Information

Membership Number: FCA3312

Membership Type: Fellow

Division: Mathematics and Information Sciences

Corresponding Email: daya.reddy@uct.ac.za

Homepage(s): https://science.uct.ac.za/department-mathematics/staff/emeritus-professors-honorary-research-staff

Present and Previous Positions

Professor Emeritus of Applied Mathematics, University of Cape Town (UCT)

Daya Reddy graduated with a BSc degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Cape Town in 1973 and a PhD degree in Engineering from Cambridge University in 1977. He held a post-doctoral position during 1978 at University College London, and joined the University of Cape Town in 1979 as a Lecturer, jointly in the Departments of Civil Engineering and Applied Mathematics. He was appointed Professor of Applied Mathematics in 1989, and to the South African Research Chair in Computational Mechanics in 2006.

He has held various leadership positions in the Centre for Research in Computational and Applied Mechanics (CERECAM) and its predecessors, in particular as Director 1999 to 2021.

At the University of Cape Town he has served as head of the Department of Applied Mathematics (1989–1994); and as dean of the Faculty of Science (1999–2005). He served as vice-chancellor (president) ad interim for approximately 18 months during 2023 and 2024.

Daya Reddy served for three years, from 2018, as the President of the International Science Council (ISC), a body comprising national and regional scientific organizations from around 150 countries and 45 international scientific unions and associations. He also served as co-chair of the policy arm of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), a global body comprising 140 national and regional merit-based academies. He currently chairs the International Advisory Board of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany.

Fields of Scholarship and Research Interests

Daya Reddy’s research interests lie in the broad area of solid and computational mechanics, straddling applied mathematics and engineering sciences. He enjoys considerable international recognition as a leader in his research field. Particular areas in which his work has had an impact include mathematical and computational plasticity, mixed finite element methods, and biological and biomedical mechanics.

Honors, Awards and Other Membership

Daya Reddy was an invited sectional speaker at the ICM Congress held in 2014, in Seoul, Korea.

He is a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), the African Academy of Sciences, and a Fellow of the International Science Council. 

In 2024, he was elected a Member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences of the Vatican and a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was elected a Fellow of the International Association for Computational Mechanics in 2008. 

Daya Reddy received the National Order of Mapungubwe (Bronze), bestowed by the President of the Republic of South Africa, in 2004, for distinguished international achievements. In 2012, he received the prestigious Georg Forster Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany. In 2021, he received the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa, from the University of Stellenbosch.

1992 Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa

1992 Fellow of the University of Cape Town

1996 Member, Academy of Science of South Africa

2002 Fellow, South African Academy of Engineering

2004 Fellow, The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS)

2004 National Order of Mapungubwe (Bronze)

2005 Member, Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns

2006 Visiting Faculty Fellowship: The University of Texas at Austin, Institute for Computational Sciences and Engineering

2006 Fellow, African Academy of Sciences

2008 Fellow, International Association for Computational Mechanics (IACM)

2009 South African Association for Computational and Applied Mechanics Award, Distinguished Service

2009 Timoshenko Visiting Scholar, Stanford University

2009 African Conference on Computational Mechanics Award for Outstanding Research

2012 Georg Forster Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany

and Visiting Professor, Leibniz Unversity of Hanover (Germany) (2013 - 2016)

2016 South African Mathematical Society Award for Research Distinction

2016 Founding Fellow, The Academy of Engineering and Technology of the Developing World

2021 Degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa

2022 Fellow, International Science Council (ISC)

2024 Member, Pontifical Academy of Sciences

2024 International Honorary Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences

2025 Fellow, International Core Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Selected Publications

Professor Reddy is the author, co-author or editor of over 200 publications, including two research monographs, two texts, and three edited volumes of invited papers. He has taught across the curriculum at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and supervised to graduation 33 PhD and 38 Masters graduates, as well as 21 post-doctoral researchers. These include students and postdoctoral fellows from 14 African countries.

Other Information

https://www.pas.va/en/academicians/ordinary/reddy.html 

https://www.amacad.org/person/b-dayanand-reddy 

https://twas.org/directory/reddy-batmanathan-dayanand 

https://www.gov.za/about-government/batmanathan-dayanand-reddy 

BDReddy-CV2025.pdf

Daya Reddy Acceptance Letter.pdf