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SARIMA VIRTUAL CONFERENCE25 - 29 OCTOBER 2021 • WWW.SARIMACONF.CO.ZA

PROGRAMME & ABSTRACT BOOK

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PROGRAMME:

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10h00-12h30

17h30-19h30

09h00-12h30

13h00-15h30

14h00-17h00

08h20-08h30

08h30-09h20

09h25-10h25

10h25-10h35

10h40-11h40

11h40-11h50

PRESENTATION SESSION:BUILDING STRONG RESEARCH COLLABORATIONS AND IMPACTFUL PARTNERSHIPS

Chairperson: Dr Anna Matros-Goreses, Namibia University of Science and Technology (Namibia)

The Challenges, Opportunities and Considerations of International Project Collaboration: the TreMOR caseMr Bas Rijnen, Namibia University of Science and Technology (Namibia)

Co-Author: Mrs Maryke Hunter-Husselmann, Stellenbosch University (South Africa)

Capacity Strengthening of Partner Institutions in International and/or Multidisciplinary Research Partnerships Dr Helen Coskeran, University of Leeds (United Kingdom)

Co-Author: Ms Sithembile Ndema Mwamakamba, Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) (South Africa)

An Online Invention Education Toolkit for Promoting and Supporting Local Technology Invention and InnovationDr Theresa Mkandawire, University of Malawi - The Polytechnic (Malawi)

Co-Authors: Dr Douglas Sanyahumbi, Rice University (United States), Dr Ashley Taylor,Rice University (United States), Dr Ann Saterbak, Duke University, Durham (United States), Dr Matt Glucksberg, Northwestern University (United States), Dr Matthew Wettergreen, Rice University (United States), Dr Gregory Gamula, University of Malawi - The Polytechnic (Malawi), Dr

Godfrey Moshi, Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (Tanzania), Dr Andrea Gobin, Rice University (United States), Dr Maria Oden, Rice University (United States), Dr Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Rice University (United States)

Managing cross-sector collaboration to map a large research evidence baseDr Paul Plantinga, Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) (South Africa)

Co-Author: Ms Harsha Dayal, Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (South Africa)

EXHIBITOR PROFILE EX LIBRIS

2021 SARIMA VIRTUAL CONFERENCE25-29 October 2021www.sarimaconf.co.za

Programme times based on South Africa GMT+2

Tuesday, 26 October 2021Workshops | Pre-booking essential

Wednesday, 27 October 2021 will be a Non-Conference Day

DISCUSSION SESSION: HORIZON EUROPE Facilitator: Dr Therina Theron, SARIMA President (South Africa)

Dr Piero Venturi, Research and Innovation Counsellor (Ethiopia) - EU Delegation to the African Union (EEAS-ADDIS ABABA)Mrs Stefania Suevo, Politecnico Di Milano (Italy) - Collaboration with Europe: Horizon Europe perspective and opportunities

Mrs Stefania Elisabeth Grotti, Politecnico Di Milano (Italy) - Collaboration with Europe: Horizon Europe perspective and opportunitiesMs Tugela Matubatuba, Department of Science and Innovation (South Africa) - SA EU ongoing cooperation and participation in the Framework Programme

Ms Karabo Mphogo, Department of Science and Innovation (South Africa) – European South African Science and Technology Advancement Programme (ESASTAP)

EXHIBITOR PROFILE ELSEVIER

Technology Marketing Workshop:In order to find potential commercial partners or collaborators for a technology, Tech Transfer Professionals need to effectively and efficiently communicate the unique value of their

institution’s innovations. Technology Transfer Offices have limited time and resources, and it is therefore important to efficiently manage/maximise the impact of these key activities. This workshop will allow participants to learn about marketing of their office’s technologies, specifically how to develop marketing materials for technologies and how to engage the appropriate

target audiences, using different channels including social media, to enable effective technology transfer.

Research & Integrity Workshop:This pre-conference workshop will focus on two aspects in research ethics and integrity, namely (1) responsible conduct of research and questionable research practices; and (2) data

management and related ethical and legal considerations in light of the POPIA and other instruments. The full duration of this workshop is 4 hours, and the time allocations are as follows: 2-hour session on research integrity, and 2-hour session on research ethics focusing ethical considerations in relation to data management. This will be an interactive workshop. The audience is research ethics committee administrators, research managers, researchers, and other stakeholders. The hosts/facilitators are seasoned Research managers and other stakeholders in the

field.

Strengthening Research Ecosystems in LMICs (Low and middle income countries) through Research Management Competency Development Workshop:The workshop will focus on identifying strategies to develop key competencies for research managers and administrators in different contexts such as higher education, research institutions,

funding agencies, government agencies in strengthening national research ecosystems.The workshop will include the following components:

(1) An opening scene-setting session, exploring the macro environments and challenging assumptions about the drivers for and barriers to the development of RMA capacity in LMICs.(2) An overview of key interventions being implemented across various LMIC regions such as the RM Professionalization pathways being rolled out by SARIMA across Africa, the ReMPRO

Africa programme being championed by the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) as well as any comparable initiatives in South-America and South-east Asia(3) Visualising what an ideal research ecosystem could look like and identifying key targets for LMIC’s to progress towards this

► Thursday 28 October 2021

Monday, 25 October 2021Pre-booking essential

Strategic Leadership Forum: Publication integrity and a proposed Research Quality Framework for South Africa (RQF)

SARIMA is hosting a Leadership Forum linked to its 2021 Conference, with the aim of facilitating discussion and consultation around research publication integrity and the proposed National Research Quality Framework in SA.

Climate Connection COP26 Higher Education Roundtable for Southern Africa

Welcome Address & Introduction to the day by Dr Therina Theron, SARIMA President (South Africa)

KEYNOTE PRESENTER: Chairperson: Dr Therina Theron, SARIMA President (South Africa)

Driving role of Knowledge Transfer in sustainable and impactful innovation Dr Cécile Cavalade (ASTP President) (Brussels Belgium)

Creating societal and economic impact from innovative academic research is the key driver of technology and knowledge transfer. In a world where ethics and sustainability are widely acknowledged as critical, how shall we adapt innovation tools, skills,

and practices such as IP management, impact assessment or data valorisation? How do European policies, international cooperation schemes, KT associations and KTOs meet the challenge?

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11h50-12h50

PRESENTATION SESSION: RESEARCH ETHICS AND INTEGRITY

Research Ethics Regulatory Processes at selected universities in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries

Ms Eleni Flack-Davison, Wits University (South Africa)Co-Authors: Ms Pamela Claassen, University of Namibia (Namibia), Mr Sidney Engelbrecht,

University of Cape Town (South Africa) and Ms Dimpho Ralefala, University of Botswana (Botswana)

Embracing the need for change: considerations for reciprocal ethics review in times of emergency

Dr Blanche Pretorius and Prof Anita van der Merwe,Stellenbosch University (South Africa)

Enabling research ethics training and promoting research integrity in a time of COVID-19

Ms Olivia Langenhoven, University of Cape Town (South Africa)Co-Author: Mr Sidney Engelbrecht, University of Cape Town (South Africa)

From random success to evidence-based research ethics and integrity training in a shifting world

Dr Retha Visagie and Mr Leon Roets, UNISA (South Africa)Co-Authors: Ms Tanya Coetzee, UNISA (South Africa), Ms Eleni Flack-Davidson, University of

the Witwatersrand (South Africa), Mr Sidney Engelbrecht, University of Cape Town (South Africa)

PRESENTATION SESSION:

BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL COMMERCIALISATIONChairperson: Mr Dirk Hanekom, Spoor & Fisher

Open InnovationMs Nandipa Thotsho, Rhodes University (South Africa)

Agreements governing Co-owned IP between Universities and Private InventorsDr Philip Hoekstra, University of Cape Town (South Africa)

Fundamentals of aligning your applied research programs with industry objectivesMr Rohit Singh Gole, Clarivate (United Arab Emirates)

12h50-13h30

13h30-14h15

CHAT SESSION: RESPONSIBLE RESEARCH PUBLICATION PRACTICES

Facilitator: Ms Caryn (Caz) McNamara, DSI-NRF CoE-MaSS, Wits University (South Africa)

Open Science: a case study of the Elsevier-Netherlands partnershipMr Guillaume Warnan, Elsevier (Netherlands) and Ms Lucia Schoombee, Elsevier (South

Africa)

Research Integrity and the role of African authored articles in predatory journals Ms Casey Sparkes, DSI-NICIS National e-Science Postgraduate Teaching and Training

Platform (Wits University) (South Africa)

CHAT SESSION:

SUPPORTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP:Facilitator: Mr Rory Moore, Von Seidels Intellectual Property Attorneys (South Africa)

EDHE: A collaborative ecosystemic approach to supporting entrepreneurship and innovationDr Norah Clarke, Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE)

Universities South Africa (South Africa)

SMEs: How Intellectual Property can be used as an economic toolMr Reinard Krüger, Spoor & Fisher (South Africa)

Interrogating Intellectual Property rights Innovation metrics in Africa: Challenges faced by young African entrepreneurs

Dr Milton Gwakwa, Ba Isago University (Botswana)

Sharing Wits Enterprise learnings and the ‘blueprint’ for the course Prospector@WitsMs Dineo Masokoane, WIts Enterprise (South Africa)

14h20-14h50

14h50-15h05

15h05-15h35

15h35-16h15

16h15-17h00

08h20-08h30

08h30-09h15

09h20-10h05

10h05-10h15

EXHIBITOR PROFILE CLARIVATE and Break

DISCUSSION SESSION: COST ACTIONDr Ronald De Bruin, COST Association, Welcome and Introduction

Ms Katalin Alföldi, South Africa partnership to the COST Association and participation in the COST ProgrammeMr Christer Halen, COST Programme operation

Mr Toto Matshediso, Department of Science and Innovation (DSI): Support instruments to SA participants

► Friday 29 October 2021

Welcome Address & Introduction to the day by Dr Therina Theron, SARIMA President (South Africa)

PANEL DISCUSSION:RESEARCH AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT AND ITS ROLE IN LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Facilitator: Dr Andrew Bailey, University of Cape Town (South Africa)

Prof Philippe Burger, Free State University (South Africa) - South African PerspectiveDr Alwin Wong, Chair, Asia Sub-Committee - International Strategy Committee, AUTM (Hong Kong) - International Perspective

