Page 2 - Research Awards Brochure

MESSAGE BY THE DEPUTY VICE-CHANCELLOR (ACTING):
Research, Innovation and Engagement
Professor Keo Motaung
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the 2022 ENVISION2030 Institutional Excellence Awards 2021/2022 which is an annual event to recognize, celebrate, and promote our researchers who do excellent work to ensure the university is leading in the area of research and innovation.
Again, this event marks the culmination of our enormous individual and collective effort towards knowledge production, knowledge transfer and cutting-edge research which are matters that we hold dear as central to our ENVISION2030 strategy. Before I proceed, I should take this opportunity to acknowl- edge the presence and support of the Chair of Council, Mr Wiseman Zazi Madinane, the members of executive council present and Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Thandwa Mthembu. I also appreciate the Deputy Vice-Chancellors, Executive Deans, as well as other stakeholders at the university whose work ethics, insights and vision have contributed to our growth.
Many of our researchers have in one way or another committed to our growth as a research-intensive university. So, as is
tradition, in order to cater for our different researchers in their different dynamics, we award researchers in different categories such as: senior researcher of the year, woman researcher of the year, junior researcher of the year, faculty researcher of the year, innovator of the year, research initiative of the year, research group of the year, doctoral student of the year, master’s student of the year, vice-chancellor’s award, and the creativeoutputoftheyearaward.Inrecent years, we witnessed a significant increase in the impacts of our research outputs as has been evident in our ranking amongst other institutions of higher learning which reflects our sophisticated approach to research and innovation. While this event is to celebrate our researchers, it is also a reminder that we still have a long way to go, and only through a joint effort will we be able to maintain our
2 DURBAN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY