Professor Debra Jackson, Takeda Chair in Global Child Health and MARCH co-Director, has been awarded a B2 rating of ‘international acclaimed researcher’ by the South African National Research Foundation (NRF).

The B2 rating recognises Professor Jackson’s research, publications, student supervision and international contributions to the World Health Organization and UNICEF. In addition to her positions at LSHTM, Professor Jackson holds an appointment at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa, who sponsored her NRF application.

Professor Jackson said, “I am absolutely thrilled and honoured to receive a South African National Research Foundation B Rating for 2023 as an ‘internationally acclaimed researcher’. Having been an NRF rated researcher for over 15 years and worked with the NRF on many occasions, I feel they are a premier promoter of science excellence for South Africa which I am proud to participate in.”

The NRF rating system is a tool used to benchmark the quality of researchers against the best in the world. The ratings are allocated based on a researcher’s recent research outputs and impact as perceived by international peer reviewers. 

The rating of individuals is based primarily on the quality and impact of their research outputs over the past eight years. It identifies researchers who count among the leaders in their fields of expertise and gives recognition to those who constantly produce high quality research outputs. The rating system has three main categories: A, B and C. C is established researchers while the B rating is reserved for ‘internationally acclaimed researchers’.