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UFS researchers vie for top honours in 2023 NSTF ‘Science Oscars’

07 June 2023 | Story André Damons | Photo Supplied

Dr Michael Pienaar and Dr Edward C Netherlands — Dr Michael Pienaar, Senior Lecturer and specialist in the UFS Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, is a finalist in two categories of this year’s NSTF-South32 Awards. Dr Edward C Netherlands, Senior Lecturer in the UFS Department of Zoology and Entomology, is also in the running for his first NSTF-South32 Award.

Dr Michael Pienaar, Senior Lecturer and Specialist in the University of the Free State (UFS) Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, is a finalist in two categories of the 2023 NSTF-South32 Awards, popularly known as the ‘Science Oscars’ of South Africa.

Dr Pienaar, who has been working in paediatric critical care since 2019 and sees the care of critically ill children as his mission and calling in life, has been named a finalist in the TW Kambule-NSTF Award: Emerging Researcher and the NSTF-SAMRC Clinician-Scientist Award categories.

Another UFS staff member, Dr Edward C Netherlands, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Zoology and Entomology, is also a finalist in the TW Kambule-NSTF Award: Emerging Researcher category.

The NSTF-SAMRC Clinician-Scientist Award, sponsored by the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), is a new award for an outstanding contribution by a clinician-scientist, with a focus on work to enhance life and improve community health. This new category is modelled on the Emerging Researcher category.

‘Validating to have research recognised’

Dr Pienaar says it is humbling to be considered for these awards alongside formidable, accomplished, and innovative clinicians and scientists. “This is all somewhat surreal, as I was not anticipating being shortlisted as a finalist. It is validating to have had my research, which I am committed to, recognised on this platform. I am very grateful to the School of Clinical Medicine and the Faculty of Health Sciences and University of the Free State for nominating me for these awards.”

He was nominated by Dr Claire Armour Barrett, Clinical Research Director and Specialist Physician in the UFS School of Clinical Medicine.

Dr Pienaar says his current research focusses on applied machine learning in paediatric critical care. He has been working on the development of machine learning models that can be used in clinical practice to improve patient care.

“The work leading to these nominations focused on triage and identification of critically ill children in South Africa. Currently, I am working towards machine learning models implemented in point-of-care ultrasonography and mechanical ventilation.

“I am pleased just to be shortlisted for these awards. I think this provides important visibility for my work, which I feel has major long-term implications for clinical practice. I am also very happy to represent the research work being done in the Faculty of Health Sciences and the UFS on this platform.”

On what it will mean to win a ‘Science Oscar’, Dr Pienaar says, “While this would advance my career, I am very aware that all the candidates would be worthy winners. As it is, the opportunity to be a scholar is reward unto itself, and I am very privileged to be able to do the research I do. As ever, I am very grateful to the University and the Faculty of Health Sciences as well as the National Research Foundation for supporting my work.”

‘Honour and privilege’

Dr Netherlands, who was nominated by Prof Corli Witthuhn, former UFS Vice-Rector for Research and Internationalisation, says, “It is a great honour and privilege to represent the UFS.”

His work as a parasitologist and herpetologist involves specialised research in the study of blood parasites. His current research focuses on the diversity, evolution, and ecological implications of blood parasites in herpetofauna (reptiles and amphibians of a particular region).

“Being shortlisted as a finalist for this award will be a humbling achievement in my career, that may lead to new opportunities and new collaborations,” Dr Netherlands says. “Furthermore, being shortlisted provides a sense of validation and affirmation for the effort that has gone into conducting my research.”

The announcement of the winners will take place at the NSTF-South32 Awards Gala Event on 13 July 2023.

News Archive

Prof Antjie Krog speaks on verbalising revulsion and the collusion of men

2015-06-26

From the left are Prof Lucius Botes, UFS: Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities; Prof Helene Strauss, UFS: Department of English; Prof Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, UFS: Trauma, Forgiveness and Reconciliation Studies; Prof Antjie Krog, UCT: Department Afrikaans and Dutch; Dr Buhle Zuma, UCT: Department of Psychology. Both Prof Strauss and Dr Zuma are partners in the Mellon Foundation research project.

“This is one of the bitterest moments I have ever endured. I would rather see my daughter carried away as a corpse than see her raped like this.”

This is one of 32 testimonies that were locked away quietly in 1902. These documents, part of the NC Havenga collection, contain the testimonies of Afrikaner women describing their experiences of sexual assault and rape at the hands of British soldiers during the South African War.

This cluster of affidavits formed the foundation of a public lecture that Prof Antjie Krog delivered at the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Bloemfontein Campus on Tuesday 23 June 2015. The lecture, entitled ‘They Couldn’t Achieve their Goal with Me: Narrating Rape during the South African War’, was the third instalment in the Vice-Chancellor’s Lecture Series on Trauma, Memory, and Representations of the Past. The series is hosted by Prof Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, Senior Research Professor in Trauma, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation Studies at the UFS, as part of a five-year research project funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Verbalising revulsion

The testimonies were taken down during the last two months of the war, and “some of the women still had marks and bruises on their bodies as evidence,” Prof Krog said. The victims’ words, on the other hand, struggled to express the story their bodies told.

What are the nouns for that which one sees? What words are permissible in front of men? How does one process revulsion verbally? These are the barriers the victims – raised with Victorian reserve – faced while trying to express their trauma, Prof Krog explained.

The collusion of men

When the war ended, there was a massive drive to reconcile the Boers and the British. “Within this process of letting bygones be bygones,” Prof Krog said, “affidavits of severe violations by white men had no place. Through the collusion of men, prioritising reconciliation between two white male hierarchies, these affidavits were shelved, and, finally, had to suffer an embargo.”

“It is only when South Africa accepted a constitution based on equality and safety from violence,” Prof Krog said, “that the various levels of deeply-rooted brutality, violence, and devastation of men against the vulnerable in society seemed to burst like an evil boil into the open, leaving South African aghast in its toxic suppurations. As if, for many decades, we did not know it was there and multiplied.”

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