Dr Budzanani Tacheba, Botswana Innovation Hub (Botswana) - Southern Africa Perspective

SARIMA BGM and Announcement of new SARIMA Committee Members

PRESENTATION SESSION:THE SEARCH FOR IMPACT: MEASURING AND MONITORING INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH AND INNOVATION PERFORMANCE

Chairperson: Prof Sibusiso Moyo, Durban University of Technology (South Africa)

Making a success of your TTO's spinout programmeMs Anita Nel, Stellenbosch University (South Africa)

Altmetric - Effectively Measure and Track the Societal Impact of South African researchMr Ben Mcleish, Digital Science (United Kingdom)

Unleashing Impact Ms Tshepang Khahlu, University of Cape Town (South Africa)

EXHIBITOR PROFILE DIGITAL SCIENCE

Entertainment | 15 Minute Break

SARIMA NETWORKING sessionSARIMA members feedback and think-tank - #MySARIMA: expectations from stakeholders and members (including newcomers)

Facilitators: Dr Therina Theron, SARIMA President, Dr Andrew Bailey, SARIMA President-Elect (South Africa)

#MySARIMA: We believe that SARIMA can only add consistent value if it belongs to its members i.e. be a *member-driven* organisation. This interactive session will be used to briefly provide a general overview of SARIMA’s strategy and current activities, but will thereafter primarily focus on soliciting our members’ inputs and feedback on their expectations of the organisation. No idea will be too wild! We will use interactive means to solicit new ideas and suggestions, and gauge interest in a variety of initiatives that we can use to inform our future activities. The target

audience include all SARIMA members, old and new.

Spoor & Fisher Social Event

Visit www.sarimaconf.co.za for more information

10h15-11h45

PRESENTATION SESSION:

RESEARCH CONTRACTS MANAGEMENT IN TIMES OF CHANGEFacilitators:

Cornelia Malherbe, University of Stellenbosch (South Africa)Julie Nadler-Visser, University of Cape Town (South Africa)

Ms Eleni Flack-Davison, Wits University (South Africa)

This session will focus on compliance and risk management aspects pertaining to research contracts. The 2 presenters will set the scene, by sharing experiences in terms of contractual

risk management and compliance within the regulatory framework where after a facilitated discussion and sharing of experiences will further unpack these topics

Tackling issues around risk management, contractual processes and approaches during Covid 19

Ms Thapedi Maketa, Wits Commercial Enterprise (South Africa)

When worlds collide: IP in Agreements and Regulatory ApprovalMs Monique Heystek, University of the Western Cape (South Africa)

Interviews:l European Union’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR):

In the interview with the Data Protection Officer (DPO) Mr Raoul Winkens and the legal counsellor (specialisation Privacy) Ms Monique Soons-Smeets from Maastricht University in

the Netherlands, we will explore some key points on the application of the GDPR in the research contract management context.

l Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA):In the interview with the POPIA expert, Elizabeth De Stadler, Founding Director of Novation

Consulting (Pty) Ltd, we will explore some key considerations for universities in terms of research contract management pertaining to POPIA.

l Impact of the GDPR and POPIA when considering research contracts:In the interview with Eleni Flack-Davison, Legal Adviser, Research Compliance Manager,

Head: Office of Research Integrity and Research Protection Officer (Wits University) we will consider the impact of the GDPR and POPIA on the research contract management landscape.

CHAT SESSION:IP&TT SURVEY AND INDICATORS | IMPACT

Facilitator: Dr Ana Casanueva, University of the Western Cape (South Africa)

IP & TT Survey results and what this data meansMs Jetane Charsley, NIPMO (South Africa)

Ms Kgomotso Matjila, Department of Science and Innovation (South Africa) Ms Ela Romanowska, Wits Enterprise (South Africa)

11h45-11h50

11h50-12h50

CHAT SESSION: RESEARCH FUNDING CHALLENGES IN A CHANGING WORLD

Facilitator: Ms Pamella Ntshakaza, Rhodes University (South Africa)

Coalition for Research fundingMrs Carin Niemand, UNISA, (South Africa)

Research Grant Funding Sustainability (How far can you stretch it?)Dr Anna Matros-Goreses, Namibia University of Science and Technology (Namibia)

Overcoming challenges in collaborative funded researchMs Changu Batisani, Botswana Open University (Botswana)

PRESENTATION SESSION: RESEARCH COMMERCIALISATION AND KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

Chairperson: Mandy-Lee Pietersen, Wits Enterprise (South Africa)

Linking the pieces together to create a vibrant picture – experiences from a new but vibrant private University in Botswana

Prof Isaac Mazonde, Ba Isago University (Botswana)

Issues in IP Protection & Commercialisation Strategy Across South African Technology Transfer Offices

Dr Wasiu Afolabi, University of Cape Town (South Africa)

Bringing Social Sciences Humanities and the Arts (SSH) into the KT|TT Fold Mr Luan Africa, University of the Western Cape (South Africa)

A sustainable model of research commercialisation: Marihealth Solutions (Pty) Ltd Case Study

Mr Francois Oosthuizen, University of Cape Town (South Africa)

12h50-13h00

13h00-13h30

13h30-14h05

NETWORKING SESSION: SARIMA AFRICA ENGAGEMENT PORTFOLIO SESSION

Facilitators: Dr Doug Sanyahumbi, Acting VP: Africa EngagementSouthern African Research and Innovation Management Association (Malawi)

Dr Ana Casanueva, University of the Western Cape (South Africa)Dr Anna Matros-Goreses, Namibia University of Science and Technology (Namibia)

Dr Bathsheba Mbongwe, Botswana Institute for Technology Research and Innovation (BITRI) (Botswana)

Ms Phumelele Higgins, Department of Science and Innovation (South Africa)

NETWORKING SESSION: DATA MANAGEMENT AND POPIA

Facilitator: Therina Theron, SARIMA President (South Africa)

Dr Tobias Schonwetter, University of Cape Town (South Africa)

This section aims to provide a brief overview of POPIA, its general requirements, the Act’s implications for data management and the role of so-called Codes of Conducts. The session

will also address the tension between data protection on the one hand and openness, collaboration and sharing on the other. Finally some emphasis will be put on exploring

exemptions under POPIA for research purposes.

14h10-15h00

15h00-15h15

15h15-16h05

16h05-16h30

KEYNOTE PRESENTERChairperson: Dr Andrew Bailey, University of Cape Town (South Africa)

Enhancing International Partnerships in Expanding the Innovative EcosystemProf Kyle Farmbry, Rutgers University (United States of America)

Exploring strategies for building partnerships between South African and United States higher education institutions, to support the development of new research collaborations and entrepreneurial ventures.To include lessons learned In the development of the US-SA Higher Education Network,

an effort supported by the South African Department of Higher Education and Training, the United States Embassy in South Africa, and several other partners to build partnerships between higher education institutions in both nations.

Current plans being developed for partnership building in research collaborations and venture collaborations will be shared and reflection on future challenges and opportunities in the development of joint U.S.-S.A. university-anchored research and venture development initiatives.

SARIMA Awards Ceremony and Closing

EXHIBITOR PROFILE EMERALD PUBLISHING

30 Minute Break

DISCUSSION SESSION: COVID-19

Facilitator: Ms Maryke Hunter-Hüsselmann, Stellenbosch University (South Africa)

Research management competencies befitting our ‘new normal’, during and post-Covid-19 Mrs Tania Holmes-Watts, Cape Peninsula University of Technology and Mr Sidney Engelbrecht, University of Cape Town (South Africa)

Early-career Science Research Administration: a reflection on Science CommunicationMs Diane Dowejko, CoE-MaSS (South Africa)

Entertainment | 15 Minute Break

5 Minute Break

1Dr Tania BrodovckyStellenbosch University (South Africa)Co-Author: Dr Karis Moxley, Stellenbosch University (South Africa)

Development of a resilient research capacity development protocol writing course: A 12-step approach

2

Ms Monique HeystekUniversity of the Western Cape (South Africa)Co-Authors: Mr Sidney Engelbrecht, Mr Winston Beukes, Ms Tania Holmes-Watts, Western Cape Community of Practice (COP) for Research Management and Administration Professionals (South Africa)

Role of an ITT / RM Professional in ensuring institutional frameworks incorporate optimised benefit flow

3Mr Martin Jagerhorn and Mr Tom JakobsChronoshub (Denmark) FAIR Funder Workflow: FAIR Data Throughout the Research Lifecycle

4Mrs Melissa Badenhorst, World Wide Information Services (South Africa)Co-Author: Ms Sylvia Kgorane, Clarivate Analytics (South Africa) Partnering in research beyond borders

5

Mr Siyanda ManqeleUniversity of Zululand (South Africa) Co-Authors: Ms Maricel van Rooyen, Rhodes University (South Africa), Mr Sidney Engelbrecht, University of Cape Town (South Africa)

Role of RECs in protecting data and information of research participants -ethical & legal considerations

6Mr Ben McleishDigital Science (United Kingdom)

Connections, Collaborations, Impact - Dimensions, a new frontier for interdisciplinary research discovery, analysis and excellence

7Ms Claire TurnerFigshare (United Kingdom Achieving FAIR data with Figshare

POSTER PRESENTATIONS

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Abstracts listed alphabetically by author surname

Dr Wasiu Afolabi11University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: Dr Wasiu (Afo) Afolabi is the Principal Intellectual Property Officer at RC&I, UCT. In this role, he is responsible for IP Portfolio Management, IP Strategy, Project Management, and aspects of UCT research commercialisation. Previously, he worked with CPUT TTO, Savant incubator, and Knife Capital where he helped foster the growth of IP-enabled scalable tech-based businesses. He is a specialist in value creation and value capture and consults on IP/business strategy. He received the 2019 AUTM’s scholarship for technology transfer professionals from developing economies and have attended several IP and tech transfer courses. He is a fellow at Rutgers University, New Jersey through the IREX-UASP Fellowships in RM Programme. Afo holds a PhD degree in Chemistry and an MBA.

Third stream income for Universities seemed fictitious some decades ago but has now become a practical global reality. The “how” and “why” for strategic IP management and downstream knowledge transfer need to meet the objectives of generating supplementary income and to support socio-economic growth by creating new opportunities and jobs.

