Rhodes scholars announced

Nine new Rhodes scholarships were announced in Johannesburg, five of which have gone to UCT graduates or graduands.

They are Renée Hlozek, who will read for a DPhil in Astrophysics, Charne Lavery, who will read for the MSt in English, Roscoe Roman, who will pursue an MPhil in Economics, Christopher Trisos, who will read for the MSc in Integrative Bioscience, and Raoul Röntsch, who will read for his DPhil in Theoretical Physics.

Hundreds of South African scholars compete annually for the prestigious scholarships, worth around R300 000 each.

The Rhodes Scholarships were created in the will of Cecil John Rhodes and were awarded for the first time in 1902.

In 2003, the focus of the Rhodes Trust in Oxford shifted towards South and Southern African with the dedication of around R140 million to start the Mandela Rhodes Foundation.

Since that year, the focus has shifted to awardees “working for the benefit of Africa in general or Southern African in particular”.