ANNUAL REPORT 2019 Natural and Agricultural Sciences Annual Report 2019 CONTACT TABLE of DETAILS CONTENTS
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ANNUAL REPORT 2019 Natural and Agricultural Sciences Annual Report 2019 CONTACT TABLE OF DETAILS CONTENTS FOREWORD 4 DEAN Message from the Dean Prof Danie Vermeulen +27 51 401 2322 AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES 8 [email protected] Agricultural Economics 10 Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences 20 Soil, Crop and Climate Sciences 28 BUILDING SCIENCES 34 MARKETING MANAGER Architecture 36 Ms Elfrieda Lötter Quantity Surveying and Construction Management 42 +27 51 401 2531 Urban and Regional Planning 48 [email protected] NATURAL SCIENCES 54 Chemistry 56 Computer Science and Informatics 72 Consumer Science 80 TEACHING AND LEARNING MANAGER Engineering Sciences 86 Ms Elzmarie Oosthuizen +27 51 401 2934 Genetics 90 [email protected] Geography 98 Geology 104 Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Science 112 Mathematics and Applied Mathematics 116 Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology 120 PHYSICAL ADDRESS Physics 136 Room 9A, Biology Building, Bloemfontein Campus Plant Sciences 150 Zoology and Entomology 168 ACADEMIC CENTRES 184 Centre for Environmental Management 186 POSTAL ADDRESS Centre for Microscopy 194 University of the Free State Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Rural Development and Extension 198 PO Box 339 Disaster Management Training and Education Centre for Africa 202 Bloemfontein Institute for Groundwater Studies 206 9300 South Africa Paradys Experimental Farm 212 Faculty website: www.ufs.ac.za/natagri ACADEMIC SUPPORT DIVISIONS 216 Electronics Division 218 Instrumentation Division 222 STATISTICAL DATA 226 LIST OF ACRONYMS 230 2 Natural and Agricultural Sciences ANNUAL REPORT 2019 2019 ANNUAL REPORT Natural and Agricultural Sciences 3 FOREWORD MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN n 2018 university life slowly returned to normality after the become. It is our responsibility to strengthen these links, which two previous turbulent years. This continued through 2019, are made up of the different research groups and projects in the Iwhich created an environment conducive to excellent teaching Faculty. Combining the silos of knowledge (knowledge which as well as the opportunity for research. This resulted in a very many academics guard so jealously) will strengthen these links good year for the Faculty in terms of the number of published significantly. research articles and the number of postgraduate students who graduated. We therefore maintained the good output of research When reading through all the 2019 departmental reports, I get a articles, books and conference proceedings, reaching in the real sense of consolidation emerging, built on a firm foundation region of 400 output units. that has been laid over the last few years, moving forward and doing things well, learning from the successes and mistakes In 2017 the theme of our annual report was ‘Academic Silos’. that have gone before. Maybe it speaks of greater depth and The ‘silo effect’ in academic circles describes the way that not necessarily anything earth-shatteringly exciting as yet – academics become isolated in their own little part of their just good, sound stuff. More and more the research groups in academic neighbourhood and consequently experience very departments and across departments are working together limited interaction with colleagues and other departments, to achieve results. It is also the view of industry that research resulting in duplication of efforts. This raised the question: “How groups should consolidate their efforts, including with other does the academic break through the silo and form networks of universities, in order to achieve optimal results. It is my view that relationships across departments and across faculties?” We are we should appoint knowledgeable people to help us with this now two years down the line, and we need to ask how effective consolidation or research foci, and also to assist in minimising we have become. the administrative load of the academics, in order for them to concentrate on what they do best – research. Consolidation and the Chain of knowledge This year I also want to pay tribute to the support departments, i.e. It is all about CONSOLIDATION – combining many separate the Centre for Microscopy, the Electronics and Instrumentation people, things or ideas into one solid unit or making our Divisions, the experimental farms, as well as the large equipment efforts more focused and stronger. strategy, which assist us so effectively in developing the chain of knowledge. Substantial financial support has been invested One definition of consolidation is to bring together separate parts in these entities, with huge success. The effectiveness of these into a single or unified whole, and