ABSTRACTS:

Oral Abstracts:Issues in IP Protection & Commercialisation Strategy Across South African Technology Transfer Offices

Research commercialisation and knowledge transfer are essential pillars within the South African NSI Framework, and while universities and research councils remain the crucial source of inventions and innovative ideas, the downstream commercialisation of research is posed with several bottlenecks. The universities, through their TTOs make efforts to ensure that research outputs are translated for public good as mandated by the IPR Act.

A mini research was undertaken to understand the various issues faced within selected SA TTOs. The aim was to obtain a general knowledge of their institutional practices related to IP protection and technology transfer, and who are the key players in each university’s commercialisation process, their IP strategy and decision-making criteria. Other factors investigated include research funding, commercialisation funding, IP protection decision mechanism, IP exploitation route, licensee search, IP policies, IP ownership and IP management. The similarities and differences in the processes of the different South African universities are then put forward for discussion.

The session will attempt to address some of the issues raised in relation to university IP, especially patents, and the status quo on decision-making processes and research commercialisation in the different TTOs.

Mr Luan Africa11University of the Western Cape TTO, Bellville, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: Luan Africa is a Technology Transfer Specialist: Commercialization in the Technology Transfer Office of the University of the Western Cape. He has been part of the Southern African technology transfer industry since 2017, and he has been granted Candidate RTTP status by the Alliance of Technology Transfer Professionals (ATTP). He has broad exposure to different areas of life/medical science and has postgraduate qualifications in human physiology and infectious disease. He is a strong proponent of multi-disciplinary initiatives believes that collaboration between disciplines is key to the success of any endeavour.

Bringing Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts (SSH) into the KT/TT Fold

Knowledge/technology transfer activities are typically focused on innovations emanating from Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) environments. More recently, KT/TT practitioners are beginning to focus more and more on the tremendous amount of untapped potential within the social science and humanities environments (SSHA). However, the main questions that come to mind when considering the above are, 1.) how do we effectively engage with these environments when their receptivity towards KT/TT is low; 2.) and if there is buy-in, how do we as KT/TT professionals effectively valorise their innovations to realise their full societal impact potential.

To our knowledge, within the Southern African context, there are very few examples of KT/TT successes out of SSHA environments. Internationally, however, a few initiatives are focused on addressing the concerns mentioned above.

This talk will provide a brief overview of these SSHA-focused KT/TT programmes and discuss the potential translation and applicability of these initiatives to the broader Southern African KT/TT context..

ABSTRACTS HAVE NOT BEEN EDITED -

PRINTED AS RECEIVED BY ABSTRACT SUBMITTERS

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Dr Helen Coskeran1, Ms Sithembile Ndema Mwamakamba1,21University of Leeds, United Kingdom, 2Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), Pretoria, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: Dr Helen Coskeran is an international development professional with a background in project management in the non-profit and private sectors. She is Programme Executive Officer for the GCRF-AFRICAP programme. Within this role, she oversees all governance, budget management, monitoring and evaluation activities and leads the programme’s capacity-building and knowledge-sharing theme.

Capacity Strengthening of Partner Institutions in International and/or Multidisciplinary Research Partnerships

The most urgent development challenges of our time are interconnected and transnational in nature. They cannot be addressed by a single government or institution acting alone, they require collective action, shared resources, knowledge and technical expertise from national governments, international development organizations, private sector actors, the research community and civil society. International research partnerships play an invaluable role in addressing global challenges. This paper highlights experiences from the Agricultural and Food System Resilience: Increasing Capacity and Advising Policy (AFRICAP) project, a multidisciplinary research and development project under the UK Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). The project is a collaboration between traditional research institutions, development and civil society organisations in Africa and the UK, designed to address challenges facing developing regions with the ultimate objective of contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Drawing on the AFRICAP experience, the paper presents the Partner Institutional Viability Assessment (PIVA) tool used by the project as a model for assessing and measuring partner capacities with a view to developing individually tailored capacity development plans within the context of international collaborative research projects. The paper unpacks capacity to encompass specific technical knowledge and know-how, “soft skills” such as networking, leadership and project management, as well as financial resources and infrastructure. The paper concludes with recommendations for collaborative research initiatives to invest in assessing and strengthening capacities of partner institutions to effectively secure lasting impact, increase the legitimacy of development interventions, and ensure sustainable change beyond the scope of individual project durations.

Ms Diane Dowejko11DSI-NFR Centre of Excellence in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Wits University, Johannesburg, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: Ms Diane Dowejko is a Research Administrator at the Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at Wits University. They obtained their MA in English Language Teaching from the University of Cambridge in 2013, and their more recent research focuses on literacy interventions in South Africa and Legitimation Code Theory in CAPS documents.

Early-career Science Research Administration: a reflection on Science Communication

Government-funded research means that Science Communication (SciComm) mandates and policies are embedded, which researchers should look towards in framing their research. With events such as the release of the Department of Science and Innovation’s White Paper in 2019, Research and Science Communication has likely become a novel and requisite directive for many researchers, who have the opportunity, and arguably also a responsibility, to communicate how their research is impactful to society, prominent in terms of current events, and novel.Engagement in SciComm activities affords an effective path for researchers to promote themselves, develop their CV, and construct an online profile which can all aid in obtaining continued funding and further career opportunities.

Using the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Mathematical and Statistical Science as a baseline, this presentation provides a qualitative case-study of the methods and impact (in terms of qualitative methodology, such as SciComm activity audiences number and outcomes) of SciComm and Research Administration (both pre- and post-Covid). The public experience of science is a varied and boundless phenomenon, and this presentation will explore how science can be delivered to various publics (e.g., websites, blogs, social media, etc.) through a host of platforms (e.g., social media, SciComm event participation, media, and community engagement).

Focus will be placed on problems that were faced, strategies that were implemented, elements of scientific literacy, and the importance of networking and interdisciplinarity.

.

Ms Eleni Flack-Davison3

Ms Pamela Claassen1, Mr Sidney Engelbrecht2, Ms Dimpho Ralefala4

1University of Namibia , Windhoek, Namibia, 2University Of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, 3University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, 4University of Botswana, Botswana

BIOGRAPHY: Ms Eleni Flack-Davison, BA LLB LLM, Admitted attorney of the High Court of the Republic of South Africa, Non-Practicing, Legal Adviser, Research Compliance Manager, Head: Office of Research Integrity and Research Data Protection Officer at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Wits University). As the legal adviser for the Research Office: Legal Services, I provide legal services and legal advice to the Senior Management of the University as well as to academics / researchers, that enables research and innovation through research contracts as well as the management and operation of the Research Office: Legal Services. I am the Research Compliance Manager. I encourage high quality research integrity as well as ethics in the sphere of research. This includes but is not limited to supervision, management, and oversight of the University Research Ethics Committees and management of the Ethics administrative personnel. Wits has 5 University Research Ethics Committees that deal with Non-Medical, Medical, Animal Ethics Screening and Control, Biobanks, Clinical Drug Trials, and Institutional Biosafety)

Research Ethics Regulatory Processes at selected universities in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries

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Mr Rohit Singh Gole11Clarivate, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

BIOGRAPHY: Rohit supports technology focused corporations, governments and research institutions in Middle East, Africa, and Russia to deliver trusted solutions that drive research and innovation. Rohit has 13 years of experience working in professional IP consulting with global clients across diverse industries and technologies. He has worked with customers including technology managers and directors of Fortune 500, government agency heads, and general counsels focusing on technical intelligence analysis related to growth and development of technologies. In an earlier role at Clarivate, Rohit was the Head of Patent Analytics - Chemical and Business Intelligence Services (BIS). Mr. Rohit has a Bachelor of Biotechnology and MS in Business Management.

Fundamentals of aligning your applied research programs with industry objectives

Academic and research institutions have specialized facilities and talent to support industrial development. The collaboration between academic or research institutions and the industry has put many important innovations to use through knowledge exchange, is driving economic growth and creating a more skilled workforce. However, the knowledge exchange system in such partnerships is fragmented and lacks efficient comprehensive alignment. The industry managers’ key focus with such partnerships is to advance the company toward its goals. Understanding common objectives and associated challenges in such partnerships warrant discussions and alignment. To improve collaboration between university and industry, it is important to identify research topics that fit market/industry requirements and generate impactful outcomes. This helps in identifying research projects that are most likely to yield positive results, accelerating pace of innovation, and foster authentic relationships.

Universities are part of the global research ethics landscape, and it has become mandatory for universities (and research councils) to subject research protocols to ethics evaluation, reviews, and ethics approvals. However, each institution has their own ethics evaluation standards and systems. For this presentation, we will primarily focus on Human Research Ethics Committees also known as Institutional Review Boards. The objective of this presentation is to give an account of ethics evaluation processes at selected universities in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. This will include, inter alia, comparing the following aspects:

a) Similarities in processes and documentation related to ethics evaluation and review; b) Ethics evaluation and review differences; c) Shortfalls in ethics evaluation and review processes, if any; d) Recommendations to enhance ethics evaluation and review processes; and e) Exploring avenues for a standardised SADC Universities Ethics Standard and Protocol. This may assist research institutions and institutions of higher learning in making their evaluation and review processes more efficient, transparent and more acceptable, as well as serving as reaffirmation for the norm of global ethics processes.

Dr Milton Gwakwa11Ba Isago University, Francistown, Botswana

BIOGRAPHY: Dr. Milton Gwakwa is currently a Lecturer and Head of Department for Business Management and Entrepreneurship studies at BA ISAGO University in Botswana. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Business Administration [Entrepreneurship] Degree, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree and a Bachelor of Technology Honours degree in Business Management and a Certificate in Vocational Education and Training with several Business Management certificates that complement the above. He has fifteen (15) years of work experience as a Business Management and Entrepreneurship lecturer and Researcher with 26 Publications and 18 International Conference Papers plus one book chapter. He is a passionate, dedicated, committed, innovative and agile researcher, of practical discourse.

