Dr Rehana Malgas-Enus, Stellenbosch University

Our colleague, Dr Rehana Malgas-Enus (Department of Chemistry and Polymer Science at the University of Stellenbosch) passed away on Tuesday, 20 September 2022. At the time, Rehana was in Dresden, Germany, as an Eleanor Trefftz Fellow at TU Dresden with one of her graduate students. Part of the funding that made Dr Malgas-Enus’ teaching and research exchange possible, was provided by the DHET Future Professors Programme (FPP). Rehana was a wonderful and dedicated teacher, a committed scholar and an inspiring human being. She was also our dear friend and an irreplaceable and respected colleague to the fellows of the FPP. She will be sorely missed but not forgotten.

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Dr Rehana Malgas-Enus was a chemist with a PhD from Stellenbosch University (2011). She was head of the RME-NANO research group in the Department of Chemistry & Polymer Science. The RME-Nano research group focusses on the design and engineering of organic and inorganic nanomaterials, tailored for a specific function, and this opens up a wide range of applications ranging from catalysis, to water treatment, to biomedical uses such as cancer, coagulated blood-clotting and non-resistant TB treatment. Her research has been supported by NRF Thuthuka, as well as the NRF CSUR Grant. Malgas-Enus served on the editorial board of Springer Nature Applied Sciences, and as a member of the executive of the Catalysis Society of South Africa (CATSA). She was the founder and managing director of the Stellenbosch University Chemistry Outreach Initiative (SUNCOI), a program that enables high school learners from underprivileged schools to complete their practical chemistry experiments at the university’s fully equipped chemistry laboratory. Malgas-Enus won the NRF Excellence in Science Engagement Award in 2018.