Wits Research Report

WITS

Top 20 Research Fields

CONTENTS

Message from the Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Zeblon Vilakazi Message from the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation, Professor Lynn Morris Report from the Director: Research Development, Dr Robin Drennan

FACULTY OF COMMERCE, LAW AND MANAGEMENT

Report from the Dean, Professor Imraan Valodia

• Towards the Constitutional promise of equality and justice: Professor Cathi Albertyn, National Research Foundation South African Research Chair in Equality, Law and Social Justice

• Why are women still primarily responsible for unpaid care work? Dr Odile Mackett

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Report from the Dean, Professor Thokozani Majozi

• The success of the Department of Science and Innovation-National Research Foundation (DSI-NRF) Centre of Excellence in Strong Materials

• Lighting up wireless optical technologies at the Wits Optical Communication Laboratory

FACULTY OF HEALTH SCIENCES

Report from the Dean, Professor Shabir Madhi

• Confronting Covid-19 and co-morbidities in African populations

• The Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform – a global driving force in drug delivery

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES

Report from the Dean, Professor Garth Stevens

• The Wits Centre for Journalism

• Gender and Germs and a Rising Star

FACULTY OF SCIENCE

Report from the Dean, Professor Nithaya Chetty

• Image of black hole shows its magnetic field is strong enough to resist gravity

• Breathing life into bone

WITS COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE

Report from the Chief Executive Officer, Mr Duncan Raftesath

• A new framework for evidence-based policymaking in Africa

• A proposed model to improve engagement in mining

WITS UNIVERSITY DONALD GORDON MEDICAL CENTRE

Report from the Research Director, Dr June Fabian

• Training colorectal cancer specialists

• Confronting childhood cancer

WITS HEALTH CONSORTIUM

Report from the Chief Executive Officer, Mr Alfred Farrell

• The Sisonke Covid-19 vaccine trial: SA’s pioneering effort to protect healthcare workers

• FINDing Covid-19 infections digitally in taxi ranks

MESSAGE FROM THE VICE-CHANCELLOR AND PRINCIPAL, PROFESSOR ZEBLON VILAKAZI

A pandemic, potential, and purpose

In 2021, Wits University is on the cusp of its centenary, which provides an opportune moment to reflect on a century of outstanding research, and to build on our successes as we cast our gaze to the future. If we look through our time tunnel, we can confirm that the commitment to academic and research excellence upon which this University was founded, endures.

World events during the year under review demonstrate that, while South Africa may have some of the best scientists in the world, we operate in a challenging context characterised by global asymmetries of power and the associated projections.

If we are to secure our own future, we must address these major societal and planetary emergencies from our vantage point.

Wits University must remain the reference point in Africa for medicine, to ensure better healthcare for all. We need to be at the forefront of science in fields that stretch from deep mining in the bowels of the Earth, to the frontiers of space exploration. We must ensure that we integrate the convergence of the digital exponential with the biophysical world to benefit society. We must ensure our sustainability while urgently addressing the climate emergency. At the same time, we must address the scourge of inequality and gender-based harm.

MMXXI

Wits celebrates 99 years of excellence in 2021. Since its inception in 1922, the University has been a social leader, tackling key issues in society, standing up for what is right, and leading from the front, where others have not ventured. The second year of the global Covid-19 pandemic, 2021 also prompts reflection

on a year characterised by change and uncertainty, yet silver-lined with stories of progress, resilience, and hope that enable us to advance as humanity. We launched the Wits Quantum initiative – an African first – and formed the Wits Earth Sciences cluster, amongst other projects.

Members of the Wits community have made remarkable efforts in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, be it through their research, teaching and learning efforts, clinical work, the production of personal protection equipment, the application of big data to predict the spread of the virus, running world-class Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials, and engaging in essential community outreach projects across Gauteng. Wits also partnered with the public and private sectors to ensure that as many staff and students were vaccinated as soon as possible. Staff and students engaged in several education, social and advocacy initiatives around Covid-19.

We need to build on these strong foundations for Wits to become an undisputed global University, one that is rooted in Africa and, using our multidisciplinary strengths, is poised to tackle the complex problems of the 21st Century from the perspective of the Global South.

Wits has an important role to play in the future of South Africa, on the continent, and internationally. How do we harness the talent and the resources that we have at our disposal to craft a new future for Wits, to create hope in society, and to use our centenary to change the lives of people, for good? Our centenary in 2022 may just provide that ‘moonshot moment’.

ProfessorZeblonVilakazi Vice-ChancellorandPrincipal

"Since its inception in 1922, Wits has been a social leader, tackling key issues in society, standing up for what is right, and leading from the front, where others have not ventured."

Message

from the Deputy ViceChancellor:

Research and Innovation, Professor Lynn Morris

In 2021, my first year as Deputy ViceChancellor: Research and Innovation, Wits scholars published 4 405 articles of all types in the Web of Science index, a remarkable achievement. Within the year, these articles attracted over 17 200 citations, a testament to their quality and relevance. This performance was reflected in the fractional author count system used for submissions to the Department of Higher Education and Training. The 2021 submission was the largest ever, standing at 2 545 units, which is 28% more than that submitted in 2020. The average growth over five years is 24%. Overall, a successful year of published research.

Crossdisciplinary research excellence

The human side of this equation, beyond the numbers, is the breadth and quality of research undertaken in the University. Since taking office, I have managed to speak with academics that are pursuing research programmes in an array of areas, spanning Architecture through Zoology. Although there are ‘hot spots’ of research focus, as shown in the word cloud in Figure 1, the spread is quite extraordinary. Yet a common thread in these interesting conversations is the passion that Wits academics have for their research and for their postgraduate students. This augurs well for our vision of producing research with

impact and postgraduate students that are engaged in their communities.

Our academics and researchers have achieved phenomenally in the national and international arena. For example, Wits made a clean sweep at the National Science and Technology Forum awards, securing six out of the 11 awards available. Amongst other academics’ accolades, Professor Shabir Madhi was honoured with the prestigious Harry Oppenheimer Award, Professor Roy Shires won the International Excellence in Endocrinology Award, and Professor Paul Ruff was awarded CANSA’s apex award.

Wits researchers announced more than 15 major discoveries in 2021. These range from the expected – for example, the pioneering work conducted on the Covid-19 vaccine trials – to the unexpected – for example, dinosaurs that hunt in the dark, the use of nuclear radiation to protect rhinos, and Professor Andrew Forbes’ work on light. In all cases, these findings are characterised by excellent scholarship.

Although we are exceedingly proud of these achievements, this success has led to unplanned constraints that may influence the future. An extended period of increasing research productivity and increasing numbers of postgraduate students, without increased staff count, has led to pressure on our supervision capacity. This became apparent during the preparation of the self-evaluation report required by the Council of Higher Education’s (CHE) assessment of PhD training across the sector. It has triggered detailed planning of key interventions that will be implemented during 2022.

Innovation, For Good

The strategic focus of the research and postgraduate student portfolio was expanded in 2021, to focus on innovation. Naturally, this change in focus is to be achieved without ignoring the importance of research and postgraduate student training. It was clear to me that striking the right balance amongst these interrelated but distinct activities will be key to our continued success.

Figure1:ThemicrocitationtopicwordcloudforWitsin2021

Building on a 100-year tradition of excellence in scholarship, innovative ideas and excellent student training is the goal. After assembling a dynamic and relevant leadership team, we collectively embarked on developing an innovation strategy. Out of this work a Wits Innovation Centre (WIC) arose and we have appointed a Director for Innovation. Our concept of innovation is broad and inclusive: We understand it to be an uptake of the knowledge we produce via postgraduate student training that makes a positive impact on the communities in which the University is embedded. It also benefits from the interaction of researchers with society, NGOs, industry, and government so that the new knowledge is relevant and beneficial. Innovation is seen at Wits to be a scholarly pursuit that can at times involve commercialisation.

Next generation researchers

Several supportive interventions were made in 2021 to stimulate this mix of research, innovation and postgraduate scholarship. The Vitamin C programme, which encourages Wits academics passing out of the early career stage, to work towards National Research Foundation C-ratings,

was one such programme. The C-rating indicates that an academic has become independent and is able to ‘fly solo’ in their research programme. This in turn means they can supervise postgraduate students, especially PhDs.

