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Nomination is a reminder that service through science matters

16 May 2025 | Story André Damons | Photo Supplied

Dr Lisa Rothmann, a plant disease epidemiologist from the University of the Free State (UFS) who was nominated in the TW Kambule-NSTF Award: Emerging Researcher category for this year’s NSTF-South32 Awards, says that the nomination is a reminder that service through science matters.

“I am humbled by the nomination. For me, it reflects not just individual recognition, but also the shared effort of the team of postgraduate academics, research assistants, partners, and farmers with whom I've had the privilege to work with. It is affirming to see plant pathology and field-based research recognised in this way; it highlights the consistent (hard) work we do to make a meaningful contribution to agriculture and to serve the grain industry and farmers,” says Dr Rothmann.

She was nominated by Grain South Africa (Grain SA), with whom she has been working closely since 2018 to contribute research that aligns with the organisation’s mission to strengthen the grain sector. They play a key role in supporting sustainable grain production and farmer development.

Dr Rothmann, who is one of eight UFS researchers and a research team nominated for the NSTF-South32 Awards – also known as the ‘Science Oscars’ – is nominated for her contribution to interdisciplinary, team-based research to develop practical solutions for plant diseases in order to protect crops and empower communities.

Motivation to keep growing

The Senior Lecturer in the Department of Plant Sciences within the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (NAS) says that while she is proud of the work she has done, she sees this recognition as a team effort. Says Dr Rothmann: “It motivates me to keep growing as a researcher, rooted in impact and integrity. I’m not a prolific peer-reviewed publisher; my academic record includes 10 journal articles and one book chapter, but I have written around 50 popular articles – often as a solo author, in collaboration with postgraduates and peers.”

“These pieces translate plant pathology topics such as the Sclerotinia life cycle, disease surveillance, and management into accessible information for producers and the public. To me, this nomination is a symbol that making a meaningful impact doesn't only come from journal impact factors. This nomination has reminded me that building a career in academia is a relay, not a race, and that lasting impact comes from investing in others.”

As a plant disease epidemiologist, she specialises in field pathology – an area of plant pathology that explores how disease epidemics in crops develop, spread, and can be effectively managed within agricultural systems. Their work centres on understanding and managing Sclerotinia diseases in oilseed and protein crops such as canola, soybean, and sunflower, as well as disease surveillance in key grain crops including dry bean, sorghum, and sunflower.

New research

After participating in the US-based National Sclerotinia Initiative in 2017, she was inspired to establish a South African Sclerotinia Research Network with the support of Grain SA, creating a platform for researcher collaboration, farmer engagement, and the development of on-farm management strategies. Over time, explains Dr Rothmann, their research has expanded to include cultivar screening, national disease surveys, fungicide registration trials, and the development of disease-assessment tools. More recently, they have embedded sociological surveys into sorghum disease work to better understand farmers’ knowledge and needs, ensuring that research remains practical and co-created with producers.

According to Dr Rothmann, they have been privileged to work in a space that supports producers and protects crops through applied plant disease management strategies. While high-value crops often attract attention due to export markets, the grain that feed the nation forms the backbone of food security. As part of their new research, Dr Rothman and the research team are currently contributing to the Sorghum Cluster Initiative's pre-breeding programme, where they have screened 160 accessions for diseases to support future cultivar development.

They are also going to explore how both emerging and commercial farmers will adopt these new cultivars. She is actively seeking collaborators in sociology/psychology or similar fields to better understand farmers’ decision-making. They are developing a plant disease dashboard to map disease occurrences across South Africa – an effort aligned with the Plant Health (Phytosanitary) Act 35 of 2024 to help guide appropriate disease risk categorisation. In the long term, concludes Dr Rothmann, they hope to establish a diagnostic hub for central South Africa in partnership with Agricultural Research Council-Grain Crops to strengthen local disease identification and support producers in real time.

News Archive

UFS boasts with most advanced chemical research apparatus in Africa

2005-11-23

Celebrating the inauguration of the NMR were from the left Prof Frederick Fourie (Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS), Dr Detlef Müller (Development Scientist and Manager: Africa and Asia of Bruker in Germany, the supplier of the NMR), Prof Jannie Swarts (head of the head of the Division Physical Chemistry at the UFS) and Prof Herman van Schalkwyk (Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS). Photo: Lacea Loader

UFS boasts with most advanced chemical research apparatus in Africa

The University of the Free State’s (UFS) Department of Chemistry now boasts with some of the most advanced chemical research apparatus in Africa after the latest addition, a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer, was inaugurated today by the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Frederick Fourie. The NMR is used to analyse molecular structures.

Last month the Department of Chemistry celebrated the installation of the most advanced single crystal X-ray diffractometer in Africa. The diffractometer provides an indispensable technique to investigate among others the solid state of compounds for medicinal application.

“Three years ago the UFS executive management realised that, if we want to build a university of excellence, we should invest in research. We started to think strategically about chemistry and decided to bring the apparatus at the Department of Chemistry on a more competitive standard. Strategic partnerships were therefore secured with companies like Sasol,” said Prof Fourie during the inauguration ceremony.

“The installation of the NMR symbolises the ability of the UFS to turn academic areas around. I hope that this is the beginning of a decade of excellence for chemistry at the UFS,” said Prof Fourie.

”The catalogue value of the Bruker 600 MHz NMR is approximately R11 million. With such an advanced apparatus we are now able to train much more post-graduate students,“ said Prof Jannie Swarts, head of the Division Physical Chemistry at the UFS.

”The NMR is the flagship apparatus of the UFS Department of Chemistry that enables chemists to look at compounds more easily at a molecular level. Research in chemistry is critically dependent on NMR, which is a technique that can determine the composition of reactants and products in complicated chemical reactions, with direct application is most focus areas in chemistry,“ said Prof Swarts.

”Parts of the spectrometer consists of non-commercial items that were specifically designed for the UFS Department of Chemistry to allow the study of unique interactions in e.g. rhodium and platinum compounds,” said Prof Swarts.

According to Prof Swarts the NMR enables chemists to conduct investigations on the following:

To evaluate for example the complex behaviour of DNA in proteins as well as the analysis of illegal drugs sometimes used by athletes.
It provides an indispensable technique to investigate compounds for medicinal application for example in breast, prostate and related bone cancer identification and therapy, which are currently synthesised in the Department of Chemistry.
It can also be applied to the area of homogeneous catalysis where new and improved compounds for industrial application are synthesized and characterised, whereby Sasol and even the international petrochemical industry could benefit. This analytical capacity is highly rated, especially in the current climate of increased oil prices.
The NMR can detect and identify small concentrations of impurities in feed streams in the petrochemical industry, e.g. at Sasol and also the international petrochemical industry. These minute amounts of impurities can result in metal catalyst deactivation or decomposition and can cause million of rands worth in product losses.
It is indispensable for studying the complexity of samples that is non-crystalline. These materials represent the vast majority of chemical compounds such as solvents, gasoline, cooking oil, cleaning agents and colorants as examples.

According to Prof Swarts the general medical technique of MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) in use at larger hospitals, is based on NMR technology.

”The NMR apparatus enabled the Department of Chemistry to characterise complex molecules that were synthesised for the multi-national company, FARMOFS-PAREXEL, and to negotiate research agreements with overseas universities,” said Prof Swarts.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
22 November 2005

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