The National Research Foundation (NRF) has highlighted that its 2024 Awards are to take place at the Sun City resort, in North West province, on August 22. The awards serve to highlight and celebrate excellence in South African research.

“The 2024 Awards will also celebrate the NRF’s 25 years of promoting and enabling research, innovation, impact, and building partnerships in the effort to contribute to building an inclusive knowledge-based society,” highlighted NRF CEO Dr Fulufhelo Nelwamondo. There are two categories of awards that will be presented at the event: NRF Ratings-based Awards and Special Awards. 

Nelwamondo will be one of the keynote speakers at the awards ceremony, but the lead keynote address will be delivered by Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Dr Blade Nzimande. The event will be attended by both local and international researchers.

The Ratings-based Awards are assigned on the basis of a peer review system, which examines a nominee’s research impact over a five-year period. Researchers whose work has undergone this peer review process are assigned a rating by the NRF.

There are five ratings categories, designated A, B, C, P, and Y. Those researchers assigned A and P ratings will be acknowledged at the NRF Awards. An A rating means that that researcher is recognised as a leading international scholar in their field. A P rating means that the researcher has demonstrated exceptional research performance potential during the doctoral or early post-doctoral stages of their careers.

The Special Awards are granted on the basis of independent peer evaluation processes, based on criteria relevant for each award. There are seven Special Awards categories, namely Lifetime Achievement Award, Research Excellence Award for Next-Generation Researchers, Research Excellence Award for Early Career/Emerging Researchers, the Champion of Research Capacity Development and Transformation at South African Higher Education Institutions Award, the Public Engagement with Research Award, the Science Team Award, and the Societal Impact Award.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is open to both South African and non-South African (but permanently resident in South Africa) researchers who have made “extraordinary contributions of international standard and impact” to the development of South African science, over an “extended” period of time. The winner of the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award was mathematics education scholar Professor Jill Adler of the University of the Witwatersrand.