Professor Don A Cowan

Prof Don Cowan was educated at the University of Waikato (NZ) before taking a lectureship at University College London (UK). In 1985, he accepted the Chair of Microbiology and Head of the Department of Biotechnology at the University of the Western Cape. In 2012 he moved to the University of Pretoria as Director of the Genomics Research Institute and the Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics.

Prof Cowan’s research is in the fields of microbial ecology and genomics, focusing on the microbiology of extreme environments, particularly in Antarctica, where he works with many other research laboratories across the world.

He has published around 450 research papers, 52 book chapters and two books. He has a Scopus H-index of 66 and holds an NRF A1 rating.

In the course of his career, Prof Cowan has trained and graduated 49 PhD students and 52 MSc students.

He is professor emeritus at UWC, is an RSSAf Fellow, a Member of ASSAf and an Honorary Fellow of RSNZ. Over the past two decades, he has been awarded the UWC Vice-Rector’s Award for Research Excellence, the SASM Medal for Research Excellence, the NSTF Capacity Development Award, the UP Chancellor’s Medal, the RSSAf John Herschel Medal, the UP Exceptional Supervisor’s Award and the SASBMB Gold Medal.