Cape Town - Two senior South African scientists, both closely associated with UCT, have been honoured by the international scientific community.
Professor Daya Reddy, the president of the Academy of Science of South Africa, has been chosen as president-elect of the International Council for Science, while another academy member, Professor Cheryl de la Rey, has been elected to the International Council for Science’s executive board.
They were both elected by representatives from the council’s 120 national members and 31 scientific unions at the organisation’s 31st general assembly held recently in Auckland, New Zealand.
The council is an NGO with a global membership of national scientific bodies, whose mission is to strengthen international science for the benefit of society.
It aims, among other things, “to identify and address major issues of importance to science and society, and to provide independent, authoritative advice to stimulate constructive dialogue between the scientific community and governments, civil society and the private sector”.
Reddy, who will take over as president in October 2017, holds the South African Research Chair in computational mechanics in the department of maths and applied maths at UCT, where he served as dean of the science faculty from 1999 to 2005.
De la Rey, whose academic discipline is psychology and who has served as deputy vice-chancellor at UCT and executive director of the National Research Foundation, is currently vice-chancellor and principal of the University of Pretoria.
Cape Argus