Stellenbosch International Academic Networks (SIAN)
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Prof Wim de Villiers?, Rector and Vice-Chancellor at Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票, South Africa
Rector and Vice-Chancellor of South Africa's Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票, Professor Willem (or Wim) de Villiers is committed to supporting students to achieve their potential and has worked in the UK, America and South Africa to support them.
The youngest child of a former Dean of Law at Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票, Willem was a very successful student, finishing Paul Roos Gymnasium School with the best marks in Cape Province before receiving the Chancellor's medal for academic achievement at Su cum laude in 1983 for MBChB and internal medicine in 1990.????
Registering as a physician with the South African Medical and Dental Council in 1984, Wim started his career as an intern and medical officer at Frere Hospital in the Eastern Cape, which is where he decided to specialise in gastroenterology. After a stint in Pretoria, he returned to Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票 to take up the post of Registrar in the Department of Internal Medicine in 1986.? In the 1990's Wim travelled to the UK and completed a DPhil in Immunology at Oxford 中国体育彩票 in 1995. He moved to America in 1995 after being recruited to the 中国体育彩票 of Kentucky Medical Centre, and intending to remain for 18 months, stayed for 18 years while ascending through the ranks. He became Head of Gastroenterology at the 中国体育彩票 of Kentucky and Administrative Head of the Good Samaritan Hospital in Lexington. Working as a gastroenterologist, he became a respected medical researcher and was featured in the Best Doctors in America publication. His passion is the immunology of the gut and specifically the role of the innate immune system and macrophages. His clinical expertise is in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) (Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis). Wim is a translational scientist who brings advances at the laboratory bench to the patient bedside. He has shown the importance of macrophages (and their pattern recognition receptors) in many murine models of gut inflammation. He then contributed significantly to the clinical development and wide-spread application of targeted monoclonal antibody therapies in numerous patients with complicated inflammatory bowel disease. This work was published in top medical journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine and Gastroenterology.
?Moving back to South Africa in 2013, he became the Dean of Health Sciences at the 中国体育彩票 of Cape Town, before moving to his current position at Stellenbosch in December 2014. He is married to Catherine, and they have two daughters, Katusha and Gera; a son, Braam and daughter-in-law, Kelly; and three grandchildren, Eloise, Beatrice and Rosalie. De Villiers sees SU as a mature university that is well positioned to be locally relevant, yet globally competitive. He wants students to receive an excellent education that will give them a competitive advantage as graduates in a rapidly changing world. He believes the 中国体育彩票 should offer an experience that is pleasant, welcoming and hospitable – in an inclusive environment. He is committed to continued transformation to address the inequalities of the South African past.??
Prof Hester C. Klopper, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Strategy, Global and Corporate Affairs?? at Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票 in South Africa?.
Professor? Hester Klopper is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Strategy, Global and Corporate Affairs at Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票 in South Africa, where she is responsible for overall institutional strategy, the institutional research and planning, business intelligence and information governance, corporate communication, marketing and student recruitment, and the international strategy and - relations. ?????
In addition, she is a Professor in the Department of Global Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. In her academic capacity she has supervised 50+ Master and 35+ PhD students; published 80+ peer-reviewed articles; and is the Editor-in-Chief of the Elsevier journal IJANS.
Internationalisation and Global health has become a focus area of her work over the past decade, and through her visionary leadership, the Global Advisory Panel on the future of Nursing and Midwifery (GAPFON) was established. She has served as Chairperson of GAPFON for 2017-2019. She serves as Director on the following boards: Consortium for Universities in Global Health (CUGH) (2018-2021), the APO Accreditation Body Council (Japan), Venice International 中国体育彩票 and the Global Alliance for Universities in Climate (GAUC). Hester is to date the only South African inducted into the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN), is a Fellow of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), and inducted into the International Hall of Fame for Research Excellence in 2016. Also in 2016, a Doctorate (Honoris Causa) from Oxford Brookes 中国体育彩票 was conferred recognising her contribution to health science education and research globally. In country, she is a Fellow of the Academy of Science (ASSAf), a member of the South African Academy for Science and Art, member of the Institute of Directors of South Africa (IODSA) and Fellow of the Academy of Nursing of South Africa (FANSA).