The Rapid RINC programme was another intervention. This programme brings research incentive funding to academics quickly, more than halving the normal delivery time, enabling them to seed new research projects or support postgraduate students. Simultaneously, we recruited an experienced person to help project manage the submission of multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional grant applications to international funders.

Postgraduate research management

Other interventions conceived in 2021 for completion in 2022 are the graduate pathing system, aimed at helping postgraduate students plan their way efficiently through their degrees, and the bursary portal, aimed at matching postgraduate funding opportunities with funding needs in an efficient and effective manner.

I look forward to 2022 where further strategic plans will be developed and implemented to realise the full research potential of our great University in its centenary year and beyond.

ProfessorLynnMorris DeputyVice-Chancellor: ResearchandInnovation

REPORT FROM THE DIRECTOR: RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT, DR ROBIN DRENNAN

2021 was a significant research year for Wits University. Our scholars published over 4 400 items of all types in the Web of Science index, and they attracted over 17 200 citations. The Wits submission to the Department of Higher Education and Training, using the fractional author count system, was the largest ever: 2 545 units, which is 28% more than that submitted in 2020.

Was this stellar performance in 2021 a ‘flash in the pan’ prompted, somehow, by the first unusual year of 2020, ‘the Covid year’? The data indicate that this is not the case. In fact, the growth in 2021 is behind the trend line that has a regression of correlation of 0.97, as shown in Figure 2.

R² = 0,9734

Research by the Numbers

Another question is if the productivity increased at the expense of quality? Again, data from the Web of Science indicate that this is not the case. Figure 3 is a plot of the number of Wits authored journal publications in the five-year period, 2017 to 2021 by eight journal quartiles based on average citation rates. The growth has come in quartile one and two journals only.

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Figure3:WitsauthoredjournalarticlesintheWebofScienceindexbyjournalquartile:2017to2021

The range of fields in which research was published is interesting. Figure 4 is a plot of the top 25 fields based on the number of publications in a five-year period, 2017 to 2021.

Pharmacology & Pharmacy Economics Nuclear Physics Archaeology Health Care Sciences & Services Oncology Surgery Ecology Evolutionary Biology Virology Astronomy & Astrophysics Materials Science Pediatrics Mathematics Microbiology

Engineering, Electrical & Electronic Geosciences, Multidisciplinary Area Studies

Education & Educational Research Anthropology Environmental Sciences Physics, Particles & Fields Immunology Infectious Diseases Public, Environmental & Occupational Health

Number of Journal Articles Qruartile 1 journals Qruartile 2 journals Qruartile 3 journals Qruartile 4 journals 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000

Web of Science publications

Figure4:Top25fieldsofresearchbasedonnumberofpublications:2017to2021

Research by the Numbers

In Figure 5, these top 25 research fields are ranked by their category normalised citation index, 1 being the global average:

Anthropology Nuclear Physics Astronomy & Astrophysics Archaeology Microbiology

Physics, Particles & Fields Ecology Infectious Diseases

Public, Environmental & Occupational Health Area Studies Immunology

Evolutionary Biology Pediatrics Health Care Sciences & Services Surgery

Geosciences, Multidisciplinary Environmental Sciences Economics Virology Pharmacology & Pharmacy Mathematics Engineering, Electrical & Electronic Education & Educational Research Oncology Materials Science

0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3

Figure5:Top25fieldsofresearchbynumberofpublications,rankedbycategorynormalisedcitationimpact:2017to2021

The overall picture given by these data is that research across many disciplines is alive and well and mostly above global norms of quality and impact.

It is a pleasure to be part of a University that places so much value on quality research.

DrRobinDrennan Director:ResearchandDevelopment

Faculty of Commerce, Law And Management

Report from the Dean, Professor Imraan Valodia

Research with social impact remains the Faculty’s key priority and we emphasise the practical value of applied and professional research. The Faculty’s research entities, including the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS), the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS), the Mandela Institute, and the Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results (CLEAR AA) continue to provide invaluable services to practitioners and intellectual guidance to policy makers.

The Faculty hosts numerous public lectures and debates via webinars on topics of contemporary national and international interest. Particularly during the pandemic and the lockdown period, CLM academics provided guidance and inputs into our understanding of the pandemic and its effects on society.

The year 2021 marked a significant milestone for the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (CLM) as it breached the 300 publication units ceiling. The Faculty almost doubled its publication output, from 160 units in 2014, to over 300 units in 2021.

During 2021, CLM academics continued to contribute to the public discourse and the quest of finding solutions to the pandemic. We continue to enhance Wits’ reputation and collaborative networks in areas of economics, finance, business, law, governance, and public administration.

The Faculty’s research footprint in 2021 included more than 250 journal articles with a strong emphasis on international visibility. Publications in international accredited journals account for 90% of all journal

articles. Additionally, the Faculty published an unprecedented number of books and book chapters across the schools including:

The Oxford Handbook of The South African economy, with contributions from staff across the Faculty

Corporate Governance and Accountability, School of Accountancy

"The year 2021 marked a significant milestone for the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (CLM) as it breached the 300 publication units ceiling."

Assurance, risk and governance, School of Accountancy

Transitional justice in Africa: The Case of Zimbabwe, Wits School of Governance

Digital business, Wits Business School

South Africa and the world: A political economy journey through time, Wits Business School

Wrecking Ball: Why permanent technological unemployment, a predictable pandemic and other wicked problems will end South Africa’s experiment in inclusive democracy, School of Law

A Guide to the systems of provision approach: Who gets what, how and why, Wits School of Governance

Individual schools cement their positions as knowledge hubs. The School of Law has been ranked by Times Higher Education (T.H.E) as one of the top 150 law schools globally. Additionally, almost all other disciplines in CLM schools improved their rankings in the 2021 QS rankings compared to 2020.

Across the schools, the Faculty boasts the NRF SARChI Research Chair in Equality, Law and Social Justice, over 40 NRF-rated researchers, and 10 research chairs.

Administrative law in South Africa, an updated edition by the School of Law

Human rights and the transformation of property, School of Law

The Faculty has been successful in pursuing its research goals and strengthening its research profile. The Faculty continues to draw on its unique combination of expertise to grapple with and contribute solutions to the economic and social challenges facing South Africa and, more broadly, the developing world.

ProfessorImraanValodia Dean:FacultyofCommerce, LawandManagement

Research highlight

Towards the constitutional promise of equality and justice

Professor Cathi Albertyn, National Research Foundation South African Research Chair in Equality, Law and Social Justice

The field of law is traditionally concerned with analysing the principles, rules, and procedures established by legislation and courts that regulate and preserve a country’s social and economic order. In South Africa, however, law was central not only to constructing and maintaining the deep racial inequalities of colonialism and apartheid, but a fundamental tool in the creation of a new democratic order. It is this ability of law to entrench injustice and inequality, or pursue a more egalitarian and just society, that is at the centre for Professor Cathi Albertyn’s research.

In pursuit of an egalitarian society

After completing a PhD on South African political trials at Cambridge University, Albertyn joined the Wits Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) to start its highly respected Gender Project. This became a key legal resource for the women’s movement as it advocated for inclusion in the new Constitution. After democracy, Albertyn’s research focused on the interpretation of the equality right and its application in law and practice, with a particular emphasis on gender and the law.

Her work on equality law and women’s rights earned her national and international recognition, culminating in her appointment to the National Research Foundation (NRF) South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) Chair in Equality, Law and Social Justice in 2018, and a B1 rating from the NRF in 2020, making her the highest ranked researcher in the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management.

Albertyn’s B1 rating citation recognises that her work on equality is conceptually sophisticated, challenges entrenched paradigms, and is often considered groundbreaking. Her research has been widely cited, including by South African courts and the Indian Supreme Court.

The work of the Chair on Equality, Law and Social Justice is wide-ranging, focusing on the constitutional and legal meanings of equality; how these definitions are and potentially can be translated into different laws; how effective these laws are in practice; and the role of courts in the achievement of equality and social justice.

