News
Emerging CSIR woman researcher receives 2013 JD Roberts Award
27 September 2013
The JD Roberts Award for emerging researchers was presented to Alize le Roux of the CSIR last night (26 September 2013) at a gala event at Murray & Roberts in Bedfordview.
The award is a long-standing (more than 30 years) tradition between Murray & Roberts and the CSIR's built environment entity. This year was a first, with both parties agreeing to call for nominations of emerging researchers under the age of 35 to recognise and celebrate the contributions of younger colleagues within CSIR Built Environment. The award is usually bestowed on more seasoned researchers' work over an extensive period. The two categories will in future be celebrated every alternate year.
Le Roux is a geo-informatics scientist in spatial planning and systems, who has made substantial and innovative contributions to many high profile projects and initiatives by consistently providing technical leadership and innovation over the past six years. Le Roux has already supervised two Honours students at the University of Pretoria and been invited to deliver a number of presentations on her work.
She has been applying her knowledge in a wide range of disciplines such as urban and regional development and planning, and related fields. Le Roux's area of research includes regional socio-economic and environmental analysis, geo-informatics, planning support systems, data management, urban simulation, land-use change modelling and risk and vulnerability analysis.
The ‘spirit' of the JD Roberts award for emerging researchers remains unchanged. It is awarded based on the relevance and potential improvement to the quality of life of people of South Africa; the innovation, uniqueness and distinction of the work; the potential uptake and practicality of the research in the relevant sector and the potential impact of the research.
Three highlights of Le Roux's technical expertise, innovation and peer recognition include:
Developing a widely accepted settlement typology for South Africa, for the continuum of urban and rural areas.
Her research on the identification of vulnerable settlements in South Africa in a CSIR-wide project where she bridged the interdisciplinary gap between social, economic and environmental analyses within the field of risk and vulnerability.
Her contribution towards work done in support of local municipalities for them to adopt land-use change models as part of the authorities' urban and regional planning processes.
Le Roux received a Kruger rand and a cash prize, while the two runners-up also received cash prizes. According to the panel of judges, the competition was fierce and the presentations made by the three CSIR finalists were of an outstanding quality. The runners-up were Katekani Ngobeni and Kishan Tulsi, respectively.
Ngobeni is an environmental health practitioner and researcher in the building science and technology area. She has made contributions at national, provincial, and district levels in numerous training and capacity-building activities, developed a training course and led the development, piloting and national roll-out of an electronic risk assessment and management tool for tuberculosis (TB) infection prevention and control.
Tulsi works in the CSIR coastal engineering and port infrastructure group. He specialises in research on coastal engineering and offshore developments, especially in the field of physical modelling and numerical modelling. Tulsi, manager of the physical model facility, is also involved in using innovative monitoring techniques to assess damage of coastal structures and the coast line. He is locally and internationally recognised for the small-scale physical modelling of breakwaters, harbour models and ship motions.
The annual JD Roberts Award is a prestigious event for both Murray & Roberts and CSIR Built Environment. It is an occasion to pay tribute to the memory of Dr Roberts and the bond between the two bodies, as well recognising the outstanding contribution by researchers.
ENDS
