Article by: Corporate Communication [Rozanne Engel]
A Stellenbosch University researcher and lecturer has managed to secure more research funding through the FLAIR (Future Leaders – African Independent Research) Collaboration Grant after she was selected by the Royal Society as one of 30 scientists in Africa for the international FLAIR research fellowship in 2019.
“I am excited about all the research funding I have received, as well as the support. As a young researcher, it’s that affirmation that you are doing the right thing and that your heart is in the right place, because your research is very attached to who you are as a person that makes all the difference,” says Dr Margreth Tadie, a researcher and lecturer in the Process Engineering Department at SU.
FLAIR is a two-year programme of The African Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society with support from the United Kingdom’s Global Challenges Research Fund, and is designed to help talented early-career researchers whose science is focused on the needs of the continent, establish independent careers at African institutions and ultimately, their own research groups.
The collaboration grants will present FLAIR Fellows with new paths for progressing career and research options, provide access to training and equipment in UK-based institutions and facilitate the two-way exchange of research staff, knowledge and expertise between UK facilities and FLAIR host organisations for a year.
According to Tadie, she is super excited to be able to collaborate with Prof Karen Hudson-Edwards from the University of Exeter on her research on the mining waste in South Africa.
“It is special to be able to do research with Prof Edwards. What resonated with me was that we have the same values and the same vision, which makes our partnership so great. She has done a lot of work on the environmental impact of mining, and that is where my heart is and what my research project is about.”
Tadie is also one of two SU researchers selected by the University to be part of the Department of Higher Education and Training’s Future Professors Programme, which is spearheaded by Prof Jonathan Jansen, Distinguished Professor of Education at SU.
The Future Professors Programme is a two-year programme that includes a residency programme that has mentorship and support to help senior researchers and lecturers to become associate professors and full professors. The second part of the programme is international placement, which places researchers like Tadie at an international institution that will further help her research and career.
“It’s really exciting to be a part of this programme and, honestly, it is such an honour. To be nominated by the University and then to be picked for it is great. I am very excited about the future, because I think I have everything that I need to be successful.”
To read more about Margreth Tadie click here.
For more information on the FLAIR Fellowship, visit https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/grants/flair/.
Photograph: Dr Margreth Tadie.