Interrogating Intellectual Property rights Innovation metrics in Africa: Challenges faced by young African entrepreneurs

Overcoming egos and internal conflicts to find ownership issues underlines one of the key controversies of IPRs for young entrepreneurs in Africa. This study provides a pedestal and an ontological perspective within which the discourse of intellectual property rights is a privilege of the few. Young entrepreneurs in the small and medium enterprises in Africa are starved from benefiting from their creativity as their ideas find themselves in the hands of those who never initially thought about them. While the good news that most African countries have incorporated intellectual property protection in their domestic laws, more needs to be done. The existence of ARIPO and other IRP protocols and institutions provides some hope on the implementation of IRPs processes but this is not a sufficient condition for the successfully adoption of a fully fletched IRPs system that supports young g entrepreneurs in Africa. The paper argues the extent of patent protection on young entrepreneurs’ ideas and innovations in African countries is questionable, and presents a challenge to the protection of their patents. It further explores many of the challenges and complexities experienced by young entrepreneurs in enhancing their sustainable continuity by claiming ownership of what rightfully is theirs, share insights and experience obtained from such. The study recommends the adoption of a comprehensive and responsive young African Entrepreneur IPRs framework that seeks to advance and promote ownership and protection of new patents for young entrepreneurs. Further research on IPRs practices across the whole continent for young women entrepreneurs is sought.

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Mrs Monique Heystek11University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: Monique Heystek obtained a Masters’ degree in Plant Biotechnology from the University of Pretoria in 2014 which sparked her interest in innovation and intellectual property. Thereafter she joined the intellectual property Law Firm Spoor and Fisher in Pretoria in an administrative - and later managerial position. She completed her LLB degree part-time through UNISA and graduated at the end of 2018. Following her graduation, she joined the University of the Western Cape’s Technology Transfer Office as Technology Transfer Specialist dealing with intellectual property and contracts.

When worlds collide: IP in Agreements and Regulatory Approval

R&D agreements usually contain contractual clauses on the ownership and management of IP. These clauses are often simple to standardise for ease of use in agreements between South African research institutions or research institutions and commercial entities, because these parties are all bound by the same national legislation and often-aligned IP policies. The matter is however complicated when local entities are contracting with entities in foreign jurisdictions, and especially where the national legislation of the contracting parties are contradictory.

The focus is on contractual requirements of the South African Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Financed Research and Development Act 51 of 2008, as well as other relevant South African legislation such as the Protection of Personal Information Act (or POPI Act) and South Africa’s standard material transfer agreement for human biological material, amongst others.

Some R&D agreements therefore often require compromissory IP clauses and necessary regulatory approvals. Under these circumstances, it is useful to rely on legal principles of contract law as well as international law to explore alternative solutions that would ensure legal compliance and a fair outcome for both parties. As far as the commercialisation of university-created intellectual property is concerned, the outcome of such R&D agreements should always aim to encompass a balance between private and public interests.

Mr Philip Daniel Hoekstra11University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: Philip Hoekstra is the IP Manager at the University of Cape Town’s Department of Research Contracts and Innovation (RC&I), where he has worked for over 8 years. Prior to that he built up experience in R&D, IP, IP due diligence, technology commercialisation and market research whilst working at Von Seidels IP Attorneys, Optimal Energy (a start-up company), Frost & Sullivan and AECI. Philip has presented SARIMA courses on IP, Technology Transfer and Traditional Knowledge Systems in various SADC countries, including SA, Malawi, Swaziland and Mozambique. Philip is a past committee member of SARIMA and presently serves on the international committee of the International Technology Transfer Network (ITTN) based in China. Philip is a Registered Technology Transfer Professional (RTTP).Cape’s Technology Transfer Office as Technology Transfer Specialist dealing with intellectual property and contracts.

Agreements governing Co-owned IP between Universities and Private Inventors

Research collaboration between institutions can give rise to co-owned Intellectual Property (IP). This IP is commonly managed through Inter-Institutional Agreements (IIAs), for which there are standard templates available such as the AUTM template. In these instances, one party typically takes the lead in driving commercialisation, the parties share in the cost of IP protection and benefit accruing, and the inventors share in the benefit under their respective institutional IP policies. However, less commonly, institutions may co-own IP with a private individual (i.e. natural person). The IP and benefit share arrangement in these circumstances may be more complex than for the typical IIA. Firstly, the individual may have contributed to the development of the technology out of their own pocket. For such individual, sharing in the cost of IP protection may be prohibitively expensive, but at the same time the individual may benefit disproportionately more from commercialisation than the inventor(s) at the institution. Secondly, the individual may be closer to the market than the institution, but he or she may lack the capacity or skills to lead commercialisation. This talk aims to provide several case studies from the University of Cape Town, focusing on collaborations with external medical doctors in private practice. Different IP management and benefit share scenarios will be presented and the impact on the university and the individual from an IPR Act and a tax perspective will also be discussed. This talk will provide tools to TTO staff for better fostering relationships with individuals in private industry.

Mrs Tania Natasha Holmes-Watts1, Mr Sidney Engelbrecht2

1Cape Peninsula University Of Technology, BELLVILLE , South Africa, 2University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: I hold a Bachelors and Master’s degree from Stellenbosch University. Currently, I am wrapping up my PhD and anticipate to graduate in 2022. I am serving as a member of the Community of Practice (CoP), SARIMA Sub-Committee, Regional forum and gave oral presentations at the annual SARIMA conference in 2016, as well as at the NRF’s annual Research Administrator Workshop (RAW) in 2018. In addition, I participated in numerous global forums including; SARIMA conference (Namibia), poster exhibition at INORMS (Melbourne, Australia); and in Research in Higher Education, New Delhi, India. My training, work experience in research management and particularly, my aspirations to be a value-addition to my professional craft, makes for a worthy contributor at your conference.

Sidney has been working in research support for more than a decade with a focus on research ethics and integrity. In the span of his career he has worked at Stellenbosch University, University of the Witwatersrand and the Human Sciences Research Council. He is currently employed as Research Ethics and Compliance Manager in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town (UCT). The primary purpose of this job is to support research that is compliant with the legal framework applicable to research ethics. Institutionally, Sidney serves on the UCT Senate Animal Ethics Committee and (Senate) Institutional Biosafety Committee. He serves on the Executive Committee of SAALAS, and is a Committee member of the SARIMA.

Research management competencies befitting our ‘new normal’, during and post-Covid-19

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Miss Tshepang Khahlu11University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: : Tshepang (Tshepi) Khahlu is a Senior Intellectual Property Officer at the University of Cape Town. She started her career in technology transfer as a candidate in the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) Chuma Commercialisation Internship programme.

Unleashing Impact

This talk is inspired by the philosophies set out in the University of Cape Town’s Vision 2030. At its core, Vision 2030 is a massive transformative roadmap aimed at disrupting the status quo, with the hopes of unleashing new thought processes and innovative approaches to create a leading global university.

When considering the impact of an institution, is it not best to think of new ways to define what is considered meaningful and how we would go about measuring it? The speaker hopes to answer this question by first analysing the roles and functions within the research office (RO) and technology transfer (TTO) of a higher education institute. Furthermore, the vision and governing policies of each office are identified. This naturally leads to further qualifying how RM & TT respectively measure impact. And ultimately identifying existing bottlenecks in the value chain continuum from research to technology transfer to innovation. The aim of this review is to reveal new ways to measuring the economic impact of innovation and its effect on society.

Furthermore, from this review or exercise, the speaker proposes the urgent need for there to be a dynamic collaborative relationship between RO and the TTO. This can be done through the formation of strategic partnerships which leverage existing structures within the institution to create an impact. These relationships will hopefully dismantle one silo at a time and result in intentional RM and TT.

BACKGROUND: At one time, Research Management (RM) was described as ‘uncharted territory’, an area that is ‘largely unexplored’, a ‘modestly known’ topic receiving limited attention, particularly, in developing countries. Over the years, we have witnessed significant growth and various formations of Communities of Practice (CoPs) in RM supported by Research Innovation and Management Associations. Internationally, we have the International Network of Research Management Societies (INORMS); nationally, we have the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA), with numerous regional CoPs.

The global crisis brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, exemplified the need to critically reflect on the current standing of RM as a practice. This not only includes the competencies and capabilities of RM professionals, but also the extent to which, what is considered as ‘best practice’ are integrated and coordinated regionally, nationally, and globally. However, contexts differ and hence RM approaches should be more than merely ‘fit for purpose’, it should provide optimal value within context.

METHODS: This inquiry draws on a mixed-methods approach where both quantitative and qualitative data will be used. Research participants comprise of RM professionals within the Western Cape region holding positions at administrative and management levels within universities. Data collection will comprise personal information obtained via curriculum vitae’s, drawn from websites, public information sources, knowledge via affiliation to the existing RM CoP, through an online survey and focus groups, inter alia.

CONCLUSION: This study aims to evaluate RM competencies “fit-for-purpose” in our ‘new normal’; strengthening the activities of our existing CoPs.

Mr Reinard Krüger11Spoor & Fisher, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: QualificationsLLB, LLM. Notary Public. Attorney of the High Court of South Africa.

Experience8 years

Fields of practiceReinard specializes in the enforcement of intellectual property rights, including trade mark infringement and prosecution; passing-off and unlawful competition matters; trade mark oppositions; copyright opinions and litigation; company name objections; domain name disputes; foodstuff and cosmetic labeling complaints; and the enforcement of counterfeit goods.

Industry associations Fellow of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law.Member of the Legal Practice Council (LPC)In an increasingly knowledge-driven economy, Intellectual Property (IP) should be one of the key considerations in every businesses’ day-to-day decision making. New brand names, logos, products and innovative designs are created and launched daily as a result of continuous human innovation and creativity. University start-ups and another small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are often the driving force commercialising such innovations. But how does an SME go about protecting its hard earned IP from its competitors, or alternatively, use it to its advantage in a business negotiation?

This talk will focus on the essential steps an SME should take in the early years to take full advantage of its IP from registering a trade mark; to acquiring copyright; to protecting your sensitive information.

SMEs: How Intellectual Property can be used as an economic tool

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Ms Olivia Langenhoven1, Mr Sidney Engelbrecht11UCT, Cape Town, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: Ms Langenhoven forms part of the Research Ethics and Compliance office at UCT in the Faculty of Health Sciences and is part of the Secretariat for both the Animal Research Ethics and Biosafety Committees.

