The National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) and the Minister of Science and Technology will be announcing the winners on 27 June 2013 in Gauteng.
To an individual for an outstanding contribution to SETI over a lifetime:
Coville has been recognised for his use of catalysts to create new molecules, new reaction pathways and to generate materials that can be used in industry. During his career, he has made and studied many catalyst systems. These studies have resulted in the production of information for the design, characterisation and evaluation of catalysts used in industrial processes, such as making chemicals and fuels (the Sasol Fischer-Tropsch process), for making carbon nano-structured materials used to make sensors, solar cells and memory devices, and for making inorganic catalysts.
Pettifor's research has focused on the prevention of rickets in children living in developing countries through ensuring adequate calcium intakes. He has been at the forefront of paediatric bone research for over 30 years, focused on the interrelationships between low dietary calcium intakes and vitamin D deficiency and the causation of deforming bone disease evident in children in developing countries, who have habitually low dietary calcium intakes. His findings, particularly in relation to the prevention and the development of rickets, have resulted in primary and secondary prevention programmes being introduced in Africa, India and in parts of Bangladesh.
T W Kambule Awards: to an individual for an outstanding contribution to SETI through research and its outputs over the last five to 10 years:
Sliwa-Hahnle is pursuing a professional goal of improving the cardiovascular health of Africans, through capacity training. A specialist physician, expert in tropical diseases and a clinical cardiologist, she has focused on immune activation and left ventricular remodelling in idiopathic and peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM). Descriptive studies, under her leadership, into the basic mechanism have resulted in a promising new therapy for PPCM. As Chair of the Working Group on PPCM of the European Society of Cardiology, leading a worldwide registry on 1 000 women with this condition she developed a major series of studies on cardiac diseases in African populations, both in South Africa and in nine other African countries.
To a researcher, for an outstanding contribution to SETI through research capacity development over the last five to 10 years:
Cornish was the prime instigator of the African Materials Science and Engineering Network (AMSEN) funded by Carnegie-IAS. AMSEN was one of the five networks chosen from 48 applications, and includes a university each in SA, Namibia, Kenya, Nigeria and Botswana. The rationale is to develop the next generation of academics through collaborative research. There are 10 Research Teams, 29 academics, and 20 students. Each student has at least two supervisors across the network, and students write reports and make presentations. Even before AMSEN, she supervised black students, including Scarce Skill students, to a total of over 20, and from different African countries.
To an individual or a team for an outstanding contribution to SETI through communication for outreach and creating awareness over the last five years:
Block is to South Africa what Carl Sagan was to American astronomy - his pioneering discoveries are reshaping astronomical paradigms, and his imprint on human culture is a legacy to all South Africans. He has been intimately involved in the communication of science, particularly astronomy, to the public for over 30 years. His outreach activities span the complete spectrum from the writing of books, TV interviews (including the BBC), radio interviews, newspaper interviews, public lectures and outreaches to school learners and to their teachers.
