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Faculty of Humanities Research Report: 2010
The Faculty of Humanities consists of the following Schools and Research Entities:
School of Social Sciences (SOSS)
History Research Group (HRG/ History Workshop)
NRF Research Chair in History
Society, Work and Development Institute (SWOP)
Wits Centre for Ethics (WiCE)
School of Literature and Language Studies (SLLS)
Centre for Indian Studies in Africa (CISA)
School of Human and Community Development (SHCD)
School of Education (WSoE)
Education Policy Unit (EPU)
Wits School of Arts (WSoA)
Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER)
Humanities Graduate Centre
1. The Standing of the Faculty
Despite the University’s slipping down the Universities World Ranking tables in 2010, the Arts
and Humanities and Social Sciences still received the highest ratings on the tables. The
performance in these categories into which most of the disciplines in the Humanities fit, once
again reflects the Faculty’s major contribution to the standing of the institution both nationally
and internationally. And a central pillar in this contribution comes from research.
The Faculty of Humanities continued to broaden and deepen its vibrant research and intellectual
culture and public engagement in 2010. Its contribution in these areas, some of the highlights of
which are recorded in the following, ranges from traditional publications, creative works and
performances to seminars, conferences, public lectures and debates.
2. Faculty Research Objectives
a. To produce research of the highest quality, ensuring that the Faculty retains and
enhances its reputation as one of the leading centres for research and graduate
studies in Africa
b. To encourage and enable all academic staff to be research active
c. To produce research of a pure or theoretical nature that contributes to the
fundamental understanding of the disciplines and the relation between the
disciplines in the humanities
d. To produce research of an applied nature that contributes to the solution to
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problems in the Southern African region particularly, and the continent more
generally
e. To produce a culture of intellectual interest and engagement and a community of
scholars dedicated to the development of knowledge and the rational appraisal of
ideas, and ready to use their intellectual skills and expertise to engage in debate in
the public domain
f. To help produce the next generation of researchers through the prioritising of
graduate studies and through the commitment to developing research capacity
amongst young or new members of staff and graduate students
3. Financial Aspects
3.1 Available research funding in 2010 (All figures in R’000)
Available Research Funding in 2010
All figures in R’000
Internal funds URC devolved (70%)
Internal funds URC centrally allocated (30%)
URC Minor Capex
External funds NRF
External Funds Other grants & contracts
Foundation at 01/01/2010
Total available
The Arts 40 485 263 788
Education 42 27 2 655 1 509 1 355 5 588
Human&Comm Development
111 200 476 474 135 1 396
Literature & Languages
21 602 186 132 941
Social Sciences 119 25 2 651 1 108 3 610 7 513
WISER 118 450 9 708 10 276
CISA 50 1 200 7 261 8 511
General 150 917 1 067
Faculty totals 2010
4 623 501 252 6 869 5 340 23 118 43 757
2009 rollovers 3 054
Total 7 677
Faculty Totals 2009
5 436 1 381 118 5 882 6 301 22 527 43 940
Faculty Totals 2008
5 015 1 872 0 5 854 5 721 22 257 40 719
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The figures reveal that the amount of grant funding for research purposes brought into the
Faculty is being maintained at the higher levels reached in the last couple of years.
Major grants either initiated or extended in 2010 include:
Speech Pathology and Audiology: Claire Penn – SANPAD grant for project: To
investigate communication and cultural practices in genetic counseling sessions in South
Africa (R479,000)
Speech Pathology and Audiology: Claire Penn – SANPAD grant for project: Moving
towards cultural safety: Developing cultural and linguistic partnerships in the clinic
(R667,890)
Speech Pathology and Audiology: Claire Penn – MRC grant for project: Transcending
cross-cultural and linguistic barriers: the challenges of communication practices in
genetic counseling in South Africa (R331,089)
Anthropology : Robert Thornton: Final tranche of Lottery Distribution Trust Fund for
Emjindini Heritage & Environment Project (R700,000 of R1,800,000 over three years).
Education: Hamsa Venkatakrishnan - DFID grant: EdQual Implementing Curriculum
Change (R600,000)
Journalism: The Valley Trust funded the Investigative Journalism Workshop (R300,000)
Journalism: Justice Project received funding of R1,000,000
Journalism: Financial Journalism received funding of R300,000 from the Reserve Bank
Media Studies: Sarah Chiumbu, Last Moyo, Wendy Willems – Open Society initiative
for Southern Africa for a project on ICT Policy and New Media Cultures (R2,064,500)
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3.2 FRC Budget 2010
Research Entities:
Budget 2010 Expenditure
EPU Salaries Operation Costs
R400,000 R00
R373,876 R45,013
HISTORY RESEARCH GROUP Operation Costs Salaries
R20,500 R81,628
R34,424 R87,922
SWOP Operation Costs Salaries
R65,000 R1,130,758
R97,005 R1,277,895
WISER Salaries
R1,561,168
R1,648,083
FRC:
Budget 2010 Expenditure
Conferences R500,000 R407,288
Ad Hoc & Research Promotion
Grants
R500,000
R317,053
RINC R1,530,000
RINC rollover from 2009 R2,404,517 R1,012,336
Deputy Dean’s Discretionary
fund
R94,462 R45,922
New Professor’s fund R60,000 R40,000
Printing & Stationery R10,800 R5,302
Catering & Sundry Expenses
R2,200
R2,187
Wits Enterprise Dividend R200,600 R200,097
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Rollover from 2007 to 2008 R1, 842,104
Rollover from 2008 to 2009 R2, 611,387
Rollover from 2009 to 2010 R3,054,194
Rollover from 2010 to 2011 R2,960,928
The major portion of the Faculty’s Research Budget still goes to fund the salaries of some
members of the research entities housed in the Faculty This is problematic for a number of
reasons. Firstly, in terms of publications produced, on average the research entities together
account for less than 10% of the Faculty’s accredited units. This goes against the policy that
research allocations should track research contributions. Secondly, the effect of this imbalance is
to limit the amount of money available to the individual researchers whose performance accounts
for most of the funds allocated to the Faculty. This effect is felt in at least two areas: with respect
to money available for travel or conference funding; and with respect to the money available for
RINC. This latter effect is the most important. RINC acts as both an incentive for research and,
more importantly, a resource for funding research related activities or needs (for example, books,
computers, conference travel or top-ups and most importantly teaching buy-outs). RINC is an
essential factor in increasing research activity and productivity. It is not an accident that many
competitor institutions offer more rewarding equivalents (including UCT).
Though, the research entities do poorly measured against their share of the Faculty’s accredited
units, it is clear that their value cannot be assessed only in this way. One needs to look at their
larger contribution to the faculty in terms of their diverse research outputs, teaching, supervision,
overall contribution to the intellectual life of the faculty, as well as to their crucial role in terms
of public engagement. But what remains clearly true is that the research productivity of some of
the entities which house full-time, very often senior researchers, needs to be substantially
improved.
On the other side, it is imperative that something is done to improve the individual researchers’
share of the FRC budget. In order to ensure this, a much greater proportion of the Council
Budget needs to go to the URC. Fortunately, agreement has now been reached to increase the
URC’s share of the Council budget from 3.8% to 6% over a three year period. Similarly, work
needs to be done to ensure that more of the URC budget in turn is distributed to the faculties
according to the formula driven-allocation (at least 50% excluding the capex portion) as opposed
to the current 30+%). And there needs to be a fairer, more equitable allocation of the URC’s top-
slice. In recent years, a disproportionate share of the top-slice has been allocated on an ad hoc,
and partially legacy basis to a number of research institutes (mostly located) in the Faculty of
Science as well as to the Central Services mostly utilised by the science-based faculties.
Fortunately, agreement has been reached to fund (only) the equivalent of a director’s salary for
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each of the URC recognised research entities and to restrict the URC funding to the research use
of the costly Central Services. If all these changes are implemented, the lot of researchers across
the University should be radically improved
As usual it should be noted that the spending in the faculty does not match the allocation. This is
attributable to the fact that the RINC allocation is unlikely to be spent in the year allocated. Most
researchers save their RINC allocations until such time as they have sufficient funds to purchase
expensive items (like computers) or to support more extensive activities (like conference or
research travel or teaching buy-outs.) This postponement of expenditure is entirely reasonable
and effective in supporting research related activities.
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4. Research Data
Research output: DE Units - Estimate including chapters and books
DHET UNITS PER DEPT IN SCHOOLS 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 AVERAGE
DE Units DE Units DE Units DE Units DE Units
Prov.
FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION 30.41 38.26 31.37 38.17 42.57 36.16
Education Policy Unit 5.17 2.97 3.42 1.17 0.05 2.56
TOTAL 35.58 41.23 34.79 39.34 42.62 38.71
SCHOOL OF HUMAN & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT 23.52 39.28 34.99 36.84 52.64 37.45
SCHOOL OF LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE STUDIES 31.95 24.01 34.25 35.93 64.29 38.09
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES 29.73 43.47 45.30 70.24 55.37 48.82
History Research Group 0.00 0.00 2.54 0.00 2.00 0.91
Sociology of Work Unit 8.13 7.87 4.46 2.86 7.49 6.16
TOTAL 37.86 51.34 52.30 73.10 64.86 55.89
WITS SCHOOL OF ARTS 11.95 15.38 10.82 9.78 8.44 11.27
GRAD SCH OF HUMAN & SOCIAL SCIENCES 19.10 13.57 4.32 0.00 0.00 7.40
WITS INST FOR SOCIAL & ECON RESEARCH 17.58 9.89 12.46 27.20 11.81 15.79
FACULTY TOTAL 177.54 194.70 183.93 222.19 244.66 204.60
UNIVERSITY TOTAL 843.17 910.80 840.25 909.58 925.65 885.89
HUMANITIES AS % UNIVERSITY TOTAL 21.06 21.38 21.89 24.43 26.43 23.03
TOTALS ONLY Incl. retrospective 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
2009
2010
units for 2000-2009. 2010 ESTIMATES
Est.
