UKZN research team clinches R7m grant
The grant means that five Post-Docs, 19 PhDs, 24 Masters and 21 Honours on offer, 69 students per year are being funded in total.
FEES have fallen for UKZN’s successful Catalysis and Peptide Research Unit (CPRU) from the School of Health Sciences. The team has clinched a collaborative research grant of approximately R7 million from the National Research Foundation (NRF) for scholarships towards postgraduate training in 2017.
The main objective of this funding is to conduct further research in bacterial and HIV drug resistance and will cover student support and running costs of the research undertaken. The CPRU, through this grant, will facilitate creation of knowledge, innovation and development in prescribed scopes of research as supported by the NRF.
“This is brilliant, five Post-Docs, 19 PhDs, 24 Masters and 21 Honours on offer, 69 students per year are being funded in total. This is one huge achievement by this team!” exclaimed Professor Rob Slotow, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Health Sciences.
The honours scholarships are non-obligatory and will be awarded on academic merit to students studying Chemistry, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Physiology, Genetics and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The masters and doctoral training scholarships currently on offer to postgraduates, will focus on six specific research areas conducted in CPRU. The research focus for the 2017 postgraduate students will be Chemical Approaches for Fighting Antimicrobial Diseases; Targeting Drug Resistant TB with Novel ß-Lactams; Chemical Approaches for Fighting Antimicrobial Diseases; Spatially-resolved PKPD studies for optimized prevention of HIV associated neurocognitive disorders; Sulfur (bio) isosterism in organic synthesis and drug design; and applied organocatalysis.
The unit anticipates that the number of students will exceed the space available in their laboratories and the CPRU will therefore stretch the remaining funding to other researchers. The university encourages South African students, to make the best use of this available opportunity and should note the closing date on 30 November 2016.
“We are grateful that the NRF has continuously acknowledged that our research in CPRU has the potential to find solutions for bacterial and HIV drug resistance, this grant will allow us an opportunity to further position UKZN’s research to new heights,” concluded Professor Thavi Govender from the CPRU.
UKZN’s Vice-Chancellor, Dr Albert Van Jaarsveld commented upon hearing the news, ‘This is excellent news. Well done to you and the team. Regards and keep the flag flying high.’ Whilst Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research at UKZN, Professor Salim Abdool Karim expressed, ‘Well done, Thavi and the team!! You make us proud!’
