Durban University of Technology Professor, Megandhren Govender has obtained his C2 National Research Foundation Rating. C-rated researchers are regarded as established researchers with a sustained recent record of productivity in their field. Govender is based at DUT’s Faculty of Applied Science.
Govender’s work extends to teaching maths, research, community outreach as well as being involved in the later DUT community. He also serves on a number of DUT’s committees.
He has been in this role from 2016. He is also an Honorary Professor in the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal.
With over 100 first-class international publications in theoretical astrophysics, Govender’s work has impacted several research areas including gravitational collapse, thermodynamics in curved space time and modified theories of gravity.
He has supervised postgraduate students across a wide spectrum of disciplines including astrophysics, applied mathematics, homoeopathy and chiropractic. He is proficient in the teaching of physics, mathematics and applied mathematics and is widely known for his unique approach to making these subjects lively and fun.
Commenting on his C2 rating which will last for five years, Prof Govender is grateful for the recognition, however, he would have preferred a higher rating.
“Like with everything in life, one has to continuously reset, access, reinvent and make oneself relevant. In order to achieve these, one needs some sort of reference point or level. The NRF rating serves as this point of reference in terms of one’s academic standing in the international research community. It gives one an idea – not absolute – of the impact of one’s work and influence in the respective research fields,” he said.
Govender believes that excellence in teaching has to be accompanied by some degree of research.
He said the applications of maths and physics in modelling real-world problems is moving at the speed of light and feels that students need to be made aware of current progress and applications. Govender expressed his appreciation to his family for keeping him grounded and for being the centre of his gravity.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Engagement at DUT, Professor Sibusiso Moyo mentioned that as part of DUT’s Envision2030 Sustainability perspective, having NRF-rated researchers is one of the ways that DUT can create a sustainable research and innovation enterprise, with a capacity to contribute to the doctoral skills training and mentoring of the next generation scholars.
“Our objective is to ensure we have optimised organisational capabilities with the ability to align and leverage DUT’s resources to realise our stated goals and objectives in the research and innovation blueprint. Congratulations once again to Prof Megandhren Govender on this achievement,” Moyo said.
IOL