Prof Felix Dapare Dakora, who holds the South African Research Chair in Agrochemurgy and Plant Symbioses at the Tshwane University of Technology’s Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Arcadia campus, has been recognised by the African Union (AU) Commission as the winner in the category of Earth and Life Science at the 2016 Edition of the prestigious Kwame Nkrumah Continental Science Awards.
The Award Ceremony took place at the end of January 2017, during the 28th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government, at the AU Headquarters at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The objective of the awards is to recognise and honour outstanding African scientists for their scientific achievements, discoveries and innovations. This also contributes to raising the profile of the science and technology sector in the AU Member States and Africa as a whole, thus contributing to Africa’s sustainable development and poverty alleviation.
Prof Dakora’s research interest is in the area of plant sciences, with a focus on the legume/rhizobium symbiosis. He is a Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (MASSAf), a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa (FRSSAf), and a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences (FAAS).
Each winner received a cheque of 100,000 USD as an incentive to further boost their research outputs in their respective fields of Life and Earth Sciences or Basic Sciences, Technology and Innovation.
The prizes were presented to the winners by HE Alpha Conde, the President of the Republic of Guinea and HE Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, outgoing Chairperson of the AU Commission.
For more information on the Tshwane University of Technology please contact Willa de Ruyter on tel: 012 382 5352 or send an email to deruyterw@tut.ac.za.