Thirty DUT academic staff members have successfully completed phase one of the three stages of the SANTRUST PhD Proposal Development Programme in partnership with DUT which culminated into an award ceremony held at the Coastlands Musgrave Hotel.
This programme forms part of Professor Ahmed Bawa’s, DUT Vice-Chancellor and Principal, prestigious PhD Qualification Out Project 2014 to 2016 (Part I). The 30 middle range researchers (who had completed their Master’s, registered for a PhD/doctorate and were mainly academic staff members of the University) were shortlisted and invited to attend a briefing session for the SANTRUST pre-doctoral programme.
SANTRUST is a registered educational trust in South Africa that manages a host of programmes.
The pre-doctoral candidates are Caroline Nessa Adams (Nursing), Pradeep Ashokcoomar (Emergency Medical Care and Rescue), Lloyd Christopher (Emergency Medical Care and Rescue), Margaret Karen Corbishley (Marketing and Retail), Gillian Cruickshank (Faculty of Health Sciences), David Daryl De Kock, (Civil Engineering (Midlands), Indrani Govender (Horticulture), Prinavin Govender (Information Technology), Robynne Hansmann (Town and Regional Planning), Lewis Kaplan (Entrepreneurial Studies and Management), Gill Lincoln (Town and Regional Planning), Cephas Makwara (School Of Education), John Mangundu Makwara (School Of Education), Judith Itumeleng Maome (Entrepreneurial Studies and Management), Kenneth Malesela Moutlana (Mechanical Engineering), Mary Mutanda (Auditing and Taxation Department), Jaya Naidoo (Hospitality and Tourism), Nirvana Naidoo (Chemical Engineering), Raveen Naidoo (Emergency Medical Care and Rescue), Subhadranalene Naidoo (Radiography), Ntokozo Ndlela (Applied Management (Midlands), Cabangile Ngwane (Media Language and Communication), Busisiwe Pauline Nomnga (Radiography), Pradeep Ojageer (Entrepreneurial Studies and Management), Misheck Phiri (Civil Engineering and Survey-Durban), Santhya Pillay (Entrepreneurial Studies and Management), Lavern Samuels (International Education and Partnerships Office), Tasneem Seedat (Media Language and Communication), Thys Walters (Dental Sciences) and Lucille Webster (Library Services).
The SANTRUST PhD Proposal Development Programme consisted of approximately seven weeks of contact learning, covered by five modules. The programme provided facilitated research proposal knowledge at a doctoral level, on site at the University which was facilitated by leading research methodologists.
In attendance at the awards ceremony were the SANTRUST facilitators/assessors, Professor Louise Vincent and Professor Kelvin Mwaba; Academic Co-ordinator, Professor Noddy Jinabhai. In attendance from DUT was Professor Sibusiso Moyo, Research and Postgraduate Support Director; Professor Rishi Balkaran, Management Sciences Faculty Executive Dean; Professor Darren Lortan as well as DUT executive directors, heads of departments, research co-ordinators and deputy deans.
Prof Jinabhai was very impressed with the pre-doctoral candidates. “We are hoping that all thirty of you become outstanding academics and research leaders within the institution, within the region and within the South African academic landscape,” he said
Prof Moyo said, “We really look forward to you finishing what you have started. For me, this programme has really been important, it does two things. First, we all get the research skills and base that is needed to do research and design your research projects for your doctorates. Secondly, it prepares you to engage in scholarly work even after your doctorate so that you can contribute towards the research output profile of the university as well as apply for grants to support your research agendas. The network of course created amongst yourselves is also paramount.”
Speaking on behalf on the pre-doctoral candidates was Gill Lincoln. “All thirty of us began on this journey and thirty of us are still here. The journey we’ve taken was a rather a special one. We have all been very vulnerable, had to trust each other and it has not been easy to hear the criticism but it has been a very useful journey. We had five modules, so having time out has been one of the greatest gifts that DUT could have given us. We developed a very supportive network and a stunning exposure to each other and got to know each other. As a group, we have been exposed to experts in the field, so we want to say thank you for the support and for the tremendous journey and hopefully we will give back to DUT and be role models. None of this would have been possible without Prof Moyo and her team. Also, thanks to SANTRUST for providing us with such an opportunity and Prof Noddy Jinabhai for being the steady rock that he was for all of us,” she said.
The thirty pre-doctoral candidates are now looking forward to the next chapter of their academic programme which is to tackle their research.
– Waheeda Peters
Pictured: DUT’s Professor Sibusiso Moyo, Research and Postgraduate Support Director at DUT and Professor Noddy Jinabhai, at the SANTRUST PhD Proposal Development Programme. Also pictured are the 30 pre-doctoral candidates and DUT research staff team at the event.
