UWC Annual Research Report 2023

TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION 1: Directors Reports ............................... 2 Executive summary ..................................................... 3

Project 5 - Telerehabilitation for selfmanagement of patients with noncommunicable diseases attending community

Directors .......................................................................... 5

health centres in the Western Cape Province ...........................................................................................76

SECTION 2: University in numbers ..................... 37 At-a-Glance infographic ..........................................39

Project 6 - Social Innovation through Sustainable Development ....................................... 77

Top 7 impact rankings for 2023 .......................... 40 SECTION 6: ACKNOWLEDGING OUR SECTION 3: RESEARCH AT UWC ...................... 40 Ethics projects ............................................................43 Top Researchers ........................................................ 44 UWC Research Chairs ..............................................47

ACHIEVEMENTS..........................................................78 Leaders in Research Centres ................................ 80 New NRF-rated researchers for 2022 ................88 Research Recognition Awards 2022 ................. 97 Other Acknowledgements ................................... 102

SECTION 4: UWC AS AN ENGAGED UNIVERSITY ................................................................53 PEEP Leadership Mid-career programme ........54 Early career development (ADAPTT & USDP) ....58 SDG Indaba ..................................................................62 Research Week ...........................................................63

SECTION 5: RESEARCH CONTRIBUTING TO INNOVATIVE TEACHING..........................................70 Project 1 - Hangouts for Healthcare .................... 72 Project 2 - UWC High Performance Centre (UWC HPC) in collaboration with the Sporting Department at the University of The Western Cape. ............................................................................... 73 Project 3 - AR & VR: The new frontier in clinical skills training ................................................................ 74 Project 4 - Social Work and Youth Going Green ........................................................................................... 75

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The University of the Western Cape continues to provide both staff and students with an enabling environment in which to conduct research and build capacity. The past academic year has seen the university continue its valuable contribution to research and innovation and our research report for 2022/2023 covers a range of achievements by our students, academics and support staff.

As we continue to drive towards meeting the indicators for our key performance areas we are happy to report on the following successes: 1.

We have been able to raise R67 000 000 in PG student bursary support. This assists with attracting and retaining our PG students. In addition, we have hosted 80 workshops to support PG students throughout the year. As we continue to purposively engage PG students through my office we have been able to support key niche areas that the university aims to drive and these include the area of Sustainable Agriculture, the CHR through their archival project, Digital Transformation through targeted support for joint PHDs with our international partners in Ghent and Belgium.

2. Our academics have done excellent work in contributing towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2063 through conducting research that addresses various social, economic, and environmental challenges. We also drive research that aligns to the Department of Science and Innovations Decadal Plan which focuses on areas such as the digital economy, health innovation and energy innovation. While the SDGs focus on a global scale, Agenda 2063 specifically targets the African continent and the DSI Decadal Plan zones into our local context.

Despite their distinct scopes, there are areas of alignment between these three frameworks.

The University of the Western Cape as a research-led university continuously strives to have a growing network of active partnerships through research, teaching and learning with other universities both globally and in Africa. As part of this agenda the university has been able to support UWC research chairs in the areas of Digital Health, Sustainable Agriculture and Entrepreneurship to mention a few.

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3. Capacity development and ensuring the next generation of academics are prepared has seen us raise R30 000 000 to ensure that we are able to contribute to supporting staff to complete their PhDs which has increased to 64% and also provide opportunities to build their research network and increase their publications.

4. Key areas of convergence between the United Nations SDGs, Agenda 2063 and DSI Decadal Plan include but are not limited to seven areas namely poverty eradication, gender equality, quality education, health and well-being, sustainable economic growth, climate change and partnerships. In terms of poverty eradication, both SDGs and Agenda 2063 highlights the need to lift people out of poverty and ensure social inclusion in various ways. This will be reflected in the report through our UWC research chairs and researchers. Another common focus is gender equality which highlights the empowerment of women and through this report we will emphasise the activities that have been implemented to promote equal opportunities for women and support them on their academic journey.

5. In addition, the SDGs and Agenda 2063 recognize the importance of quality education for sustainable development. They seek to provide inclusive and equitable education systems that promote lifelong learning opportunities for all individuals, with a focus on improving access and eliminating gender disparities. As a university one of our key areas of contribution is SDG 3 which focuses on health and well-being. Both frameworks prioritise the promotion of good health and well-being. They aim to ensure universal access to healthcare services, reduce maternal and child mortality, combat major diseases, and promote mental health and well-being. As a university we have contributed to this area as it is demonstrated in our registered ethics projects.

