their research in English, astonished everybody with their beautiful Afrikaans. Outstanding research from honours, master's, and doctoral students was expressed in scientific terminology of the highest standard,” Dr Langner said.

The Student Symposium is the only event (worldwide) where the development of 'elektrostatiese potensiaalkaarte', 'femtosekonde pomp-proef spektroskopie', or 'endokrien-ontwrigtende chemikalieë' is explained step by step. This is where one hears enthusiastic students talking about how hard they are working on 'geïntegreerde drywende sonkragstelsels', or 'geneste virtuele rekenaars binne die wolkstelsel'. The results of hours of hard work in the lab, cold nights behind a telescope, or long midnight sessions in front of the computer, had to be condensed into 15-minute presentations on the synthesis of metal-organic networks, or metal-carbene complexes, the identification of pulsar rhythms, or the refining of rapid-eye technology.

Of approximately forty participants from five universities, eighteen were awarded prizes for their papers and posters. Students from the UFS walked away with more than half of the awards. Jacques Maritz (Physics) and his wife, Elizabeth, (Mathematics and Applied Mathematics) from the UFS were both awarded first place in their respective sessions.

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