The role of law and courts in achieving equality

The achievement of the constitutional promise of equality and social justice is a complex question entailing the state of politics and the economy, policy and legislative choices, and their implementation and enforcement. The work of the Chair addresses a small part of this complex question, namely the role of law and courts in enabling, advancing, or preventing the constitutional promise of equality.

Albertyn’s early work as SARChI Chair further developed the theoretical framework of transformative, substantive equality as a basis for evaluating law and jurisprudence. Finding the existing law to be powerful in its ability to include outsider groups, such as persons in same-sex relationships, she has argued that its transformative potential is limited.

Her arguments for equality of condition – namely an understanding of equality that addresses the structural and systemic conditions of social and economic inequality – is beginning to gain traction in academia and the judiciary, where it has been twice cited by the South African Constitutional Court.

More important to Albertyn, however, are the ways in which her work is taken up and developed by postgraduate students and young researchers, signifying a new, critical, and engaged generation of scholars invested in the role of law in tackling the deep inequalities of our country.

ProfessorCathiAlbertyn,NationalResearch FoundationSouthAfricanResearchChairin Equality,LawandSocialJustice

WHY ARE WOMEN STILL PRIMARILY RESPONSIBLE FOR UNAPID CARE WORK?

At a time when women have gained access to almost every segment of society which had previously been the exclusive domain of men, why are women still primarily responsible for unpaid care work? This labour, prescribed by gender roles, is the responsibility of women in all societies around the world. This unpaid work includes cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, caring for children, the elderly, the sick, and many other duties. This unpaid work not only places constraints on women’s time, but also leaves them more energy depleted than men.

Dr Odile Mackett’s research aims to interrogate why this remains women’s work and how we can think differently about the value of this work, as argued in her article in New Agenda. As a feminist economist focussed on labour economics, she works from the premise that this unpaid labour

should also be considered legitimate work. Without it, our societies and economies cannot function.

The household as an economic institution

In the context of growing female employment over the last few decades, this responsibility has become a key driving factor of inequality in the labour market. Mackett interrogated this in a paper published in the Journal of International Women’s Studies in 2021. These inequalities materialise in several ways: Women tend to be paid less than men for the same job, women tend to be overrepresented in low-status occupations and in positions which do not have as much decisionmaking responsibilities. All of these contribute to the gender wage inequalities which characterise the South African labour market.

Although numerous policy approaches have been put forth to address this issue, many of these fail to address the root causes of gender inequalities, many of which stem from the household. These inequalities include women’s continued responsibility for housework (or the individuals they employ to perform such housework on their behalf), despite women’s growing involvement in paid wage work, as well as the way boys and girls are socialised into their respective gender roles – not only in the home,

but also in other arenas where they spend their time, such as in school or religious institutions.

As the unemployment rate persistently rises, Mackett believes that economists need to become more concerned with what happens outside of the productive economy (where goods and services are exchanged for money). A large segment of the population does not have access to employment opportunities, and it is in private households where they gain access to the resources they need for their daily survival (food, shelter, clothing, and other forms of care) and it is often the women in these households who provide such care.

In this context, the household becomes an important institution, ensuring the survival of millions of people in South Africa daily. Mackett’s research highlights the importance of recognising the household as a legitimate economic institution which reproduces the productive economy. To address disparities in the productive economy (such as gender wage inequalities, for instance), addressing household inequalities, and exploring why these persist in modern society, becomes pivotal.

DrOdileMackett

Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment

Report from the Dean, Professor Thokozani Majozi

The Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, which comprises seven schools, is one of the best in South Africa for research. In collaboration with industry and public sector organisations, the Faculty is committed to conducting innovative research to solve societal problems and improve the quality of life.

The Faculty enrolled 2 203 postgraduate students in 2021 and graduated 230 master’s degree by coursework and research (which contributed 94 research units), 89 master’s degree by dissertation, and 29 PhDs by thesis. A total of 384 students qualified in 2021.

In 2021, the Faculty’s research output grew by 34% compared to 2020, i.e., 227.73 research units were generated in 2021 compared to 169.90 research units in 2020. Several scholars in Faculty either authored or edited books, namely: Acid Mine Drainage: From waste to resources, by Professor Geoffrey S. Simate and Professor Sehliselo Ndlovu, Professor Hilton Judin’s Architecture, state modernism and cultural nationalism in the apartheid capital, as well as his and others’ Falling monuments, reluctant ruins: The persistence of the past in the architecture of apartheid.

by Geoffrey S. Simate Sehliselo Ndlovu

TheFacultygeneratesresearchofhighquality,evidencedby ProfessorTurgayCelikintheSchoolofElectricalandInformation Engineering,whomStanfordUniversityidentifiedamongstthet op2%ofscientistsinhisfieldworldwide.Inthesameschool, DrMitchellCoxco-authoredthemostcitedpaperintheJournal oftheOpticalSocietyofAmericaB:OpticalPhysicsin2021.

Furthermore, Web of Science data show that over 10% of the Faculty’s research outputs are contained in the top 10% of the publications based on citations by category, year, and document type. This is greater than the global baseline of 9%.

There is no doubt that National Research Foundation (NRF) rating is a valuable tool for benchmarking the quality of South African researchers against the best in the world. Several researchers in the Faculty are considered leaders in their fields and recognised for their excellent research and expertise, locally and internationally. In 2021, the Faculty was home to 48 NRF-rated researchers and hosted three South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) Chairs, namely: the Chair in Sustainable Process Engineering; the Chair in Hydrometallurgy and Sustainable Development; and the Chair in Spatial Analysis and City Planning. The Chair in Clean Coal Technology remained vacant.

The Faculty houses six externally funded centres including the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering, two Transnet Centres for Systems Engineering, and the Wits Mining Institute.

The Wits Mining Institute houses the South African Mining Extraction RDI (SAMERDI) Research Centre, in which the Successful Application of Technology Centred Around People (SATCAP) and the Real-Time Information Management Systems (RTIMS) centres were established in 2021. These centres aim to facilitate the development of skills, capacity, and capability in mining

research, development, and innovation. The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) funds these two centres through the SAMERDI strategy and via the Mandela Mining Precinct contract with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

In the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Professor Adesola Ilemobade and PhD candidate Roux Xanthe are part of a multidisciplinary team from Wits, which landed an 18-month contract valued at R916 000 to review and amend the City of Joburg’s 2002 Sanitation Policy. In the same school, Dr Luis Alberto Torres Cruz secured funding of R639 000 from Fraser Alexander to finance research investigating the potential of remote sensing in monitoring tailings dams.

Research in the Faculty is supported by world-class facilities that have been used to explore models, materials, systems, and technologies. In this regard, the Faculty has significantly contributed to technological performance and/or innovation in South Africa, as our 13 innovation disclosures, 25 active innovations and two spin-out companies demonstrate. Incorporation is pending for two other spin-out companies. There are also several funding offers for technology development and commercialization.

Overall, the Faculty raised R27.1 million from external funders in 2021. Despite some notable achievements by the Faculty, there has been significant reduction in external funding over the past few years. This is

attributable to a shrinkage in industrial activities due to unstable power supply and global economic downturn, and because the levels of funding from state enterprises such as ESKOM and PRASA respectively have shifted significantly. Historically, state enterprises provided a far greater share of funding than industry – the Faculty previously hosted ESKOM and PRASAfunded research entities.

Furthermore, significant growth in undergraduate student numbers continues to place enormous pressure on resources and academic capacity to both teach and research, despite increased research output expectations. Sustaining the Faculty’s contributions to the University’s and national development thus remains a major challenge.

ProfessorThokozaniMajozi Dean:FacultyofEngineering andtheBuiltEnvironment

ProfessorTurgayCelikStanford DrMitchellCox

Research Highlight

The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)National Research Foundation (NRF) Centre of Excellence in Strong Materials (CoE-SM), hosted at Wits University, was established in 2004. It receives its final funding in 2022 and will close in 2023.

