Six Wits Researchers Join Academy of Science
The Academy of Science of South Africa has elected six Wits University researchers as new members, alongside two Young Academy appointees.
Updated on Nov. 9, 2026 in Science — General
The Academy of Science of South Africa, the country's official national science academy, recognised six researchers from Wits University as newly elected members. Two other Wits researchers were elected to the South African Young Academy of Science, and Professor Michèle Ramsay received the ASSAf Science-for-Society Gold Medal.
Why it matters
Membership is awarded for outstanding contributions to the advancement and application of science or scholarship, and candidates are nominated by four existing members and elected by secret ballot. The honours highlight the research output of a major South African university within the national science system.
Under Ramsay's leadership since 2014, the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience has graduated 17 MSc and 34 PhD students and published more than 400 research papers. The number of candidates considered and the outcome margins for the secret-ballot elections were not disclosed.
The players
Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)
South Africa's official national science academy, which elects members for outstanding contributions to science and scholarship.
Professor Michèle Ramsay
Director of the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience at Wits University, who received the ASSAf Science-for-Society Gold Medal.
Professor Shabir Madhi
Dean of the Wits Faculty of Health Sciences, who nominated Ramsay for the medal.
The details
Professor Shabir Madhi, Dean of the Wits Faculty of Health Sciences, nominated Ramsay for the Science-for-Society Gold Medal. The newly elected Wits members span physics, media studies, and machine intelligence, including Dr Edward Nkadimeng in experimental high-energy particle physics and Benjamin Rosman, founding director of the Wits Machine Intelligence and Neural Discovery Institute.
Timeline
Ramsay began leading the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience in 2014.
Wits announced the ASSAf and SAYAS honours on 9 November 2026.
Big Picture
The honours follow the Academy's established nomination-and-secret-ballot model, in which four existing members must nominate a candidate. The new cohort adds to South Africa's national academy membership drawn from Wits University.
Readers following South African science can track which institutions and researchers receive national recognition. The awards signal where research leadership and output are concentrated within the country's universities.
The takeaway
National science honours in South Africa recognise sustained leadership, graduate training, and publication output rather than single discoveries. Tracking these elections offers a clear view of which research groups are shaping the country's scientific community.
Further reading
Explore more in Science — General coverage across South Africa.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Wits.