HUMANITIES 128.81 144.43 121.49 120.44 181.23 152.06 177.54 194.70 183.93 226.84 244.66
CLM 106.17 95.73 99.85 101.41 91.20 74.41 107.39 77.70 79.10 73.36 96.60
EBE 34.60 69.02 40.02 51.85 83.41 62.52 72.11 94.06 63.97 85.24 112.07
HS 223.77 222.07 232.00 215.44 187.00 223.32 207.44 255.46 259.45 245.42 187.22
SCIENCE 246.77 267.58 258.10 210.85 244.63 242.57 273.58 285.43 251.33 258.27 271
OTHER 4.78 4.96 3.06 0.78 3.16 4.05 5.47 3.45 2.47 20.09 14.1
UNIVERSITY TOTAL 744.90 803.79 754.52 700.77 790.63 758.93 843.53 910.80 840.25
909.22 925.65
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The Faculty’s research performance in 2010 was excellent once again. For the second year
running, the performance has been the best in the Faculty’s history.
In 2009, the research output in DE units was 226.84. In 2010, the output is estimated as 244.66
units, an increase of just under 10%. Given the major increase of approximately 30% in 2009,
this is a most heartening continuation of the Faculty’s rising trajectory. Here the numbers speak
for themselves. Even recognizing dips and rises over time, this is only the second occasion
according to recent records where the number has been over 200. Importantly, viewed over a ten-
year period there has been a doubling of the Faculty’s accredited publication record, and through
most of those years that was accomplished without a significant increase in staff and despite,
especially in 2009 and 2010 – the years of the bulge - substantially increased student numbers.
Three of the of the five schools in the Faculty increased their output of accredited units
with major increases coming from the School of Literature and Language Studies and the
School of Human and Community Development. The School of Social Sciences (just)
remains the leading school in the Faculty and was the second best performing school in
the University (in terms of total outputs). The schools of Education, Human and
Community Development, and Literature and Language Studies also feature in the top
ten in the University.
The performance of the School of Social Sciences (SOSS) in 2009 was exceptional,
increasing its output by 40% from 52.3 units to 73. Not unexpectedly, this level of
publication was not maintained in 2010, but though there was a slight dip, the school
remained the most productive in absolute terms.
The School of Education (WSOE) increased its contribution once again. Importantly,
again in 2010 more of the academic staff in the school contributed to the research record.
The School, partly because of its incorporation of the JCE has a large number of
academics on the tutor-track (93) compared to the lecturer-track (39). It is part of the
school plan to increase the number of staff with research degrees thereby enabling them
to contribute to the School’s research performance.
The School of Human and Community Development (SHCD) had a substantial increase
in its contribution – over 40%. This is a superb achievement and attests to the success of
the School’s endeavour to appoint research-active staff, to increase members with PhD’s
and to convey to all staff the expectation that they should be research active.
The School of Literature and Language Studies (SLLS) also had a substantial increase in
its research contribution – a stunning 70% increase. When the total accredited publication
record is divided by the number of senior lecturer equivalents, the school is the best
performing in the Faculty if not in the University. The School remains very productive in
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terms of books which are the gold-standard in much of the Humanities and Social
Sciences. Unfortunately, not all of these at present are recognized for credit, partly a
function of the DHET’s failure to recognize creative literary works as credit-worthy.
The Wits School of the Arts (WSOA) dipped once again on its (‘standard’) research
contribution, which is disappointing and clearly needs to be improved. But on the
positive side, recognition (in the first place internally) is now being given to the highly
impressive creative works produced by members of the School. In 2009 over 22
accredited units were given to works produced (excluding the submissions from film and
drama which have yet to be completed). The 2010 accreditation process has not yet taken
place, but at least a similar number of accredited units should be expected.
The two recognized research institutes in the faculty were both in a transitional stage in
2010. WISER faced a crisis with the resignation of its recently-appointed director and the
loss of a number of its members. Its accredited output decreased to just under12 units.
This decrease on its impressive 2009 figures when most members were present and
contributing to its performance is however (mostly) understandable given the loss of a
number of its members in 2010. SWOP was also undergoing change as a new director
was sought. However its performance, 7.5 units, was an improvement over its 2009
performance, though that admittedly was off a very poor base. Fortunately a director has
now been appointed (in 2011) and that should make a difference to its research output. It
does need to be recognized that the major problem with SWOP is not that it is not
productive. It is a productive unit with diverse publications and with very significant and
substantial international collaborations, but unfortunately too few of their publications
appear in accredited journals. This is something that they are aware of and which they
will be addressing. The EPU performance was also disappointing, once again being
almost negligible. However it too is in a state of transition as it is under a new director
and taking on a new research programme and was busily raising funds and recruiting
associates in 2010. Most of the History Research Group’s output is recorded under other
units, those to which the participating members belong.
It is worth noting that that the Faculty’s research performance is substantially greater than
the DE recognized contribution. Not all publications end up in accredited journals – and
some of the non-accredited journals are well-respected international journals (though not
on the ISI data base). Further, a fairly sizeable proportion of faculty publications are in
the form of chapters and books and these are not appropriately valued in terms of the
current system of accreditation. This is something that the University Research Office
needs to work on (together with other universities). Nonetheless, it is also evident that
researchers in the Faculty ought to be choosing (all other things being equal) journals that
are accredited rather than journals that are not, and ought to be choosing (all other things
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being equal) publication in the form of journal articles rather than as book chapters, at
least until such time as the latter are revalued.
A number of academics in the Faculty play significant roles in the editing of various local
and international journals. Included are the following: In SOSS, Roger Southall is the
Managing Editor of the Journal of Contemporary African Studies and of the recently
launched New South African Review; Shahid Vawda and Bridget Kenny are editors of
African Studies; Peter Delius is an editor of the Journal of Southern African Studies and
the South African Historical Journal. In SHCD, Gavin Ivey and Carol Long are co-
editors of Psychoanalytic Therapy in South Africa; Andrew Thatcher is co-editor of
Ergonomics SA and Associate editor of Behaviour and Information Technology. In SLLS,
Merle Williams edited The English Academy Review: Southern African Journal of
English Studies. Numerous others edited special issues of journals and many others are
on editorial committees or editorial boards of journals.
5. Graduation Data:
PhD Count 2008-2010 (Faculty of Humanities figures as per AISU)
2008 2009 2010 Totals 3 years
Art 1 4 1 6
Education 6 9 5 20
Graduate School
3 0 0 3
Human and Community Dev.
8 1 5 14
Languages & Literature
8 8 4 20
Social Sciences
7 14 12 33
Faculty Totals: 33
36 27 96
3 year average 32
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Coursework Master Qualified Students 2008-2010
2008 2009 2010 Totals 3 years
Art 12 39 34 83
Education 20 51 34 105
Graduate School for Humanities & Social Sciences
23 23
Languages & Literature
22 16 8 46
Human and Community Dev.
24 75 68 167
Social Sciences 28 67 65 160
Graduate School for Translators & Interpreters
1 1
Faculty Total 130 248 209 587
3 year average 196
Masters by Dissertation Qualified students 2008-2010
2008 2009 2010 Totals 3 years
Art 7 10 6 23
Education 2 6 3 11
Graduate School for Humanities & Social Sciences
2 1 1 4
Human and Community Dev
24 6 3 33
Literature & Languages
5 12 20 37
Social Sciences 2 10 16 28
Faculty Total 42 45 49 136
3 Year average 45
Overall, the data exhibits a slight fall on 2009 figures which were in turn a major rise on
the 2008 figures. This suggests a leveling out at a higher level. While there is a
disappointing slip on the 2009 PhD completions and an expected dip on 2009
Coursework Masters completions – a function of measures introduced to ensure more
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timeous completions which had the effect of eliminating much of the previous backlog –
the 2010 Dissertation figures comprise a slight improvement on the earlier ones.
Postgraduate matters are the responsibility of the Faculty’s Graduate Studies committee,
but the figures suggest that the committee’s attempt to improve completion rates in the
Faculty is continuing to be successful. The majority of graduate students are registered
for the Coursework Masters, and in that category the completions are significantly better
than in the years prior to the intervention.
Supervisory capacity remains a problem in a number of departments (and some schools
in particular). But this is being addressed with recent appointments and attempts to
upgrade staff in the relevant units. This is especially true of the Schools of Education and
Arts. Obviously interventions like these take time to have an effect.
The Faculty, through the Graduate centre, continues to offer a number of short-term post-
docs to our recent graduates as a way of ensuring their doctoral research is turned into
publications. This is obviously of benefit to both the students and the Faculty.
It is worth pointing out that assuming the value of a PhD for research subsidy purposes is
3 DE units, an MA by dissertation 1unit, and an MA by Coursework and Research Report
0.5 units, the Faculty in 2010 would have received 234.5units for graduate completions.
