FABI celebrated the recent announcement that its Director, Prof. Bernard Slippers has been awarded the Humboldt Research Award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. This prestigious award recognises his outstanding research and academic contributions and provides funding for three years for research visits and collaboration with leading researchers in Germany. It is conferred on internationally recognised researchers in recognition of their entire academic record to date.

Research collaborator, Prof. Andre Fleißner of the Technical University of Braunschweig in Germany, nominated Prof. Slippers for this prestigious award, describing him as a “pre-eminent global authority in forest pathology” and is “exactly the right person at the right time to lead major international research initiatives” in the field. He said that Bernard’s research impact has global reach and led to the identification of several new plant pathogens and pest species. He added that, “Moreover, his endeavours have fostered the development of chemical, digital and biological tools for precision pest management on a global scale”.

Bernard has been involved in international collaborations in over 40 countries, and since 2023 has been instrumental in building a network of researchers from a number of university and non-university groups in South Africa and Germany that are investigating the role of mycobiomes (communities of fungi) on plant and tree health. He says that this award will allow him to build the South African-German network established in 2023 to investigate forest microbiomes, and especially latent fungal pathogens impacted by globalisation and climate shifts.