The Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation have announced that they will support the research programme at STIAS over the next five years with a grant of R30 million. In 2005 the same Foundation had provided the grant for building the STIAS Wallenberg Research Centre at Stellenbosch University.
Earlier this month Prof Hendrik Geyer, STIAS Director, was informed that the Foundation made the grant available for “a programme for visiting research Fellows at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) in collaboration with Swedish universities.” This followed after Prof Geyer had been invited to submit a proposal to the Foundation in 2010.
Prof Geyer indicated that the grant provided support for a substantial number of fellwship-months at STIAS over the next five years, for Swedish researchers in particular. Research at Swedish universities “relevant to the STIAS initiative” will also be supported by the grant. He added that this motion of confidence in STIAS by the Wallenberg Foundation would enable STIAS to take its research programme to a next level of operation, visibility and recognition.
Mr Desmond Smith, Chairman of the STIAS Board, said that STIAS was honoured and privileged to receive ongoing support by the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation. “We hope that other donors and supporters of the STIAS programme, in particular from the South African corporate and government environments, will be encouraged by this development to show similar support for STIAS and enable it to implement the Fellowship programme to its full capacity, and in particular to expand its African component.”