Eight

University of Botswana academic staff from various Faculties emerged g victorious at the recent National Research Excellence Awards 2023 ceremony, hosted by the Ministry of Communications, Knowledge and Technology ( MCKT).

Two of the eight UB academics were the ultimate winners in their categories while the remaining six were runners- up in their respective categories. The awards were classified as follows: Early Career Researcher, Established Researcher, Information and Communication Technology, Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Best Impactful Researcher, among others.

The Research Excellence Awards ceremony held under the Theme: “Research - Precious Treasure of Botswana” was aimed at recognizing and rewarding impactful research. The two ultimate prize winners from the University were Professor Oluwatoyin Kolawole and Prof Modisa Motswaledi.

Professor Oluwatoyin Kolawole was presented with the National Research

Excellence Award in the category of Indigenous Knowledge Systems. His research focus is on engaging farmers and climatologists in adaptation to climate variability and change in the Okavango Delta, Botswana.

Prof Modisa Motswaledi from the Faculty of Health Science received the Most Established Researcher Award for his research titled: Blood Groups Approach to HIV/ AIDS Vaccine Development and Treatments.

Mr Kagiso Ndlovu from Department of Computer Science received Early Career Researcher Award for a research project titled: An Evidence- Based Interoperability Framework for linking mHealth Applications with eRecord Systems in Botswana..

The Early Career Researcher Award is given to a distinguished individual academic or professional staff member who is actively involved in research and is within ten years of their latest graduate degree.

Dr Lesedi Mshumba from the Department of Sociology was honoured as a second runner- up in the Inclusivity Category ( Female Researcher Award) for her PhD thesis work titled: The Pursuit of Sex through Tourism in Africa.

Professor Patricia Kefilwe Mogomotsi from the Department of Economics also received the Early Careers Researcher Award in the runner- up position for having been actively involved in research while, Dr Mpapho Motsumi was presented with the Early Career Researcher Award in the runner- up position for a research project titled: Developing a Trauma registry in a Middle- income Country – Botswana.

Professor Magen Luce Mutepfa from the Department of Psychology received Early Career Researcher Award for a research project titled: Mental Health Disorder among Older People in Botswana.

Other recipients are Dr Moses Kabomo who received the ABSA Bank Water Sustainability Award for a research project titled: Botswana Coal Fly Ash derived Filter Media for Pilot Scale Water Purification. This is on- going collaborative research with Botswana Institute for Technology Research and Innovation ( BITRI).

On behalf of the University Council, Management, staff and students The Vice Chancellor Prof David Norris conveyed hearty congratulations to all the recipients and encourage them to continue the good work.

development for lumpy skin disease in cattle and is supervising a PhD student from Botswana Institute of Technology Research and Innovation ( BITRI), Kefentse Tumedi, working on developing a rapid diagnostic test kit for detection of lumpy skin disease in cattle. Professor Mpoloka is also supervising another PhD candidate from the Botswana Vaccine Institute ( BVI) Eliot Mpolokang Fana whose research interest is on FMD.

Consequently, the three- month UPenn attachment will afford Professor Mpoloka an opportunity to acquire more skills in vaccine production and technologies. UPenn has a long- standing relationship with the government of Botswana and UB, through which expertise is mutually shared in areas of medicine, research and capacity building.

Professor Mpoloka will be under the expertise of Dr Drew Weissman who is the Director of the Vaccine Research, infectious Diseases, and Institute of RNA Innovation at UPenn. Dr Weissman is acclaimed for production of COVID- 19 vaccines. Together with his team, he invented a modified technology for Pfizer- BioNtech mRNA and Moderna’s vaccine. Currently they are working on a pancoronavirus vaccine to stop future corona virus epidemics among other potentially lifesaving vaccines.

Professor Mpoloka said in an interview with UB News that his intention was to understand the vaccine production pipleline. His aim is to be skilled enough to develop technology for industry use as well as capacity building which will contribute to the reduction of Botswana’s import bill on cattle vaccines. In addition, he said the opportunity would further result in skills transfer to students so that ultimately the university would be able to attract more funding and collaboration with industry.

As for Dr Loeto who just returned from his attachment, his research is on steroid production from Fungi Isolated from Hypersaline Environment for Biotechnological Applications. During his stay at EBI Dr Loeto visited the Natural Products Lab under Dr Shiyong Wu. EBI is part of Ohio University in Athens Ohio and Dr Loeto had the opportunity to learn about the latest cutting- edge technology in natural products research.

The technologies include genome data mining prior to sampling, natural product discovery methods, and genetic manipulations for the expression of desired products, including silent genes. The visit to Ohio, said Dr Loeto, would greatly benefit his research at the university of Botswana. To that end, he added that it would make his research a lot more purpose- driven to unearth novel natural products in Botswana.