Enabling research ethics training and promoting research integrity in a time of COVID-19

The National Health Act (NHA) requires that institutions where health research is conducted must have a Research Ethics Committee (REC), which is registered with the National Health Research Ethics Council (NHREC) in the South African Department of Health (DoH). The DoH Ethics in Research Guidelines states that REC members must undergo training in research ethics and related subjects. This applies to all RECs in health research – Human Research Ethics Committees and Animal Ethics Committees (AECs). The institution must make “provision of resources should include areas such as orientation of new AEC members, purchase of educational material, access to training courses for AEC members and access to administrative assistance” (SANS). To ensure compliance with, not only the NHA and relevant guideline, but also with the SANS Standard, the AEC in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town has implemented Research Ethics Training and Research Integrity for AEC members. The need to provide Research Ethics Training for researchers who use animals for scientific purposes, especially in biomedical research, was placed under the spotlight in the time of COVID-19. This required a purpose-driven monthly research ethics training schedule to ensure that researchers, students and AEC members are trained and educated in research ethics despite the challenges – administrative and otherwise – brought about by COVID-19. COVID-19 did not only challenge the general status quo but resulted adaptive approach to facilitate research ethics and integrity training. For example, hosting webinars, sharing of resources, etc.

Mrs Thapedi Maketa11Wits Commercial Enterprise, Johannesburg, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: I am a Research Support coordinator at Wits Commercial Enterprise. I have a Diploma in Biotechnology from Vaal University of Technology, completed in 2006 and currently studying an advanced Diploma in Biotechnology with Tshwane University of Technology. I worked with Wits Enterprise as a subcontractor, Contracted to AngloGold Ashanti-Vaal River and West Wits doing research on mine rehabilitation as a Field and Administrator officer from 2014 to 2018, I then joined Wits Commercial Enterprise in 2019 as a research Support Coordinator. I have worked in different laboratories before joining Wits Enterprise i.e. worked as a Quality Control officer and Production Technician at Selecta-media from 2014 to 2018 and as a laboratory assistant at Syringa Bioscience in 2006.

Tackling issues around risk management, contractual processes and approaches during Covid 19

This presentation will focus on the challenges experienced in managing a project commissioned by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). This was a research project on the Socio-Economic Contribution of Migrants in South Africa’s Informal Urban Settlements “A case study of City of Johannesburg”. This included the analysis of the correlation between migration status and income generating strategies employed by international migrants, national migrants and non-migrant members of the selected settlements. The project started in October 2019 and it was originally due to end in March 2020. Most of the work involved field work, which required travelling from one place to another and contacting interviews with the community members in the selected settlements. When lock down due to Covid 19 happened, there were no contingency measures put in place to then conduct the remaining interviews online or to do a virtual presentation of the findings to the client. As a result, managing the contract under the lock down regulations posed the challenge of the project being put on hold for a period of about seven months with no activities.

The project was delayed while measures were put in place to manage the contract under this new circumstance so that the work could be completed as stipulated in the contract, especially the presentation of the findings to IOM (the Funder). The lesson learnt was that there should, where appropriate, be consideration for alternate ways of delivery.

Mr Ben Mcleish11Digital Science, London, United Kingdom

BIOGRAPHY: Ben has been the Director of Advocacy and Outreach at Digital Science since 2018, prior to that he was European Sales Lead at Altmetric, also a Digital Science company, for four years. Ben has worked in academic publishing and information services since 2004. Previously at John Wiley & Sons and The American Chemical Society, he also represented the introduction of the Summon Library Discovery service in Northern Europe while at ProQuest. Ben has also worked in TV and radio Media Monitoring in Australia as well as CleanTech and Digital Media sector analysis.

Altmetric - Effectively Measure and Track the Societal Impact of South African research

Tracking and measuring the outward effects of research beyond academic engagement has become of critical importance since the advent of the social web and the rise of global challenges that require the exploitation of research results.

Policy organisations, patent offices, news sites and social media all share research that ultimately stems from the world’s universities. Many of the major funders now require dissemination plans, or evidence of societal impact of research.

Using publications from South African universities and looking at what policymakers and patent offices have referenced, Ben McLeish explores the dissemination and impact of research from universities and how the research has found its way into critical inventions, policy and news around the globe

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Dr Theresa Mkandawire1, Dr Douglas Sanyahumbi2, Dr Ashley Taylor2, Dr Ann Saterbak3, Dr Matt Glucksberg4, Dr Matthew Wettergreen2, Dr Gregory Gamula1, Dr Godfrey Moshi5, Dr Andrea Gobin2, Dr Maria Oden2, Dr Rebecca Richards-Kortum21University of Malawi - The Polytechnic, Blantyre, Malawi, 2Rice University, Houston, USA, 3Duke University, Durham, USA, 4Northwestern University, Evanston, USA, 5Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology , Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

BIOGRAPHY: Dr Theresa Mkandawire is an engineering professor and researcher at the University of Malawi – The Polytechnic where she was the first female Dean of Engineering in Malawi. Theresa is currently leading the Newborn Essential Solutions and Technologies (NEST) engineering invention education programme at the Polytechnic. She served as the first Vice President of Malawi Institute of Engineers and serves as Secretary General of the Africa Engineering Deans Council. In 2018, the Next Einstein Forum (NEF) awarded Theresa the award for “outstanding valuable contribution and dedication to science, engineering & technology and overcoming adversity”. Dr Mkandawire is a Founding Member of Women in Engineering, Malawi and avidly supports and motivates girls and boys in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

An Online Invention Education Toolkit for Promoting and Supporting Local Technology Invention and Innovation

Invention education refers to “the facilitation of educational engagement in which people find and define problems and design and build new, novel, useful, and unique solutions that contribute to the betterment of society” .Rice 360°, Institute for Global Health (Rice University, USA) in partnership with the University of Malawi, The Polytechnic (Malawi), successfully developed and implemented a new model for invention education, the Invention Education Programme, across all engineering programmes. Reaching over 1600 students and 60 faculty members, the new model led to nine technologies being successfully prototyped and transferred for initial clinical evaluation at the University’s teaching hospital, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital. The Invention Education Programme has expanded and includes Rice University, Duke University, Northwestern University, Malawi Polytechnic, Malawi University of Science and Technology, Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology, University of Lagos, University of Ibadan and Addis Abba Institute of Technology.

To share invention education implementation knowledge and experiences widely, the Programme is building a dynamic online Invention Education Toolkit to facilitate the development and delivery of sustainable educational programmes that promote and support local technology invention and innovation. The Toolkit is a practical guide where resources such as literature, best practices, templates and case studies are shared with those interested in building communities of inventors. Target audiences for the toolkit include educators, tertiary institutions management, education, science, labour, technology and innovation-related government entities, innovation enablers, non-profit organizations and investors, many of them part of the SARIMA community.

Mrs Anita Nel11Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: Anita Nel is the Chief Director: Innovation and Business Development at Stellenbosch University and the CEO of US Enterprises (Pty) Ltd, the University’s commercial company.Anita is an experienced technology transfer professional with her roots in technology innovation and venture capital stretching as far back as 1998. Since joining Stellenbosch University, Anita has grown Innovus to become one of the leading university technology transfer offices in Africa. As part of this journey, Anita has established the LaunchLab Business incubator at Stellenbosch and was instrumental in raising the University Technology Fund (UTF) that invests in technology startups at local universities. Anita currently serves on the ATTP adjudication panel for RTTP applications and holds several directorships on boards of young technology companies.

Making a success of your TTO’s spinout programme

University technology transfer models have seen little change in the past 40 years, and technology transfer offices are still in the far majority of cases making losses. Spinout creation is most often avoided by TTO’s globally as it requires far more resources and work from already understaffed offices and holds high risk for failure. However, spinout formation hold many benefits over licensing and should perhaps be considered far more seriously by universities. In this presentation, I will highlight some of the programmes we have put in place to make it easier and more attractive for academics and TTO’s to create startups to commercialise university technology. I will also highlight the impact that a spinout programme delivers for a university.

Mrs Carin Niemand11Unisa, Pretoria, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: In November 2011, Carin Niemand began working in the Finance Department at Unisa, dealing with financial transactions related to the research fund allocation. She performed admirably in her supporting profession role, advising researchers on proper processes and assisting with the processing of their claims. She became involved in the financial reporting process for the Research Department. In February 2017, she was seconded to the Research Department as the acting manager: Budget & Grants. Her main responsibility is to compile a report for management that includes all research-related accounts as well as the operating budget. Her passion to assist others motivates her to contribute to the creation of standard operating procedures for external funding at Unisa Research Department, among other things.

Coalition for Research funding

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The COVID-19 epidemic and the resulting interruptions have had a significant influence on academic research. The majority of revenue streams of universities are under risk as a result of the pandemic’s effects. Temporary relief can be prolonged by applying for extensions to expiring awards, covering benefits, allowing other project activities to be charged to awards, and incorporating the ability to charge costs that would not be allowed under normal circumstances, such as fees for cancelling events and travel, or research activities that had to be paused and resumed at a later date or to apply for no-cost award extensions. New or multi-pronged strategies and approaches may be required when looking at the possible funding resources which can be divided into two categories, restricted and unrestricted funding sources. The current problem is that, with financial resources exhausted or substantially limited, institutional survival involves the implementation of drastic cost-cutting measures in conjunction with the optimization of far more constrained revenue sources. This is a financial conundrum, and university administrators must prioritize the distribution of limited funds and resources across a variety of institutional tasks. Simple answers do not exist. Universities must continue to be transparent about their finances, and while they make difficult decisions to ensure their survival, complete and precise documentation and record-keeping will be established and maintained to support institutional policies and practices. This paper will focus on ways in which Universities can become more efficient with the limited resources by networking, appointing grant expert, collaborations with like-minded organisations, consistency and having a spirit of coalition.

Mr Francois Oosthuizen11University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: Innovation Commercialization Manager at the University of Cape Town. Have 13+ years business development and technology commercialization experience. Worked in several industries across RSA and internationally. Obtained a Masters degree in Engineering from the NWU and have completed several short courses in business development, financial management and technology commercialisation to complement the technical background. Francois part of the founding teams of two companies and have also worked as an engineer in private technology companies. He has been working at UCT RC&I since 2014 and have been involved in a range of technology commercialisation opportunities, spin off companies creations, investment fund set ups and other related activities.

A sustainable model of research commercialisation: Marihealth Solutions (Pty) Ltd Case Study

RM and TT industries in RSA are facing challenges with the reduction in sustainable sources of R&D funding. The pressure inhibits delivery of quality research outputs (RO) to enable TT. An opportunity exists to unlock innovative commercialisation models already enjoyed by mature TT ecosystems globally.

