The Exceptional Achievers Awards is hosted annually to honour academics who are leaders in their field and serve as role models to the UP community. According to Prof Calie Pistorius, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria, the exceptional achievers deliver key inputs to the University’s core business and therefore deserve the University’s moral and material support. “One of the University of Pretoria’s key driving forces is its commitment to delivering quality research outputs. We are, therefore, extremely proud of these people who are responsible for establishing and maintaining the University’s reputation as the leading research university in the country,” Prof Pistorius said.

The awards are divided into three categories: the Chancellor’s Award, the Exceptional Achievers Award and the Exceptional Young Researchers Award.

Chancellor’s Award

Prof Pat Eriksson, Head of the Department of Geology, and Prof Clarke Scholtz, Professor in the Deparmtent of Zoology, received the Chancellor’s Award Research while Prof William Fraser, Head of the Department of Curriculum Studies and Prof Koos Coetzer, Head of the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases received the Chancellor’s Award: Teaching and Training.

Exceptional Achievers Award

The Exceptional Achievers Award was bestowed on Prof Marthán Bester, Professor in the deparmtent of Zoology and Entomology and affiliated with the Mammal Research Institute. The other recipients were Prof André Boraine, Head of the Department of Procedural Law; Prof Ignacy Cuckrowski, Head of the Department of Chemistry; Prof Jaco Greeff, Professor in the Department of Genetics; Prof Rashid Hassan, Director of the Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa; Prof Johan Joubert, Head of the Electromagnetism Group in the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering; Prof Robert Kirberger, Head of the Diagnostic Imaging Section in the Department of Companion Animal Studies; Prof Lise Korsten, Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology; Prof Wimpie Odendaal, Director of the Centre for Electromagnetism in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology; Prof Angel Plastino, Professor in Physics; Prof Johan Scott, Professor of Private Law and Prof Jan van der Watt, Head of the Department of New Testament Studies.

Exceptional Young Researchers Award:

The Exceptional Young Researchers Awards went to Prof Rangan Gupta, associate professor in the Department of Economics; Prof Fourie Joubert, node director of the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Unit; Prof Resia Pretorius, Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Head of the Histology and Cell Biology sections; Prof Johan Schoeman, associate professor in the Department of Companion Animal Clinical Studies; Dr Bernard Slippers, senior lecturer in the Department of Genetics; Dr Ernst Wolff, senior lecturer in the Department of Philosophy and Dr Stuart Woolman, associate professor in the Faculty of Law.