UKZN engineering researcher scores
VIRANJAY Srivastava, an engineering professor at the University of KwaZuluNatal, has made the Scopus list of the top 500 researchers in Africa.
The Scopus list ranks researchers from 57 countries based on published research outcomes and articles between 2015 and 2020.
Srivastava, 40, of Glenwood, placed 194th across all subjects, 23rd in Africa and fourth in South Africa in the electrical and electronic engineering category. The professor, who has a PhD in electronics and communication engineering, said the recognition served as a motivation for him and his research group.
“It shows that the research work we do here at UKZN is up to the international standard.”
Some of the work that contributed to the continental ranking included solving the problem of weak-signalling in a mobile handset during travel in a vehicle.
“We proposed a solution with the use of a small dense-cell (micro-cells and macro-cells) so that users will get signal
continuously.”
He said it took many hours to conduct the research. Srivastava thanked his wife, Dr Surabhi Srivastava, who has a PhD in civil engineering from UKZN, for her support.
His average work day is 14 hours. “As a researcher, time is crucial because sometimes the simulation software takes more than a day to give the correct result and deal with the experimental set-up. With the research fellows and students, it took late nights. In this scenario, my wife supports me to tend to my research job.”
Srivastava, originally from India, has been living in South Africa for eight years and has been lecturing at UKZN where he is an associate professor.
He has more than 18 years of teaching and research experience for undergraduate and postgraduate engineering students at various national and international universities. Srivastava is also a multi-award winner.
For four consecutive years, from 2015, he received the JW Nelson Top Performing Researcher Award in the School of Engineering.
From 2017 to 2019, he made the Top 30 Published Researcher in UKZN list as well as the Best Lecturer Award in the Department of Electronic Engineering at the university.
Srivastava is involved in the extension of this work and has extended his research group.
When he is not working, he spends time with his wife and sons, Rayan, 7, and Vivan, 3. To de-stress he watches comedy series and movies.
“I also like to spend some time at the beach to watch the sunrise and sunset. And I like to chill out with my research students.“