SARChI in Social Protection for Food Security listed among world’s most impactful researchers

Published December 3, 2020, by Mologadi Makwela

2020 Newton Prize Finalist, Professor Stephen Devereux, made the cut on the list of the world’s most impactful researchers.

This is according to a study, A standardised citation metrics author database annotated for scientific field, led by Stanford University researcher John P. Ioannidis and published in PLOS Biology.

The publicly accessible database uses a variety of metrics to allow for a more transparent, comparable, and less error-prone approach to citation metrics. They introduced a new way of ranking scientists according to citations and other metrics, but steered away from practices such as self-citations and citation farms where groups of authors cited each other’s papers.

The list, which among others, features seventeen researchers from University of the Western Cape (UWC), places Professor Devereux among the world’s top 1% of most-cited scientists.

Watch Prof Devereux speak about his research below

Devereux, who holds the SA/UK Bilateral Research Chair in Social Protection for Food Security (SARChI), was a finalist for the coveted 2020 Newton Prize, which recognises excellent research and innovation. Through the SARChI, funded by the Newton Fund and National Research Foundation, Professor Devereux has made considerable progress towards improving social protection strategies and influencing public policy.

Despite a comprehensive social protection system, many South Africans experience poverty & food insecurity.

Says Devereux: “My research aims to ensure that South Africa’s social protection system is better equipped to respond to the persistent inequalities evident in the country; as well as to help policymakers respond to crises such as COVID-19, to enable citizens to adapt and mitigate threats to their livelihoods.”

*This is an amended version of the article originally published by UWC