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6. NRF rating
The following members of the Faculty received new or re-ratings in 2010
Name Title School Faculty Rating
Valid
until
Fleisch, B Professor Education Humanities C2 2016
Freschi, F Dr Wits School of Arts Humanities C2 2016
Horn,PRG Professor Literature & Languages -
Modern Languages Humanities B1
2016
Inggs,J Professor Literature & Languages -
Modern Languages Humanities C2
2016
Janks,H Professor Literature & Languages -
Modern Languages Humanities B1
2016
Kenny, B Dr Social Sciences - Sociology Humanities C2 2016
Landau, LB Dr Humanities & Social Sciences -
Forced Migration Humanities B3
2016
Rollnick,M Professor Education Humanities C1 2016
Saddington, D Professor Literature & Languages -
Modern Languages Humanities B2
2016
Taylor, RL Professor Social Sciences - Politics Humanities B3 2016
Venkatakrishnan,H Professor Education Humanities C2 2016
The Faculty now has 34 rated members, including 3 A-rated, and 15 B-rated scholars. The
Faculty recognizes that greater advantage needs to be taken of the NRF rating system imperfect
as it might be, especially now that a rating is accompanied by financial rewards or resources. To
this end, Heads of Schools are working with staff to ensure that applications are put in at the
appropriate point in their research cycles.
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7. NRF Chairs
A First Rand Foundation South African Mathematics Education Chair (in Numeracy) was
awarded to Professor Hamsa Venkatakrishnan, adding to the two existing Chairs in the Faculty,
Professor Bonner’s Chair in ‘Local Histories and Present Realities’ and Professor Adler’s Chair
in ‘Mathematics Education’.
8. Research entities
The Faculty has four research entities and a number of Centres:
WISER: Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research
SWOP: Society, Work and Development Institute
EPU: Education Policy Unit
HRG: History Research Group
CISA: Centre for Indian Studies in Africa.
The Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER)
As already indicated, 2010 was a period of transition for WISER. Despite the upheavals, WISER
continued to make a contribution to the Faculty’s research record as well as hosting a number of
important conferences, colloquia and international guests. Some of the highlights include the
following:
Senior Researcher, Achille Mbembe, completed his latest book, entitled Sortir de la grande nuit:
Essai sur l’Afrique decolonisee. It appeared with Parisian publishers, La Decouverte, in
December 2010.
WISER Researcher, Ashlee Neser, won the University Research Committee award to have her
book, Stranger at Home: The Praise Poet in Apartheid South Africa published with Wits
University Press. Two distinguished Writing Fellows worked at WISER in 2010: Boris Boubacar
Diop, the prolific Senegalese author, worked on his upcoming documentary novel, entitled
Capitaine Mbaye Diagne, and Johannesburg photographer, Jo Ractliffe, produced an extended
photographic essay, As Terras do Fim do Mundo for exhibition and publication as a book. An
exhibition of her photographs was held at Michael Stevenson Gallery in Cape Town in October
to considerable acclaim.
One of WISER’s doctoral students, Zethu Matebeni, attended the American Anthropological
Association conference in 2010 to receive the Kenneth W Payne Prize, awarded by the
Association for Queer Anthropologists. The annual award is for outstanding Anthropological
scholarship by a student for research in lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender studies.
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Two major conferences were held at WISER: ‘Managing Uncertainty: Death and Loss in
Africa’, was co-hosted with the History Departments of Cambridge University and of
Goldsmiths College; and ‘The Media and Elections in Africa’ Conference was co-hosted with
Political Studies, Wits.
WISER also co-hosted a workshop with the London School of Economics and the Universities of
Leiden and Pretoria, and University of the Western Cape; it was entitled ‘Local Economies:
Consumption, Enterprise, Insurance, Indebtedness and Gambling in Perspective’.
Together with History Workshop at Wits, WISER convened a colloquium on ‘Political Travel in
the Colonial World’, at which leading social historian Professor Karen Hunt (Keele University)
gave a keynote lecture. Another successful international colloquium, co-hosted with the Centre
for Indian Studies in Africa, Wits, was ‘Voyage/Text’, about maritime history and narrative.
WISER was also delighted to host was the visit of Professor John Higginson, a renowned
historian from the University of Massachusetts. Higginson came to Wits as part of the Claude
Leon Nobel Laureate and Distinguished Scholars Programme, and he gave several well-attended
lectures and seminars in the course of his visit. WISER also hosted the visit of Carnegie Resident
Equity Scholar, Julio Tavares, from Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro.
Tavares gave a number of lectures under the rubric: ‘Deconstructing invisibility: Race and
Politics of Visual Culture in Brazil and South America’.
Society, Work and Development Institute
A major highlight of 2010 was the series of public seminars presented by Professor Michael
Buroway, Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley (and President of the
International Sociological Association). Entitled ‘Conversations with Pierre Bourdieu’, the
seminars attracted wide interest within the University and wider academic community, and the
institute is indebted to Professor Burawoy for this important engagement.
The traditional SWOP breakfasts hosted on Friday morning once a month presented insights into
the research conducted by WISER’s staff and postgraduate students to an audience composed
variously of academics, students, trade unionists members of civil society and community
activists.
It is worthy of note as a remarkable achievement that in 2010, supervision by SWOP staff
enabled four students to complete their doctorates and three to complete at Masters level. SWOP
researchers and students publish their work in popular avenues as well as in academic journals
and their research continued to frequently attract high-profile media attention. Through these
forms of dissemination of knowledge and research in popular outlets, SWOP contributed to
public debate but also extended the reach and reputation of the University beyond the scholarly
context.
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Education Policy Unit
The Education Policy Unit (EPU), which has an admirable history in researching and supporting
the research into education policies to assist disadvantaged communities, both in opposition to
the apartheid government and in support of democratic government is planning a major research
programme to take on one of the most under-researched areas of education: the complex
relationships between education and the labour market. Following significant challenges, a new
Director launched the process of setting up new foci for research activity in 2010, culminating in
the launch of the REAL programme (Researching Education and the Labour Market) in late
2010. The research programme aims to:
a. Build new research capacity and coordinate existing research in related areas to maximize
insights and knowledge
b. Provide a coherent organizational base from which to build international links and
increase knowledge of international literature
c. Creating a space for young researchers to train in various specialties, such as statistics,
curriculum, sociology, curriculum analysis and development, ethnography, at the same
time as contributing to a broader multi-disciplinary research agenda.
Due to this shift in research focus and limited staff capacity, the research and publication output
of EPU has decreased but it is expected that once established the publication record should
improve substantially.
History Research Group
The History Research Group is a multi disciplinary Research Unit that includes historians,
sociologists, political scientists, archaeologists, researchers in African literature and economists.
The group has a wide range of research projects many of which are in partnership with
academics from other institutions as well as in partnerships with local institutions.
Amongst the international partnerships are the following: A Swiss/South African Project on
Sustaining Democracy: Contests of Memory and Heritage, a project with the Centre for History,
Public Policy and Social Change, Duke University, North Carolina, as well as a project with
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
The group is also engaged on a number of projects with local partners including with the
Limpopo Heritage Resources Agency to research and write local histories in the province, with
the Public Affairs Research Institute on a Social Cohesion Project on the West Rand, with the
Johannesburg Development Agency on a Vilakazi Street Oral History Project and with SADET
on a project on the UDF in Lebowa and KwaNdebele and on the UDF, popular struggles and
local resistance in the West Rand and Vaal Triangle Townships.
The groups remains a vibrant part of the Faculty’s research activity and a model for inter-
disciplinary work. However it needs to be noted that the accredited output from the group is
typically recorded with the members’ home departments or schools.
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Centre for Indian Studies in Africa (CISA)
The Centre for Indian Studies in Africa was set up in 2007 with an attempt to study the emerging
political and economic alignments in the contemporary world. The rise of India as a global
power presented significant opportunities to the academy both locally and internationally. In
recognition of the outstanding and prescient work done by the Centre, the Mellon Foundation in
late 2009 gave a grant of USD 1 million towards funding a Chair and attendant activities for five
years. Professor Dilip Menon from the University of Delhi was appointed as the Mellon Chair in
Indian Studies and Professor of History in January 2010 and since then the Centre has expanded
to include four post doctoral Fellows (working on Sri Lanka, South Africa, the island of Reunion
and themes of black modernity) and a doctoral fellow (researching on Dubai as a global city that
is a magnet for both capital and labour). The programme of the Centre for Indian Studies has
now been expanded to include the Global South. From being the first and only Centre for Indian
Studies on the African continent, it has now also become one of the few institutions anywhere in
the world with a focus on the emerging powerhouses of the Global South.
The Centre in the course of 2010 has established itself as a significant presence and is in the
process of entering into collaboration with key players like the National University of Singapore,
ETH Zurich, University of Leiden, University of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Centre for
Study of Culture and Society, and ICRIER among others. Over the next four years CISA will be
drawing in institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean as well. CISA organised two
international conferences in 2010 drawing in scholars from collaborating institutions. One held
between October 4-6 Conference involved collaboration with CSR University of Johannesburg
and Consulate General of India and was titled South Africa and India: Dialogues on Social
Justice and Contested Transitions on 150 years of Indians in S Africa. The second held between
November 1-3 was titled Writing Post National Narratives with participants from US, UK, SE
Asia, India and S Africa.
18
9. Post-doctoral Fellows: The following post-doctoral fellows were attached to various schools
in the Faculty.
