UCT’s ‘special stars’ shine at Staff Annual Awards

The University of Cape Town’s (UCT) very own “Night at the Oscars” was a glitzy affair, and Africa’s top university pulled out all the stops to celebrate its brightest stars.

The event of the year was held at The Baxter Theatre on lower campus and comprised first-class musical performances, including a rendition of Mango Groove’s 1989 classic “Special Star”, performed by singer and songwriter Leah Adams. It was only befitting to honour stellar staff who epitomise excellence and unleash their potential in many different ways – their individual contribution towards creating a fair and just society.

Hosted by newly installed Vice-Chancellor (VC) Professor Mosa Moshabela, the Staff Annual Awards joins academic, and professional administrative support and service (PASS) staff for an evening of festivities to collectively celebrate their outstanding achievements. Among the honours presented were the Long Service Awards, ad hominem promotions (academic, technical and scientific), the Alan Pifer Research Award and the Social Responsiveness Award. These awards are underpinned by UCT’s Vision 2030, which underscore excellence, sustainability and transformation.

“Tonight is a symbolic event that seeks to demonstrate our appreciation.”

To set the tone for the evening and to add to the celebratory mood, Adams, Thandeka Dladla and the Lady Day Little Big Band, led by Associate Professor Amanda Tiffin, wowed the audience with their exceptional talents – performing a mix of South African music that had guests clapping to the tunes and dancing in their seats.

“Tonight is a symbolic event that seeks to demonstrate our appreciation. I know it doesn’t commensurate with your depth of commitment and hard work, but I do hope that the little gesture that we show tonight goes a long way and that you recognise that we think about [your hard work] and make an effort to acknowledge and celebrate you,” Professor Moshabela said.

Blown away

Since he took office, Moshabela said he’s been blown away by the breadth and depth of work that UCT staff produces. And while he’s already caught glimpses of it in different spaces across campus, he said he has not even began to scratch the surface.

“I’ve caught glimpses of the breadth of your work. But I haven’t even begun to tap into the depth of it yet. And every time I hear stories from colleagues about the work that they do – and it’s just incredible how hard our colleagues work – on the academic, science and teaching [side of things] and in terms of support and professional services,” he said.

“And tonight, we celebrate all of you here.”

“We know that as UCT, we set the bar very high and there is pressure to perform at the top level just by the virtue of the institution that we are. And tonight, we celebrate all of you here. We celebrate the work that you’ve done over the many years that has earned you ad hominem promotions and various other awards.”

The awards presented on the evening include:

Alan Pifer Research Award

This annual research award recognises scholars whose work contributes to the advancement and welfare of disadvantaged South Africans. Professor Keertan Dheda, the director of the Centre for Lung Infection and Immunity and the head of the Division of Pulmonology in the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS), received the 2024 award.

Social Responsiveness Award

The Social Responsiveness Award honours work that contributes to the country’s cultural, economic, political and scientific and social landscape, and cements community service into the university’s research, and teaching and learning undertakings. This year’s winner is Professor Elena Moore from the Department of Sociology in the Faculty of Humanities in recognition of the Family Caregiving of Older Persons in Southern Africa Programme.

Long Service Awards

UCT honoured 232 long service awardees in the 15-year (137 recipients), 25-year (83 recipients), 35-year (9 recipients) and 45-year (3 recipients) categories. And these awards were presented to a mix of both PASS and academic staff members.

Ad hominem promotions

This award category acknowledges academic, scientific and technical staff for their achievements and exemplary leadership in teaching and learning, research, social responsiveness and management. More than 100 staff were recognised in this category, including four chief research officers and 19 professors.

UCT Book Award

The UCT Book Award honours staff who have produced outstanding publications that bring credit and prestige to the institution. The 2024 prize was awarded to Dr Chantel Stewart from the Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in recognition of The Veil of Maya.

Professor Wahbie Long from the Department of Psychology walked away with the Meritorious Book Prize for Nation on the Couch: Inside South Africa’s Mind.

Creative Works Award

This award went to Professor Rebecca Ackermann from the Department of Archaeology in the Faculty of Science for her exhibition, titled Humanity and created in partnership with UCTs Human Evolution Research Institute (HERI) and Iziko Museums of South Africa. This award recognises major artworks, performances, productions, compositions and architectural designs produced by UCT staff.

Professor Jacki Job from the Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies received the Meritorious Creative Works Award for her dance performance Ai.

Fellowship Awards

This category award celebrates staff who demonstrate the breadth and impact of UCT excellence and their commitment to unleash human potential across a range of disciplines, through scholarly work that has had major, quantifiable impact on society.

The 2024 recipients are:

• Professor Mohamed Jeebhay – Department of Public Health and Family Medicine
• Professor Catherine Orrell – the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, based in the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine
• Professor Amrita Pandey – Department of Sociology
• Professor Harris Skokos – Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics

Service Excellence Award

This prestigious award recognises outstanding service by staff, including activities, initiatives, practices and/or projects that have contributed to the delivery of exceptional or significantly improved services to UCT’s staff and students. This year, the award was presented to the Department of Chemistry’s Occupational Health Safety and Environment (OHSE) unit.

Global Citizenship Award

The award acknowledges members of the UCT community who have demonstrated excellence in living out the UCT mission through areas of service, the pursuit of knowledge, the dignity of the human being and contributions to the common good. In recognition of their work, the Institute of Preparedness and Prevention of Pandemics in the Research Office received this year’s Global Citizenship Award for PASS staff.

Professor Victoria Gibbon from the Department of Clinical Anatomy and Biological Anthropology received the Global Citizenship Award for academic staff.

Celebrating greatness

As he closed the evening’s formal proceedings, Moshabela said the award categories presented, and colleagues honoured, should serve as a reminder as to why UCT remains Africa’s top university.

“In the midst of all the difficulties and the challenges … there are rays of sunshine, and these are the things that matter and remind us why we do what we do.”

“I said the other day that in the midst of all the difficulties and the challenges, that there are rays of sunshine, and these are the things that matter and remind us why we do what we do and why we have to keep doing it.

“These are the moments of greatness that we have to celebrate. And even if we only do so once a year, they remind us of why we are UCT. This evening I’ve had the privilege of seeing the quality of our people and the service that you provide to the country and to the world through your teaching, research, engagement, policy and just your creativity. Congratulations to all of you!”