Professor Sarojini Nadar and Professor Shazly Savahl from the University of the Western Cape (UWC) have been inducted into the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).

Prof Nadar is the Desmond Tutu Research Chair in Religion and Social Justice (SARChI, Tier1). and Prof Savahl is director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Children Families and Society, and a B2 NRF-rated researcher. 

ASSAf represents the country in the international community of science academies. Members are drawn from the full spectrum of scientific disciplines.

New members are elected each year by the full existing members, with membership granted in recognition of scholarly achievement and of those who give of their time and expertise voluntarily in the service of society.

Prof Nadar said: “I’m honored and humbled by this election. Unfortunately, my field of research, which focuses on the intersections of religion, race and gender with violence, is seldomly taken seriously in an increasingly neo-liberal academy that focuses on the ‘hard sciences’.

“My election to this body, therefore, signals a recognition that the ongoing challenges of physical, racialised, sexual and epistemic violence requires research from various fields within the humanities and social sciences. For me, the election points to a greater scholarly responsibility in an age of sound-bite scholarship to produce careful, critical and creative knowledge for collective social wellbeing.”

Prof Shazly Savahl said the achievement represents the recognition of the collective effort of child researchers and advocates locally and worldwide, in our quest to improve the well-being and quality of life of children.

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