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UCT RESEARCH REPORT 2012
Transformation of the Science
Cohort Award
Professor Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan is a global expert
on the microscopic structure of the bones of extinct
and extant vertebrates. She is also head of the newly
established Department of Biological Sciences at UCT
(combining the former departments of botany and
zoology).
The NRF award adds to several other highly acclaimed
awards that recognise the value and impact of her work.
Early in her career, she received an NRF President’s
Award and was awarded the Royal Society Meiring
Naudé Gold Medal. In 2003 she was awarded the
National Science and Technology Forum Award for
Outstanding Contribution to Science, Engineering,
and Technology. This was followed by the 2005 South
African Woman of the Year Award, which acknowledged
her contribution to science in terms of both research
and science communication to the wider public. In
the same year she received the Distinguished Woman
Scientist Award from the South African Department of
Science and Technology.
She is former president of the Association of South
African Women in Science and Engineering (SAWISE),
former deputy president of the Academy of Science of
South Africa, and has also served as director of Iziko
Museums’ Natural History Collections (which includes
the South African Museum). Professor Chinsamy-Turan
previously served as the chair of the Advisory Board of
Scifest Africa, the biggest science festival in Africa, and
currently serves as a board member for the US-based
Jurassic Foundation. She is a Fellow of the University of
Cape Town, the Royal Society of South Africa, and the
World Academy of Science.
Display of the alternating types of bone tissue present in the bones of the polar dinosaurs.
Professor Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan
to come