Orrantia J USA WSOA
Walker RJW UK Centre for Indian Studies in Africa
Lahiri M India Centre for Indian Studies in Africa
Brown JK South Africa History
Gibbs TM UK History
Watermeyer JM South Africa Human & Comm Dev - Speech Path
Kadenge M Zimbabwe Lit & Lang
Soske J USA Lit & Lang
Bocchiola M Italy Philosophy
Ferreira NC South Africa Philosophy
Chisango T Zimbabwe Psychology
Lissoni A Italy Social Sciences - History
Smith J Canada Social Sciences - History
Jones M UK WISER
Sadouni S France WISER
Terreblanche SJ South Africa WISER
Alubafi MF Cameroon WSOA
Otulaja F WSOE
Rocha LK WSOE
Though there has been a modest increase in the number of post-doctoral fellows in the Faculty,
this is an area where the faculty needs to do more especially at a time when many PhD’s are
coming onto the market while academic positions are being frozen. Post-docs contribute not only
to the research productivity of a department or school but can also contribute to the development
of postgraduate students while adding to the general intellectual culture of departments and
schools.
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10. A Research and Intellectual Culture
School of Social Sciences (SOSS)
Though the School of Social Sciences made a substantial contribution to the Faculty’s
publication record as usual, publishing over 40 submissible journal articles, 28 book chapters,
and 5 edited books in 2010, it could not match the stellar performance of 2009 when it was the
second best school in terms of the number of accredited publications produced in the University.
The five edited book by members of SOSS covered subjects that are at the heart of contemporary
public policy debates in South Africa and Africa: Leah Gilbert, Terry Selikow, and E. Walker,
Society, Health, and Disease in a Time of AIDS; R. Southall and P. Naidoo, New South African
Review; Gilbert M. Khadiagala, Khabele Matlosa and Victor Shale, When Elephants Fight:
Preventing and Resolving Electoral-Related Conflicts in Africa.; Daryl Glaser, Mbeki and After:
Reflections on the legacy of Thabo Mbeki; and Anthony Butler, Paying for Politics: Party
Funding and Political Change in South Africa and the Global South.
Members of SOSS were also involved in editorship of special journals such as the New South
Africa Review, Journal of Borderlands Studies, Journal of Southern African Studies, and Journal
of Comparative Family Studies.
As part of the intellectual enterprise, the School held about 10 major conferences and hosted
distinguished visitors. In this regard, the Philosophy Department held two topical and acclaimed
conferences on Poverty, Charity, and Justice and Global Justice and Health.
The School also worked collaboratively with the Centre for Indian Studies in Africa (CISA) to
host three major conferences around the themes of Constitution, Law, and Society; Global
Labour; and Post National Histories.
Amongst the distinguished visitors hosted by the School were Jan Breman (University of
Amsterdam), Thomas Shelby (Harvard University), and Professor Michael Burawoy (University
of California, Berkeley).
Members of the School remained engaged in many public forums and the media, contributing to
wide-ranging debates and issues including policy relevant research on for example migration
policy.
The School of Literature and Language Studies:
The School had a very good year in 2010, substantially improving its publication record over
2009 and demonstrating its social and public intellectual engagement through its public events
and talks.
With regard to research, members of the School continued their tradition of publishing books,
editing journals and special journal editions. Some of the highlights of these were the publication
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of: Loin de mon père (Away from my father), a novel by Dr Véronique Tadjo; Bodyhood, a
volume of poetry by the then Head of School, Prof. Leon de Kock;
Trying Vasili, a short story by Jo-Anne Richards, published in Home Away, a collection of South
African short stories edited by Louis Greenberg (Zebra Press, 2010); Eyes Across the Water:
Navigating the Indian Ocean (UNISA Press, 2010), a collection of essays edited by, amongst
others, A-rated scholar Prof. Isabel Hofmeyr; Guy Butler: Reassessing a South African Literary
Life, a monograph by Dr Chris Thurman (UKZN Press, 2010); What is Slavery to Me?
Postcolonial/Slave Memory in Post-Apartheid South Africa (Wits University Press, 2010), a
monograph by Professor Pumla Gqola University Press; Ich lerne sehen“ Zu Rilkes Lyrik
(Athena Verlag) in English entitled “I learn to see”: On Rilke‘s Poetry, a monograph on the
poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke by Professor Anette Horn and Honorary Professorial Research
Fellow Peter Horn; Troublemakers: The best of SA’s investigative reporting, edited by Anton
Harber and Margaret Renn; What is Left Unsaid: Reporting the South African HIV/AIDS
Epidemic, edited by Kristin Palitza, Natalie Ridgard, Helen Struthers and Anton Harber; Media
Policy in a Changing Southern Africa: Critical Reflections on Media Reforms in the Global Age
edited by the outgoing Media Studies Head of Department Dr Dumisani Moyo together with
Wallace Chuma; English Studies in Africa, edited by Professor Michael Titlestad; and Social
Dynamics edited by Lesley Cowling, Isabel Hofmeyr and Carolyn Hamilton. All of these
publications were over and above the School’s continued (and prolific) output in terms of book
chapters and published articles.
In terms of ongoing activities and events within the School, Journalism led a special World Cup
newsroom where the Wits students were joined by fellow journalism students from the UK and
China in producing multimedia content for a special website.
The annual Taco Kuiper Awards were held in April. The very first Taco Kuiper grant went to
Antony Altbeker to support the writing of his book Fruit of a Poisoned Tree - A True Story Of
Murder And The Miscarriage Of Justice (Jonathan Ball, 2010). David Beresford also received a
grant to write Truth is a Strange Fruit: A Personal Journey through the Apartheid War (Jacana,
2010). Alon Skuy, a third but more recent grant recipient, published the first part of his multi-
media investigation into Hillbrow on The Times website.
The Second Annual Es’kia Mphahlele Postgraduate Colloquium and Arts Forum was held in
September and drew students from around the country, demonstrating that it has become an
important event in the academic calendar. The sixth Power Reporting conference was held in
November and was a great success. Altogether 275 people attended 78 sessions, with many
attendees coming from other African countries.
Many School members continue to be active as public intellectuals by engaging in public debate
through the press – on matters of literature Dr Véronique Tadjo, Dr Chris Thurman, Professor
Michael Titlestad, for example, and on media matters Professor Anton Harber and Professor
Franz Kruger (ombudsman for the Mail & Guardian and member of the SA Press Appeals Panel;
speaker at Media Freedom Day in Zambia on May 21, consultant on the Independent Media
Council in Uganda, and co-facilitator of the first strategic planning workshop of the Zimbabwe
Media Commission) to mention just a few names.
21
The School is also engaged in a number of large-scale research projects. Media Studies secured a
large grant from the International Development and Research Centre (IDRC) and Carleton
University Centre for Media and Transnational Societies to undertake research on Radio,
Convergence and Development investigating how public, private, and community radio stations
in Southern Africa are using new ICTs such as the Internet and mobile phones to promote
bottom-up, interactive, and participatory cultures. The research covers five countries Malawi,
South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Media Studies is also working on a two-year research
project ICT Policy and New Media Cultures in Southern Africa, funded by the Open Society
Institute of Southern Africa (OSISA). This research project examines the political economy of
new media industries in Southern Africa, focusing on Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa,
Zambia and Zimbabwe. It focuses on the Internet and mobile phones in particular and the extent
to which forms of ownership and financing of these media enhance or militate against universal
accesses of citizens to these media.
SLLS has developed a research emphasis on the ways in which texts travel between contexts and
are amended, revised, recuperated and adapted. The obvious, and most productive, level of
analysis has concerned the arrival of individual texts and trends in representation in
South/Southern Africa, and the ways in which this arrival has been integral to the emergence of
‘our’ literature. This work has begun to collapse narrow notions of ‘national literature’, which it
has supplanted with the tropes of transnational trajectory, the circulation of texts and an intricate
economy of exchange among a variety of contexts (that is, between the metropolis and the
former colonies, but also among the communities of the global south). An allied concern has
been the ‘creation’ of South African literature through a particular politics of publications and set
of protocols of reviewing, reception and formal critique, as well as its ‘creation’ in the
international public sphere. Two separate issues of English Studies in Africa (edited in SLLS)
were dedicated to these concerns, and 12 articles by SLLS academics were published in the last
two years concerning this intellectual horizon. It is also an emphasis that has fostered close
research collaborations between SLLS, WISER and CISA.
Wits School of Education
The School continues to focus on growing and broadening its research output. Strategies to
this end in 2010 include the launch of a public seminar series and a quarterly UG seminar
programme. Alongside this focus, the Research Committee worked to get ethical clearance
for practice-based research examining Higher Education teaching and learning, with a view
to supporting the development of both research, and research-based practice.
A number of papers were published in the high impact journals, British Journal of Educational
Studies and the Journal of Education Policy by Professor Osman and a number of important
books were published including Literacy and Power by Professor Hilary Janks, Teaching
Mathematical Reasoning in Secondary School Classrooms by Professor Karin Brodie and The
Moral Status and Rights of Animals by Professor Kai Horsthemke:
During 2010, as before, the school hosted a number of international scholars of note. Amongst
the international visitors hosted by the School were three Mellon Distinguished scholars (Prof
Michael Prosser; University of Hong Kong, Prof. Keith Trigwell University of Sydney and Prof
22
Shirley Booth, Gothenberg University. Professors Trigwell and Prosser presented a public
lecture on the topic: Teaching in a Student -Centred University and a number of other seminars
focused on their research into teaching and learning in Higher Education. Prof Shirley Booth,
presented a Seminar Series of four related lectures on the Scholarship of Teacher Education, with
follow-up individual consultations, on the development of research projects to study student
learning in the framework of undergraduate teacher education. This was intended as a
contribution to the scholarship of teacher education for newer members of the academic staff.
