After years of diligence and sacrifice, hundreds of Rhodes University students will be capped during the institution's October graduation ceremony.
Adding to the prestige of the event will be the presence of Rhodes University’s Prof Janice Limson who will be honoured for leading the country’s first transdisciplinary academic programme in biotechnology.
The programme is a national initiative spearheaded by President Cyril Ramaphosa aimed at developing high-level research capacity and advancing doctoral training.
Among the more then 200 graduates taking centre stage at the graduation ceremony will also be the conferral of an honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) on renowned consumer rights journalist Wendy Knowler.
Knowler will be recognised for her contribution to consumer education, public service and ethical journalism through the honorary doctorate.
Limson, who heads the Rhodes University Biotechnology Innovation Centre (RUBIC), said the Presidential PhD Hub in Advanced Biotechnology was aimed at developing high-level research capacity and advancing doctoral training in a field with significant implications for science, innovation and development.
The Presidential PhD Programme is aimed at developing a new model for training SA’s doctoral candidates, with a greater emphasis on multidisciplinary research, innovation and societal impact.
The university was selected by the National Research Foundation (NRF) to host one of five Presidential PhD Programme hubs.
The other Presidential PhD Programme hubs have been awarded to the University of Johannesburg, the University of the Witwatersrand, NMU and the University of Cape Town, covering themes including the Just Energy Transition and Digital Transformation.
Rhodes' bid was developed primarily as an Eastern Cape universities initiative, with Nelson Mandela University, the University of Fort Hare and Walter Sisulu University as node partners.
The initiative also includes Tshwane University of Technology and Cape Peninsula University of Technology, as well as the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
“This level of collaboration and established thought leadership around doctoral studies training, sustainability and transdisciplinarity really helped cement RU as one of the five hubs,” Limson said.
The Makhanda-based university will host the country’s only hub dedicated to advanced biotechnology, supporting about 45 PhD candidates over three-years at a cost of about R21m, with the first cohort expected to enrol in 2027.
Limson’s appointment to lead the advanced biotechnology hub follows decades of work in the biotechnology research and training field at RU.
“Building on outstanding training in biotechnology, this programme will go further and equip our graduates with the wider set of skills that will be needed to address societal challenges in a rapidly changing world,” Limson said.
The university’s biotechnology work ranges from biosensors and rapid diagnostics to tools aimed at addressing water-quality challenges.
The programme is also designed to move beyond the traditional model of a largely individual science, technology, engineering, mathematics doctorate.
It will integrate biotechnology with engaged research, technology innovation and policy frameworks within a formal, curriculum-based degree.
Research undertaken through the hub and its partner nodes will cover biomedical fields such as precision medicine, drug discovery, diagnostics and bioinformatics.
It will also include environmental biotechnology, with research areas including marine natural products and biological control.
Collectively, the research has the potential to contribute towards 13 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including those relating to good health, clean water, responsible production and life below water.
Rhodes University deputy vice-chancellor for research, innovation and strategic partnerships Dr Kwezi Mzilikazi welcomed the announcement.
“We are extremely proud of Professor Janice Limson and colleagues for her leadership in this initiative,” Mzilikazi said.
"We look forward to creating a signature PhD programme, housed at Rhodes University.”
With the first candidates expected to enrol in 2027, the university is now preparing to establish a new generation of biotechnology researchers whose work is intended to move beyond the laboratory and into communities, industry, policy and the wider economy.
