During the years 1998-2002 Professor Stefan Ferreira completed his MSc, PhD and Post-Doc (in Bochum, Germany) and has been since involved in fruitful collaborations with local and international scientists. In his early career he received in 2006 a National Research Foundation (NRF) President's Award and a National Research Foundation (NRF) P-rating. Recipients of the National Research Foundation (NRF) President's Award are young researchers who have demonstrated exceptional potential, with the likelihood of becoming leaders in their respective fields of research. He received in 2007 an International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) Young Scientist Award. This award has been established by International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) for recognition of research by a scientist with a maximum of 8 years research experience following a PhD. He also received in 2008 the Third World Academy of Science (TWAS) Young Scientist Award which is administered by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).
His research interests include the development and application of advanced numerical models to simulate different physical phenomena as they occur in space. These studies range from modelling our heliosphere and particle transport to simulating the evolution of supernova remnants and pulsar wind nebulae and stellar wind cavities (Astrospheres). Some of this research is built on long- standing efforts from scientists from the North-West University (NWU) and other German universities while other projects were initiated by him.
His current National Research Foundation (NRF) rating is B1. Since his last evaluation for rating he served as the Director for the Centre for Space Research (2013-2019) at the North-West University (NWU). The research center have roughly 30 participants, consisting of about 18 full-time members with the rest postdoctoral fellows and extraordinary appointees. At anytime about 30 MSc and PhD students are registered in the center and the director are responsible for the day to day running. As Director he also served on the Faculty Management Committee and other committees of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the North-West University (NWU). From 2020 onward he became a Node Director for the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme (NASSP) which consists of about 100 BSc Honns and MSc students at three different nodes. Since 2021, He is the Chairman of the Executive Committee of National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme (NASSP).
Prof Ferreira has been supervisor/co-supervisor for 7 (6 since 2014) completed PhD students and 11 (2 since 2014) completed MSc students. Current students include 1 PhD and 1 MSc student. About 40-50% of these students are black students coming from previously disadvantaged communities.
Concerning community service he was the Main Scientific Organiser (MSO) for four COSPAR (Committee on Space Research) events in Scientific Commission D. He served on the Scientific Organising Committee (SOC) for two International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) conferences. He was also guest editor Advances in Space Research (ASR) 2019-2021. He was asked to act as reviewer for various papers in flagship journals and grant applications. He is a member of the South African Institute of Physics (SAIP) and of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf). In 2021, He served on a South African National Research Foundation (NRF) research rating panel.