The school’s research output continues to influence educational policy and practise. Professor
Osman, together with Dr Deacon and Ms Buchler completed a research report reviewing
educational research in South Africa from 1994 to 2006. The categorization of research areas in
this report is now being used by the NRF for allocation of funding in Education.
The publication of Primary Education in Crisis by Brahm Fleisch was followed by a significant
shift in policy towards primary education and a new focus on literacy and numeracy at that
level. Included in this new focus is a stronger emphasis on the national nutrition programme
and the implementation of the new Health Screening Programme for Foundation Phase learners
in quintile 1 schools. Both were issues highlighted in the book. Further, his recent paper from
the PRMP study has been widely cited and is feeding into a stronger emphasis on universal
procurement of textbooks emanating from the DBE.
A wide range of public events were hosted by the WSOE in 2010. Key events which attracted
significant academic and public interest were a joint seminar hosted by WSOE, CEPD and
Umalusi and another joint seminar between MERSETA and the EPU with Professor Oumar
Bouare. The Mathematics Education Division hosted a series of public seminars on the proposed
CAPS curricula for all phases, incorporating presentations by curriculum writers and debate that
brought together academics from a range of disciplines interested in changes in school exit
examinations and teachers.
School of Human and Community Development (SHCD)
The SHCD performed particularly well in 2010 achieving its highest number of publication
outputs. In 2010, the SHCD produced a total of 109 journal articles, editorials, book chapters and
books (up from a total of 101 in 2009). 73% of publication outputs were journal articles, 25%
were book chapters and 2% were books. The number of staff who did not publish was reduced
from 44% in 2009 to 28% in 2010. The proportion of journal articles in accredited journals
increased from 72% in 2009 to 78% in 2010.
Research articles were published in some of the leading academic journals in the School’s
respective disciplines. These included Social Issues, Patient Education and Counseling,
Information Processing and Human Management, Ergonomics, International Journal of
Audiology, International Journal of Social Research Methodology and a host of others. In
addition, one staff member co-authored an article which was published in the Lancet.
In addition to journal articles, staff members also produced a number of books. Prof. Eleonore
Ross co-authored the second edition of the book Health, Illness and Disability (Van Schaik
23
Publishers) with Andee Deverell. Additionally, Professor Edwell Kaseke of Social Work
contributed to a book on colonialism and social policy with colleagues at the London School of
Economic and the University of California (Berkley). Professor Gillian Eagle co-authored the
book Traumatic Stress in South Africa (Wits University Press) with Dr Debra Kaminer from
UCT.
Staff members were also involved in editing special issues of journals including the Journal of
Social Issues (Prof. Gillian Finchilescu); Journal of Psychology in Africa (Prof. Garth Stevens),
Psychology in Society (Prof. Garth Stevens) and the South African Journal of Psychology
(Professors Brett Bowman, Norman Duncan and Christopher Sonn).
A number of staff members were invited to deliver keynote addresses at conferences
internationally and in Africa. Professor Norman Duncan gave an invited address to the Third
International Conference of Community Psychology, Community Agenda on Contemporary
Social Problems, Universidad Iberoamericana, Puebla, Mexico and one as part of the opening
ceremony of the 13th
Chinese Congress of Psychology in Shanghai. Professor Claire Penn was an
invited plenary speaker at the Paediatric Aids Treatment for Africa Congress in Uganda and
presented a paper at the 9th
Asia Pacific Conference on Human Genetics in Hong Kong.
Professor Garth Stevens gave a keynote address at the 11th
Annual Social Psychology Graduate
Conference at the London School of Economics and at the symposium on Continuous Traumatic
Stress in Kirstenbosch in South Africa. Dr Mzikzi Nduna gave an invited plenary address at the
4th
Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights in Addis Ababa.
The SHCD hosted a number of distinguished scholars during 2010 who contributed to the
intellectual life of the school through, for example, public lectures, seminars and colloquia.
These included: Oliver Turnbull (University of Bangor, Wales), Derek Hook (London School of
Economics), Julian Barling (Queens University, Canada), Brandon Hamber (University of
Ulster, Ireland), Gill Straker (University of Sidney, Australia), Juliet Mitchell (Cambridge
University, England), Christopher Sonn (Victoria University, Australia) and Zimitri Erasmus
(University of Cape Town).
The SHCD also hosted a colloquium by Zimitri Erasmus on ‘Revisiting Apartheid Race
Categories’ and proudly hosted pre-eminent scholar Professor Juliet Mitchell who facilitated a
workshop on ‘Psychoanalytic Thoughts and Theorizing’. Prof Charles Potter also hosted the
Virtual Evaluation Conference (internet based discussion) that attracted the participation of some
of the world’s leading evaluation experts.
The school is home to two very successful research thrusts:
The Health Communication Project is a multidisciplinary research group concerned with the
unique challenges of multilingual and intercultural communication in the South African
healthcare context. The Project has existed since 2000 and is directed by Prof Claire Penn. The
main goal of the Project is to apply methods from the social sciences to investigate
communication practices across healthcare domains and sites, with a view to formulating
recommendations for policy and practice and developing and implementing site-specific
communication training programmes. Although ongoing projects have a strong focus on South
Africa, several more recent initiatives also involve partners in other African countries. In 2010
(the year in which the HCP was accredited as a research entity), the project produced 18 journal
24
articles (7 published, 3 in press, 8 under review; 15 of these are in international journals), 6
chapters (2 published, 2 in press, 2 under review; all in international publications), and 17
conference presentations (9 international, 8 local) (available on request).
The Apartheid Archive project is an international research initiative that aims to examine the
nature of the experiences of racism of (particularly ‘ordinary’) South Africans under the old
apartheid order and their continuing effects on individual and group functioning in contemporary
South Africa. The project is fundamentally premised on the understanding that traumatic
experiences from the past will constantly attempt to re-inscribe themselves (often in masked
form) in the present, if they are not acknowledged, interrogated and addressed. Accordingly it is
important for South African society to review, so as to acknowledge and deal with its past, so as
to better manage its present and future. The project attempts to foreground narratives of the
everyday experiences of ‘ordinary’ South Africans during the apartheid era, rather than simply
focusing on the ‘grand’ narratives of the past or the privileged narratives of academic, political
and social elites. The study attempts to fill the gaps interspersed between the ‘grand’ narratives
recorded by the TRC. To this end, the project collects, documents, analyses and provides access
to over 5000 personal or narrative accounts of the impact of apartheid on the lived realities of
their authors. The project was conceptualized and initiated in August 2008 by 22 core
researchers housed at Universities spanning South Africa, Australia, the United States and
United Kingdom. The project generated 22 articles in 2010 alone.
Wits School of Arts (WSOA)
In 2010, the Wits School of Arts concentrated on strengthening the reputation of the school as a
centre of excellence in performing and exhibition.
Though the traditional publication record of the School fell for the second successive year in
2010, the overall research performance has improved substantially with the internal recognition
of creative works. Creative research was officially recognised by the University for the first time
in 2009 with over 25 accredited units being assigned. A similar figure is expected in 2010. While
the Department of Higher Education has accepted that there must be formal recognition of such
works nationally, unfortunately the system of recognition has yet to be implemented. There is
every reason however to think that the system will be of major benefit to the school given the
large number of excellent artists across the disciplines in the School.
The School started to participate in cross continental debates as a member of CILECT, a
prestigious international organization for Film and Television Schools.
The Drama for Life Africa Research Conference took place between the 26th
and 28th
of August
2010 in collaboration with University of Pretoria Drama, University of Pretoria Music Therapy,
The South African Association of Drama therapists, and the South African Network of Arts
Therapies Organisations. The Conference created a space for networking among academics and
practitioners working within the arts.
During the annual Apartheid Archives Conference, the Division of Dramatic Art showcased a
series of major resistance plays created during Apartheid era.
25
In partnership with The Institut Français d’Afrique du Sud, the School contributed to a major
street theatre performance during the 2010 Soccer World Cup (April and June 2010) which
showcased young artists from community initiatives together with Wits art students. A collective
two month workshop was undertaken by the French Theatre group the Les Grandes Personnes.
The School also contributed actively to and participated in the Wits Arts and Literature
Experience (WALE), a flagship event on the Wits calendar and that showcases the best it has to
offer in dramatic arts, film, music, dance and fine arts.
The Faculty:
Apart from the school-based events there were also as usual a number of faculty-wide events.
The third Wits Literature and Arts Experience (WALE), a celebration of the artistic and literary
talent of Wits alumni, staff and students was not only a very popular event on the university
calendar, but also was bigger and better organised. The event showcased the enormous artistic
talent possessed by staff and students at the university. The festival is beginning to add value to
student’s repertoire of benefits they get from studying at the university by giving them the
cultural and social capital which will make them rounded graduates and citizens.
The theme of the annual Ruth First Memorial Lecture, commemorating the work of journalist,
activist, feminist and Wits graduate Ruth First, was The Politics of Poverty and showcased the
work of two Ruth First Fellows, Christa Kuljian and Crystal Orderson.
