UCT researchers honoured with NRF P-ratings

The three UCT researchers are Dr Shadreck Chirikure and Dr David Braun of the Department of Archaeology, and Dr Amanda Weltman, a physicist in the Mathematics and Applied Mathematics Department.

Dr Chirikure focuses on technology and social issues associated with pre-colonial mining and metal working, as well as heritage management in Africa. His current projects include a book on heritage issues in Africa.

Making a living with stone artefacts

Dr Braun's research centres on the basic question of how our earliest ancestors made a living using stone artefacts to gain access to resources. This work relates to the ecology of groups living in Africa millions of years ago. Much of this research is focused in eastern Africa (Kenya and Ethiopia) although he also directs excavations on the Western Cape, at a site called Elandsfontein.

Dr Weltman's work deals with the bridging of string theory, cosmology and gravity, and the chameleon mechanism (which allows the dark energy particle to change its behaviour depending on the environment), one of the hottest new topics in contemporary theoretical cosmology. While making up the largest component of the energy budget in our universe, dark energy is the least understood ingredient of cosmology today, so this work is an opportunity for South Africa to contribute at the cutting edge of this field. Dr Weltman's theory may be testable at MeerKAT and the Square Kilometre Array, which may be built in South Africa in the coming decades.

A total of 95 researchers at UCT received ratings in the most recent NRF round. Of these, 47 were first-time applicants and 48 were successfully re-evaluated. The latter group included professor George Ekama of the Department of Civil Engineering and professor Hans-Peter Künzi of the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, who both kept their A-ratings and standing as world leaders. Professor Ed Rybicki of the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology earned a new A-rating for UCT.