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Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment
The Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment continues
to strive towards research excellence, and to strengthen its
international profile.
Faculty of
ENGINEERING & THE BUILT
ENVIRONMENT
Dean’s Report
PROFESSOR
FRANCIS PETERSEN
Dean of Engineering &
the Built Environment
During 2012, the faculty has seen an increase in the number of NRF-rated
researchers to 46. There has also been a marked increase in publications
in peer-reviewed, accredited journals, and the publication count is up from
71.36 units in 2005 to 94.67 units in 2011. With this reputation, the faculty
has become the faculty of choice for a growing number of prospective
postgraduate students. The number of postgraduate students registered in the
faculty in 2012 totaled 1 040. Contracts from industry have steadily increased
in number over the past years. In 2011, the faculty signed 299 contracts to the
value of R94.2 million and in 2012 a total of 296 contracts, valued at R136.6
million, were awarded to the faculty.
In 2012, the South African National Roads Agency Limited funded a chair in Transport
Studies in the Department of Civil Engineering. Eskom established two chairs, the
first in the field of Energy Efficiency, housed in the Department of Mechanical
Engineering, and the second in Materials Science, hosted by the Centre of Materials
Engineering. In addition, the faculty has two new DST/NRF SARChI Chairs – the
first in Reaction Engineering, in the Department of Chemical Engineering, and the
other in Industrial Computational Fluid Dynamics, in the Department of Mechanical
Engineering.
The faculty has appointed three senior research scholars to assist in the mentoring
of younger staff, and also to contribute to the research agenda of the faculty. As part
of the AW Mellon Foundation’s Visiting and Retired Scholars Mentorship project,
the African Centre for Cities hosted Professor Margo Huxley, a retiree from the
University of Sheffield, in the UK. The faculty continues to create a supportive and
enabling environment for research and innovation, and it is particularly encouraging
to note that nine new staff members joined the Emerging Researcher Programme
during 2012. The programme ensures the transfer of essential research skills from
experienced researchers to those academics who are establishing a research career.
The faculty had 21 registered postdoctoral research fellows in 2012. Four postdoctoral
fellowships are available annually through faculty funds, to increase the number of
postdoctoral fellows in the faculty. We believe that the role of postdoctoral fellows
is critical to the development of the next generation of research scholars.