The methodology is a circular model of research commercialisation. Where commercially viable RO exist, outputs can be commercialised via a mechanism such a relationship with an external company or a spin off company. Successful commercialisation can lead to the creation of revenue. With revenue, funds can flow back to research to sustain the research function. The research could allocate a portion of new projects towards the needs of the commercialisation mechanism. New topics can continuously be investigated to strengthen the position of the commercialisation mechanism in the market. A strong mechanism can increase revenue generation. A vital aspect of this model is it provides employment opportunities for post-graduates and HEI staff. Finally, the more commercially viable IP flowing into the company, the greater the underlying value to shareholders.

Marihealth Solutions (Pty) Ltd is a UCT spin off company with the goal of commercialising a portfolio of aquaculture health technologies for the global aquaculture industry. This case study discusses how the model was set up to capitalize on a research portfolio, how commercialisation activities were selected to generate revenue, how the team was assembled, how key partnerships were identified, how a mechanism of employment is created, and how a growth strategy was built to incentivise investors.

Dr Paul Plantinga1, Ms Harsha Dayal21HSRC, Pretoria, South Africa, 2Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, , South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: Paul Plantinga is a Research Specialist in the Impact Centre at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in South Africa. In this position he is managing the Policy Action Network project and exploring the use of digital technologies to support evidence-informed decision-making. Between 2012 and 2016 he led open innovation and open data work at The Innovation Hub. Prior to this he researched ICT governance in the Centre for Organisational and Social Informatics at Monash University, and was a solution architect and engineer in mobile telecoms and VoIP with Accenture and SAAB.

Managing cross-sector collaboration to map a large research evidence base

Whilst the problems in South Africa’s wider health system are complex, there is a substantial body of research evidence that already exists, and can be drawn on to inform possible practice improvements as well as identify research gaps. Policy decision-makers and advisors need to more quickly access and review available research. At the same time, there is a demand for more transparency around what evidence is being used to inform decisions; and the interconnected nature of health system challenges requires a more comprehensive view of available research. To address these needs, the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) collaborated to develop a health systems evidence base (HSEB). The HSEB was created by a multi-disciplinary team made up of government and research council individuals, including; health system specialists, information specialists, evidence specialists and application developers. Key questions that needed to be addressed during the project include: (1) How may we (tentatively) synthesise diverse health system policy objectives from both global and national fora into a guiding framework? (2) What skills and tools are needed to support large-scale research collection and mapping in an efficient way? (3) How can we ensure consistency in screening and classification of evidence across a geographically dispersed, multi-skilled team? (4) How can mapped research be made accessible to different audiences?

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Dr Blanche Pretorius1, Prof Anita van der Merwe11Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: Dr Pretorius currently heads the Health Research Ethics Office, FMHS, Stellenbosch University and holds a DPhil (Social Work) and a PG Dip (Health Research Ethics). Blanche began her career as a social worker at the Durban Mental Health Society and later moved to TAFTA (The Association for the Aged, Durban). She joined Families South Africa (FAMSA) and served as Director until 1998 when she took up a dual position as student counsellor and lecturer in the Department of Social Work at the former UPE. During the 22 years spent at Nelson Mandela University, Blanche held the position of Head of Department, and Director: Research Capacity Development. She also chaired the Human Ethics Committee for approximately 8 years.

Professor Anita van de Merwe is Professor Emeritus since she retired in 2019 as Professor and Executive Head, Department of Nursing and Midwifery, Stellenbosch University (SU). She has been Chairperson of one of the two Health Research Ethics Committees in the Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, SU since 2015. She holds a PhD in Nursing from the University of Kwa Zulu Natal.

During her career Anita has held various leadership positions as Chief Nursing Services Manager, Head of Department: Nursing at University of the Free State, and Acting Federal Director, Federal Department of Nursing, MOH, UAE. In these positions she has received several awards and commendations and has been appointed as a consultant by the World Health Organisation, and consulted to the Ministries of Health in Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Dubai. Prof Van der Merwe supervises PhD candidates, is involved in academic publications, and is a reviewer for several international journals.

The recent coronavirus pandemic has provided an opportunity to rethink practices around the ethics review of research as researchers have stepped up to the challenge of finding solutions to the growing public health emergency. It is of critical importance to conduct research during public health emergencies, such as the CoVID-19 pandemic. However, research and the ethical review of research in this context, present unique challenges for research ethics committees (RECs), including the rapidity with which research and ethics review must occur. Such challenges need to be balanced against the role of ethics committees in protecting the rights of participants but also a commitment to supporting research efforts for the public good.

This presentation will explore the unique challenges associated with the ethics review of research during the CoVID-19 pandemic, highlight the way ethics review processes have been adapted to address these challenges over the past year, and will cast the spotlight on reciprocal ethics review as an opportunity for research ethics committees in South Africa for ethical review of research during public health emergencies.

Embracing the need for change: considerations for reciprocal ethics review in times of emergency

Mr Bas Rijnen1, Ms Maryke Hunter-husselmann21Namibia University of Science And Technology, Windhoek, Namibia, 2Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: As Projects Coordinator at the Namibia University of Science and Technology. Mr Bas Rijnen manages grants for interdisciplinary research projects including: resource mobilization, donor-relationship management, grant supervision and capacity building. He has over 15 years experience with a track record of successfully applying for funds of multiple donors. Bas is a member of Southern Africa Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA) and has presented on north-south research collaborations (2019) and on Research Information Management Systems (2020). He is the South African co-lead of the TremOR project. He holds a master’s in organisation anthropology at Utrecht University and is currently doing his PhD in Sport Management at the University of Johannesburg.

The Challenges, Opportunities and Considerations of International Project Collaboration: the TreMOR case

Maryke Hunter-Hüsselmann has a MPhil in Social Sciences Methodology (SU). She is the Director: Research Information and Strategy at the Division for Research Development at Stellenbosch University. In her current role, she is responsible for the promotion of research partnerships with science councils and other strategic partners on national level, the facilitation of activities that promote Stellenbosch University strategic research themes, research related policy development, research audits and landscape analyses and the development of science communication and other relevant research marketing activities at SU. She has been involved in research management for almost 17 years and has presented on various research-related topics at workshops and seminars. She served as SARIMA Vice-President for Capacity Development and Professionalisation for 6 years. She is also an experienced facilitator.

Driven by the desire to work on the further professionalization of Research Management, a number of Research Managers that are based in Southern Africa joined a team with colleagues from the United Kingdom to implement a project entitled: TReMOR (Toolkit for Early-career Research Managers Online Resources). The aim of the project is to develop practical tools and resources for early-career Research Managers (ECRM) with a focus on Grant Management, both pre-and post-award, as essential functions within a Research Office. The project is funded by ARMA and the African Academy of Sciences under the umbrella of the REMPRO programme.

The presentation will address the lessons learnt from the process and the collaboration – both from the perspective of the southern and northern partners, and in the light of the huge strains of COVID-19. We will further zoom in on the benefits of such a collaboration from the perspectives of a more (Stellenbosch University) and less (Namibia University of Science and Technology) research intensive University.

We will share how we established a successful international collaboration between professional Research Management staff and give suggestions on how to build a strong working relationship between peers to respond to opportunities and to support joint academic teams. The project produced valuable outputs such as the “Voices in Grant Management”-Booklet where Research Managers share their views on various aspects of Grant Management. The presentation will include a qualitative analysis of the response of our peers in the voices booklet, especially around aspects of collaboration.

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Ms Casey Sparkes11DSI-NICIS National e-Science Postgraduate Teaching and Training Platform (Wits University), Johannesburg, South Africa, 2University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: Casey holds a Master in Business Administration degree from Milpark Business School and has been working in the Academic Research Management sector for 11 years. On joining the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in 2010, she held the position of Manager of the national DSI-NIRF Centre of Excellence in Strong Materials (CoE SM). In 2018 Casey moved within Wits to manage the national DSI-NICIS National e-Science Postgraduate Teaching and Training Platform (NEPTTP), a position she still holds. as a consultant by the World Health Organisation, and consulted to the Ministries of Health in Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Dubai. Prof Van der Merwe supervises PhD candidates, is involved in academic publications, and is a reviewer for several international journals.

Research Integrity and the role of African authored articles in predatory journals In South Africa as in other African countries, researchers are incentivised to publish articles of their scientific research in accredited journals, as well as publishing conference proceedings and book(s)/book chapters. This was initially implemented to increase the scientific output with academia, and this scheme still continues today. Various research has been undertaken to analyse the publication of articles in predatory journals. A predatory journal is an Open Access journal which exists for profit (bearing in mind that not all Open Access Journals are predatory). They charge excessive author fees, and their editorial practices are highly untrustworthy.

The monetary incentives are not the only motivation for so-called “hyperprolific authors” (authors publishing more than 70 articles a year). In many academic institutions the fear of “publish or perish” is very prevalent. The number of publications is frequently used as a measure for “competency”, and an important measure in the promotion of researchers and lecturers. This practise continues even though experts have agreed that this can promote unethical publication practices. The pressure to publish has also led to the establishment of a large number of new journals, with more than 23,000 journals being classed as predatory journals (according to a study by Jeffrey Beal).

Research Integrity and the role of African authored articles in predatory journals

Mrs Stefania Suevo1, Mrs Stefania Elisabeth Grotti11Politecnico Di Milano, Milano, Italy

BIOGRAPHY: Stefania Suevo, Research Performance and Strategy Manager, specialized in Talent and Networking Development. More than 15 years of experience in Talent Development, Networking, Results Monitoring to improve Performance Strategies in research management. Currently, she is developing a new Research Development strategic process in order to optimize researchers’ participation in projects, increase their networks, and define the best training path for them.

Stefania E. Grotti, is the Head of Research Office at Politecnico di Milano, with 20 years of experience as a Research Manager at Politecnico di Milano, most as a Manager and Coordinator, with a strong focus on international aspects and networking. During all these years she worked on funding and financial management. Extensive knowledge in the Organisational HR Field suitable for transnational and diverse Research Contexts. She is involved in several European and extra‐EU networks covering active roles.