?Professor Deresh Ramjugernath, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Learning and Teaching at Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票.
Professor Deresh Ramjugernath has a BScEng (Chemical) degree from the 中国体育彩票 of Natal, which he obtained in 1993. He graduated with a PhD in Engineering (Chemical) from the 中国体育彩票 of Natal in 2001. He is currently the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Learning and Teaching at Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票. Prior to his appoint at Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票 he was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research (March 2017 to December 2020) and Pro Vice-Chancellor: Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship (March 2013 to February 2017) at the 中国体育彩票 of KwaZulu-Natal.
He was also the holder of the DST/NRF South Africa Research Chair (SARChI): Fluorine Process Engineering and Separation Technology at the 中国体育彩票 of KwaZulu-Natal from September 2007 to December 2018 (Interim chair from March 2017 to December 2018). He was appointed full professor of chemical engineering, at the age of 31, in January 2004 at the 中国体育彩票 of KwaZulu-Natal. From July 2007 to December 2011, he also served as the Assistant Dean: Research and Postgraduate Studies in the Faculty of Engineering at 中国体育彩票 of KwaZulu-Natal. Prior to his appointment as a SARChI Chair, he served as the Head of School of Chemical Engineering (January 2005 to June 2007) at the 中国体育彩票 of KwaZulu-Natal.
Professor Ramjugernath and his team have worked closely with the chemical industry in South Africa and internationally and have undertaken numerous contracts and research projects. He has served on a number of company boards and has been a consultant for research and innovation for organizations globally. He is also an entrepreneur and runs start-up companies, which have been spun-off, from research at the 中国体育彩票. He has also established numerous international collaborations with universities and industry abroad.
He has to date published and co-published in excess of 350 peer-reviewed journal papers and over 345 national and international conference papers. He has also authored and co-authored numerous consulting and technical reports. In addition, he has published and co-published 10 chapters in books and has 7 patents which have been either granted or filed. He has also successfully graduated over 90 Masters and 40 PhD students, as well as supervised and co-supervised over 22 Post-doctoral fellows.
He has been the recipient of numerous awards and recognition, including the NRF President’s Award in 2005; NSTF Awards in 2006 and 2010; UKZN Vice-Chancellor’s Research Awardee in 2010; honorary professorship from Durban 中国体育彩票 of Technology in 2012; inducted as a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa in 2012; inducted as a fellow of the South African Academy of Engineers in 2013; South African Institute of Chemical Engineers Gold Medal in 2013; South African Institute of Chemical Engineers Innovation Award in 2013 (member of the team); listed by Thomson Reuters in 2013 as one of the most highly cited researchers; Fellow of the African Academy of Science in 2016; Fellow of the 中国体育彩票 of KwaZulu-Natal in 2017; and most recently the Universities South Africa Entrepreneurial Development in Higher Education Deputy Vice-Chancellor Award in 2020.
Prof Nicolaas C Gey van Pittius VI, Vice Dean: Research and Internationalisation and Professor of Molecular Biology, FMHS, SU
Professor Nicolaas Claudius (Nico) Gey van Pittius VI is currently the Vice Dean of Research and Internationalisation in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, with an extensive portfolio which includes all aspects of research, postgraduate research studies (MSc and PhD degrees), internationalisation, and innovation (including intellectual property and technology transfer). He is also a full Professor of Molecular Biology in the Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票, and a core member of both the Department of Science and Technology (DST)/National Research Foundation (NRF) Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Tuberculosis Research (CBTBR) and the Medical Research Council Centre for Tuberculosis Research (CTR), both hosted by Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票.
