Agriculture Lecturer attains NRF rating

The number of MUT academics that receive NRF (National Research Foundation) rating keeps growing. Lately, the University welcomed news that Dr Festus Adejoro, a lecturer in the Department of Agriculture, has been granted a ‘Y’ by the NRF. A ‘Y’ rating indicates that one is a promising young researcher.

News of Dr Adejoro’s rating was delivered to  MUT Research Director, Dr Anette Mienie, on 20 December last year. Dr Mienie characterised the news as “a major milestone” in Dr Adejoro’s career.  She added that Dr Adejoro’s “hard work has been rewarded by being acknowledged as an NRF-rated Scientist”.

In his reaction, Dr Adejoro thanked the support from the University management.  “I am also grateful to the leadership of MUT at the departmental, faculty and University levels for providing an enabling environment for us to thrive. I look forward with hope to more giant strides,” said Dr Adejoro.

Dr Adejoro said what motivated him to apply for the rating were the enhanced visibility and the opportunities that come with it. He wanted to join several rated researchers.

He said that over the years, “NRF rated researchers have been a showcase of the South African intellectual depth. Therefore, it is natural for every early career research to aspire to be part of the elite group of scientists with an NRF rating. Every university strives for national and international recognition, and this is built upon the eminence of the faculty and staff it parades,” he said.

Dr Adejoro’s research focus is on Animal Production Management. For his PhD, which he obtained from the University of Pretoria, he specialised in Ruminant Nutrition.  His doctoral research centred on the evaluation of dietary additives that can mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in ruminant production systems, while enhancing the utilisation of poor-quality feeds. His doctoral and postdoctoral research has been published in leading peer-reviewed academic journals.

“Some of the results have also been presented at local and international conferences. To date, I have fifteen published papers in SCOPUS/ISI indexed journals,” he said.

Dr Adejoro said he was going to capitalise on having attained the rating.

“Leveraging on the current NRF rating, I have begun to develop personal, medium and long-term collaboration strategies to ensure that I remain research active,” said Dr Adejoro. “Accessing grant funding is a key factor, and I am committed to utilising every available funding source to sustain an active research portfolio going forward.”

Dr Adejoro’s plans include co-supervising postgraduate students, “engage in cutting edge research, leading to the generation of research outputs.”

Source: MUT