As we celebrate the tremendous contributions and achievements of our students and academics, we acknowledge our partners both nationally and internationally as well as our funders who contribute to making research count at the UWC.

DVC: Research and Innovation –

DIRECTORS

LIBRARY SERVICES: Dr Shirlene Neerputh

SPECIAL PROJECTS: Dr Thabile Sokupa

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER: Dr Ana Casanueva

RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT & POSTGRADUATE SUPPORT: Prof Joliana Phillips

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE: Prof Julian May

GENDER EQUITY: Dr Fikile Vilakazi

eRESEARCH: Dr Clement Nyirenda

Prof José Frantz

DIRECTORS’ REPORTS: The support offered by the office of the DVC: Research and Innovation include promotion and support of interdisciplinary research, capacity development of early and mid-career researchers and enhancing and sustaining leading researchers. In addition, researchers are supported by support services from the library, the technology transfer office (TTO), Research Development and Postgraduate Support (RDPS) and the Special Projects unit. Collectively we offer capacity development initiatives that assist postgraduate students and academics across the spectrum as well as financial support for PG students and staff . As we look at the theme: “SDG 2023: Midpoint to 2030. Where to from here?”, we assess the contribution of the various directorates.

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Prof Joliana Phillips Director Research Development and Postgraduate Support (RDPS) The RDPS office has firmly aligned its goals with the IOP of the university and the strategy for advancing the SDGs 2030 Agenda at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). This ethos is encouraged through the mainstreaming of SDGs at the postgraduate level to ensure research output at the UWC that has an impact on solving real-world problems. RDPS provides researchers and postgraduate students with the necessary advice and support they need to ensure research related the SDGs is carried out at the UWC.

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RDPS establishes the 17 SDGs in the following pathways: SDG

HOW RDPS CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs •

The pursuit of a postgraduate degree requires mental, psychological and emotional stamina, hence, the Research Development and Postgraduate Support (RDPS) unit offers peer mentorship in the form of coaches to provide academic guidance to postgraduate students through writing and statistical support.

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Research can be a lonely, often isolated journey and by providing one-on-one support and advice to our postgraduate students on various stages of their research journey alleviates some of their stresses. Feeling that one has a degree of camaraderie assists in improving the postgraduate student’s health and well-being.

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The Research development and Postgraduate support unit (RDPS) provides postgraduate training and support through a holistic approach by providing coaching/mentoring, academic workshops, specialist consultations, retreats, funding opportunities, and editorial support. More importantly, the feedback mechanisms, monitoring, and evaluation as well as being able to accommodate bespoke postgraduate training requests is one of the efforts of the RDPS to promote quality education. In essence, the goal of the unit is to contribute to the throughput of postgraduate students. Thus, the services provided by the unit aim to support and propel postgraduate students over the finish line within the allocated time for their degree.

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Skills development training to facilitate postgraduates and early career researchers to create innovative research projects that are focused on societal development.

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The UWC being a research-led university implies that postgraduate recruitment, retention, and completion constitute a feasible strategy.

The training (academic and non-academic) offered by the RDPS provides a unique pipeline for timeous completion and overall UWC postgraduate throughput.

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Research that targets the SDG 5 is being conducted by a variety of faculties; the RDPS oversees funding bodies and provides mentorship to ensure that gender equality is addressed at the UWC.

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The skills training provided to postgraduates through RDPS workshops is designed to equip postgraduates with career opportunities through the development of soft and transferable skills which often transcend beyond the acquired postgraduate degrees.

The prospect of gainful employment is such that postgraduate students are exposed to the world of possibilities in the context of careers within and beyond academia as well as entrepreneurial skills.

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SDG

HOW RDPS CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs •

The RDPS plays a key role in driving innovation across faculties through funding support both internally and externally. This funding allows researchers and postgraduates to continue to find innovative approaches in addressing the SDGs.

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Capacitating postgraduates, early and mid-career researchers bridge the gap in inequality. As an HDI capacity development at the UWC provided by the RDPS allows for capitalising of a growing younger generation as skills training allows scholars to have a better environment.

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The RDPS promotes internationalisation through the recruitment of international postgraduate students, allocation of funding opportunities for overseas exchange programmes, and by extension, the promotion of intellectual and inter-cultural interactions. The RDPS mentorship programmes, funding initiatives, and awards assist in building a stronger institution to promote effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions.

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The RDPS facilitates co-creation between various fields of research across all 7 faculties at the UWC to ensure SDG-focused solutions.

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Manages and oversees research funding to ensure synergy between researchers and postgraduates to ensure increased engagement focusing on SDG targets.

