Johannesburg, South Africa – Sasol has allocated R15 million in funding to support South African universities to conduct basic research in selected thematic areas of strategic interest to the company. This is through its university support programme, which aims to contribute towards migrating South Africa to a high-end skills and knowledge economy. 

To date, Sasol has contributed more than R200 million towards university research initiatives since the inception of its university support programme in 2005. 

In addition to procuring essential equipment and facilitating the exchange of knowledge and expertise among local and international experts, the funding has also served to support young academics to become established researchers, filling the scarce skills gap identified by the National Research Foundation. 

“Sasol’s commitment to South Africa as an engaged corporate citizen continues to be unwavering even in the current macro-economic climate,” said Rudi Heydenrich, Senior Vice President: Research and Technology at Sasol. 

“We have always done our best to ensure broader participation in capacity building within South Africa’s higher education institutions, and are proud of the impact that our university collaboration programme has had in improving knowledge and innovation in the science and engineering disciplines.”  

Last year September – in a first for South African corporate – Sasol sent out an open call to all local universities and universities of technology for research proposals. More than 200 proposals were received. Of these, 39 have been selected for research grants. Beneficiaries include the universities of Fort Hare, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan, Stellenbosch, Cape Town, Johannesburg, North West, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, Free State and Pretoria, as well as the Vaal University of Technology. 

“A striking feature of the successful applicants is the diversity and quality of their proposals,” said Dr Thulani Dlamini, Vice President: Strategic Research and Technology, and the Centre for Innovation and Business Impact at Sasol.  

“That the research grants were awarded on a highly competitive basis also shows that African researchers at historically black universities can hold their own against their other well-resourced counterparts,” he added.