Dear Associates and extended NITheCS family,
We welcome the announcement by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the National Research Foundation (NRF) that the consortium application bid to host NITheCS has been awarded to Stellenbosch University (SU). SU’s multi-thematic application was spearheaded by Prof Sibusiso Moyo, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Studies at SU.
The independent review panel that assessed the application comprised international experts from broad disciplines spanning the focus areas of the proposal.
Although NITheCS is still in a transformative phase, the allocation of hosting NITheCS is an important step in the process to establish NITheCS as a legal entity. I am grateful to all concerned for the hard work that has gone into the bid application. In particular our thanks go to Prof Sibusiso Moyo for the strong role that she played in the process, as well as the professionals at all the universities who collaborated to put together the consortium application.
Congratulations are also due to the winners of the NITheCS-sponsored prizes at the recent 67th Annual Conference of the South African Institute of Physics (SAIP). We wish them all the best in their future studies and careers.
We have a full calendar of events for the remainder of September. Of particular importance is the 3rd African Conference on Fundamental and Applied Physics, to be held at Nelson Mandela University’s George Campus from 25 to 29 September. Details about the events appear on our website.
Finally, I am pleased to confirm the NITheCS strategic objectives: to generate world-leading new knowledge in fundamental science, provide high-calibre researchers, establish a student pipeline from undergraduate to postgraduate to postdoc and early career, and address socio-economic development through training and research.
Our heartfelt thanks go to every person in the NITheCS community for your support in working towards these objectives.
Warm regards,
Francesco Petruccione