RESEARCH IMPACT IN

Our research spans fundamental research at discipline levels, through to transdisciplinary research that addresses the complex challenges facing society. In our quest to be a leading research-intensive university, we are continually working to increase research that is relevant to societal needs, and that drives societal development and change.

To amplify our impact, we pursue collaborations with over 3 000 institutions across the globe and have some 230 international institution-wide partnerships across 70 countries and six continents.

Top tier indicators

Following a new high level of academic output in 2021, the University of Pretoria’s output remained stable in 2022, with a total of 2 343.66 units. Significant were conference proceedings returning to pre-pandemic levels and a marked increase in the production of longer-term outputs in the shape of books and chapters in books (356.56 units).

Although weighted research outputs per academic staff showed a slight decrease, the figure for 2022 (2.24 outputs per academic staff member) compares favourably with our South African peers. The weighted per capita research output value for all public universities in 2019 was 2.01 (DHET, 2021).

The proportion of black postgraduate students continued to climb, with people of colour now making up threequarters of our postgraduate enrolments.

The University’s continued commitment to international cooperation in research is reflected in the return of international postdoctoral fellows to 2018 levels. Aligned to this is a steady, year-on-year increase in total postdoctoral fellow numbers and numbers of international academic staff.

Postdoctoral fellows are a strong indicator of future research excellence, with this often being the first step on the academic career ladder.

Research chairs, global rankings

Institutions of higher education are globally ranked on the basis of various quantifiable factors. Research performance is measured by publications and citations. International diversity and other indicators such as academic reputation and graduate employability also contribute to the various ranking systems. UP has remained stable in its rankings over the past five years, with a decrease experienced in 2022 in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings.

The Times Higher Education (THE) Subject Rankings for 2022 ranked UP in eleven subject fields:

Arts and Humanities • Business and Economics

Clinical, Preclinical and Health

Education

• Engineering

Physical Sciences

ESI Indicator fields

The University is rated among the top 1% globally in 14 of the 22 Essential Science Indicator (ESI) fields (up from 12 in 2021). UP was the only university in South Africa to feature in Economics and Business. Academics produced most documents within Economics & Business, Engineering, Microbiology and Plant & Animal Science within South Africa. Molecular Biology and Genetics in particular, enjoyed a phenomenal year, averaging north of 45 citations per paper.

UP has three researchers ranked in the top 1% by ESI worldwide. They are:

• Professor Rangan Gupta in Economics and Business

• Professor Mike Wingfield in Plant and Animal Sciences

• Professor Yves Van der Peer in Cross-field (Ghent University Belgium with secondary affiliation University of Pretoria)

New and Renewed Research Chairs

The University of Pretoria had a total of 51 active chairs in 2022. These include 19 industry-funded research chairs and 31 Department of Science and Innovation DSI-NRF South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) chairs.

Four academics were awarded co-funded Chairs under the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI): Artificial intelligence specialist, Professor Nelishia Pillay of the Department of Computer Science in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology, was awarded the Chair in Machine Learning for Sustainable Development.

Professor Zodwa Dlamini , inaugural Scientific Director of UP’s Pan African Cancer Research Institute (PACRI) in the Faculty of Health Sciences, holds the Chair in Precision Oncology and Cancer Prevention.

• Computer Science

• Law

• Psychology

• Life Sciences

• Social Sciences.

The performance of most subjects remained stable over this period with noticeable success from Law, returning to the top 100, and its highest ranking (at #60). UP was also ranked first in South Africa for Law.

Researchers are selected for their exceptional influence and performance in one or more of 21 research fields or across several fields. The methodology used, assesses the number of highly cited papers and the number of citations for 2012 - 2022 by threshold per subject.

It is possible to use ESI statistics to identify the top 1% of scientists and published articles internationally, based on citations. As of January 2023, a total of 265 UP-published papers were among these top papers world-wide, spread over 20 of the 22 ESI subject fields. UP continues to dominate the subject category of Plant & Animal Sciences with 78 top papers.

Professor Thulani Makhalanyane of the Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, was awarded the Chair in Marine Microbiomics.

Professor Chris Changwe Nshimbi Acting Director of UP’s Institute for Strategic and Political Affairs and Associate Professor in the Department of Political Sciences in the Faculty of Humanities, was awarded a research Chair in the Political Economy of Migration in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

International footprint

While the bulk of UP’s international partnerships remain with institutions in western Europe and North America, UP has cultivated relationships with facilities around the globe. Due to issues of capacity, Africa remains unavoidably under-represented among our international partners.

A core focus of the University is international and transdisciplinary cooperation, particularly in research. Below is a small selection that illustrates the breadth, depth and excellence of our collaborative research.

UP has always been characterised by a spirit of transdisciplinary and international cooperation and, to this end, some notable initiatives were launched in 2022.

Effects of grazing on deserts

Professors Peter le Roux (right), from the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, and Professor Thulani

Makhalanyane (right), DSI/NRF SARChI Chair in the Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, led the South African component of a groundbreaking multidisciplinary study on the effects of grazing in deserts. The first-ever global field assessment of the ecological impacts of grazing in drylands was published in Science, and was the product of a global cooperation.