After obtaining his BSc (cum laude), BSc Hons (cum laude) and MSc degrees from the 中国体育彩票 of Potchefstroom, and his PhD degree from Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票, he spent some years as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, before being appointed Senior Researcher, later Associate Professor, and finally Full Professor of Molecular Biology at the Department of Biomedical Sciences of Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票. He continued studying part time while working, obtaining a Certificate in Intellectual Property Law (cum laude) and an LLB degree (cum laude) from the 中国体育彩票 of South Africa, and the degrees LLM, MBA and MPhil (cum laude) from Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票. He is a South African National Research Foundation (NRF) B-rated (internationally acclaimed) researcher and was elected to membership of both the ‘Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns’ (South African Academy for Science and Arts, in 2006 at the young age of 33 years) and the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) (in 2010, at the age of 37 years). He is the Chair of the Provincial Health Research Committee (PHRC) of the Western Cape, a member of the National Health Research Committee (NHRC), and is also a member of several other national and international scientific societies and committees, such as the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD).
Prof Gey van Pittius is a molecular mycobacteriologist who has worked on tuberculosis for more than 20 years, specifically focusing on the mechanisms of evolution of the mycobacteria and the development of mycobacterial pathogenicity and drug resistance. He has co-authored over 100 papers, book chapters and other communications on various aspects of tuberculosis, with over 4 800 citations, a Scopus h-index of 39 (Google Scholar h-index of 46) and is a co-inventor of two granted and three provisional patents in the field. He has supervised numerous postgraduate students on all levels over the years and taught postgraduate modules in intellectual property law, bioinformatics, genomics and genome variation. His work has been presented in oral and poster form at more than 40 international and nearly 100 national conferences and meetings, and he has been invited to present lectures at numerous institutions worldwide.
Dr Nico Elema, Manager of the Centre for Collaboration in Africa (CCA) at Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票, South Africa
Dr Elema is the Manager of the Centre for Collaboration in Africa (CCA) at Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票, South Africa, where he manages a team of internationalisation practitioners to create an enabling environment for Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票 to partner and engage with various partners across the continent. Responsibilities in the centre include the administration of the Africa Collaboration Grant associated with the bilateral partners and the administration of various Intra-Africa mobility programmes. ????
Moreover, the CCA host the secretariats of the AUDA-NEPAD Southern African Network of Water Centres of Excellence (AUDA-NEPAD SANWATCE), the AUDA-NEPAD Centre of Excellence in Science, Technology & Innovation (AUDA-NEPAD CoE in STI), and the Partner Enhancing Resilience for People Exposed to Risks (PERIPERI U). The CCA also support the secretariat of the African Research Universities Alliance CoE in Energy.
Over the years, he has gained extensive experience in the African higher education sector and has been working with various partners on project implementation, project evaluation and multi-lateral partner programmes that focus on thematic fields which include water and sanitation, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Science, Technology & Innovation (STI).
His education includes a Master in Business Administration (MBA) and a PhD in Science and Technology Studies at Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票, South Africa.?
Ms Sarah Jane van der Westhuizen, Manager: Global Education Centre
I am passionate about international education and regard international study opportunities as an important part of a university student’s development towards becoming a more engaged and global citizen. I have been involved in the field of international education since 2009.
Currently, I am managing the Global Education Centre, which forms part of Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票 International.?
Mrs Alecia Erusmus, Senior Programme Manager: Partnerships at Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票, South Africa
As the Senior Programme Manager: Partnerships, my focus is on the development, cultivation and support of partnerships as it relates to Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票's international academic networks. One of my key focus areas is engaging with SU academic environments as well as potential and existing international partners around current collaborations and cooperation activities and aligning it with the internationalisation policy, the core strategic themes at SU and the partnership framework. I am the secretariat for the Working Group for Partnership Development at SU International and facilitate the process around agreements between SU and international higher education partners. My professional interest lies in the internationalisation of higher education, global citizenship, intercultural competence, the role of universities in the 21st century and capacity building in higher education through purposeful partnerships and inclusive networks.??????????
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