REVIEW OF THE DST/NRF CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN TREE HEALTH BIOTECHNOLOGY (CTHB)
 

 

All seven DST/NRF Centres of Excellence (CoEs) were reviewed during 2009 at the end of the first five-year period of funding to see whether or not they would pass through Stage Gate 3, thereby becoming eligible for consideration for a further five-year period of funding until the end of 2014.

The DST and NRF set up two Committees to oversee and manage the review process.  The members of the Review Reference Group were responsible for overseeing the whole review process and, in consultation with each CoE Director, for identifying reviewers for each CoE.   The members of the review teams (two from abroad and one local) were chosen because of their expertise in the research area of the specific CoE and the management skills necessary to run such a CoE.  The Review Reference Group was also responsible for considering the seven review reports prepared by the external reviewers as well as the Directors’ respective management responses to the reviewers’ report. 

The members of the second committee, Prof Susan Cozzens, Associate Dean at Georgia Tech University, USA and Prof David Woods, former Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University, met between 24-26 June 2009 at the NRF, and were responsible for evaluating the running and management of the Centres of Excellence Programme by the NRF on behalf of the DST.

The Directors of each CoE were requested to draw up a three-day programme and make all necessary arrangements for the relevant stakeholders to attend the on-site review of their respective CoEs.  The members of each review team were sent all the background information and research reports needed to prepare themselves for such a review and were requested to spend three days at the specific institution(s) conducting interviews with staff and students of the CoE and other stakeholders.  They were required to provide the NRF with their final assessment reports prior to returning to their home institutions.

The CTHB was fortunate that the review team appointed by the NRF was made up of three excellent reviewers in Prof Tom Gordon of the University of California, USA, Dr Andrew Liebhold of the USDA Forest Service, USA and Prof Chrissie Rey of the University of the Witwatersrand, who was chosen to lead the group.  The team undertook the review at FABI between 6 and 8 May 2009. Our thanks must go to those CTHB Board members and stakeholders who were willing to give of their time to meet with the Review team during the course of the three days.  Our thanks too to the undergraduate students who are part of the MRYE and mentorship programmes in the CTHB, the post-graduate students and members of the academic, technical and administrative staff linked to the CTHB who were also interviewed by the team and attended certain of the social functions so as to interact with the team on an informal basis.  The Review team produced a very positive report on the management, outputs and achievements of the Centre. 

The NRF has submitted all reports to the DST and awaits news as to DST’s decision about the funding of the CoE initiative for the next five years and its level of satisfaction with NRF’s management on behalf of the DST.

1) Sandy Liebhold. (2) Left to right: Chrissie Rey, Gert Marais, Emma Steenkamp, Brenda Wingfield and Thembi Khoza. (3) Mike Wingfield and Tom Gordon. (4) Teresa Coutinho and Diana Six.