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08 May 2024
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The Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Prof Paul Oberholster, has the pleasure of inviting you to the inaugural lecture of Prof Dirk Opperman.
Date: 21 May 2024
Time: 17:30
Venue: Equitas
Click here to RSVP before Wednesday, 15 May 2024. Alternatively, contact Christelle van Rooyen on +27 51 401 9190.
About Prof Dirk Opperman
Prof Dirk Opperman obtained his PhD in Biochemistry at the University of the Free State in 2008. This was followed by postdoctoral research on directed evolution with Prof Manfred T Reetz at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research (Germany). In 2010, he was appointed in the Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry. He subsequently established structural biology at the UFS, and his current research focus lies at the interface of evolutionary and structure-function relationships of biocatalysts, and their application in green chemistry. He is an NRF B-rated researcher with co-authored papers in Science, Nature Communications, and Angewandte Chemie.
His research has been funded by both local and international organisations, ranging from industries such as SASOL to the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF, UK). He has a long-standing collaboration with researchers at the Delft University of Technology (TUDelft, the Netherlands) and is currently part of a European Research Area Network Cofund (ERA-NET Cofund) partnership on Food Systems and Climate (FOSC) that develops biocatalysts for upcycling waste.
Dr Le Roux a fellow of Africa Science Leadership Programme
2016-02-23
Dr Aliza le Roux
Photo: Hannes Pieterse
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National Research Foundation-rated Y2 scientist, Dr Aliza le Roux, has recently been added to the Africa Science Leadership Programme, an initiative that seeks to create an African network of scientific leaders across disciplinary borders. Her selection to this programme is a reflection of her powerful vision for the continent’s scientific future and sustained scientific excellence.
“It is an honour and an opportunity for me to grow as an academic. This opportunity will also help me build my leadership skills as well as my networks on the continent. It will create a culture of leadership and research that is led by African researchers,’’ Dr Le Roux said.
She added that African researchers have a great potential to solve global problems, yet many of them leave their countries to seek academic success elsewhere. “I hope that the lessons we learn in this programme will pave the way for academia and science to be taken more seriously and practiced more effectively on the continent.”
Together with 21 other fellows from across the continent, Dr Le Roux will be taking part in a week-long workshop in April this year. She is a Senior Lecturer and Subject Head in the Department of Zoology and Entomology on the Qwaqwa Campus of the University of the Free State.