Strong materials to support industry

The CoE-SM aimed originally to develop the networks, research, training, and infrastructural capacity in strong materials for research institutions to support industry. This required developing applied materials with mechanical properties that can perform in aggressive, extreme temperature, high pressure, and corrosive environments, and under radiation.

A move to mining

talent

Later, the requirements changed to emphasise transformation in line with the DSI’s demographic requirements. This proved challenging occasionally as the CoE-SM competed with industry to attract and retain excellent demographically representative candidates.

Researchers and students span disciplines that include Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering,

Aeronautical Engineering, and Materials and Metallurgical Engineering. This range enables a broad, cross-disciplinary approach and co-supervision that is beneficial to students. Almost all supervisors hold PhDs and, if they don’t, they pursue doctorates. To date, over 70 companies have employed CoE-SM graduates.

Research and graduate excellence

Researchers and students alike have won prizes and accolades, including three National Science and Technology ForumSouth32 awards, two Tata awards, and 10 patents. Some 885 papers have been published eliciting over 10 866 citations

Of the 650 journal papers recognised by the Web of Science, 85 (13.08%) were in the top 10% in their field, and 203 (31.23%) were in the top quartile (Q1).

The CoE-SM helped to establish the Materials course at Wits and helped the University of Namibia with its Materials curriculum.

Transformative resources

CoE-SM researchers have collaborated with some 120 entities locally and globally to access expertise and acquire the equipment required to train students and conduct cutting-edge research. This equipment has included:

• 2 atomic force microscopes

• 5 electron microscopes

• Differential thermal analyser

• Gleeble thermal-mechanical simulator

• Raman spectrometer

• Spark plasma sintering furnace

• X-ray spectrometer, and a planetary ball mill

Strengthening the pipeline

A major achievement of the CoE-SM has been the outreach competition for schools, which started as a Materials Trail, evolved into a video, and finally became a poster targeted at Grade 10 learners. Although usually sponsored by varying entities, the German Embassy in South Africa sponsored

the prizes in 2016, which included a scientific trip to Germany for the winning school. Element Six – a De Beers Group company – awarded medals from 2008 to 2021 to the top undergraduates in Materials courses.

Collaborations flex funding

• The CoE-SM has successfully leveraged funds and brought in, on average, 115% of the funding provided by the National Research Foundation.

• There has been support from the Carnegie-IAS Regional Initiative in Science and Education for the African Materials Science and Engineering Network (AMSEN), which ran from 2009 to 2016 and had nodes in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, and South Africa.

• About 50% of researchers at the highly successful Materials for Energy Research Group (MERG) were from the CoE-SM. MERG was one of the building blocks for the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) CoEMEN. From 2015 to 2017, MERG had collaborations with Germany and a bilateral agreement with Italy (on Plasmonics) for more efficient solar cells.

• The ARUA CoE for Materials, Energy and Nanotechnology Alliance (ARUA CoE-MEN) originated in the CoE-SM and continues much of the work of the CoE-SM with a more open structure. The UKRI currently funds the CoE-MEN.

Over 17 years, the CoE-SM has been privy to many changes across varying interest, researchers, and funding mechanisms. It also functioned through South Africa’s decreasing financial stability, student protests, and a global pandemic, which proved particularly challenging in 2020/2021. The CoE-SM weathered these storms, however, and continued its contribution to research, capacity-building and transformation in South Africa in 2021.

SNAPSHOT OF THE DSI-NRF CoE-SM

COE-SM HOST

INSTITUTION

Wits University

FOCUS AREAS

• Carbides and Cermets

• Carbon Nanotubes and Strong Composites

• Ceramic Materials

• Diamond, Thin Hard Films and Related Materials

• New Ultrahard Materials and Strong Metallic Alloys

COE-SM MEMBERS

• Nelson Mandela University

• Rhodes University

• Stellenbosch University

• University of Cape Town (since 2020)

• University of Johannesburg

• University of KwaZulu-Natal

• University of Limpopo

PARTNERS

• Element Six (prior to its relocation to the UK)

• iThemba Labs (Faure/ Somerset West)

• iThemba Labs (Gauteng)

• Mintek (particularly the Advanced Materials Initiative)

• South African Nuclear Energy Corporation

Research Highlight

LIGHTING UP WIRELESS OPTICAL TECHNOLOGIES AT THE WITS

OPTICAL COMMUNICATION LABORATORY

Imagine beaming light from a fibre-connected suburban home, with a 3D-printed wireless optical communication system, to a school in an informal settlement across the road –thereby providing learners with high-speed, reliable internet access.

This is how the Wits Optical Communication Laboratory (OC Lab), established just under five years ago in the School of Electrical and Information Engineering, plans to bridge the peri-urban digital divide in South Africa. The two-year project, which commenced in 2021, is funded by the UK Royal Academy of Engineering in collaboration with the University of Glasgow and Aston University.

Mobile access technologies are used daily and, with the evolution of 4G, 5G –and eventually 6G and beyond – service providers need to deliver increasingly fast internet access to a proliferation of

cell towers dotted on every street corner, exposed rooftop, and artificial palm tree.

In the aftermath of dug-up sidewalks and roads, one wonders if there is a way to deliver fibre-like internet, without the expense and inconvenience of installing actual fibre. This is what the OC Lab aims to do.

In addition to the long-range, high-speed wireless optical technology research, scientists at the OC Lab are also interested in shorter-range challenges and their solutions. The lab conducts research in visible light communications – often called ‘LiFi’ – using technologies found in LED light bulbs and combined with other existing infrastructure, such as power lines, to connect Internet of Things devices, provide indoor location services, high-speed wireless access, vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-toinfrastructure data communication.

Much of this LiFi research is in partnership with Tsinghua University in China, one joint project of which, ‘Internet of Light’, won the World Summit on the Information Society 2021 Champion Project Prize. The ‘Hybrid Visible Light Communication for Internet Industry’ project was awarded the 15th Beijing Innovation Champion Project Gold Prize in 2021.

By making use of novel, structured laser beams where all the degrees of freedom of light are tailored, the OC Lab is searching for ways to further the range, speed, and innovative applications of wireless optical communications. The OC Lab is growing rapidly and, with the support of the school, University, and various funding agencies, has been fortunate to establish a laboratory that has the potential to evolve into a unique and world-class facility in the field of wireless optical communications.

Faculty of Health Sciences

Report from the Dean: Professor Shabir Madhi

The year under review continued to be marred by the Covid-19 pandemic. This was further compounded by the devastating fire which took place at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital (CMJAH) on 16 April 2021. The subsequent closure of the hospital continues to have a significant impact on the clinical services and the training of a range of health sciences students at the University, including impacting the research agenda of the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Despite these challenges, the Faculty’s researchers continue to make remarkable progress through outstanding work. In 2021, these advances ranged from studies challenging the presumption that all South-Eastern-Bantu speaking groups are a single genetic entity; evidence that the SARS-CoV-2 501Y.V2 variant (first detected in South Africa) is resistant to neutralization by blood from people previously infected with the original variant; and publishing results of South Africa’s first Covid-19 vaccine clinical trial.

During 2021, the Faculty housed eight Department of Science and Technology/

National Research Foundation South African Research Chairs, four Centres of Excellence, five South African Medical Research Council research units, and 25 University Research and Innovation Committee (UR&IC)-recognised research entities. Ninety-six members of Faculty were recognised as National Research Foundation (NRF)-rated researchers during 2021, including 10 academics newly or again NRF A-rated. The Faculty graduated 85 PhDs and 453 master’s students in 2021.

The Faculty’s research output in 2021 resulted in high-ranking recognition at the National Research Foundation. Furthermore, the total Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) research output units allocated to the Faculty were approximately 1395. There was an increase in the number of publication outputs and postgraduate completions during 2021 compared to 2020, tallying up to the Faculty contributing 969, 42 verified DHET publication units in 2021; a 67% increase from 2020.

Demonstrating that South African scientists have the capability and skills to tackle

serious health challenges, the Antiviral Gene Therapy Research Unit (AGTRU), under the auspices of Wits Commercial Enterprise, in March 2021 announced an official partnership with Cape Town based biopharmaceutical company, Biovac. AGTRU has specialised expertise in advancing gene therapy for viral infection. Viruses can be genetically engineered for gene therapy to treat genetic diseases, viral infections, develop vaccines, and boost immunity.