Collaboration with Europe: Horizon Europe perspective and opportunities

In the context of international research and collaboration opportunities, we cannot avoid to consider the new framework programme for European research, Horizon Europe, which is in the launching phase and will last 7 years. The program provides a series of tools that can accelerate international collaboration and shift the focus on excellence, mobility, and cross-cutting opportunities that can also facilitate Research Managers. The presentation will focus on the structure of Horizon Europe, listing the thematic priorities and operating modalities of the programme. The main international opportunities and the collaboration instruments, as well as participation rules, will be considered. We will explore the cases of non-EU countries that can take direct advantage of the resources of the programme (as happens for the Associated Countries) and Third Countries (eg. USA) that can benefit from the opportunities that Horizon Europe offers in different ways. The focus will then shift to aspects related to partner research and networks that can provide RMA with opportunities for exchange and growth with the EU.

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Ms Nandipha Thotsho11Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: My name is Nandipha Thotsho. I was born and bred in the province of the Eastern Cape in South African. I studied Public Administration at Walter Sisulu University. I joined Rhodes University as National Research Foundation as an intern. After I completed my internship, I joined the Research Office-Technology Transfer. After I joined Technology Transfer as an Administrator at Technology Transfer, I attended WIPO Summer school in Bloemfontein, attended various workshops, and did online courses on Intellectual Property. In 2020 I did an oral presentation on “improving the lives of local communities” at the SARIMA conference.

Open innovation is a business management model for innovation that promotes collaboration with people and organizations outside the company. This innovation model becomes viable when the company acknowledges that there are many bright professionals and greater knowledge outside the organization.

Collaboration and co-creation have always been around, maybe since humans started trading or since the cottage industry exchanged practices from other regions and cultures. By using open innovation people can benefit in engaging a longer audience, relevant audience, improving cost efficiency, involving customers in research and development, expanding the pool of ideas, going to market faster, and attracting potential investors.

Open innovation can also be faced with challenges which may be or include unclear goals, the wrong type of audience, diminishing returns, building an effective process, developing and implementing ideas, and intellectual property rights.

My presentation will give a full description of open innovation, different types of open innovation, advantages, and disadvantages of open innovation, how it can be used as a tool during these trying times, and how Rhodes University has used open innovation as two of our Professors has used this tool and also the strengths and weaknesses of open innovation. This will give the audience a full idea of how we can use open innovation in our communities and in research and development.

Open Innovation

Dr Retha G Visagie1, Mr Leon Roets1, Ms Tanya Coetzee1, Ms Eleni Flack-Davidson2, Mr Sidney Engelbrecht31Unisa, Pretoria, South Africa, 2University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, 3University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: Dr. Retha Visagie is a founding member and the former chairperson of the Executive Board of the Research Ethics Committee Association of Southern Africa (REASA). She is a Non-Executive Director and the Chairperson of the EthiXPERT board of Directors. This NPC’s specific focus and contribution is to enhance responsible and ethical research capacity in and for Africa. As the Manager of the Research Integrity Office at Unisa, she fulfils numerous leadership activities. She is the Academic Integrity Committee chairperson and a member of the Unisa Senate Research Committee and Unisa Social and Ethics Committee of Council. She holds a doctorate in Advanced Psychiatric Nursing Science and is the 2018 recipient of the DST/SARIMA Award for Professional Excellence in Research Management.

Leon Roets is an experienced lecturer and social activist on social diversity and inclusion within education, communities and workplaces with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry for the last 23 years. He is skilled in Academic Programme Development and Management, Strategic Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Inclusive and Sustainable Business Development, Social and Behaviour Aspects of Social Challenges,Qualitative Research, Policy and Programme Evaluation, Operational Management, Lecturing and Community Advocacy. Leon is an education professional with an MA in Sociology. His current PhD focuses on manhood, men’s health and wellness in workplaces and urban Africa at the University of South Africa/Universiteit van Suid-Afrika.

From random success to evidence-based research ethics and integrity training in a shifting world

Research ethics and integrity managers play a vital role in promoting or implementing various training programmes aiming to protect the well-being of research participants in a shifting world. These training programmes are resource-intensive and require human and financial resources to deliver suitable and quality-driven training outcomes while training budgets are shrinking. However, it is unclear how these training programmes impact participants’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes, thus, questioning their contribution to facilitating required behavioural changes and responsible research practices.

Consequently, this presentation aims to demonstrate how research managers can improve their institutions’ training strategies and the impact of these programmes by using a critical appraisal methodology to do a systematic review of relevant literature. This methodology allows for evidence-based decision-making, the identification of best practices, and the ability to identify essential areas in need of improvement. At the end of the appraisal process, research managers will be able to develop a conceptual training framework founded on the appraisal and synthesis of pertinent research ethics and integrity literature. This interactive session aims to provide participants with an overview of the methodology, including developing and customizing a generic, standardised critical appraisal tool.

In conclusion, the findings of a collaborative critical appraisal project involving researchers and research managers from Unisa, the University of Cape Town, and the University of the Witwatersrand will be discussed, including lessons learned from using this methodology. We envisage that the discussion will enable the participants to apply the theory to practice, thus, stimulating new approaches to promote evidence-based training

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Mr Guillaume Warnan1, Ms Lucia Schoombee11Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands

BIOGRAPHY: Guillaume is in charge of the implementation of the Open Science agreement signed in May 2020 between the Dutch community and Elsevier. Guillaume started working with Elsevier over 8 years ago as a Customer Consultant in different territories (France, Northern Europe, Canada and the Great Lakes), supporting customers in their use of Elsevier Research Intelligence solutions (Scopus, SciVal, Pure) and making sure they made the most out of their subscriptions. For over a year now, Guillaume has been supporting the Dutch community in the implementation of a one-in-a-kind Open Science agreement signed between the Dutch community and Elsevier in May 2020. Prior to joining Elsevier, Guillaume worked 10 years as a strategy consultant, focusing on the health sector.

Lucia Schoombee is a Senior Research Intelligence Consultant at Elsevier with particular focus on research analytical tools and scholarly publishing. In her current role, she works with academic institutions across the African continent on matters relating to research administration evaluation as well as journal quality, publishing strategy and university rankings. She has a BBibl and a MPhil (Science & Technology Studies) from Stellenbosch University.

One of the most striking trends of the current pandemic has been the unprecedented spurt in research collaboration among governments, research institutions and industry. As a result, research results were published extremely rapidly, clinical trials moved forward at an unprecedented pace, and global initiatives pulled together quickly. Serendipitously, Covid-19 has shone a bright light on the advantages of open science.

Open science, however, is about more than just open access to publications. It entails a transition to a new, more open and participatory way of conducting, publishing and evaluating scholarly research. To achieve this requires digital technologies and new collaborative tools for making knowledge creation and dissemination more efficient, increasing cooperation, reproducibility, and transparency at all stages of research. In this presentation, we will present a case study of the unique, collaborative venture between three major stakeholders in the Netherlands and Elsevier to further improve open science in the country. The partnership which includes publishing and reading services as well as the joint development of new open science services for disseminating and evaluating knowledge runs until 31 December 2024.

The case study will expand on the digital technologies; collaborative tools; and above all, a set of principles that supports the envisaged open science system, i.e., interoperability and vendor neutrality; transparency, inclusion and collaboration; access to research data and metadata; and data portability. This presentation will finally focus on the complexity of implementing such a unique agreement and the lessons learnt in over year.

Open Science: a case study of the Elsevier-Netherlands partnership

Dr Tania Brodovcky1, Dr Karis Moxley11Research Development and Support, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: Tania Brodovcky is Head of the Research Capacity Development and Funding office at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University. She qualified as a Medical Biological Scientist, with a PhD in Clinical Science and Immunology, and previously held an academic position at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. During her academic and research career she has been successful in obtaining fellowships and grant funding, she has supervised postgraduate students and published internationally. In her current capacity she manages internal research funding and is responsible for the research capacity development programme in the Faculty. She enjoys assisting postgraduate students and early-career researchers to navigate the research arena to reach their full potential.

Development of a resilient research capacity development protocol writing course: A 12-step approach

BACKGROUND As our first attempt at developing a technology-enhanced course for research capacity development, we developed a blended clinical research protocol writing course that we launched in 2019, one year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Upon the initial lockdown in 2020, we had only a few weeks to transform the course for online delivery, which we managed to do effortlessly. We reflected on why this seemingly daunting transition was such a smooth process.

METHODS We considered the process we followed during the original course development and synthesised this into 12 distinct steps. We unpacked each of these steps and listed the variables we had to consider. Each decision we made was backed by a strong rationale, with particular focus on our target audience, postgraduate clinicians with minimal research experience.

RESULTS We present these 12 development steps in a linear timeline and these include course conceptualisation and objective setting, outcome development, course structure and activities, content richness and engagement strategy. We acknowledge that there is interactivity between these steps because course development is an iterative and a constantly evolving process. The common thread of our successful choices, endorsed by positive course feedback, was that we considered the needs of our target audience as core factor in our decision-making.

DISCUSSION The pandemic forced rapid change in research capacity development and taught us valuable lessons about the importance of the design phase. This 12-step course development framework provides a checklist and spectrum of considerations that other research course designers might find helpful.

Poster Abstracts:

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Mr Randall Crisp11Clarivate, Cape Town, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: Mr Randall Crisp is a Life Sciences and Pharmaceutical Development specialist for Sub Saharan Africa within Clarivate Analytics. He received his Undergraduate and Post graduate degrees from the University of the Western Cape before entering the scientific equipment industry, specializing in high resolution microscopy imaging. Within Clarivate Analytics, his responsibilities include fostering an environment within which members of the industry from discovery to commercialization uncover what they didn’t know, they didn’t know. Understanding the competitive commercial and research space within such a diverse yet demand industry with many unanswered questions can be a challenge, but through curated solutions, navigating the unique challenges we face in Africa become easier to address.

Trends in the Academia-Pharma partnerships, from bench to bedside and beyond

As we rapidly approach the fourth industrial revolution, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with its incredible diversity, high percentage of global disease burden and vast geography, offers the world of medical research and development, the recipe for opportunity. With the population of Africa adopting a more Western lifestyle, coupled with a shift in burden to non-communicable diseases, the demand for prescription drugs and innovative treatments has increased.

Coupled with a trend of increased awareness of this lifecycle as well as more focused research being conducted at a university level which fits within niche areas of this value chain, collaborations between the private and public sector have become ever more important. Understanding the current and future trends which drive demand with health sectors in SSA is key to the future health of a region where six of world’s 10 fastest growing countries exist as well as the link between the academic and corporate sectors. Here we would like to demonstrate the trends within the Academic-Pharma partnering space as seen in the data, showcasing the opportunities for commercialization at an academic level. Patenting hotspots, partnering activity and the timing of deal-making are three key areas which will be analysed from a high level.