Dr Shirlene Neerputh Director Library Services The library’s vision is to be “a strategic partner recognised for our excellence in innovative and relevant library services”, with a mission to “enrich the learning, teaching, and research experience through dynamic services to enable academic success”.

The library implemented the promotion of the SDG framework within its operational planning portfolio in Learning and Teaching, Resources and Systems, Research, and Scholarly Communications. The UWC library is considered to be the lifeblood of the academic project, servicing 24 000 diverse cohorts of students and staff. The Library has transformed into electronic and digital services with reimagined spatial designs with a strong focus to advance academic success within a research-led university. The library services ascribe to the institutionally rich transformational history, with social justice objectives. The Library Services impact on opportunities in the biosphere, society, and the economy, influenced and affected by the institutional research SDGs strategy.

The RDPS office under the umbrella of the DVC Research and Innovation understands the importance of interrogating and engaging with core global strategies. In the light of this, our office finds itself aligned with the UN SDGs in practice through the above-mentioned ways. Furthermore, responding to the urgency of this alignment within its very own institutional identity through its Institutional Operating Plan (IOP) 2021 -2025. The University of the Western Cape’s IOP 2021 – 2025 targets seven goal areas. The Office of Research Development and Postgraduate Support aligns itself to the below IOP goal areas: • • •

Goal Area 1: The Student Experience Goal Area 2: Learning and Teaching Goal Area 3: Research and Innovation

In addition, the RDPS implements operational initiatives and best practices strategies actioned by the relevant Research Development and Postgraduate Support academic and operational (admin) staff.

The RDPS presents practical action plans which aim to introduce, promote and implement initiatives that support the above-mentioned elements enhancing the postgraduate research journey.

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The Library Management and Team initiate the 17 SDGs in the following pathways: SDG

HOW UWC LIBRARY CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs •

Libraries advocate for lifelong learning to eliminate poverty;

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The UWC librarians empower users with information and services to support career development and academic success for overcoming poverty.

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HOW UWC LIBRARY CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs •

Provision of access to information on water and sanitation.

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Provide research resources and data on water and sanitation.

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Hosts exhibitions on water sustainability.

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The library provides for the student experience, TnL (Teaching & Learning), and Research Goals of the IOP via the provision of clean safe spaces with strong Wi-Fi, computer, and printing connectivity and access to learning resources, facilities, and infrastructure for enhancing learning and research.

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Access to ICT and capacity development, including resources for users enable work and growth opportunities.

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The UWC libraries strongly align with the IOP - research, technology and innovation, and academic life;

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The library hosts the repository / OJS platforms for research visibility and knowledge building and publications output and advances local research.

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A digital strategy is developed to govern the implementation and app technologies in the library.

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The UWC library can manage change and evolution of services; align the library’s digital development with teaching and research practices and develop digital literacies and technology skills.

The provision of access to research and research data management via the UWC Kikapu repository for food security and sustainable living development.

Post-pandemic the Library re-focused on health and safety, health and risk compliance are in place for staff and end-users.

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The library prides itself on identifying and facilitating access to quality peer-reviewed sources of information to support the university’s academic and professional goals.

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The provision of capacity-building programmes to enhance teaching, learning, and research endeavours.

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The provision of technology-assisted, safe conducive spaces to support and enhance learning.

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The library identifies and enables access to open educational resources [OER] and open access [OA] resources to supplement and complement information resources acquired through funding.

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The Library can therefore increase access to information and communication technology (ICTs) and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet.

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Adopt and promote transformational agreements.

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Introduces a systematic approach to the marketing of information resources and learning services to optimise academic success.

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Actively promotes gender equality programmes via exhibitions and partnerships with the GE Unit;

Introduce a MakerSpace facility in the library, to facilitate collaboration through the sharing of ideas and knowledge leading to the creation of physical items and digital content. The use of MakerSpace equipment will create opportunities for collaboration, exploration, and experiential learning at the UWC.

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Introduce a digital self-help kiosk, (AI) humanoid, encouraging students and researchers to be independent library users, able to find and access information resources on their own;

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Identify new technologies and new ways of using technologies to enhance services e.g., adopt RFID technologies to enhance the accessibility of resources.

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SDG

Acutely aware of gender resources for access and knowledge building.

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SDG

HOW UWC LIBRARY CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs •

Refurbishment of the dentistry branch and the main library to enhance the student experience of the facility.

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Eliminate the reliance on the energy grid and review water and power saving measures on the facilities and services.

SDG

HOW UWC LIBRARY CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs •

The UWC library enables sharing of information resources through Open Access and the institutional signing of the Berlin Declaration of Open Access in 2014.

