DUT’s Research Innovation and Engagement (RIE) Office hosted the 2020 national DVC Research Forum on 10 JULY 2020, 09H00-12H00 on MS Teams. The meeting was Chaired by DUT’s DVC: RIE Professor Sibusiso Moyo. The forum hosted 34 representatives, who included not only DVCs, but Deans of Research, the NRF, USAf and DHET. A stimulating and lively forum provided valuable information on developments nationally and internationally in Research and in Higher Education as well as opportunities for inter-institutional collaborations.
Several calls for proposals for conferences, partnerships and funding were shared:
- The 7TH World Conference on Research Integrity, 2021 (Dr Dorsamy Pillay, NRF)
- The Call for the Future Professors Programme (FPP) from DHET (Prof S Moyo, DUT)
- The South Africa Sweden University Forum (SASUF) Conference & Plan for 2020 (Mr Jake Reardon, SASUF)
- The SGD Call for Proposals on Leveraging South Africa’s Universities to Support South Africa’s Covid-19 Response, A South African SDG Hub Policy Support Initiative. This coincided with Prof Moyo’s tabling of the need for all to discuss best practice under Covid-19 conditions and how each institution is managing areas around the research and innovation agenda.
The Forum was also briefed on developments with Doctoral Training Centres (Prof Ahmed Bawa, USAf); National Research Foundation: PG Funding Policy, Stakeholder Engagement and New Developments (Dr Dorsamy Pillay, NRF); Open Access 2020 by USAf Working Group (Prof S Burton, UP and Prof Bawa); Research Management Systems (Prof Stephanie Burton); Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education 2020 (Dr Norah Clark, EDHE Programme); A Collaborative Project towards a National Research Quality Framework (Dr Diane Parker, DHET); Research Outputs Report and Policy (Mr C Mabizela represented by Ms Sindi Kayi, DHET), and the Nature Africa Proposal (Prof S Sinha, UJ). Progress has been made on each of these important initiatives, but there is also a need for SA HEIs to embrace and adapt to the systems required for implementation.
In lieu of the site visit that was planned for the original date of the Forum in April, pre-lockdown, the agenda on Friday included an overview of research at our own Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology by Dr S Pillai (Senior Researcher, IWWT), which was appreciated. Likewise, DUT was recognised for its stance on Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education. There was also an open invitation to other HEIs to collaborate with DUT.
This Forum was the first independent meeting of Research DVCs in 2020, which was previously jointly held with the USAf Research Strategy Group (RSG). Gratitude was expressed to the organisers and DVC RIE Team for successfully hosting the meeting online. The forum provided all with the much-needed opportunity to connect meaningfully under current Covid-19 lockdown conditions.
Special acknowledgements to the Technical Support Team: Ms Nosipho Dube, Mr Prinavin Govender and the Director Research and Postgraduate Support: Dr Linda Linganiso.
Dr Connie Israel
