NRF-SASOL Announcement Innovative Research and Skills Development through Partnership

The National Research Foundation (NRF) and SASOL Ltd are pleased to announce two major new programmes to further advance research and capacity development. During July 2022, a competitive call for two jointly-funded South African Research Chairs in Power System Modelling and Green Hydrogen will be launched, in addition to a bespoke Postdoctoral Innovation Fellowships Programme.

The Chairs are aligned with the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI), and will specifically stimulate academia-industry research designed to attract and retain excellence in research and innovation at South African universities. The new Postdoctoral Programme will develop industrially relevant long-term research capacity in energy transition and sustainability at both academic institutions, and at Sasol’s research facilities in Sasolburg for a period of up to two years. The programme will focus on Green Hydrogen, Energy Storage, Waste Utilisation towards a Circular Economy, Air Quality Assessment, Fischer-Tropsch Catalysis for Power-to-Liquids Applications, and In situ Characterisation of Catalysts.

These new programmes further advances the strong partnership between SASOL, the SASOL Foundation and the NRF that has supported 400 students and researchers from academic and research performing institutions in South Africa. In 2021, R54 million has been jointly invested supporting 26 multi-year academic-industry collaborative research projects in response to South Africa’s energy transition.

The growing partnership between Sasol and the NRF is not only playing a key role in accelerating the co-creation of knowledge for impact, and skills development, addressing the critical energy challenges, but showcasing the value of effective partnership within the innovation ecosystem.

Sasol has a long history of funding research at South African universities through contract research and student bursaries. Over the past 16 years, it has also contributed more than R300 million through its R&T University Collaboration Programme, which provides research grants to academics for projects in the key disciplines of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.

The NRF promotes research and innovation interests through innovative funding instruments, advancement of research career development, public science engagement, and the establishment of leading-edge research platforms that support the scientific and innovation landscape to effectively respond to socio-economic challenges and opportunities.