The Durban University of Technology’s (DUT’s) Professor Surendra Colin Thakur has been appointed as the Adjunct Professor at Ontario Tech in Canada. Prof Thakur occupies many hats as he is serving as a Director at the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) CoLab while his Research position is as the INSETA Research Chair in Digitalisation. He has produced six insurance sector specific research outputs over the last 30 months.
According to Prof Thakur, who is now an Adjunct Professor, is an academic from one university who is recognised at another university as someone who is perceived to be able to add value to their institution without compromising their existing tenure.
Prof Thakur plans to travel to Ontario annually for the next three years. His colleagues from Ontario visited him early this year.
“We have an international four-country STEM research project relating to post-COVID-19 interventions. I am co-principal researcher. This project is funded by the Canadian Research Foundation, which is equivalent to our NRF. This was not an isolated lightning strike – it was a result of several years of productive collaboration with Prof Rob Elkington, who is at Ontario Tech, and now with the amazing Prof Robyn-Ruttenberg Rozen,” said Prof Thakur.
The research genius shared that he was astounded upon learning he has been appointed as the Adjunct Professor.
“I have tried to stay within the context of South Africa and Africa for my research thinking it was the right thing to do. However, my National Research Foundation (NRF) evaluation recommended that I grow internationally. So here we are. I feel vindicated because now I am being recognised outside my DUT context, which adds a neutral perspective to my position,” he proudly said.
According to Prof Thakur students should be able to recognise that technology is both a tool to conduct research and an opportunity to grow their research. “Ask yourself how technology can help or hinder a solution. I love working in transdisciplinary projects because I simultaneously feel helpless and excited in disciplines, precisely because of my lack of knowledge. Experts can now teach and learn from each other. We call this combinatorial digital innovation which is the way of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) World,” he said.
Pictured: Professor Surendra Colin Thakur
Lethukuthula Ngubane