Investigating termite and microbial wood discovery and decay

Extraordinary Professor Catherine Parr and PhD student Katherine Bunney of the Department of Zoology and Entomology joined over a hundred collaborators from around the world in an international study led by the University of Miami to investigate termite and microbial wood discovery and decay. The work was published in the journal Science . The UP team ran field experiments in a relatively wet savanna near Hoedspruit and further north in a much more arid savanna in the Nwanedi Nature Reserve, using wood blocks in decomposition bags.

Detection and genome characterisation of the Middelburg virus

An excellent example of the research/education interface was provided by Master’s graduate, Isabel Fourie , along with Dr June Williams (Department of Paraclinical Sciences, Section of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Science) and Professor Marietjie Venter Head of the Zoonotic, Arbo- and Respiratory Virus Programme at UP’s Department of Medical Virology. The UP team combined with a high-level team of local and international researchers to detect and characterise the genome of strains of the old-world Middelburg virus. Ms Fourie was the lead author on the resulting paper, published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

BWS plus - Cognitive Geomatics

Cognitive Geomatics is the science of digital teaching to create awareness of intercultural differences in sense of place, using Germany, South Africa and Kenya as case studies. BWS plus is a project of the Baden-Württemberg-STIPENDIUM for students. The project represents a long-term cooperation between the University of Pretoria, the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences (HKA) in Germany and the University of Nairobi in Kenya. The project will widen the thematic discourse to be more interdisciplinary – apart from geo(infor)matics, students from the social sciences and cultural media management will also be involved. The project runs from March 2022 until February 2025 and is funded to the tune of €140 000.

Centres for International Study

UP launched two new institutes in 2022.

• The African Centre for the Study of the United States, University of Pretoria (ACSUS-UP). This is a local structure and network centre with an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary scope. It promotes scholarly research and exchanges, policy engagement, business interactions and cultural contact between African and American universities and epistemic communities.

• The Centre for Asian Studies in Africa (CASA) is a major new initiative for knowledge production about Asia and Afro-Asian connections in South Africa and on the African continent.

Climate change and whales

UP’s Mammal Research Institute Whale Unit and WWF South Africa have teamed up to support research on southern right whales in response to warming oceans and changes to ocean processes which are affecting the number of whales visiting SA’s shores.

Smart solution for smart crop

A team from the Department of Consumer and Food Sciences, under the guidance of Professor Naushad Emmambux found a way to make orange-fleshed sweet potato last longer in an effort to benefit from this smart crop and address micronutrient deficiencies among young children and pregnant women. As part of InnoFoodAfrica, a multinational, cross-continental project that aims to enhance food and nutrition security in Africa, UP researchers have discovered that they can leverage the health benefits of the vegetable by making it into flour, expanding the number of ways orange-fleshed sweet potatoes can be used.

Innovation at work

The University was awarded R2.54 million of Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) seed funding for four technology development projects to commence in the year 2023. In relation to licensing, UP, together with the CSIR concluded a license agreement with a major industry player in the animal vaccine market.

The name of the company cannot be disclosed due to confidentiality.

This transaction is of significant importance since the company will be producing and commercialising a cattle-tick vaccine.

Other UP technologies that have received noteworthy licensing interest from industry (this includes intellectual property) are:

• Asthma Grid: An early warning system that can predict imminent asthma attacks developed by Mr Moses Kebalepile, in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Research Officer in the Department for Education Innovation.

• Non-Invasive Method for Malaria Detection. An existing licensee has expressed an interest to buy out the UP intellectual property, and this is undergoing IP valuation.

Dr Mia Wege, a scientist and lecturer in the Department of Zoology and Entomology at the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, was part of an international research team that made the groundbreaking discovery of the world’s largest fish breeding colony in the Weddell Sea off the coast of Antarctica.

Ranked among the top 1% of universities globally in 14 of the 22 Essential Science Indicator (ESI) fields, and the only university in SA to feature in Economics and Business

Researchers in the top 1% of the world

• Professor Rangan Gupta in Economics and Business (University of Pretoria)

• Professor Mike Wingfield in Plant and Animal Sciences (University of Pretoria)

• Professor Yves Van der Peer in Cross-field (Ghent University Belgium with secondary affiliation University of Pretoria)

World Rankings

51 ACTIVE RESEARCH CHAIRS

Industry

Above average staff outputs per capita research output value: All public universities

Robust research outputs

Weighted research outputs per academic staff: UP 2.24

Patently innovative

Increasing public understanding

Research Matters and Re.Search magazine help communicate our researchers’ findings in accessible ways. Educating the public on why rigorous scientific endeavour is necessary, and even more critical at a time when non-scientific views, which could have disastrous consequences, are gaining popularity.

Top researchers

During UP’s Academic Achievers Awards ceremony, the Chancellor’s Award for Research went to:

Prof Nigel C Bennett, Department of Zoology and Entomology. He holds the Austin Roberts Chair of African Mammalogy at the Mammal Research Institute. His research record ranks him among the best researchers studying social regulation of reproduction in any group of mammals in the world.

Prof De Wet Swanepoel, Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, where he directs research for the WHO Collaborating Centre for Prevention of Deafness and Hearing Loss. He has been at the forefront of innovation in digital hearing health technologies and service-delivery models to make ear and hearing healthcare more accessible and affordable.