Faculty researchers were awarded significant research and implementation grants, further evidence of the research excellence and international standing of the Faculty researchers. For the third year running, Faculty researchers secured grant funding of approximately R2.8 billion for research and development aid work purposes. The Faculty continues its legacy of being the largest in South Africa and was ranked 101-150 in Clinical Medicine and 76-100 in Public Health by the World Universities Shanghai Ranking’s Global Ranking in 2021.

ProfessorShabirMadhi Dean:FacultyofHealthSciences

ASSAf Gold Medal

ProfessorShabirMadhi,vaccinologistand DeanoftheFacultyofHealthSciences, receivedtheAcademyofScienceofSouth Africa(ASSAf)ScienceforSocietyGold Medalin2021foroutstandingachievementin scientificthinkingtothebenefitofsociety.

NSTF-South32 Innovation Award

ProfessorBaveshKanaandhisteamreceived the2021NationalScienceandTechnology Forum(NSTF)-South32InnovationAward: CorporateOrganisation,forinnovationsand researchand/ordevelopmentbyateamoran individualoverthelastfiveto10years.

Vice-Chancellor’s Innovation Award

ProfessorYahyaChoonara(left),Associate ProfessorPradeepKumar(right),andthelate ProfessorVinessPillayreceivedtheViceChancellor’sAwardforInnovationfortheir WaferMat™WaferMatrixTechnologyforUltraFastDrugRelease.

IN AFRICAN POPULATIONS

The overwhelming prevalence of HIV infection in Africa and South Africa is of grave concern to the population as it poses a substantial threat to mortality. In 2021, the second year of the pandemic, people living with HIV were at an increased risk of fatal outcome when admitted to hospital for severe Covid-19 compared with HIV-negative individuals.

South Africa’s first Covidvaccine trials

Scientists in the Wits Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit (Wits VIDA) led a study that aimed to assess safety and immunogenicity of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine (ChAdOx1 nCov-19 [AZD1222] in people living with HIV and HIV-negative individuals in South Africa.

Findings of this Phase 1B/2A clinical trial showed that the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine was well tolerated and showed favourable safety and immunogenicity in people with HIV, including heightened immunogenicity in SARS-CoV-2 baselineseropositive participants. The findings were published in the prestigious high-impact journal The Lancet HIV on 17 August 2021.

This trail by Wits VIDA was found to be the only Covid-19 vaccine that evaluated safe use and efficiency for people living with HIV. The outcome meant that HIV as a pre-existing condition to people exposed to patients affected by Covid-19 had much higher risks of poor outcomes, as they doubled and, in some cases even tripled, patients’ risk of fatality.

The African Covid-19 Critical Care Outcomes Study

The findings of the HIV and Covid-19 study above informed the African Covid-19 Critical Care Outcomes Study (ACCCOS). ACCCOS aimed to determine which resources, co-morbidities, and critical care interventions are associated with mortality in critically ill Africans. This multi-country study targeting the African population found that patients who died had a high likelihood of a higher degree of organ dysfunction, which required respiratory and cardiovascular support in intensive care. The study was published in The Lancet on 22 May 2021.

Illustrationcredit LisaNelson

A GLOBAL DRIVING FORCE IN DRUG DELIVERY

The Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform (WADDP) is Africa’s first, largest and only entity contributing to the design of novel targeted drug delivery systems, nanomedicine, functional biomaterials, and regenerative medicines.

Drug delivery systems refer to technologies that carry drugs into or throughout the body. These technologies include the method of delivery, such as a pill that one swallows, or a vaccine that is injected. It is the method or process of administering a pharmaceutical compound to achieve a therapeutic effect in humans.

Through the discovery, design, and development of first-in-the-world pharmaceutical therapies, WADDP undertakes translational pharmaceutical research and generates intellectual property as a solution that can have a clinically meaningful impact.

Since its establishment in 2007, the WADDP has produced over 43 patents with 21 patents granted internationally in the USA, Europe, China, India, and Japan. This scale of Intellectual Property contribution has positioned the WADDP as the largest patent portfolio in its domain in South Africa.

WADDP has made notable scholarly contributions to pharmaceutical research in South Africa. By December 2021, over 350 articles had been published in ISIaccredited international journals. In 2021, the WADDP also developed the world’s fastest dissolving matrix; the WaferMat™ dissolves in 0.48 seconds. This matrix enables Ultrafast Wafer drug delivery in patients, without the need for water, chewing or swallowing. Its applications include assisting patients in areas that include cancer pain, sleep, wound care, and biologics.

InvivoevaluationofanUltra-fastDisintegrating Wafermatrix,previouslypublishedinthe JournalofDrugDeliverySciencebyProfessor YahyaChoonara,etal,(February2017).

AWitsflagshipunit,theWitsAdvancedDrugDeliveryPlatform envisagesleadingtheworldincreatinginnovativepatientcentricpharmaceuticaltreatmentsolutionsforinfectious, hereditaryandlifestylediseases.

Faculty of Humanities

Report from the Dean: Professor Garth Stevens

The Faculty of Humanities continues to use analytical and critical methods of inquiry to produce new knowledge stemming from an appreciation of human lives, social challenges, opportunities, and innovations. In 2021, the second year of the global pandemic, the Faculty produced meaningful research in response to current and past social and development issues in South Africa, on the African continent and abroad. As such, the Faculty of Humanities remains a core resource for relevant and important research in both the global and local contexts with a unique approach to integrating these perspectives in thoughtful and original ways.

The Faculty hosts renowned and emerging researchers who are ranked highly across higher education measures. Ninetyeight researchers are National Research Foundation (NRF)-rated, including seven who are A-rated, 26 who are B-rated and 65 of whom are C and Y-rated. Furthermore, the Faculty is home to a combination of local and international staff working across various fields and disciplines to produce original and impactful research outputs.

Research in the Faculty interrogates and responds to a range of complex human questions and challenges including violence, gender and sexuality, racism, culture, human migration and refugees, housing, labour, food security, African art, and many others. Research diversity is a Faculty strength.

Our prestigious research entities are key producers of new and cutting-edge knowledge production. The Society, Work and Politics Institute (SWOP); the Wits

Institute for Social and Economic Research (WiSER); the Centre for Researching Education and Labour (REAL); the History Workshop; the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS); and the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies (WiCDS), answer the call for evidence- based quantitative and qualitative research with local and global relevance. In addition, our eight research chairs assist in creating a research trajectory of excellence through identifying key issues including skills development, STEM education, migration and political theory.

Notwithstanding the onset of the pandemic in 2020, Faculty researchers continued to demonstrate resilience, passion, and innovation in 2021 through conceptualising, producing and disseminating research in high-impact journal publications, books, and creative research. A range of funding instruments, first offered in 2020, were continued in 2021 and supported our researchers with the resources necessary to reconsider and adapt traditional methodologies whilst remaining globally relevant and highly productive. The result has been a body of pedagogy-led research and research-based teaching for which we are renowned locally and in Africa. This has also translated into innovative responses to teaching in the pandemic era and has enabled our Faculty to retain its top ranking on the continent.

The Faculty’s submission of 515 Department of Higher Education and Training units in 2021 represents an increase from the 510 output submissions in 2020 and is the highest number ever recorded in the history of the Faculty. The proportion of articles published

in internationally accredited journals increased across all staff ranks. The Faculty has begun investing in book publishing, which is producing positive results and increasing the number of quality outputs. With researchers continuing to need book support, we see this investment in book projects as a continuous marker for quality in the Faculty.

In 2021, we qualified and graduated 816 postgraduate students, with 204 qualified and graduations pending. Humanities graduates are fundamental to social, economic and development reform in Africa and our scholarly commitment to produce high-level graduates remains a key priority for the Faculty of Humanities.

The pandemic in 2021 presented both challenges and opportunities in the Humanities. Our researchers responded to the call for innovative approaches to research and teaching and we published research that has contributed to a better understanding of the impact of the pandemic on human livelihoods and well-being.

