…suffer a sea-change into something rich and strange…
William Shakespeare, The Tempest

The Department of Science and Technology/National Research Foundation Centre of Excellence in Catalysis Research, c*change, is hosted by the Centre for Catalysis Research in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cape Town. Its academics and researchers concentrate on four specific research areas – synthesis gas conversion, paraffin activation, value addition to unique olefinic feedstocks, and the underdeveloped small-volume chemicals sector.

c*change seeks to explore a new paradigm for basic science and technology research. In addition to its scientific focus on chemical transformations, the Centre will serve as an agent of change for the development of a new generation of research leaders incorporating the full diversity of South Africa’s rich scientific potential. As a virtual centre and network, it will achieve these goals via national research programmes principally of relevance to South Africa and the African Continent.

Catalysis itself is about chemical transformation, the agents which cause it, the science underlying it, and the engineering of processes to practice it on an industrial scale. c*change, however, is about more than Science, Engineering and Technology development in catalysis. Although, fundamentally about excellence, it is also about a new and different approach to academic scientific practice in South Africa and, inter-alia, about a transformation of the body of South African researchers in terms of the age, gender and cultural profile of the country.

The Centre enthusiastically subscribes to this vision of DST and NRF, and this commitment is reflected in the Centre’s name and logo.

It emphasises “change” in association with “C” for Catalysis and Centre, resulting in a dual meaning and an overt play on “sea-change” – Shakespeare’s sweeping synonym for transformation and one which resonates well with the action of catalysis. The c* motif reflects common practice, an asterisk or star in printed works, to represent the active site, or “catalytic centre”, fundamental to all catalytic modes.

During its first five-yearly external (international) review in 2009, the Centre was described as a lively, well-managed network of expertise that has brought together academic groups from diverse disciplines and interests.

In 2009, the Centre comprised a team of 57 postgraduate students (more than half of whom are female and black), six postdoctoral researchers, and some 24 academics from 14 research groups based in nine higher-education institutions across the country. A total of 21 projects were funded over the year.

The Centre’s output included 15 publications, six published conference proceedings and 32 unpublished conference contributions in 2009. Researchers also submitted two international patent applications.

c*change has also looked into setting up several networks and collaborations with institutions in the UK and Germany, and has contributed to the new Further Education and Training school syllabus and an associated workshop for teachers.