The Mellon-funded distinguished researchers grants is a faculty initiative, but the successful
applicants are located in the schools. The details of the visits of these distinguished scholars can
be found under the relevant sections of the school reports.
11. PhD’s in the Faculty
In much of the Faculty, the PhD is becoming the norm for appointment at the lecturer-level and,
together with accredited publications, for promotion to higher levels. Some exceptions remain
with those schools that have professional components (for example, the School of Human and
Community Development), and/or creative components (for example the School of Arts) or with
an historical legacy (for example the incorporation of the College of Education which did not
have the PhD as either a prerequisite or as the career norm). But even in these cases there are
efforts to meet the new faculty norm in appropriate ways. Increasingly professional units are
looking to appoint academics with PhD’s or encourage those appointed to acquire PhDs. In the
School of Arts there is a major effort to increase the number of staff with PhD’s in part by
introducing a PhD which can include a portfolio of creative work. The School in 2010 had 11
members of staff registered for the PhD. There is also a concerted effort underway in the School
26
of Education to increase the number of staff with PhD’s. Teaching buy-outs and sabbaticals have
been used to try to and support those who have registered for and are trying to complete PhD’s.
In the Schools of Social Sciences and Literature and Language Studies, most members of staff
have PhD’s.
PhDs employed by Schools 2006-2010
School/Entity May-2006 May-2007 May-2008 May-2009 May-2010
Graduate Centre
5 4 2 2
SHCD 28 27 26 27 37
SLLS 27 28 28 29 34
SOSS 43 48 48 49 53
WSOA 11 11 10 10 14
WSOE 36 40 36 33 36
Faculty 1 1 1 1 1
WISER 5 3 6 6 4
Wits Language School
1 1 1 1
Sum 156 163 158 158 180
According to a (rough) inventory in 2010, SHCD had 72 (permanent) academic staff members of
whom 37 had PhD’s (51%); SLLS had 42 (permanent) academic staff members of whom 32 had
PhD’s (76%); SOSS had 63 (permanent) academic staff members of whom 50 had PhD’s (80%)
(excluding members of entities and programmes); WSOE had 88 permanent academic staff
members of whom 36 had PhD’s (41%) as well as 52 contract staff of whom 11 had PhD’s
(21%); WSOA had 48 (permanent) academic staff members of whom 14 had PhD’s (29%).
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12. Awards and major achievements
School of Social Sciences:
Amongst the awards or honours received by members of the School were the following:
Prof Michael Bratchel was elected as a foreign fellow (for life) to the highly prestigious
Socio Straniero della Deputazione di Storia Patria per la Toscana.
Dr Sekiba Lekgoathi received an award from the African Humanities Program (AHP) of
the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the Mellon Foundation Award:
Research Support for Younger Scholars on the Wits Staff and the Swiss-South Africa
Joint Research Project Grant for conducting preliminary comparative research on radio
in South Africa and Switzerland, he also presented the keynote address ‘Racism,
Ethnicity and the Media in Africa: A Double-edged Sword’ at the Racism, Ethnicity and
the Media in Africa Conference, University of Westminster, 25-26 March 2010
Prof Lucy Allais was awarded a Humboldt research fellowship to carry out her project
on Kant’s transcendental idealism, in Berlin and she was invited to give a paper on Kant
to the prestigious Aristotelian Society, which was published in the Proceedings of the
Aristotelian Society.
Dr David James was awarded a research fellowship at CRASSH (Centre for Research in
the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities) and Wolfson College, University of
Cambridge
Dr Kelly Gillespie received a Friedel Sellschop Research Award
Prof DB Coplan was a Visiting Research Fellow at BIGSAS - Bayreuth International
Graduate School of African Studies, University of Bayreuth, Germany working with the
Department of Ethnology on African border issues, in conjunction with the African
Borders Research Network (ABORNE).
School of Literature and Language Studies:
Prof Peter Horn was awarded the prestigious Literary Lifetime Achievement Award at the
South African Literary Awards
Dr Chris Thurman was a recipient of a Friedel Sellschop Research Award for research
excellence amongst young researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand
School of Human and Community Development:
Prof Norman Duncan was appointed to the Editorial Board of Peace and Conflict:
Journal of Peace Psychology as well as the editorial board of the International Journal of
Psychology. Prof Duncan also served as the Chair of the Scientific Committee for the
International Conference of Psychology (the largest psychology conference worldwide)
to be held in Cape Town in July 2012. Prof Duncan is also the co-lead researcher in the
Apartheid Archives Project that hosted a number of distinguished scholars and activities.
Prof Claire Penn was announced the 2010 co-winner of the DST Women in Science
award for Humanities and Social Sciences. Prof Penn was also awarded a Bellagio
28
residence award (May 2010) and invited to serve on the Aphasia Committee of the
International Association of Logopedics and Phonetics (IALP). The Health
Communications Project – directed by Prof Claire Penn – was recognised by the
university as a formal research entity. In 2010, the project produced 18 journal articles.
Prof Andrew Thatcher continued in his role as co-editor of Ergonomics SA and associate
editor for the international journal Behaviour & Information Technology. He also served
on the editorial boards of the following journals: ‘Ergonomics’, ‘The Open Ergonomics
Journal’, and the ‘International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics’.
Dr Katijah Khosa-Shangase was nominated for the 2010 DST Emerging Young Woman
Researcher in Social Sciences or Humanities, “Women in Science” Awards. She was also
appointed as Vice-Chairperson for the Executive Committee of the HPCSA Professional
Board for Speech Language and Hearing Professions (July 2010-July 2015) as well as
Chairperson for HPCSA Professional Board for Speech Language and Hearing
Professions – Education Committee (July 2010-July 2015)
Prof Brendon Barnes received a 2010 Friedel Sellschop award for research excellence in
recognition of the global impact of his work. He was also appointed Honorary Research
Fellow at London South Bank University as well as management member of the WHO
Collaborating Centre for Urban Health. He was also appointed as associate editor of
Environmental Health Discoveries.
Prof Carol Long was appointed alongside Prof Gavin Ivey as editors of Psychoanalytic
Psychotherapy in South Africa.
Wits school of Education:
Prof Jill Adler presented a plenary paper at the International Congress of Mathematicians
(ICM) in Hyderabad, India, in August.
Prof Hilary Janks presented a plenary paper at the ‘Conference for culturally responsive
research and pedagogy’ at the University of Waikato in November.
Prof Hamsa Venkatakrishnan was awarded another First Rand Foundation South African
Mathematics Education Chair. The award of the Chair includes five years of funding for
a targeted research and development intervention that hopes to impact on mathematics
teacher education and learner performance in certain schools (2010- 2014).
Prof Jill Adler who was awarded an FRF/NRF Chair in Mathematics Education in 2009,
launched the research and development focused project in 2010. This project aims to
improve the teaching and learning of mathematics across ten secondary schools over a 5
year period.
Wits School of Arts
Sarah Roberts was appointed to the prestigious position of the Skye Chair of Dramatic
Arts and will be responsible for initiating projects that promote collaborative authorship
and innovation in performance and pedagogy.
Zen Marie, received a Spier Contemporary Award.
29
Lieza Louw, was made an Executive member of Africa Regional Association, Centre
International de Liason des Écoles de Cinema et de Television.
Jyoti Mistry, was a member of the selection committee for the Hubert Bals Fund,
International Film Festival, Rotterdam, Netherlands, an adjudicator for the inaugural
Durban Mart, Durban International Film Festival and a pre-selector for the Oberhausen
Short International Film Festival, Germany.
Jo Ractliffe, was an invited Artist in Residence, Philips Exeter Academy, New
Hampshire, March-April. She also had a number of prestigious exhibitions and a book As
Terras do Fim do Mundo published.
Jeremy Wafer who received a B-rating from the NRF took up a residency and gave a
public lecture at the Museum of African Art, Washington DC, October.
Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph, composer-in-residence, Heidelberg University, Ohio, March.
Included a concert devoted exclusively to her chamber and solo compositions as part of
their Contemporary Music Festival.
Craig Higginson had two plays performed in London, Dream of the Dog and The Girl in
a Yellow Dress (also performed in Johannesburg), as well as a novel Last Summer
published.
Gerrit Olivier, jury member, WA Hofmeyr prize for Afrikaans literature and jury
member, University of Johannesburg Prize for Afrikaans literature.
13. International collaboration
As the preceding record shows, individuals, departments and schools have very strong and ever
increasing ties with international scholars. These ties are mostly manifested in conference
participation, guest lectures, reciprocal visits and to a more limited extent in collaboration on
research projects.
SOSS:
Gilbert M. Khadiagala (International Relations), Collaborative Project with the LBJ
School of Public Affairs, University of Texas, Austin, US on Climate Change and
Political Conflicts in Africa, June 2010-December 2012.
Professor Delius continued to lead the interdisciplinary and inter-university NRF funded
Five Hundred Year Initiative (FYI) which has received national and international
recognition for its role in creating dialogue and research partnerships between historians
and archaeologists and in developing new research paradigms. In 2010, the FYI hosted
an international conference ‘Concluding 500 Years at Wits’ which reflected on the
progress made by the project over three years. A testament to the impact of the work is
that Professor Delius (along with Professor Shula Marks of London University) was
asked to edit a special issue based on papers given at the conference of the Journal of
Southern African Studies – the leading international inter -disciplinary journal on the
region.