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The promotion of technologies and tools to reduce the carbon footprint on the earth.

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Information literacy and digital literacy programmes to encourage ethical and responsible use in consuming information and knowledge creation.

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The libraries advocate for equitable access to information, freedom of expression, freedom of association, and privacy, including copyright monitoring;

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Enabling an environment for diverse marginalised groups who struggle to access information, skills, and support.

Libraries play a key role in providing access to reliable data, research, and knowledge that supports informed research and public access to resources on climate change.

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The library is a social justice cultural home for information and access to resources and services, via the provision of safe and secure environments conducive to study and research, including the library 24/7 learning centre;

To ensure preservation and that digital data are protected for future generations.

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The UWC library is a proactive partner with key stakeholders to advance the university’s vision, mission, and goals.

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Fosters local national, and international partners to engage, and empower the university community to strengthen society, and institutional goals.

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Librarians evaluate research, information, and data that supports SDG areas of interest.

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Librarians can facilitate course-integrated IL instruction that fosters knowledge and understanding of sustainable development areas and goals, thereby enabling the promotion of SDGs to the university community.

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Provides a learning space for differently-abled students, including specialised equipment to facilitate learning and research.

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Invests in new and updated equipment to enhance the learning experience.

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Pursues the adoption of a national site-licence for core information resources to ensure equity of access to information resources.

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The library should evaluate the use of spaces based on current usage patterns and provide ideas and floor plans for change.

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The UWC library should maintain neutral and welcoming spaces that make learning accessible for all, including persons with disabilities.

(Physical access to the library building and digital accessibility.)

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Virtual spaces should be made accessible to everyone through the provision of stable WIFI connectivity;

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Librarians can make information and resources accessible to all students by facilitating blended and flexible learning by improving learning materials and redesigning them for different platforms.

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The UWC library provides for safeguarding, access, and preservation of invaluable documentary heritage resources;

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A welcoming space for diverse university communities, including visitor access for study and research.

The UWC Libraries is a member of IFLA (International Federation of Libraries Association), and subscribed to IFLA 2021 strong advocacy for Climate Change and has hosted webinars to advance knowledge and institutional awareness. According to the United Nations (2015), climate change has become the “defining human development challenge of the 21st century while climate stability has been classified as a key “global public good” because it is a good that “benefits all countries”.

Equally, access to information and knowledge joins the list of key global public goods where ICTs have become major drivers of economic growth and social development.

As illustrated in this report, the academic library contributes to multiple aspects of sustainable development. Panda and Das (2022) maintain that libraries are positioned as essential knowledge hubs that promote education, facilitate research and community engagement. Moreover, it has been posited that libraries and librarians may use SDGs as a framework with which to contribute to the sustainability within their communities (Bangani & Dube, 2023). To this end, UWC Libraries align with the institution’s research and innovation strategy in support of all sustainable development goals.

References Bangani, & Dube, L. (2023). Academic libraries and the actualisation of Sustainable Development Goals two, three and thirteen. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/09610006231174650 Panda, S., & Das, S. K. (2022). Role of Public Libraries in Promoting Social Sustainability for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): An Exploratory Study. Library Waves, 8(2), 129–138. Retrieved from https:// librarywaves.com/index.php/lw/article/view/139

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Prof Julian May Director Centre of Excellence in

The Centre of Excellence in Food Security initiates the 17 SDGs in the following pathways: HOW THE UWC COE-FOOD SECURITY’S (COE-FS) CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs

SDG •

SDG 1 “End extreme poverty” includes outcome targets for the implementation of social protection systems; and the building of resilience to environmental, economic and social disasters, both of which are research themes in our 2019-2023 Business Plan.

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The first is the focus of our SARChI in Social Protection for Food Security who has researched the situation of highly vulnerable groups such as seasonal farm workers and the homeless.

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In the second topic, in 2022 we published the results of our research on food system resilience in an international volume on food system resilience.

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SDG 2 includes ending all forms of malnutrition; improving agricultural productivity; sustainable food production systems and resilient agricultural practices; and improving the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants, and farmed and domesticated animals.

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Our work on the triple burden of malnutrition that has been implemented since 2014 is of direct relevance to this SDG. We have analysed the causes of under-5 stunting, and the impact of supermarket penetration in low-income areas on obesity, and currently we are working on the genetic properties of indigenous legumes and grains.

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In 2020, together with the Children’s Institute and funded by UNICEF, our research programme on child malnutrition resulted in the publication of a Child Gauge on this topic that was launched by South Africa’s First Lady.