The novel approach to our intellectual project remains grounded in locally developed and relevant theory but produced outputs with local and global policy relevance, embedded in the development goals of the region. Humanities research in future must build on the existing knowledge project, which requires investment in innovation and intellectual inquiry. It is only with this commitment that we can continue to be locally impactful and globally relevant.

ProfessorGarthStevens

Dean:FacultyofHumanities

New Wits Centre for Journalism a media innovation hub for Africa

The Wits Centre for Journalism, formerly Wits Journalism in the School of Literature, Language and Media, was established in 2021. The University Research and Innovation Committee approved the establishment of the Centre to engage with the rapidly changing world of African journalism through high-level scholarship and direct professional and public engagement.

thought leadership and practical engagement in journalism. Alumni include some of the leading journalists and media practitioners in the country and abroad.

Postgraduate journalism courses, offered at Honours, Master’s, and PhD levels, are tailor-made for career-entry journalists as well as working journalists who seek to improve their professional skills and knowledge of the media industry.

events and initiatives, including the Taco Kuiper Awards for Investigative Journalism, Jamlab, Africa Check, the Africa-China Reporting Project, and others. The Centre also directly supports investigative journalism, community media, media innovators, amongst others.

The Centre will continue these activities beyond 2021, whilst expanding its focus on Africa, on digital media, and growing its research output. The Centre will serve as both a journalism innovation hub and a resource centre for journalists, academics, and media practitioners in South Africa and the rest of the continent.

Since Wits launched a journalism programme some two decades ago, it has developed a reputation as a leading provider of quality postgraduate teaching,

Besides teaching and research, the Centre’s activities range from hosting major international conferences, such as the Global Investigative Journalism Conference, to key journalistic

GENDER AND GERMS AND A RISING STAR

The second year of the pandemic proved prolific for Associate Professor Peace Kiguwa, who not only co-edited a seminal book, Gender and germs: unmasking war frames in SA's militarised response to Covid-19 but received the Rising Star Fellowship from the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust.

The fellowship provides support to rising talent in academia who have the potential to lead and advance interdisciplinary scholarship. The fellowship is part of the African Studies Future initiative grant, which seeks to reimagine Africa’s future developmental pathways and explore alternative futures.

Kiguwa is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology in the School of Human and Community Development. Her research interests include social movements, race, gender and sexuality, diversity and ethnic conflicts in South Africa and Africa. Her publication record to date includes authorship of more than 35 journal articles, 12 book chapters, and editing four book chapters.

Since Wits awarded her PhD in 2014, for her dissertation titled Telling stories of race: A study of racialized subjectivity in the postgraduate academy, her research interests have expanded and confirmed her interdisciplinary scholarship. The fellowship will enable further expansion of her research into gender, sexualities, and place-making and how these intersect and manifest in society.

Although there is a burgeoning body of scholarly research produced in Africa on ethnic, racial, sexual, and gender diversity (and to a limited extent on queer theory), a focus on localised knowledge, that speaks to different contexts across Africa, is missing. Kiguwa’s research aims to illuminate these localised epistemologies.

The fellowship will also enable Kiguwa to pursue her commitment to mentoring young researchers who are interested in the field of sexualities, genders, queer studies, and race studies. At Wits, these research thrusts are in initiatives such as Women Intellectuals Transforming Scholarship in Education (WITSIE) and the Narrative Enquiry for Social Transformation (NEST).

While Kiguwa’s research is interdisciplinary, she has remained active in Psychology and coordinates the Psychology Master’s programme. She chairs the Sexuality and Gender Division of the national Psychological Society of South Africa.

Testament to Kiguwa’s mentorship and scholarship is the ViceChancellor’s Individual Teaching and Learning Award she received in 2016, which acknowledged that she is “a deeply thoughtful scholar who offers nuanced, fresh ideas that are deeply rooted in a constant rethinking of what the social and psychosocial may mean. In applying her mind to teaching Psychology, she displays an intimate understanding of how teaching and learning, research and community engagement intersect.”

Faculty of Science

Report from the Dean, Professor Nithaya Chetty

The Faculty of Science at Wits University is one of the leading science faculties in South Africa. Our mission is to create, disseminate, and apply scientific knowledge towards advancement and development.

Our researchers make significant contributions to research and evidencebased practice across our various disciplines, housed in nine schools and grouped into four clusters: Mathematical Sciences, Physical Sciences, Earth Sciences, and Biological Sciences.

The Faculty is home to 10 South African Research Chair Initiatives (SARChI) Research Chairs, 13 National Research Foundation (NRF) A-rated researchers, 12 Distinguished Professors, and 14 research entities that are recognised by the University Research and Innovation Committee (UR&IC).

In 2021, researchers in the Faculty continued to conduct impactful and cutting-edge research that contributes new knowledge to the South African systems of innovation and globally. Despite reduced research activities due to Covid-19, Faculty researchers’ tenacity and resilience enabled a record number of 503 publication units from peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings, books, and book chapters. This is an increase in publication units from 493,19 in 2020. Many researchers in the Faculty continue to publish in prestigious, highimpact journals such as Science, Nature Communications, e-Life, Scientific Reports, etc.

Statistics show that the pandemic also affected throughput of postgraduate students in the Faculty. The number of completions of Master’s degrees by coursework and research decreased from 63 in 2020 to 56 in 2021. Master’s degrees by dissertation decreased from 150 (2020) to 104 (2021), while the number of completions of doctoral degrees decreased from 81 (2020) to 66 (2021).

Several Dean’s Select Committees were established in the year under review, the aim of which is to bring selected scientists together to coordinate and drive certain strategic and multidisciplinary areas of research in the Faculty. Such multidisciplinary expertise is apparent in the three Centres of Excellence housed in the Faculty: the Centre of Excellence in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences; the Centre of Excellence in Palaeoscience; and the Centre of Excellence for Integrated Mineral and Energy Resource Analysis.

In particular, the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) Centre of Excellence in Strong Materials and the newly formed African Research and Universities Alliance (ARUA) Centre of Excellence in Energy Materials and Nanotechnology, a notable number of researchers in the Faculty have demonstrated distinction in research, innovation, and human capital development.

ProfessorNithayaChetty Dean:FacultyofScience

"The Faculty continued to conduct impactful and cutting-edge research that contributes new knowledge to the South African systems of innovation and globally."

Two Wits astrophysicists were the only two scientists in Africa involved in a study that revealed a new view of the massive object at the M87 galaxy, and how it looks in polarised light.

Image of black hole shows its magnetic field is strong enough to resist gravity

Professor Roger Deane, Founding Director of the Wits Centre for Astrophysics, and the SARAO/ NRF Chair in Radio Astronomy, and Dr Iniyan Natarajan, postdoctoral researcher, were part of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, a multinational team of over 300 scientists.

On 24 March 2021, astronomers were for the first time able to measure polarisation – a signature of magnetic fields – this close to the edge of a black hole. The observations are key to explaining how the M87 galaxy, located 55 million light-years away, can launch energetic jets from its core.

The work is a major milestone as the polarisation of light carries information that enables better understanding of the physics behind the image first seen in April 2019. Measuring polarisation provides the next crucial piece of evidence to understand how magnetic fields behave around black holes, and how activity in this very compact region of space can drive powerful jets that extend far beyond the galaxy.

Previously, on 10 April 2019, the collaboration released the first ever image of a black hole, revealing a bright ring-like structure with a dark central region — the black hole’s shadow. The study in 2021 reveals that a significant fraction of the light around the M87 black hole is polarised.

When unpolarised, the oscillations of the electromagnetic fields have no preferred direction. Filters – such as polarised sunglasses or magnetic fields in space – preferentially let the oscillations in one direction pass through, thereby polarising the light. Thus, the polarised-light image illuminates the structure of the magnetic fields at the edge of the black hole.

Black holes have long been known to launch powerful jets of energy and matter far out into space. Astronomers have relied on different physical models of how matter behaves near the black hole to better understand this process. The jet emerging

from M87’s core extends at least 5000 lightyears from its centre, the process behind which is still unexplained.