Mucha Musemwa is a member of the Comparative Water Research Group based at the
Centre for the Study of Global Change (ICGC), University of Minnesota, USA, working
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on a research project on the theme: Water Struggles: Right to Water, Justice, and
Changing Hydro-Social Worlds.
Prof Karl von Holdt (SWOP) and Prof Michael Burawoy, the President of the
International Sociological Association (ISA) and Professor in the Department of
Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, are co-authoring a book, entitled
Conversations with Pierre Bourdieu: the Johannesburg moment. This is to be published
by Wits University Press. The book is based on the lectures Prof Burawoy gave as a
Mellon Distinguished Visiting Professor in which he placed the work of Pierre Bourdieu
in relation to intellectuals and scholars who have had a major impact on 20th Century
thought: Karl Marx, Antonia Gramsci, Frantz Fanon, Paulo Freire, Simone de Beauvoir,
C Wright Mills and Michael Burawoy himself.
The International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD) of the University of
Kassel, Germany is a global research institute connecting eight universities in Germany,
Brazil, Mexico, Kenya, India, Pakistan and the University of the Witwatersrand. Through
the ICDD, SWOP is involved in a South-South interdisciplinary research project entitled
Work, Livelihoods and Economic Security in the 21st Century: Comparing India, Brazil
and South Africa. The research project examines how the governments of these three
countries are responding to economic security through innovative social protection and
public work programmes, and the role of civil society and trade unions in formulating
and implementing these policies.
Prof Phil Bonner and the History Research group have been collaborating with Duke
University, North Carolina in a comparative project on black history in the southern USA
and South Africa (funded by the Ford Foundation). The group has also been the South
African leg of the Swiss\South African joint research project [SSARJP], in conjunction
with the University of Basel in Switzerland. It was set up in terms of the Swiss\South
African bi-lateral treaty (funded by the CSIR).
SHCD:
Professor Claire Penn through the Health Communication Project (HCP) was involved in
a number of international research collaborations including, among many others, the
University of Cardiff and the University of Utrecht. Although ongoing projects have a
strong focus on South Africa, plans are also underway to involve partners in other
African countries.
Professor Jill Bradbury and Peace Kiguwa participated in a research collaboration with
the African Gender Institute, UCT and three other participating institutions from
Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe on young women’s identities in higher education. Phase
one of the project was implemented in 2010 with phase two commencing with a
conceptualization workshop in Cape Town in May 2011. Findings of the phase one
collaboration will be part of the WALE exhibition in May 2011. The project will be
partnering with the Transformation Office in this process as well as published as a
Special Issue in Feminist Africa.
Professor Brett Bowman co-edited a report titled Violence and health in WHO Africa
Region with colleagues from the WHO-AFRO and WHO (Geneva).
Professor Brendon Barnes was appointed as a Visiting Fellow at London South Bank
University (Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences) as well as management member of the
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World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Urban Health which is an
international collaboration focusing on urban health issues in the Global South.
Prof Norman Duncan and Prof Garth Stevens co-lead the Apartheid Archives project,
which in 2010; brought together a number of distinguished scholars from among others,
the University of Cape Town, the University of Ulster, the London School of Economics,
Victoria University and Duquesne University.
SLLS:
Merle Williams (English) is participating in the Cambridge-based international research
team which is editing The Complete Fiction of Henry James for Cambridge University
Press (with publication envisage from 2012 through to 2016)
Chris Thurman (English) is collaborating on the publication of a forthcoming special
edition (volume 23, 2011) of Shakespeare in Southern Africa, guest edited by Tony Voss
under the “general editorship” of Chris Thurman) involving participants from Utrecht,
York and the University of New South Wales, along with various SA-based scholars.
Isabel Hofmeyr (African Literature) is collaborating on the Indian Ocean Network with
partners in Roskilde University, Copenhagen. She is also collaborating with Lakshmi
Subramanian at the Centre for Studies in the Social Sciences in Calcutta, India.
Tommaso Milani (Linguistics) is collaborating with Dr Rickard Jonsson, Stockholm
University on a project on youth styles in Sweden.
14. Developing the next generation of scholars
The most obvious and perhaps most effective way of developing a new generation of scholars
(apart from appointing highly promising academics) is by integrating graduate students and new
appointees into academic units with vibrant traditions of scholarship and intellectual debate. As
the previous sections have exhibited, the Faculty has developed a vibrant research and
intellectual culture. On an almost daily basis there are departmental or school research seminars
or (public) lectures; there are a number of programmes funding the visits of eminent international
visitors; there are many international and national conferences hosted by units in the Faculty; and
there are public debates on a wide range of topics on a regular basis.
But in addition to this the Faculty has taken a number of specific measures to help develop
scholarship amongst our graduate students and recent appointees.
A number of Schools or academic departments have introduced postgraduate seminars or
symposia. For example there is a regular postgraduate forum in the Social Sciences and the
departments in the School (like Philosophy) are beginning to introduce an annual conference for
postgraduate students where they present research to fellow students and faculty. The School of
Literature and Language Studies have introduced the annual Es’kia Mphahlele postgraduate
colloquium which is a unique postgraduate conference leading to publication by postgraduate
students, with prizes for the best papers and strong peer support.
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The ‘institution’ of writing retreats held under the auspices of the Graduate Centre continued as
usual in 2010. These retreats which have been attended by both postgraduate students and staff
have proved over the years to have been extremely successful interventions in facilitating the
completion of higher degrees and academic articles. The Graduate Centre continued to offer a
series of enrichment courses for graduate students. These included its Research Methods
Workshop Series as well as its Key Words/Key Thinkers Lecture Series. Both series were
extremely well-attended by postgraduate students and staff. A further intervention for young
scholars is the institution of the short-term post doctoral fellowship. A number of these have
been given to our own graduates (who normally are not eligible for the longer term postdoctoral
fellowships from the URC) to enable them to produce articles for publication from their theses.
In a number of Schools (Education and Arts in particular), a strategy has been adopted of
supporting young or inexperienced members of staff register for and complete PhD’s. Some of
these have been facilitated by teaching buy-out grants funded either by the Faculty’s Research
Promotion grant, or the Wits Enterprise Dividend grant or SPARC funds.
15. Improving Research Infrastructure
Certain departments in the Faculty (particularly Speech Pathology and Psychology) in the School
of Human and Community Development require research equipment in line with other scientific
disciplines. In 2010, an amount of approximately R250,000 was granted by the URC’s minor
capex committee for the purchase of such equipment. Applications for such funding for minor
capex should continue in the future.
The second area in which the faculty needs to invest in ‘research infrastructure’ broadly
understood is in time-off grants from lecturing. Most academics in the Humanities need time
more than equipment to pursue their research. Unfortunately the Faculty at present can fund at
most seven members for time off grants for a quarter each - an insignificant amount in a faculty
of our size. There are a number of ways of increasing the amount available. One way is to ensure
more funds come to the research project in the University and that more funds go to the faculties
from the URC. As already indicated there is a strong movement in this direction. Another way
requires a redistribution of the Faculty’s research budget enabling individual researchers (as
opposed to research entities) a more proportionate share – relative to what they bring in - of the
research budget. The FRC is also working on this. Increasing the RINC allocation would also
help academic staff use these funds to secure teaching buy-outs by researchers in the Faculty.
This too is part of the FRC’s strategy. In 2009, RINC was increased from R4500 per accredited
publication unit to R6000 and then increased to R9000 from 2010 and subsequently to R10,000
from 2011. The recent agreement to ensure the ring-fencing of RINC funds should enable staff to
build up sufficient funds over time to allow for teaching buy-outs or go towards research related
expenses.
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16. Concluding financial post-script
In 2009, the Faculty’s share of the Research subsidy earned by the University was 28%, that of
Science 23% and of Health Sciences 22%. In turn, Humanities overall share of the FRC budget
was 11.5% compared to Science’s 37.8% and Health Sciences’ 31.4%. On the evidence of the
estimated 2010 publications and graduate completions the Faculty should be the top contributor
to the Research Subsidy once again, while remaining a distant third in terms of money allocated
by the URC. While appreciating real differences in the cost of research between the faculties,
and recognising that the research effort of the University is a collective effort of all the faculties,
and while recognising that there have been some agreed upon changes to the principles
governing the allocation of funds from the URC, it also needs to be recognised that a significant
degree of inequity remains in the allocation.
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Addendum: The Faculty’s Research Framework
Explanatory and contextualizing note.
This document is not a Faculty Research Plan but a framework that has been developed from
School Research Plans and a document developed by Research entities in the Faculty. This
framework should therefore be read together with these documents. In the School Plans there are
targets set for specific research activities and outcomes which are partly determined by
University norms and partly by the specific circumstances of each School. The framework
should also be read together with the Faculty’s revised criteria for appointment, confirmation and
promotion adopted in 2007.
This framework begins with the principles of research in the Faculty that were adopted last year.