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SDG 3 (Health Lives). We are undertaking research on diet-related non-communicable diseases and have completed projects on child malnutrition arising from poor water, sanitation, and hygiene.

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SDG 6 (Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation). Our ongoing place-based projects in the Breede Valley Municipality, Langa, and Matatiele in South Africa, and with collaborators.

Food Security

The CoE-Food Security’s (CoE-FS) research, capacity building, and engagement activities contribute to many of the SDGs. Food security is specifically targeted under SDG 2 which focuses on creating a world free of hunger by 2030 (end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture).

Through its various key performance areas and programmes (including Food Systems, Governance, and Policy Programme, Innovation, and Technology, as well as Nutrition, Health, and Safety for Food Security), the CoE-FS research activities, therefore, aim to align with the SDGs to deliver multiinstitutional and multi-disciplinary research and capacity building, concerned with building and communicating evidence to achieve sustainable food and nutrition security with dignity.

Through its leverage projects such as the SARChI for Social Protection for Food Security, the Partnerships for Healthy Diets and Nutrition in Urban Africa Food Systems, and the project on Exploring Food System Transformations in Rapidly Changing African Cities, the CoE-FS focuses on real-time shifts in food system impacts. Such cutting-edge research capacity delivers on-thespot and up-to-date empirical data to leverage opportunities in food security outputs both in the public sphere and across private sector initiatives, as well as from non-profit organisations and grass-roots structures. These initiatives directly anchor the broader vision of the United Nations/SDGs and are also geared to support communities as individual localities and households’ aim to mend their specific food insecurity challenges.

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Dr Ana Casanueva

HOW THE UWC COE-FOOD SECURITY’S (COE-FS) CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs

SDG •

SDG 11 (Sustainable cities and communities). Here we are working on outcome targets such as inclusive and sustainable urbanization, reduction of the adverse effects of natural disasters, and reduction of the environmental impacts of cities.

Director Technology Transfer Office (TTO)

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SDG 12 (Responsible consumption and production) is another core focus of the CoE-FS. Our research includes work on the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources, and reducing food waste and food losses.

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Much of this research on One Health is led by our co-host, the University of Pretoria.

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The contribution of the CoE-FS was achieved through accomplishments in multiple dimensions; from improving the governance of food systems, empowerment of local communities and building sustainable livelihoods, inclusive and responsible investments in agriculture and rural areas, as well as investments in health and education, empowering small food producers and strengthening social structures.

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SDG 13 (Climate change) with a specific focus on the impact on local food system sustainability.

Innovation plays a crucial role in responding to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030.

Innovation is essential for achieving these goals by providing new solutions, technologies, and approaches that can drive positive change. Through its R&D (Research & Development), the UWC generates knowledge, develops technologies, and finds innovative solutions to address the challenges outlined in the SDGs. By leveraging these intellectual capacities, resources, and influence, the UWC has the potential to contribute significantly to the realisation of the SDGs. The UWC TTO contributes to all SDGs by facilitating the transfer and utilisation of knowledge, research outcomes, and innovations for societal impact. In the next 7 years, the UWC TTO will endeavour to support the development and commercialisation of UWC R&D, responding to the SDGs as follows:

In conclusion to ensure the implementation of the SDGs the CoE plans to:

- Identifying UWC innovations stemming from R&D which address all SDGs

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Strengthen and expand existing global partnerships and debates; strengthen and expand international and national collaborative networks; and improve diversity in research;

- Evaluating the socio-economic potential of these innovations

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Enhance scientific research on technological innovations and solutions (strengthen relationships with businesses, empower small food producers, promote innovation hubs focussing on food security/ SDG goals);

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Promote exchange programmes between the CoE -FS and businesses (strengthen technology and innovation research as well as health, safety, and nutrition research);

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Strengthen existing collaborative partnerships, and foster new partnerships with government, non-government organisations, civil society, etc. (improve learning journeys/place-based learning/knowledge exchange with and amongst communities, empowerment of local communities, strengthen social structures);

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Expand role in policy development/policy influence.

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Expand researcher base, including early career researchers – to engage in the global research community to support SDGs/food security initiatives.

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- Protecting and appropriately

managing

their

associated

intellectual

property

- Progressing the development of the early-stage innovations which address the SDGs, through seed funding (from TIA - Technology Innovation Agency and SBDG - Small Business Development Group) - Facilitating collaborations and partnerships with industry and other institutions and ensuring appropriate agreements are in place - Transferring into society and/or commercialising these UWC innovations in order to ensure they contribute to the achievement of the SDGs.

