UNIVERSITY OF LIMPOPO ANNUAL RESEARCH REPORT 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 2. RESEARCH STAFF DEMOGRAPHICS ................................................................................... 2 3. RESEARCH FOCUS ................................................................................................................... 4 4. CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE ................................................................................................... 6 5. RESEARCH CHAIRS .................................................................................................................. 7 6. RATED RESEARCHERS.......................................................................................................... 11 7. RESEARCH COLLABORATIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS ................................................. 29 8. FACULTY RESEARCH DAYS ................................................................................................. 39 9. HOSTED PUBLIC LECTURES/ CONFERENCES ............................................................... 43 10. KEYNOTE ADRESS/ INVITED SPEAKERS/ GUEST LECTURES ............................... 45 11. PERFOMANCE IN KEY RESEARCH ACTIVITIES .......................................................... 46 12. AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS ..................................................................................... 104 13. VC RESEARCH EXCELLENCE AWARDS ...................................................................... 106 14. PUBLICATIONS ................................................................................................................... 107 15. KEY CHALLENGES ............................................................................................................. 153 16. CONCLUDING COMMENTS .................................................. Error! 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ACRONYMS In this report, unless stated otherwise, the following acronyms apply: SAES : School of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences SMCS : School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences SMLS : School of Molecular and Life Sciences SPMS : School of Physical and Mineral Sciences AEAP : Department of Agricultural Economics and Animal Production BMBT : Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Biotechnology BIOD : Department of Biodiversity CHEM : Department of Chemistry COSC : Department of Computer Science GAES : Department of Geography and Environmental Studies MAAM : Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics PEH : Department of Physiology and Environmental Health PHYS : Department of Physics PSAE : Department of Plant Production, Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering RNA : Research Niche Area SARChI : South African Research Chairs Initiative SAOR : Department of Statistics and Operations Research WAAS : Department of Water and Sanitation NRF : National Research Foundation CHPC : Centre for High Performance Computing IPUF : Indigenous Plant Use Forum conference CRCE : Centre for Rural Community Empowerment ii UNIVERSITY OF LIMPOPO 2019 ANNUAL RESEARCH REPORT 1. INTRODUCTION This report highlights the research activities of the University of Limpopo (UL) during the period 01 January 2018 to 31 December 2018. It is based on Strategic Goal 5 of the University of Limpopo (UL) Strategic Plan 2018 - 2022 which is to improve the University’s research standing and status. The UL Annual Research Report involves information about academic staff and postgraduate students in different research activities which are geared towards achieving the targets set through strategic goal number 5. The research activities that were carried out in the University during the period in review sought to achieve several objectives as set out by each of our Four faculties: The Faculty of Humanities is still at the novel level of developing researchers and plans are afoot to address critical categories of Women in Research, Emerging and novel researchers as well as deal with Mentorship within the Faculty. While the Faculty of Management and Law deals with research mainly on business- orientated disciplines, including business management, human resource management, economics and accountancy; development studies; public administration and law. The Faculty of Health Sciences is also concerned with developing research capacity and competencies, increasing research publications, enhancing research collaborations (interdepartmental, interschool, interfaculty and institutional collaborations) and increasing support for postgraduate students. Meanwhile, some of the focus areas for the Faculty of Science and Agriculture are in indigenous poultry breeding; risk and vulnerability analysis; vegetable crops production, cropping systems, African indigenous crops production, ecological fertiliser application for vegetable crops production, rainwater harvesting and sustainable vegetable crops production; cancer, obesity and diabetes research; synthesis and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic characterisation of bridged organometallic complexes; Ellisras longitudinal studies; minerals & beneficiation; alloy development; energy storage & battery materials; computer networks; joint modelling of longitudinal and survival outcomes, and speech technology. One measure of improved productivity in the University the growing number of national and international collaborations that staff across all Faculties are engaged in. It is through these collaborations that we have observed a growing number of early-career researchers benefiting with an improvement of their qualifications as well as publications. Therefore, the report presents the University’s achievements and challenges experienced during the execution of research activities in the year 2018. 2. RESEARCH STAFF DEMOGRAPHICS An analysis of staff demographics in 2019 indicated that there were 723 researchers in the University. Compared to the demographics reported in 2018, this was a slight increase in the number of staff, from a total of 714 in 2018. Of this total 275 were female, whereas 448 were male. In percentages, this reflected representation of 38% females and 62% males. These figures still represent a similar ratio to that of the previous year 2018. 38% Male Female 62% Figure 1: Staff members involved in Research: Gender distribution From these staff numbers, the analysis sought to establish the representation of staff based on their qualifications. The results were as follows: 2 Below Masters 14% Masters 56% Doctoral 31% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Figure 2: Staff members involved in Research: Qualification distribution All in all, 14 percent of the staff members across faculties held a degree below a Master’s degree. 56 percent held a Master’s degree. Staff who possessed a doctoral qualification were equal to 31 percent. In terms of qualifications, in 2019, the following shifts in the representation of staff were noticeable: A drop in the percentage of staff with lower qualifications (namely, below Master’s) – from 21 percent in 2018 to 14 percent in the 2019 academic year. An increase in the number of staff who hold a Master’s degree – from 47 percent in 2018 to 56 percent in 2019. However, there was also a drop in the number of staff who hold a Doctoral qualification. This category saw a shift from 33 percent in 2018 to 31 percent in 2019. The next figure shows the different percentages of staff members from the various Faculties who were involved in research: 3 Management and Law 16% Science And Agriculture 34% Health Sciences 22% Humanities 28% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% Figure 1: Staff members involved in research: by Faculty In 2019, the majority (34%) of staff members involved in the research were from the Faculty of Science and Agriculture. This is a slight deviation from the previous year’s report which showed that the majority of staff in the research were from the Faculty of Humanities. The second most percentage of staff who were involved in research came from the Faculty of Humanities (28%). This was then followed by the Faculties of Health Sciences (22%) and Management and Law (16%) respectively. 3. RESEARCH FOCUS Through the research activities of the University, in 2019 we sought to consolidate and start the build-up of the approved Research Niche Areas (RNAs). All Four Faculties were involved in research work that was aligned to the following FIVE niche areas: Indigenous Knowledge Systems – composed of three thematic research areas, namely, Indigenous epistemologies, language and paradigms; indigenous medicine and indigenous foods and food security. Climate Change and Sustainability – with the consensus that the cause of climate change is a result of human expansion. Faculties continued to support multidisciplinary research activities addressing this global issue. ● Women’s Health – in this RNA, work for the creation of a platform for postgraduate training focused among others at postgraduate research that is aimed at providing professionals trained at advanced levels of health services 4 provision; and, designing initiatives required for the successful implementation of the country's proposed National Health Insurance System. ● Mental Health – the aim in this RNA was to build a formidable community of scholars from a multidisciplinary context (that is, Humanities and Social Sciences, Health and other Applied Sciences). This RNA perfectly fits in with the university’s vision of being “a leading African University focused