that is what we as a faculty and entities has increased tremendously over the last few years, and the greater university strive towards. The Cambridge Dictionary this can be attributed to the dedication of the staff involved. Large describes it as follows: “To become, or cause something to scale developments are planned for the Centre for Microscopy become, stronger, and more certain”. According to the American and the experimental farms in 2020/2021, which will give us Dictionary it is “to bring together or unite things that were separate the edge over other institutions. The newly completed Sensory – to become or make something stronger or more successful”. Laboratory will also assist in promoting world-class research in That is exactly what we want to achieve – to unite the knowledge food security in South Africa. of all in the Faculty. The large equipment strategy of the Faculty, managed by Prof This will result in a CHAIN OF KNOWLEDGE where different Jannie Swarts, has also resulted in most departments receiving research ideas, projects and strategies are focused to place us state-of-the-art equipment that has enabled them to compete with as a faculty in the league of the big role players. A knowledge the best in South Africa. As one example, the new microscope value chain is a sequence of intellectual tasks (research) by which laboratory in Biology is the third largest and most modern knowledge workers (academics) build their employer’s (UFS) laboratory of its kind in the world and the largest in Africa. The unique competitive advantage and/or social and environmental large equipment strategy is an ongoing venture, which requires benefit. The components of a research project are an example of a great deal of financial planning, and will carry on for as long as such a knowledge value chain. we can afford it. Today, there is growing recognition by researchers across the As further evidence of the dedication of our staff, the historic world of the importance of managing knowledge as a critical Lamont-Hussey Telescope was restored and reassembled as an source for competitive advantage. Researchers in the field exhibit at the Planetarium, a wonderful testimony to the scientists of sustainable competitive advantage have discovered that who worked tirelessly to observe the night sky from the Lamont knowledge, which includes what the organisation knows, how it Hussey Observatory, now converted to a digital planetarium. uses what it knows, and how fast it can know something new, is the only thing that offers an organisation a competitive edge. The The Faculty also did very well on the international front stronger the links of the chain of knowledge, the stronger we will and several departments had very active collaboration with 4 Natural and Agricultural Sciences ANNUAL REPORT 2019 2019 ANNUAL REPORT Natural and Agricultural Sciences 5 international universities. In this regard the departments of Editor for Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, a journal Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology, Plant Sciences, that is part of the Frontiers group of journals published in Chemistry and Physics lead the way. Switzerland. • Prof Wijnand Swart was elected as President of the Southern On the local front, conferences were organised by the Department African Society of Plant Pathology (SASPP). of Agricultural Economics (Agricultural Economics Association • Dr Frank Chidawanyika, a Carnegie Research Fellow, of South Africa [AEASA] Conference), while the Department received the Carnegie Cooperation of New York Scholar of Soil, Crop and Climate Sciences hosted the Combined award at the African Studies Association meeting held in Congress 2019 representing four scientific societies – the South Boston, Massachusetts. African Society of Crop Production (SASCP), the Soil Science Society of South Africa (SSSSA), the Southern African Weed Academic performance Science Society (SAWSS) and the Southern African Society for Horticultural Sciences (SASHS). In addition, the Centre for During the 2019 Bloemfontein graduations, the Faculty of Natural Environmental Management, in collaboration with the Technical and Agricultural Sciences conferred 338 master’s degrees – University of Dresden, coordinated and obtained funding from which is nearly 60% of the total for the Bloemfontein Campus the Volkswagen Foundation to present a Summer School on – and 43 doctoral degrees. On the Qwaqwa Campus a further Aquatic Biomonitoring. 11 master’s and 4 doctoral degrees were awarded. Of the total Faculty student cohort, 31% are postgraduate students. The Faculty postgraduate pass rate for the year was 80.5%, while Staff and student achievements that at undergraduate level was 78.7%, both levels reflecting an There were significant achievements by our staff and students improvement of more than 1%. during 2019, inter alia: • Dr Abiodun Ogundeji of Agricultural Economics