Professor Faizal Bux is honoured to be selected as a finalist for two prestigious awards in the ‘Science Oscars’ of South Africa, the NSTF-South32 Awards, recently.
The multi-award winning Prof Bux is the Director at the Institute for Water and Waste Water Technology (IWWT) at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). Annually, nominations are invited by the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) and he was nominated by DUT’s Professor Sibusiso Moyo, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC): Research, Innovation and Engagement (RIE) and a senior executive from Rand Water (Professor HC Kasan).
The NSTF-South32 Awards are the largest, most comprehensive, and most sought-after national awards of their kind in the country. They were also the first science awards in South Africa. The Awards were established in 1998 as a collaborative effort with members and stakeholders to recognise outstanding contributions to science, engineering and technology (SET) and innovation by SET-related professionals, teams and organisations in South Africa. This includes experienced scientists, engineers, innovators, science communicators, engineering capacity developers, and organisational managers/leaders, as well as data and research managers.
His first nomination is for the Lifetime Award, Prof Bux said it is truly an honour and he is humbled at being nominated as a finalist amongst leading and globally respected experts. “This is a very prestigious award highlighting contributions over a lifetime i.e. 15 years or more and in my case approximately 25 years. The individual must have made an outstanding contribution to SET in South Africa in any field of activity relating to research and its outputs. It also serves as an acknowledgement by my peers of my contributions to science over the last 25 years but the cherry on the top is it puts DUT on the map amongst the big five leading research intensive universities in South Africa,” he said excitedly.
His second nomination is for the NSTF Water Research Commission Award. This award seeks to give recognition to leadership in water research, development and knowledge generation that considers transformation and growth of the human capital pipeline for sustainable water management in South Africa, over the last five to ten years considered either together or separately.
“I am really excited as it reflects that my contributions to water research has been recognised by my peers and we always endeavour to conduct research that is impact driven and makes a difference to the water sector and society,” he said jubilantly.
Prof Bux said as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the usual NSTF Awards Gala Dinner was reinvented into an exciting live-stream broadcast. The date for the virtual Awards event is scheduled for Thursday, 30 July 2020.
Having worked at the University of Durban Westville he joined Technikon Natal in 1994. His employment was based on initiating a research focus area in water, since research at Technikons was very limited. With limited infrastructure and equipment, he successfully managed to attract funding from the FRD (NRF) and Water Research Commission which was used for basic equipment and to initiate projects in consultation with water sector partners.
“Within a few years we were approved as one of 13 developed Research Niche Area (RNA) in South Africa funded by the NRF. This can be considered as a significant milestone as securing competitive funding was difficult and in 2007 I received an award from the NRF for being the longest standing RNA within the Institutional Research Development programme,” he said.
Prof Bux said that one of the key challenges within his first 10 years at the Technikon was instilling a research culture. He said that the research area was formally approved by the Technikon as the Centre for Water and Wastewater Technology in 2000.
“Having built a respectable track record our outputs were subjected to peer evaluation and we were granted Institute status by the University in 2011. More significantly in 2012, I successfully secured a NRF South African Research Chair (SARChI) on Optimization of wastewater treatment for developing economies which was one of two awarded on wastewater research in SA,” he said.
Prof Bux added that his research thrust since inception of his career was largely informed by the needs of the water sector including water utilities, local Government and society in general. His primary research area was in the field of wastewater treatment and beneficiation with emphasis on identifying wastewater as a resource rather than a pollutant.
Over the last 25 years he has established himself in the field both locally and internationally and was successful in securing key partnerships with collaborators. “Projects with potential for commercialisation were scaled up in minimal time in partnership with local and international funding agencies. This aided in contributing to the body of knowledge both with regards to publications in leading journals and potential large scale applications. I placed strong emphasis on human capital development with regards to student training and mentorship which is critical for the water sector,” he said.
Within 25 years Prof Bux was fortunate in being able develop his research area from a small laboratory with little equipment at a Technikon to a world class facility with a dedicated building with well-equipped laboratories that is respected globally for the quality of the outputs.
Pictured: Professor Faizal Bux
Waheeda Peters