Ms Monique Heystek1, Mr Sidney Engelbrecht1, Mr Winston Beukes1, Ms Tania Holmes-Watts11Western Cape Community of Practice (COP) for Research Management and Administration Professionals, Cape Town, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: Ms Monique Heystek fulfils the function of Technology Transfer Specialist: IP & Contracts at the University of the Western Cape and Mr Sidney Engelbrecht fulfils the role of Research Ethics & Compliance Manager at the University of Cape Town. Mr Winston Beukes is the Coordinator of Research Ethics (Animal Use & Biosafety) at the University of Stellenbosch and Ms Tania Holmes-Watts is the Manager of Research Grants at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. These four ITT / RM Professionals are part of the Western Cape Community of Practice (COP) for Research Management and Administration Professionals.

Role of an ITT / RM Professional in ensuring institutional frameworks incorporate optimised benefit flow

The research and development function within the higher education sector is responsible for ensuring compliance with relevant national and international regulatory frameworks in relation to research and innovation. This responsibility includes, inter alia, compliance with the Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Financed Research and Development Act 51 of 2008. This Act provides guidance on the management of university intellectual property, insofar as it is created by means of research & development. The regulatory body, National Intellectual Property Management Office (NIPMO), issued an interpretation of the term by following the Frascati Manual’s requirements.

Innovation is a challenging concept to define because of uncertainty as to whether it is a process or an outcome whether it is aimed at social -, technical - or economic benefits, or a combination of these. Only recently an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) suite of standards and guidance documents on innovation management was created to offer a systematic approach to integrating innovation into all layers of an organization. Key points from the ISO standards are: Innovation is an outcome; not a process, it is intangible and that it must be used, in order to create value.

To ensure compliance and due diligence, ITT/RM professionals recommend incorporating a clear definition of research and innovation into institutional culture and strategic directives to assist institutions in responding to change in order to maximize opportunities for growth while reducing associated risks. It will furthermore allow institutions to demonstrate their ability to manage innovation activities to achieve their intended outcomes.

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Mr Martin Jagerhorn1, Mr Tom Jakobs21ChronosHub, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR), Luxembourg, Luxembourg

BIOGRAPHY: Martin Jagerhorn has about 20 years of experience in business development and investments in tech companies that serve the research domain. As Head of Business Development at ChronosHub, Martin establishes new collaborations with funders, institutions, publishers, and technology partners. Previously, on the topic of research information management, he has co-founded and/or invested in companies like AVEDAS AG (exited to Thomson Reuters in 2013), Zendy and Morressier, and is involved as an advisor towards many universities, publishers, national infrastructure initiatives and funders across the world, and during recent years with an increasing focus on open access and open science.

Tom Jakobs is a Grant System Administrator and Data Manager at the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR). He has been developing and implementing digital workflow processes and grant administration tools since 2010. He is FNR’s Open Science coordinator, and his responsibilities include integrating and connecting FNR’s grants data with existing digital platforms and services.

FAIR Funder Workflow: FAIR Data Throughout the Research Lifecycle

In today’s fragmented research ecosystem, a multitude of systems for collection, storage, and data exchange have evolved. Typically, the data and documents managed by these systems do not meet the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Identifiable, and Reusable), making it difficult to connect them for seamless reuse of data. To support the FAIR principles and enhance scientific reproducibility, we need more connected persistent identifiers (PIDs).

The FAIR Funder Workflow brings key stakeholders (ChronosHub, DataCite, CrossREF, FNR and others) together to build an end-to-end workflow showcasing the outputs of research funding leveraging connections between PIDs and metadata – all in compliance with exemplary FAIR best practices. The aim is to connect existing infrastructures to achieve an end-to-end workflow throughout the research funding lifecycle and thus support FAIR meta-data, with the capability to track connections between Data Management Plans (DMPs), grants, investigators, articles, datasets, authors and organizations.

The FAIR Funder Workflow leverages other initiatives, like MakeDataCount, GOFAIR, FORCE11, and large infrastructure projects such as Horizon2020 FREYA to integrate well-proven technologies that lead to qualitative enhancements for managing open science.By connecting existing infrastructure, we can with relatively small means ensure FAIR data. The presentation highlights one set of stakeholders, but is a generic setup, and thus is relevant for the research administration community at large to be aware of, with the aim to stimulate others to follow a similar approach, ensuring a greater degree of automation and a more seamless flow of information throughout the research ecosystem.

Mrs Melissa Badenhorst1, Miss Sylvia Kgorane11Clarivate , Johannesburg, South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: Melissa Badenhorst obtained her Honors degree in Marketing Management from the University Of Pretoria, South Africa. After completing her studies she went to London and worked at a global recruitment company, Hudson Global Resources Inc. as a project coordinator. She returned to South Africa and worked in an agricultural marketing firm. She then moved into advertising and did freelance work for Worldwide Information Services (pty) Ltd. as sales & marketing consultant. Today as the Sales & Marketing Director she interacts with customers, publishers and Information Providers. She supports academic institutions in the management & evaluation of research output and benchmarking with peers. She works with institutions and organisations across sub-Saharan Africa and has developed expertise in Bibliometrics

Partnering in research beyond borders

In today’s world, people are increasingly recognizing that the only way to solve complicated problems is by overcoming the physical limitations. Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, collaborations and partnerships amongst researchers and scientists around the world have been encouraged, this has helped with the deployment to use their skills and expertise to help fight Covid-19. Climate change, rising inequality, and food shortages also remain as threats facing the world today. The fast emergence and advancement of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and the Internet of Things, has created new opportunities and challenges for government, hospitals, and businesses. For South African Universities and other Research organizations, international partnerships enable researchers to share their knowledge and combine their expertise to address complex problems. Through collaborations and partnerships, researchers can gain access to much-needed resources to support and develop innovative solutions that can benefit regions across the globe

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Mr Siyanda Manqele1, Ms Maricel van Rooyen1, Mr Sidney Engelbrecht11Rhodes University, Grahamstown , South Africa

BIOGRAPHY: Mr. Siyanda Manqele is currently the Institutional Ethics Coordinator at Rhodes University responsible for both RECs in Animal Use and Human subjects. He has 10 years of experience in research management and administration in the institutions of Higher Education, having worked at University of Zululand (Unizulu) and University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN). He is a member of the Research Ethics Committee Association of Southern Africa (REASA), Southern Africa Research & Innovation Management Association (SARIMA), and The International Emergency Management Society (TIEMS). He coordinated the first South African “Ethics Disaster Management Workshop in the Eastern Cape, in Disaster Situations in September 2019 in collaboration with The International Emergency Management Society (TIEMS) based in Brussels, Belgium. Presented on the 2020 SARIMA conference.

Role of RECs in protecting data and information of research participants -ethical & legal considerations

In recent times, we have observed the implementation of new international and national legal in the lawful processing of personal information in the United Kingdom (UK) and South Africa (SA). The Data Protection Act 2018 is the UK’s implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA, or the Act) 4 of 2013 was published by the South African Parliament in 2013 but came into full effect on 1 July 2021. These legal instruments will have implications for all research activities that involve the collection, processing, storage of personal information. This will further affect Research Ethics Committees (RECs) on their review processes, application forms, and decision-making in applying GDPR and POPIA regulations. This paper is looking to identify and discuss challenges, opportunities in the governance of data protection and sharing and REC involvement. The qualitative methodology will be used, and a standardized online questionnaire will be applied to researchers, REC members, and administrators of universities in South Africa.

This paper aims to cover questions like: a) How do RECs satisfy the data protection requirements of the European GDPR? Specifically, how to comply with GDPR in European collaborations? b) Why is it important to appoint a Data Protection Officer? c) What is the implementation of data protection at institutions?d) What did institutions incorporate in the ethics application process to be POPIA compliant?e) What is the way forward regarding data privacy after COVID?

Keywords: data sharing, data protection, governance, research ethics committee, data privacy

A university’s research is not just its academic papers. Patents, clinical trials, datasets and grant data show the full output of a university, including previously unknown or under-appreciated international collaborators.

Using the latest advances in technology, artificial intelligence and machine learning, together with the broadest and most complete sets of research data in a single system, our aim is to show institutions how they can more holistically report and demonstrate their meaningful national and international collaborations, and look beyond bibliographic outputs and indicators as the means to do this.

Using data from research activities at the University of Pretoria, an existing Dimensions client, Ben McLeish and Daryl Naylor show the true international network of collaborators, co-sponsors and institutional partners which go completely unreported if one only focuses on research articles and traditional bibliometrics.

Mr Ben Mcleish11Digital Science, London, United Kingdom

BIOGRAPHY: Ben has been the Director of Advocacy and Outreach at Digital Science since 2018, prior to that he was European Sales Lead at Altmetric, also a Digital Science company, for four years. Ben has worked in academic publishing and information services since 2004. Previously at John Wiley & Sons and The American Chemical Society, he also represented the introduction of the Summon Library Discovery service in Northern Europe while at ProQuest. Ben has also worked in TV and radio Media Monitoring in Australia as well as CleanTech and Digital Media sector analysis.

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SARIMA President Therina TheronSenior Director: Research and InnovationStellenbosch University | South Africa

Conference ChairpersonMaryke Hunter-HüsselmannDirector: Research Information and StrategyStellenbosch University | South Africa

Committee Members:Changu Batisani | Research Coordinator | Botswana Open University | Botswana, Ana Casanueva-Gonzalez | Technology Transfer Manager | University of the Western Cape | South Africa, Sidney Engelbrecht | Manager: Research Ethics | University of Cape Town | South Africa, Anna Matros-Goreses | Director: Projects Service Unit | Namibia University of Science and Technology | Namibia, Caryn McNamara | Operations Manager | University of the Witwatersrand | South Africa, Pamella Ntshakaza | Technology Transfer Officer | Rhodes University | South Africa, Mandy-Lee Pietersen | Innovation Fund Manager | University of the Witwatersrand | South Africa

SARIMA Association:For SARIMA Association and Membership Queries - Please contact:Latoya McDonaldSARIMA Office Managersarima@sarima.co.za | +27 (0) 12 841 3329

Postal Address:PostNet Suite 310, Private Bag X25,Lynwood Ridge, Pretoria, 0040South Africa

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