The observations suggest that the magnetic fields at the black hole’s edge are strong enough to push back on the hot gas and help it resist gravity’s pull. Only the gas that slips through the field can spiral inwards to the event horizon.

To observe the heart of the M87 galaxy, the collaboration linked eight telescopes around the world to create a virtual Earthsized telescope, the EHT. The impressive resolution obtained with the EHT is equivalent to that needed to measure the size of a cricket ball on the surface of the Moon. This setup allowed the team to directly observe the black hole shadow and the ring of light around it, with the new polarised-light image clearly showing that the ring is magnetised.

The EHT collaboration published the 2021 study results in two papers in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Deane and Natarajan also wrote one of the software packages being used by the EHT collaboration to simulate black hole observations. Natarajan was involved in simulating the black hole polarisation observations and efforts to calibrate and generate the polarised image.

ProfessorRogerDeane

DrIniyanNatarajan

TheEventHorizonTelescope(EHT)collaborationisaglobal,multinationalteamcomprisingover 300scientists.

Research Highlight BREATHING LIFE INTO BONE

An international Wits-led team of scientists used high-powered X-rays to show how an extinct South African dinosaur, Heterodontosaurus tucki, breathed. The study was published in the journal elife on 6 July 2021 by scientists at the Wits Evolutionary Studies Institute (ESI), Dr Viktor Radermacher (lead author and former Wits ESI Master’s student, now at the University of Minnesota, USA), Dr Kimberley Chapelle, and Dr Jonah Choiniere, et al.

Dr Billy de Klerk, affiliated with the Albany Museum in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, and co-author of the study, found the fossil in South Africa in 2009. In 2016, scientists from the ESI travelled to the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, to scan the complete skeleton of a small, 200-million-year-old plant-eating dinosaur. The dinosaur specimen is the most complete fossil ever discovered of a species known as Heterodontosaurus tucki. Scientists used scans and new algorithms to virtually reconstruct the skeleton of Heterodontosaurus in unprecedented detail thereby demonstrating how this extinct dinosaur breathed.

Mammals, birds, and reptiles all move air through their lungs in different ways. For example, mammals use a diaphragm, lizards use rib movements, and birds rely on rocking their breastbone. However, it has been a mystery to scientists how the herbivorous dinosaurs known as Ornithischians moved air through the lungs, since they have a very different anatomy to other dinosaurs.

This study found that Heterodontosaurus was using its oddly shaped ribs connected to its sternum to breathe, but that it also showed the first steps towards a muscle attached to the hips that would inflate the lungs – similar to the way crocodiles breathe.

Heterodontosaurus is one of the oldest and first-evolving Ornithischians, the group that includes favourites like Triceratops, Stegosaurus, and duckbilled dinosaurs.

Although scientists have long known that the skeletons of ornithischian dinosaurs differ radically from those of other dinosaurs, the new fossil helps enables understanding of why Ornithischians were so distinctive and successful.

DrJonahChoiniere

DrKimberleyChapelle

DrViktorRadermacher

Report from the CEO, Mr

Duncan Raftesath

WITS COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE

Wits Commercial Enterprise works to broaden and deepen the University’s impact on society. We envisage being the first choice African partner in translating Wits’ ideas to reshape the world. We do this through delivering professional, fit-for-purpose, and relevant services that catalyse, facilitate, grow, and execute a diverse range of University activities.

Wits Enterprise is structured into three business teams: Research and Consulting, Innovation, and Short Courses, each of which provide a customised service. The following research highlights some of the University activities facilitated by Wits Enterprise that impacted society positively in 2021.

in Africa

The Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results-Anglophone Africa (CLEAR-AA), in the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, conducted a study into how African governments use evidence to inform policymaking. This work, funded by the Hewlett Foundation, led to the development of an important analytical framework using a behavioural change approach, to support a better understanding of the use of evidence in practice and in policymaking.

African scholars from Kenya, Benin, South Africa, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) prepared case studies on citizen engagement in a Wildlife Act; research around tobacco control; and evaluations on agriculture, public procurement, violence against women and children, and education.

The research led to the publication of books, along with several policy briefs and videos, all in English and French. These are being used extensively in training to expand and entrench capabilities within governments to use evidence to inform policymaking decisions and evaluate social costs and benefits.

A new framework for evidencebased policymaking

A proposed model to improve engagement in mining

To support the South African mining sector as it moves towards modernization, researchers in the Wits Mining Institute recommended a model for improving engagement and benefit-sharing practices. The model centres around the current regulatory mechanism but with some fundamental shifts in practice, as well as capacity development.

This model stemmed from one of the work packages commissioned by the Mandela Mining Precinct in the Successful Application of Technology Centered Around People (SATCAP) programme. The dominant themes that emerged from the research are that:

• community stakeholders know very little about mine modernisation, engagement and benefit-sharing, and corruption undermines them

• engagement and benefit-sharing are poorly executed

• community and mining stakeholders prefer legal mechanisms to support accountability.

The new model of engagement proposes seven areas in which significant change in practice is required. At sector and regional levels, these include:

• a campaign to end corruption

• a register of social, environmental and health performance

• an autonomous community fund for experts, mediation, and audits.

At mine site level, the model proposes changes to correct engagement practices and improve transparency through public information sharing, risk communication, and the publication of user-friendly documents, as well as through augmented monitoring, evaluation, reporting and learning.

DuncanRaftesath CEO,WitsEnterprise

Theproposedmodelforcommunityengagement,inclusion,andbenefitsharinginamodernisingindustry.

WITS DONALD GORDON MEDICAL CENTRE

Report from the Research Director, Dr June Fabian

As one of the academic teaching hospitals in the Faculty of Health Sciences, the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre (WDGMC) hosts undergraduate, postgraduate, and clinician-led research. During 2021, we supported 16 Master of Medicine and Master of Science students, 13 Doctoral students, and our researchers collectively contributed 32 peerreviewed publications.

We have a network of productive research collaborations in the Faculty with a national and global footprint. A case in point is the African Liver Tissue Biorepository and Drug Metabolism, Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacogenomics Research Platform (ALTBio) – a collaboration between WDGMC, the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Biosciences (SBIMB), and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Collectively, we are creating a service delivery platform for drug testing and a biorepository of DNA and liver tissue as a research resource.

In 2021, for the first time in Southern Africa, our colleagues at CSIR isolated primary human hepatocytes [parenchymal cells in the liver] from donated tissue using techniques shared by collaborators at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. In-vitro hepatocyte models are the gold standard and, previously, were only available from high-income countries using tissue from those of European ancestry.

Now that we have models for drug development representing the genetic diversity of African populations, we will contribute to creating precision medicine approaches that optimise treatment choices. For example, one-third of women with African ancestry may not respond to specific treatments for breast cancer because of genetic differences that change drug metabolism. We can change this, we know how, and we can do this on home soil.

DrJuneFabian Director:Research

"We have a network of productive research collaborations in the Faculty with a national and global footprint."

Research Highlights

As worldwide demand for specialist surgeons grows, private hospitals are increasingly hosting trainees to complement surgical training provided by government institutions. The Colorectal Unit at WDGMC hosts several trainees. While it is well researched that trainees do not adversely impact outcomes, patient perceptions of the role of trainees in their care are less researched. In a study of 174 patients, the colorectal surgeons found that 74% of patients supported their trainees, 83% were comfortable for a supervised trainee to perform a part of their operation (provided they were aware), and 60% felt that interacting with trainees enhanced their care.

Childhood cancers are rare but life-threatening and have catastrophic consequences for those affected and their caregivers. As little is known in South Africa, the WDGMC studied 677 children with cancer in Johannesburg from 2012 to 2016. Five years after diagnosis and treatment, 57% of children were alive. For those who did not survive, their cancer recurrence or progression was the most frequent cause of death. An important finding was that underweight children had worse survival than well-nourished children, relevant because if we address malnutrition – as a local and regional priority – we can improve outcomes of childhood cancer in South Africa.

Fromlefttoright,adultsTsholofeloAhithileandLindiweDumakude,parentsofthechildpatient SibusisoDumakude,withMikeMcCallumfromWitsMusic,attheWDGMCOncologyDayClinic.

