Prof Lorenzo Milani came to SA to do a postdoctoral fellowship – 13 years later, he’s going the extra mile to help learners and students fulfil their potential.

When Professor Lorenzo Milani first arrived from Italy to do a postdoctoral fellowship in South Africa, he was a bit apprehensive. He had deliberated about the decision to make the trip, but because it was for only one year, he thought he’d give it a try. Also, the project was appealing: research on copper from Namibia through Botswana to Zambia was made even more attractive by the fact that he’d enjoyed a Christmas holiday in Namibia a few years previously.

His concerns soon dissipated. From the first day, people were literally hugging him, he recalls. “Everybody feels welcome in South Africa,” Prof Milani says. 

From there, it snowballed. One year became almost five, and then after three years back in Italy, he returned to South Africa in 2019 to take up a position as a senior lecturer in economic geology in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Pretoria (UP). In January last year, he was appointed as an associate professor; this was followed a few months later by a C2 rating from the National Research Foundation (NRF), which recognises him as an established researcher. In many ways Prof Milani is in awe of how things have turned out.

“If I’d thought when I first came here that I would be a professor after 12 years, I wouldn’t have believed it,” he says with a smile. “It is really a great personal accomplishment. And the NRF rating is highly considered here in South Africa and gives me some money for research. This is a good achievement, and I’m happy with that.”

Thirteen years since he first arrived here, he is still full of praise for South Africans.

“Maybe it’s because I teach third-year and honours students, but I find them to be very polite, well mannered and kind. In Europe, they’re a bit more spoiled, and are not always so respectful.”

Ultimately, his job satisfaction is enhanced because he can see the impact of his work.

“I find teaching very rewarding because, compared to Europe, you can try at least to make a difference. Many students come from very disadvantaged areas, and perhaps they’re very smart, but they come from poor-quality schools so you really have a chance to teach them a method [and structure]. When I convince someone to start with a master’s, I know they can change their life for the better.”

He also enjoys the research opportunities he’s had in southern Africa with colleagues and through collaborations with academics from universities such as the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), where he spent his first five years in South Africa.

As the Kumba-Exxaro Chair in Geodynamics of Ore Deposits at UP since 2020, Prof Milani manages a fund of almost R2 million, which is valid until 2026 and aims to widen international relations and state-of-the-art specialised knowledge.

“The funding is for visits, fieldworks and seminars, and for some analytical equipment or software for 3D modelling in geology,” he explains. “Exxaro sponsors 25 licences for this.”

As Exxaro Chair, Prof Milani has organised for academics from his alma mater, the University of Ferrara in northern Italy – where he graduated summa cum laude and did his PhD – to come to UP to present a seminar, combined with a field trip to Barberton in Mpumalanga. That seminar was about the earth’s mantle and its mineral resources. Other seminars have been on manganese in Africa and, more recently, a workshop on diamonds. Another seminar on critical metals, such as lithium used in batteries – which is essential for the Green Revolution, he says – was led by two Wits academics, Prof Judith Kinnaird, his former boss at the Economic Geology Research Institute at Wits, and Prof Paul Nex.

Prof Milani is also involved in a partnership with global mining company Anglo-American, Wits and UP. He represents UP in the project as one of its five principal investigators exploring the economic potential of the Kunene Complex in southern Angola and northern Namibia, which is the largest complex of anorthosite-mangerite-charnockite-granite rocks in the world.  

“Anglo-American sponsors students at all postgraduate levels, probably 20 to 25 students among the three universities,” says Prof Milani, who’s supervising or co-supervising five of these MSc students with Wits and UJ. “We work as a team – each brings their own skills.”

His life in South Africa has not been without hardship. He met Garebamotho Anna in January 2015, and six months later, they were married. In October 2020, Anna was diagnosed with breast cancer and died in September 2023. Prof Milani talks of his “difficult and sad time”. Yet he has been productive in his grief – and to the benefit of UP.

He set up the Anna Milani Foundation to support quality education for young women from disadvantaged backgrounds, and to contribute to awareness on breast cancer prevention. In two months, the foundation raised R70 000. The donations go to the Pre-University Academy at UP, and support young women in northern Pretoria and Mamelodi by providing them with weekend classes in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) disciplines. The academy hosts more than 300 students every Saturday.

“The plan is to increase it to 500, so they are looking for donors,” he says. 

Motivated by the initial response to his appeal, which should cover about seven more students at the academy, this year, he plans to fundraise by targeting large organisations.

Prof Milani’s choice of geology was inspired by his love of the outdoors and, in particular, hiking in the Dolomites mountain range, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the northern Italian Alps, where he grew up. His colleagues might be intrigued to discover that before he delved into geology, he first did a master’s degree in music; he played the bassoon. With one sister who is a professional viola player in Italy, another an English teacher who has a degree in piano and a father who sang in one of northern Italy’s male choirs, performing “songs from the mountains, which are very popular in northern Italy”, it is in keeping with the family tradition.

When he is not hard at work, Prof Milani cycles, runs and swims – in preparation for the triathlons he hopes to pick up again in 2025. He also thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of taking part in the 97km annual cycle race in Johannesburg in November.