Wits School of Mining Engineering associate Professor Bekir Genc
University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) School of Mining Engineering associate Professor Bekir Genc has been granted a National Research Foundation (NRF) rating.
He is the fifth member of staff from the Wits School of Mining Engineering to receive an NRF rating.
Genc was awarded an NRF C2 rating for his work on the management of spontaneous combustion risk in South Africa’s coalfields.
The accolade is based on independent and external evidence of research quality and impact, showing that the work done over a period of time had made a significant contribution to the industry.
Genc said in a statement on Tuesday that his research had been focused on determining which areas of the country’s coalfields posed a high, medium or low risk, based on the Wits-Ehac Index.
He noted that the work had extended knowledge in the field of coal mining, while there had been demand from local and international coal mines for testing over the last 12 years.
Genc had initiated a project to explore intrinsic factors affecting spontaneous combustion, developing the research idea as a PhD study. The project was supported by the Coaltech Research Association and the findings were well received – leading to seven journal articles and two conference papers being published.
Wits stated that the NRF rating would contribute towards raising the profile of the School of Mining Engineering and Wits in general, in both the local and international sphere.
The university’s Vision 2022 is aimed at ensuring Wits is recognised as a leading research-intensive university and among the Top 100 universities worldwide by 2022.