Wits Health Consortium

Report from the CEO, Mr Alf Farrell

The Wits Health Consortium (Pty) Limited (WHC) is a wholly owned company of the University of the Witwatersrand under its Faculty of Health Sciences. WHC has an excellent local and global network to support our divisions, donors and funders in successful negotiations and to conduct valuable work through clinical trials and research projects.

Transparency and international standards and procedures are used to maintain and secure our reputation as a trusted organisation, affiliated to leading research academics and international donor organisations.

We provide key services to our research entities in five areas:

• Legal Framework and Research Support

• Governance

• Financial and Grants Management

• Human Resource Management

• Payroll Management

Given our focus area in supporting research entities, a strong element of our work lies in comprehensive grant management. We have a team of experts on hand to assist in specialist areas.

Major Wits institutes and units under the auspices of the Consortium include:

• Clinical HIV Research Unit

• Clinical Laboratory Services

• Empilweni Services and Research Unit (ESRU) (Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital)

• Health Economics and Epidemiology Research Office (HE2RO)

• MatCH Research Unit (Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology)

• Perinatal HIV Research Institute (PHRU)

• South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Vaccines and Infectious Diseases

• SAMRC/Wits Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science (PRICELESS-SA)

• SAMRC/Wits-Agincourt Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Wits Rural Campus)

• Wits Clinical Research (WCR)

• Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI)

Analytics Research Unit (Wits VIDA)

Clinical research at WHC divisions in 2021 included some 100 clinical studies. These were designed to provide important information about disease trends and risk factors, outcomes of treatment or public health interventions, functional abilities, patterns of care, and healthcare costs.

• The total value of all clinical studies in 2021 amounted to R401,756,540.

• The total value of Covid-19 contracts from January to December 2021 was R512 600 665,02.

Research Highlight

The Sisonke Covid-19 vaccine trial: SA’s pioneering effort to protect healthcare workers

The Sisonke Programme was a collaboration between the National Department of Health, South African Medical Research Council, Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, CAPRISA, Janssen, and Johnson & Johnson (J&J). It allowed the government to make the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine immediately available to healthcare workers during the pandemic in 2021, using a research programme.

Under the leadership of Glenda Gray, a Research Professor in the Wits Perinatal HIV Research Unit (PHRU) and President of the SAMRC, and Professor Linda-Gail Bekker of the University of Cape Town (UCT), PHRU members of staff collaborated with multiple South African researchers and the National and Provincial Departments of Health to obtain rapid approval from SAHPRA [South African Health Products Regulatory Authority] of this programme to vaccinate healthcare workers.

The team then imported the vaccine to South Africa and distributed it, under strict cold chain and security conditions, to 122 vaccine sites nationwide. Before any vaccine was administered, the researchers had to train and certify staff at these vaccine sites to ensure online consent, to safely administer the novel vaccine, and to manage any serious adverse events from the vaccine.

Sisonke protected healthcare workers, saved lives

Not only did the Sisonke initiative result in seven publications but it was the first effort in South Africa to vaccinate healthcare workers against Covid-19.

The trial assessed a single dose of the J&J Covid-19 vaccine in healthcare workers in South Africa during two waves of Covid-19 nationally.

• Vaccinated participants were linked to their national medical aid data and matched for Covid-19 risk with an unvaccinated member of the general population.

• Sisonke enrolled and vaccinated 477 102 healthcare workers from February to May 2021.

• Three quarters were women, and the median age was 42·0 years.

• The primary outcome was vaccine effectiveness against severe Covid-19, including Covid-related admission to hospital, hospitalisation requiring critical or intensive care, or death, ascertained 28 days or more after vaccination.

• Vaccine effectiveness was:

• 83% (95% CI 75-89) to prevent Covid-19related deaths

• 75% (69-82) to prevent Covid-19-related hospital admissions requiring critical or intensive care

• 67% (62-71) to prevent Covid-19-related hospitalisations.

• During the study, the beta (B.1.351) and then the delta (B.1.617.2) SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern were dominant, but vaccine effectiveness remained consistent across these surges.

ProfessorGlendaGray

Finding Covid-19 infections digitally in taxi ranks

In South Africa, community spread of Covid-19 was high due to many socioeconomic factors, including a heavy reliance on public transport. Multiperson minibus taxis are the most common mode of public transport in densely populated areas such as Johannesburg and were thought to be an important transmission vector.

To improve the case detection rate, FIND, together with its local partner Ezintsha at Wits, initiated a project to assess monitored implementation of antigen rapid diagnostic tests (Ag-RDTs) at three taxi ranks in Johannesburg, in conjunction with an end-to-end digital health solution to enable effective data and patient management.

FIND is the global alliance for diagnostics, which seeks to ensure equitable access to reliable diagnosis around the world.

Ezintsha is a group of South African academics and health professionals who work with partners around the world to apply new technologies to health-related problems. Ezintsha is a sub-division of the Wits Health Consortium in the University’s Faculty of Health Sciences.

The project, implemented from June 2021 to September 2021 at the Baragwanath, Randburg and Germiston taxi ranks in Johannesburg, aimed to:

(1) conduct 13,500 screenings using a digital algorithm tool to identify suspected Covid19 cases

(2) conduct rapid testing using 5,000 Ag-RDTs (on all suspected cases) ensuring a quick turnaround of results

(3) conduct 1,000 PCR tests on randomly selected individuals to assess Ag-RDT field performance.

The project enrolled a total of 15,443 people who were preliminarily screened into:

• high (n= 2987; 19%)

• moderate (n=2061; 13%)

• low (n=10,395; 67%) risk, based on their reported Covid-19 risk-factors, using the digital tool’s risk assessment questionnaire.

The ‘moderate/high’ risk participants were eligible for testing with Ag-RDTs.

Overall, 3,997 people were tested with AgRDTs and 238 positive cases were identified (6% positivity rate).

High risk participants from the screening tool also had the highest positivity rate (5.1%), whereas moderate and low-risk groups had 0.8% and 0.1% positivity rates respectively.

Of the 3,997 people who were tested with Ag-RDTs, 582 (14.6%) were also tested with PCR tests and 17.5% were confirmed to be positive for Covid-19.

Ag-RDT sensitivity and specificity values were 40% and 95.5% respectively.

Ag-RDT cycle threshold (CT) values for true positives were <20 (indicating a high viral load), and >25 for false negatives (indicating a low viral load).

Ag-RDT positive participants were mostly willing to be followed up using digital tools as evidenced by 84% of them completing the 10-day post-diagnosis follow up questionnaire. However, only 6.7% of low risk participants completed at least one phone-based survey.

Pre and post intervention phone-based surveys also showed a very high willingness (>80%) of commuters to be tested at or near a taxi rank or high traffic location.

The results of this project showed that community-based decentralized Covid-19 testing initiatives can improve access to testing for individuals, households, and workplaces, making it easier for people to know their Covid-19 status and subsequently make informed choices about exposure risk.

Employing decentralized testing with AgRDTs in heavy foot traffic areas can detect large numbers of at-risk people in a short space of time.

Ag-RDTs may miss some Covid-19 positive individuals but are advantageous in quickly identifying the majority of those who are highly contagious (CT value <25).

Improved screening algorithms can support more efficient use of resources by identifying which patients to prioritize for testing, based on their risk profile.

The use of digital tools can enhance decentralized service delivery by providing standardized clinical guidance, real-time data capture and transmission, patient engagement and follow-up, and support real-time supervision and troubleshooting.

Curios.ty is a print and digital magazine that aims to make the research at Wits University accessible to multiple publics. It tells the stories of research and innovation at Wits through the voices of talented researchers, students and academics. First published in April 2017, Curios.ty is published three times per year. Each issue is thematic and explores research across faculties and disciplines at the University that relate to the theme. Since its inception until the 2021 year under review, Curios.ty themes have included, research themes have included: Cities, iHuman, Capital, Watershed, Mandela100, Hunger Games, Ekhaya [Home], Code, Climate Emergency, Mood, Viral, and Solutions

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