Award: Engineering capacity development over the last 5-10 years, sponsored by Eskom “The uniqueness of this approach is that we have a consolidated body of research anchored on three pillars: desktop experimental data capturing and analysis; the application of computational fluid dynamics; and the implementation of the processes at plant scale,” he explains.

It’s stating the obvious to say that we cannot survive without water. However, unlike many of the other things we need, water cannot be manufactured nor imported should we run out of it. This is why Prof Ochieng Aoyi believes that scientists and leaders have a moral obligation to provide clean water. For this reason his career has focused on water research and building capacity in the engineering field to broaden studies into water use and management. He is director: Centre for Renewable Energy and Water (Crew) at the Vaal University of Technology (VUT) and head of the VUT’s department of chemical engineering. He is also a consultant in wastewater management and renewable energy, disciplines in which he has more than 23 years of research and teaching experience. (Read more about him in the Mail & Guardian article. Mail & Guardian is an NSTF media partner.)