1. Faculty Research Objectives
To produce research of the highest quality, ensuring that the Faculty retains and
enhances its reputation as one of the leading centres for research and graduate
studies in Africa
To encourage and enable all academic staff to be research active
To produce research of a pure or theoretical nature that contributes to the
fundamental understanding of the disciplines and the relation between the
disciplines in the humanities
To produce research of an applied nature that contributes to the solution to
problems in the Southern African region particularly, and the continent more
generally
To produce a culture of intellectual interest and engagement and a community of
scholars dedicated to the development of knowledge and the rational appraisal of
ideas, and ready to use their intellectual skills and expertise to engage in debate in
the public domain
To help produce the next generation of researchers through the prioritising of
graduate studies and through the commitment to developing research capacity
amongst young or new members of staff and graduate students
2. Research criteria for appointment, confirmation and promotion
In 2007, the Faculty adopted revised criteria for appointment, confirmation and promotion, with
the goal of being research intensive. This goal would broadly align faculty with the Wits 2010
strategy. The PhD as the highest research degree or its equivalent in professional fields is now
the entry qualification and publications or ability to do research are an expectation for
appointment. Further, the quantity and quality of publications required for appointment,
confirmation and promotion were revised upwards. The revised criteria therefore strongly signal
the importance of being productive in research for all academics in the Faculty. A related
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development is the new process of approving sabbaticals by the Staffing and Promotions
Committee, which sets strict norms for sabbatical outputs and unambiguously links sabbatical
leave to research productivity.
3. NRF Ratings
The Faculty does not have, as the University does, a policy that all academic staff should get an
NRF rating. Over the years there have been lengthy debates about the issue without any
conclusion. In practice, some staff in the Faculty have applied and hold ratings including the
highest rating category A. Some Schools have targets for how many staff should be rated by
2011. It is true also that the Faculty encourages staff to apply for a rating when they are ready
and can get a good rating. For purposes of promotion, the Faculty takes into account an NRF
rating as one of the measures for a person’s research standing. There is increasing recognition in
the Faculty that an NRF rating provides access to important funding for research activities and
for postgraduate students.
4. Increasing publications output
The Faculty recognizes the importance of setting targets as norms for research productivity. The
Faculty’s criteria for appointment, confirmation and promotion have numerical requirements,
however the Faculty believes that quality is also important. The Faculty therefore requires that
staff publish in both peer reviewed local and international preferably accredited journals and also
publish peer reviewed book chapters and books. For promotion to the higher ranks there is a
strong expectation of a single authored monograph. The Faculty also recognizes peer reviewed
conference proceedings. In the creative fields, the Faculty recognizes creative work as research
as long as it goes through the process designed by the University Research Committee and
approved by Senate.
5. Increasing the number of staff with PhDs
The Faculty recognizes the relationship between a PhD and the ability to do high level research
and supervise research students. Therefore, the Faculty is actively pursuing strategies to enable
staff who do not possess or were appointed without PhDs to attain PhDs. Among such strategies
was the development of a new type of PhD for staff who teach in creative disciplines to do a PhD
with creative work. A fairly large number of staff in the Wits School of Arts for example have
now embarked on a PhD with creative work. In other Schools, including the School of
Education, large numbers of staff who taught at the former Johannesburg College of Education
have also embarked on a PhD. To support these staff members and PhD students, most Schools
and the Faculty’s Humanities Graduate Centre, have developed PhD seminar programmes and
writing workshops.
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6. Individual researchers, South African Research Chairs Initiative, research groups,
research programmes and research entities
Research in the Faculty is carried out by individuals, research groups, postgraduate programmes
and research entities which include Centres and Research Institutes.
The Faculty is also participating in the national South African Research Chairs Initiative
(SARCHI) which seeks to develop research capacity and train a new generation of researchers.
The Faculty has two Chairs one in History and another in Mathematics Education. It is the
Faculty’s strategy to apply for more Chairs.
This architecture or ecosystem of doing and locating research has evolved over time and is still
evolving. Beyond the individual researchers (an important node in the Faculty), research is
carried out in research groups, programmes, centres and institutes and through collaborative
arrangements which include individuals. The Faculty encourages these relationships and
collaborations because they will result in the development of a dense network of researchers and
practices that will contribute to increasing productivity. Such relationships include secondment
of staff to research institutes for defined periods to embark on or complete research projects. The
allocation of Faculty research funds to individuals and to research entities is something that has
caused tensions in the past. The Faculty Research Committee is progressively addressing the
issue, to ensure that it equitably nurtures both the individual researchers and research entities.
7. Nurturing a new generation of researchers
The Faculty is conscious of the fact that among its most productive researchers are senior staff
members some of who will retire in the next 5 – 15 years and that the there is gap between the
younger generation of academics and this senior cohort. This gap means that in the next 5 – 15
years there could be a drop in the Faculty’s research productivity as well as loss of research
leadership that would undermine the Faculty’s standing and ability to offer sound academic
programmes and experienced supervision to postgraduate students. The Faculty therefore runs a
number of programmes that has developed and needs to further develop programmes to nurture a
new generation of researchers. A generous grant for the Faculty from the Mellon Foundation
provides emerging researchers who have completed a PhD in the last 5 years to develop a
research project leading to publications that can develop and deepen their research experience.
The Faculty has also used other internal sources of funds including the Strategic Planning
Allocation of Resources Committee Fund and the Carnegie Foundation grants for the same
purpose.
8. Attracting and hosting Postdoctoral fellows
The Faculty recognizes the importance of attracting and hosting postdoctoral fellows as part of
its research culture. The Faculty hosts a number of postdoctoral fellows but needs to do more to
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attract larger numbers. The presence of postdoctoral fellows engaged in research needs to be
seen as part of the research culture and climate of a School, Centre or Institute.
9. Publications by and with PhD students
The Faculty promotes publication by PhD students during their studies and from their theses
after completion. To this end since 2007 the Faculty has operated a limited scheme from the
Dean’s discretionary funds for short term postdoctoral fellowships. The scheme has
demonstrated that it is possible for PhDs to be highly productive soon after completion and to
improve their chances of getting employment as academics or getting postdoctoral opportunities
elsewhere. The Faculty also encourages, where appropriate, joint publication between staff and
postgraduate students.
10. Improving the intellectual climate: Hosting Distinguished Professors
The Faculty runs a number of programmes to improve the intellectual climate to enable a
research orientation for academic staff and postgraduate students. In this regard, it recognizes
the importance and value of multiple forms of interaction with international scholars. Among
such programmes which raises the levels of debate is the Mellon funded Distinguished
Professors. These Distinguished Professors are hosted by Schools, Institutes and Centres in the
Faculty. They address seminars, run workshops for emerging researchers and postgraduate
students and public lectures in Schools and for the Faculty and the university more broadly. In
some cases the Mellon Distinguished Professors also co-supervise staff members who are doing
PhDs and therefore assist the Faculty in nurturing a new generation of researchers.
11. Research promotion and time out grants
The Faculty recognizes the need for staff in Schools to get time and access to funds to advance
their research careers. Pursuant to this goal, the Faculty operates a research promotion grant and
time off schemes which staff can apply for, to pursue and complete research projects. The grants
are financed from the Faculty Research budget.
12. Supporting Conference attendance
The Faculty operates a conference fund from its Faculty Research Committee budget that is
linked to publication for conferences that are funded. This scheme has proved that it returns high
value for the funds allocated. In the past, various demands on the Faculty Research Committee
budget resulted in funds drying up early in the year. The situation has improved with recent
adjustments to the Faculty Research Committee budget. Two WISER salaries are now paid for
from the University Research Committee budget the situation has improved.
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13. Teaching and research in the Faculty
The Faculty believes that there should be a symbiotic relationship between teaching and
research. In the case of individual researchers, all academics should lecture and research, and
ideally (at the higher levels at least) lectures should draw on the academic’s research work and
that similarly (at the higher levels at least) an academic’s research work should include research
on the material he or she lectures on (from whence comes the academic’s authority).
In the case of the researchers in the research entities, they should make an appropriate
contribution to teaching in programmes in Schools and Departments without neglecting their
core mission. Reciprocally, it should be possible (on a competitive basis) for lecturers to be
recruited to work in the entities for short periods.
14. Future developments – Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research
There is a growing trend in the Faculty of developing through Schools, Institutes, Centres,
Departments/Disciplines/Divisions, Divisions and Programmes and the Faculty (the space
occupied by the Dean as an academic) of research projects or themes or thrusts of
multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary nature. This trend is also characterized by collaboration
with colleagues and entities within the University, in other universities in South Africa and
internationally. This trend needs to be encouraged as an important vehicle for research
collaboration across the Faculty and with colleagues and institutions internationally because it
will improve quality and result in the production of cutting edge research. Pursuant to this goal,
the Faculty is taking part in the new university thrust on Global Change which will include
researchers from across the university and, will probably lead to the creation of an Institute with
a critical mass of researchers. The Faculty needs to identify and develop issues and themes that it
has existing expertise but needs to upscale and develop further.
15. Resourcing research in the Faculty
The largest source of funding outside individual research grants in the Faculty is the Faculty
Research budget. To achieve the Faculty and the university’s goal to be one of the leading
centres of innovative research in the world this budget is woefully inadequate. The Faculty needs
to strengthen its capability to raise more funds through staff ability to craft innovative research
projects that can get large grant funding from sources within South Africa and international
foundations that support academic research.
16. Research inactive or non-productive staff
The Faculty has yet to develop a policy on how to encourage research inactive staff to engage in
research and scholarly publishing. This lack of a policy to address research inactive staff is a
serious and glaring gap given that the Faculty typifies the university wide phenomena that most
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research is produced by a few highly productive researchers and that we are not meeting
university publication norms.
17. Dissemination of research through public forums
The Faculty encourages the dissemination of research through public forums including public
debates and publication in the popular media as activities that are complementary to scholarly
publishing. The Faculty believes that circulating research through participation in public debates
enriches public discourses and has the potential to strengthen and deepen participatory
democracy and contribute to equitable development.