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Technology Transfer Office (TTO) initiates the 17 SDGs in the following pathways: SDG

HOW UWC TTO CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs IN THE NEXT 7 YEARS •

The UWC TTO is actively involved and will continue being involved in identifying, protecting, and commercialising innovations whose goal is the reduction of poverty.

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Current innovations include the WeCare digital platform, Zenzeleni Networks, InterPlay Assessment, Essnhance project, some of which have received technology development funding through the UWC TTO.

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The UWC TTO will fund technology development projects in the next 7 years, whose innovations address SDG .

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The UWC TTO works closely with the Centre of Excellence for Food Security.

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The UWC TTO is actively involved and will continue being involved in identifying, protecting, and commercialising innovations whose goal is to achieve zero hunger.

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Current innovations include Kraalbos Biostimulant, Black Soldier Fly Lipid extractions, and the Rooibos resilience project.

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The UWC will identify new innovations which address SDG 2 and will ensure technology development funding and commercialisation of existing and new projects which drive SDG 2.

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The majority of the current innovations within the UWC TTO portfolio address SDG 3, driving towards good health and well-being. These projects will be further developed and commercialised with support from the UWC TTO in the next 7 years.

These innovations include the Exatype HIV and TB platform, Soap silver nanoparticles, Dental Aerosol Device, Dental Irrigation tip, Neurodevelopmental markers, Indigenous Male Fertility treatment, BaobabLIMS, Genesis Scorecard, Ebola Markers, Novel antiTB drug complexes, SARS-CoV2 vaccine testing platform, Kraalbos anticancer extract, Indigenous antidiabetic extracts, Indigenous anti-asthma extracts, Family resilience, and well-being programme, antimalarial drug novel formulation, paediatric ARV formulations, novel metformin derivatives, Leonoris mental health supplement, Enhance oils, Tacto diabetic device.

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The UWC TTO has been involved in providing funding and support for a number of these and will continue to do so in the next 7 years.

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The UWC TTO will ensure further identification of novel innovations which address SDG 3, and will protect, assess, fund, and commercialise these to address SDG 3.

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SDG

HOW UWC TTO CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs IN THE NEXT 7 YEARS •

The UWC TTO is closely involved with the education of postgraduate students in the field of innovation, commercialisation, and entrepreneurship, and will continue for the next 7 years.

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It is also actively involved in supporting the following innovations which address SDG 4: TB/HIV School Learner Book, Genesis School Scorecard, SignSupport, InterPlay Assessment, Family Resilience Programme, LSC English Textbook

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The UWC TTO will ensure further identification of novel innovations which address SDG 4, and will protect, assess, fund and commercialise these to address SDG 4.

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The UWC TTO actively promotes Gender Equality programmes via events, including the recent World IP Day Celebration on 21 May 2023, acknowledging the role of women innovators.

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The UWC TTO is also involved in the support and development of innovations which address gender equality, including the development of the UWC sexual assault kit, for the identification of sexual assault perpetrators.

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The UWC TTO supports several innovations that address SDG 6, clean water, and sanitation.

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These include the acid mine drainage remediation project, removal of oil method, zeolites for remediation, and water remediation treatments.

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Further innovations which address SDG 6 will be identified and supported.

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The UWC TTO is closely involved in supporting many UWC innovations addressing the local and current energy problems.

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These include various hydrogen energy technologies, including fuel cells, metal hydrogen storage, hydrogen refuelling stations, hydrogen electrolysers, hydrogen-powered light vehicles, and heavy-duty vehicles. Energy storage innovations include novel Li-ion battery chemistries and power modules. Biodiesel utilising zeolites.

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In the next 7 years, these innovations will be further supported with innovation funding and commercialisation strategies, and new innovations driving SDG 7 will be identified and supported.

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The UWC TTO is actively involved in the creation of start-ups and support for programmes and entrepreneurs, through UWC Innovations (Pty) Ltd, a vehicle to promote startups and ensure they are running efficiently.

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Commercialisation of UWC innovations through the UWC TTO will create employment and increase economic growth.

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SDG

HOW UWC TTO CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs IN THE NEXT 7 YEARS

HOW UWC TTO CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs IN THE NEXT 7 YEARS

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Identifying supportive structures for researchers to be involved in entrepreneurial activities.

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The UWC TTO promotes a paperless environment where possible, with all its documents, forms, etc.. available electronically;

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It is also actively involved in supporting innovations that directly address SDG 8, promoting decent work and economic growth.

These include the WeCare digital platform for domestic workers, the InterPlay assessment, Zenzeleni Networks, and rural microenterprises.

