The Durban University of Technology (DUT) Community Engagement Office, in collaboration with the Institutional Research Ethics Committee (IREC), hosted the Umbrella Ethics Framework Workshop for Community-Engaged Scholarship at the DUT Rendezvous Restaurant on 29 May 2026, bringing together academics and project leaders from across the institution’s six faculties to strengthen ethical practice in community-engaged research.
Welcoming participants, Ms Phumzile Xulu, Community Engagement Practitioner at DUT, expressed appreciation for the commitment shown by staff leading community-engaged projects that address societal challenges while contributing to knowledge generation and institutional impact. She noted that the workshop followed the approval of the Umbrella Ethics Framework, which provides a structured approach to guide community engagement projects that include research components.
Xulu emphasised that the framework is intended to support ethical compliance while ensuring that community engagement initiatives are positioned for scholarly contribution and impact. “As an engaged university, we are called not only to generate knowledge, but to ensure that the knowledge we create serves society and addresses real-world challenges,” she said.
The workshop was facilitated by Mr Siyanda Manqele, Manager: Research Ethics and Integrity at the University of Zululand (UNIZUL), who guided participants through the Umbrella Ethics Framework and key ethical considerations in community-engaged research. He noted that ethics committees are increasingly engaging with such proposals but often encounter challenges when the nature of community involvement is not clearly articulated.
Manqele emphasised the importance of distinguishing between research on communities, research with communities, and community-led research, warning against approaches that reduce communities to mere data sources. He further drew on the philosophy of Ubuntu to highlight the importance of respect, collaboration, and shared value in research partnerships.
“Community-engaged research requires us to recognise communities as partners in knowledge creation,” he said.
He further stressed that ethical responsibility extends beyond obtaining approval and continues throughout the entire research process, including data collection, analysis, publication, and dissemination of findings.
The final session was led by Prof Busisiwe Nkonki-Mandleni, Director of the Community Engagement and Development Directorate (CEAD) at Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT), who focused on transforming community engagement activities into scholarly outputs. She encouraged participants to intentionally document and critically reflect on ongoing projects so that they can be developed into publishable research outputs that contribute to teaching, learning, and institutional impact.
Prof Nkonki-Mandleni emphasised that community engagement should be deliberately structured to generate knowledge that can be shared beyond practice.
“Community-engaged work holds rich scholarly value, but it must be intentionally framed, documented, and reflected upon if it is to be transformed into credible academic output that advances both communities and institutions,” she said.
The workshop reaffirmed DUT’s commitment to strengthening ethical community-engaged research and advancing scholarship that is both socially responsive and academically impactful.
Pictured: Attendees of the Ethics Workshop.
Phumeza Msongelwa
