Jump to content

Zeblon Vilakazi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zeblon Zenzele Vilakazi
Vice-Chancellor and Principal of University of the Witwatersrand
In office
1 January 2021 – present
ChancellorJudy Dlamini
Preceded byAdam Habib
Personal details
Born (1969-04-03) 3 April 1969 (age 55)
Katlehong, Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, South Africa
Alma materEuropean Centre for Nuclear Research (PhD)
ProfessionPhysicist
University administrator
Scientific career
Institutions

Zeblon Zenzele Vilakazi FRS (born 3 April 1969) has been Vice Chancellor of the Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa since 1 January 2021.[1] Professor Vilakazi is a nuclear physicist.[2][3] Prior to his promotion, he was Vice-Principal and Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Postgraduate Studies. He speaks French, German, Russian, Xhosa, Zulu, Siswati (Mother tongue), Sesotho, Afrikaans and English.[citation needed]

Early life

[edit]

Vilakazi was born in Katlehong, Ekurhuleni, as the youngest of a family of eight.[4] His mother was a housewife, and his father ran a small shop in the community.[5] He was one of the first students from Africa to conduct PhD research at the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. This was followed by a National Research Foundation postdoctoral fellowship at CERN.

Career

[edit]

After conducting his doctoral research at the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, he returned to South Africa and became a lecturer at the University of Cape Town, where he was instrumental in establishing South Africa’s first experimental high-energy physics research group focusing on the development of the High-level Trigger for the CERN-ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. He joined the University of the Witwatersrand in January 2014 as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Postgraduate Affairs and was promoted to the position of Vice-Principal in April 2020. He is a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in May 2022.[6][7]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Wits appoints Zeblon Vilakazi as new vice-chancellor". SowetanLIVE. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  2. ^ "2020-06 - Top nuclear physicist to lead Wits - Wits University". www.wits.ac.za. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  3. ^ Moyo, Admire (15 July 2020). "Prof Vilakazi looks to build high-tech start-up ecosystem around Wits". ITWeb. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  4. ^ "Wits appoints Katlehong-born nuclear physicist Zeblon Vilakazi to lead institution". BusinessLIVE. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  5. ^ Villiers, James de. "SATURDAY PROFILE | Wits' new Vice-Chancellor Zeblon Vilakazi on his grand plans to make Wits the MIT of Africa". News24. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  6. ^ "Zeblon Vilakazi". The Royal Society. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  7. ^ "2022-05 - Royal Honour for Wits Vice-Chancellor - Wits University". www.wits.ac.za. Retrieved 14 May 2022.