Three researchers of the North-West University (NWU) received awards for their work from the South African Academy for Science and Arts.
Prof Leonie Stander of the Faculty of Law received the Toon van den Heever prize for law, Prof Tiaan Brink of the Faculty of Health Sciences received the FARMOVS prize for pharmacology and drug development, and Prof Christo van Rensburg, a research fellow at the Faculty of Humanities, received the CJ Langenhoven prize for linguistics.
Prof Stander received the prize, which is awarded every three years, for original legal works in Afrikaans, as well as for full-length Afrikaans articles of a very high quality, which were published in accredited legal journals.
According to the academy, Prof Stander published high-level full-length research articles in various areas within the field of law. She mainly publishes in the field of insolvency law, as well as law of insurance and trust law.
Prof Brink received his prize for outstanding contributions to a section of pharmacology and drug development.
According to the academy, Prof Brink has a special talent for thinking innovatively and originally. Not only did he make outstanding contributions in the field of pharmacology on a national level, but he is also held in high esteem as pharmacologist on the continent and internationally. “He has been the programme leader of the web-based BScHons degree in pharmacology that has been presented as a distance-learning model for nearly 20 years.
“For his contributions in the area of teaching he not only receives recognition institutionally, but also at an international level,” stated the academy.
Prof van Rensburg is an emeritus professor of the University of Pretoria and became the director of the Unit for the Development of Language Skills after his retirement. He is currently a research fellow at the NWU, where he continues his research on Afrikaans.
According to the academy he is known in linguistic circles for the work that he has done to identify, record and analyse the varieties of Afrikaans, and to integrate the place of these varieties in the Afrikaans language world.
“He continuously and over a long period of time proved his internationalisation of Afrikaans linguistics, and ploughed back his expertise and knowledge into the Afrikaans language landscape,” said the academy.
The recipients will receive their prizes at an award ceremony in Pretoria on 18 July.
Prof van Rensburg also received the Jan H. Marais prize this year, the biggest prize of its kind in South Africa, also for his outstanding contribution in Afrikaans as scientific language.
The Jan H. Marais prize is shared with Prof Marinus Wiechers, a jurist and former rector of Unisa, and will be presented to the recipients on 30 May at a gala dinner in Stellenbosch.
Prof Leonie Stander
Prof Tiaan Brink
Prof Christo van Rensburg