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Identification and promotion of technologies and tools to reduce the carbon footprint on the earth;

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Support of UWC innovations for sustainable production and consumption: these include Natural Biosurfactant, for ecological production of chemicals, Kraalbos biostimulant, for organic farming and hydrogen technologies to produce green energy.

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The UWC TTO is actively involved in the education and promotion of renewable energy technologies, through marketing pamphlets and videos;

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It supports technologies to produce green energy to reduce carbon emissions.

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SDG

The UWC TTO has supported the creation of 2 UWC spinouts, promoting decent work and economic growth, and is planning to create further spinouts in the next 7 years.

The UWC TTO is involved daily in the promotion and stimulation of innovation. It aligns with the UWC IOP, enabling an innovation ecosystem through the promotion of awareness, identification of innovations, and support of implementation of innovations.

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It is also supporting several innovations that address industry and infrastructure.

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It will be involved in the identification of novel innovations for carbon emission reduction, carbon utilisation, and climate mediation.

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These include novel biosurfactants for industrial processes, novel geopolymers for building materials, and zeolites for green industrial processes.

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Novel infrastructure and industrial innovations will be identified and supported in the next 7 years, in conjunction with the current innovations.

The UWC TTO is actively involved in the education and promotion of water remediation technologies, through marketing pamphlets and videos.

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The UWC TTO is a strong supporter of equitable access to education, research, and innovation.

It supports technologies for the purification and remediation of water, including Acid Mine Drainage remediation, water disinfection technologies, technologies for the removal of oil from water, the monitoring of pollution levels in the ocean, and a pilot plant of a sustainable copepod farm.

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It supports the UWC’s social justice mission and is involved in the support of UWC innovations advocating equity.

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It will be involved in the identification of novel innovations to ensue optimal water quality and sustainability in water ecosystems.

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These include the WeCare digital platform for domestic workers, the SignSupport platform for the Deaf, Kraalbos Biostimulant for smallholding farmers, ESSnhance for rural farmers, Zenzeleni Networks for digital equality, BaobabLIMS Open-Source Platform for lowresourced settings. The Family Resilience Strengthening programme for affordable counselling for families in low-income communities

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The UWC TTO is and will be involved in ensuring the bioprospecting compliance of the UWC and its research, guarding and protecting indigenous biological and genetic resources.

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It is involved in technologies promoting plant growth through microbial fertilisers for the sustainability of small-scale farming.

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The UWC TTO connects different stakeholders to form partnerships to achieve all 17 SDGs, such as partnerships between the UWC and communities, industry, government institutions, civil society, etc.

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The UWC TTO holds forums between these stakeholders and will continue to do so, such as the quarterly Western Cape TTO forums, SARIMA committees and communities of practice, etc.

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The UWC TTO promotes multidisciplinary partnerships and collaborative research and supports the researchers and the legal department to establish these partnerships formally.

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The UWC TTO promotes capacity building with the TTO and the research community, through various programmes in partnership with innovation stakeholders.

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The UWC TTO is closely involved in supporting many UWC innovations promoting sustainability in cities and communities.

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These include innovations such as Zenzeleni Networks, ensuring affordable connectivity in rural communities, geopolymer, more affordable, durable building materials, the hijack prevention app, ensuring safety in our cities and communities, the WeCare digital platform, advocating for sustainability in the domestic worker community, and the Family Resilience programme for community wellbeing.

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The UWC TTO will identify further innovations addressing the sustainability of cities and communities.

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This includes the management of bioprospecting and indigenous knowledge in research, ensuring indigenous communities are acknowledged and benefit.

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Dr Fikile Vilakazi Director Gender Equity Unit (GEU) We present an overview of the Annual Report on the Gender Equity Unit’s efforts to initiate the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Highlighting the unit’s commitment to promoting gender equality and its contributions towards achieving the SDGs. By integrating a gender perspective into the implementation of the SDGs, the Gender Equity Unit aims to address the disparities and challenges faced by women and girls worldwide.

We recognize that gender equality is not only a fundamental human right but also a necessary foundation for achieving sustainable development. Women and girls face persistent inequalities and discrimination in various spheres of life, including education, employment, health, and decision-making.

Addressing these gender disparities is crucial for the creation of inclusive and equitable societies and realising the full potential of all individuals. We will showcase successful projects, partnerships, and policy interventions aimed at promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls.

Furthermore, showcasing the unit’s collaboration with other stakeholders, including governments, civil society organisations, academia, and the private sector, in order to maximise its impact and create synergies towards achieving the SDGs.

