S20 South Africa

Professor Stephanie Burton is a former Vice-Principal (DVC) for Research and Postgraduate Education at the University of Pretoria (2011 to 2020) and a Professor in Biochemistry, in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at UP. She is also appointed as an Honorary Professor in Biochemistry at Rhodes University.

Professor Burton has served as the interim President of the Academy of Science of South Africa (2023/2024), and is co-chairing the national organising committee for the S20 Science Forum to be held in association with the G20 Summit, hosted by South Africa in 2025.

She is the immediate past President and a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa (RSSA), a Research Fellow for Universities South Africa (USAf), a member of the Governing Council of Future Earth and Co-Chair on the Board of the International Academy Partnership (IAP). She was awarded the Rhodes University Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2024.

Professor Burton is leading and coordinating several national projects on postgraduate training, capacity development and mentoring for early career academics, on behalf of Universities South Africa, including the USAf Community of Practice on Postgraduate Education and Scholarship and the Advancing Early Career Researchers and Scholars (AECRS) programme.

Professor Burton holds an MSc in Organic Chemistry (1990) and a PhD in Biochemistry (1994) from Rhodes University. She has lectured in Biochemistry at Rhodes University, and in Chemical Engineering at the University of Cape Town. She subsequently served as Director of Postgraduate Studies, and Director of the Biocatalysis and Technical Biology Group, at Cape Peninsula University of Technology, before taking up her position as DVC at the University of Pretoria. Her research interests are in biocatalysis, applied biochemistry and sustainable processes.