Focus on: Prof Umezuruike Linus Opara

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29 February 2024. Research chair has built another generation of academics

University World News looks at a chair that is being wound up this year – that of Professor Umezuruike Linus Opara, who was awarded the South African Research Chair in Postharvest Technology in 2009.

Umezuruike Linus Opara grew up in a farming village in rural Nigeria and nearly didn’t make it to secondary school because of financial constraints. 

Yet, he went on to perform so well at university that his bachelor’s degree earned him a scholarship to do his PhD in New Zealand. 

Later, in 2009, he sacrificed a comfortable teaching and research job in Oman in order to relocate with his family to South Africa — a country he hardly knew at the time — to take up a prestigious DSI-NRF South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) Chair in Postharvest Technology at Stellenbosch University (SU).

Read more: A call answered — an international scholar returned home to help leverage Africa’s potential

Career highlights

Some of Opara’s achievements during his time as SARChI Chair in Postharvest Technology include the following:

• He has established a state-of-the-art research laboratory as a multidisciplinary and inter-faculty research entity, and has developed significant continental and international research networks and partnerships.
• He has (co-)supervised 62 SU master’s and doctoral students, both from South Africa and elsewhere on the continent.
• With more than 381 peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings, and book chapters to his name, he has a B1-rating from the NRF. This is awarded to researchers who enjoy considerable international peer recognition for the high quality and impact of their recent research outputs.
• In 2015, the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) honoured him with its Impact Research and Science in Africa Award, which recognises outstanding scientists making significant contributions to agricultural research for development in Africa.
• Also in 2015, he was a continental laureate of the African Union’s Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Awards for Scientific Excellence, which honours senior researchers who distinguish themselves through their contribution to African development.
• In 2019 and again in 2021, Clarivate’s Web of Science platform included Opara as a “highly cited researcher”, an accolade reserved for scientists who produced multiple papers ranking in the top 1% by citations within their field and year of publication.