Academy of Science of South Africa (Assaf) president Professor Daya Reddy has been named president-elect of the International Council for Science (ICSU).
Reddy, whose research interests lie at the intersection of applied mathematics and engineering sciences, will take over from current ICSU president Gordon McBean in October 2017.
In addition to his position at Assaf, Reddy also held the South African Research Chair in Computational Mechanics in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town (UCT).
He was also the director of the Centre for Research in Computational and Applied Mechanics at UCT, was a recipient of the National Order of Mapungubwe and a fellow of the World Academy of Sciences and the African Academy of Sciences.
Further, Assaf also announced that another of its members – University of Pretoria vice-chancellor and principal Professor Cheryl de la Rey – had been elected to serve on the ICSU executive board.
Reddy and De la Rey were both elected by representatives from the ICSU’s 120 national members and 31 scientific unions at the organisation’s thirty-first general assembly that was held in New Zealand last week.