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The Gender Equity Unit initiates the 17 SDGs in the following pathways: HOW THE UWC GENDER EQUITY UNIT CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs VISION 2030

SDG •

The Gender Equity Unit provides food assistance to students who are not able to afford to buy food for themselves and are not a part of the NSFAS grant programme. We do this as a preventative measure to mitigate against gender-based violence and femicide, since lack of adequate access to food can be one of the drivers of GBVF.

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We are doing this through a programme that we call the Isandla Sethu Food Programme which is student-led and is dedicated towards the reduction of poverty, destitution and starvation for students on the margins of society. We do this through strengthening partnerships with spaces such as the Centre for Food Excellence at the UWC and other social movements outside the University who are dedicated towards the eradication of poverty in society such as individual farmers, food growers and the Global Ecovillage Network which centres eco livelihoods through organic and just consumption. We are also part of the National Strategic Plan to end Gender Based Violence and Femicide [NSP-GBVF] pillar 4 which is focused on response, care, support and healing and often engages and responds to poverty and hunger related interventions.

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This is an annual programme that delivers towards SDG 1 & 2, UWC IOP 2021-5 and Department of Higher Education and Training [DHET] GBVF Policy Framework, Vision 2030. We are also encouraging the UWC community to be actively involved in this process through learning and teaching, research and community engagement towards the 2030 vision of equitable Universities.

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The Gender Equity Unit provides food assistance to students who are not able to afford to buy food for themselves and are not on the NSFAS grant programme.

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We do this through strengthening partnerships with spaces like the Centre for Food Excellence and PLAAS through research and innovation at the UWC and other social movements outside the University that are dedicated to the eradication of poverty in society such as individual farmers, food growers, and the Global Ecovillage Network which centres eco livelihoods through organic and just consumption.

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We are also part of the National Strategic Plan to end Gender Based Violence and Femicide [NSP-GBVF] pillar 4 which is focused on response, care, support, and healing and often engages and responds to poverty and hunger-related interventions.

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HOW THE UWC GENDER EQUITY UNIT CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs VISION 2030

SDG •

The Gender Equity Unit runs a partnership programme with the HIV/AIDS Unit which is now known as the Wellness Unit under the banner of Higher Health to promote mental health through enhanced sexual and reproductive health, gender equity awareness, and GBVF prevention.

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This is an annual programme that delivers towards SDG 3 and it includes other support units as well, namely: Res Life, the clinic, the library, the Risk and Safety Unit, and the Campus Protection Unit, amongst others. We do this work through programmes such as the Peer-to-Peer student mentoring programme that touches on themes such as GBVF, sexual and mental health, disability rights, sexual and reproductive rights advocacy, and research. We also participate in broader UWC wellness programmes for students and staff and we also take this work into those spaces annually.

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The Gender Equity Unit collaborates with faculties to ensure an inclusive and diverse curriculum through deepened curriculum transformation and diverse human resources that are embedded in the values of inclusion and diversity within the context of learning and teaching. We also run inclusion and diversity workshops for students and staff to enhance the quality of learning and teaching at the UWC in partnership with other support units. We encourage the development of modules that foster gender equitable content through innovative modules that integrate the scholarship of gender and sexuality in line with SDG 4.

The Gender Equity Unit leads the development, review, and monitoring of a Gender Equity policy for the UWC to enhance gender equality in all functions of the University. We further monitor the implementation of gender equity through ongoing gender audits that we do with varied sectors of the University community annually towards the realisation of gender equality in all spheres of the UWC in line with SDG 5.

This is work that we do in partnership with the Human Resources, Procurement, Finance, Faculty Committees, Employment Equity Forum, the Student Representative Council, Central House Committees, Reslife, Student Development and Support, and Senate Committees, amongst others.

The Gender Equity Unit leads peer-to-peer awareness workshops for the UWC community of students and staff that engages regarding the importance and intersections of access to clean water and sanitation and sexual and reproductive health, e.g., the importance of clean water and sanitation for women during menstrual cycles, pregnancy, and breastfeeding. We are also part of provincial, national, and international advocacy groups such as the NSP-GBVF, Communities of Practice [CoP] for all 26 Universities, and others that are engaged in debates about these issues within civil society and government spaces in line with SDG 6.

UWC ANNUAL RESEARCH REPORT 2022/23

HOW THE UWC GENDER EQUITY UNIT CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs VISION 2030

SDG •

The Gender Equity Unit advocates for affordable and clean energy for the UWC community through spaces such as Senate meetings where we engage with other leadership structures like the Technical Transfer Office [TTO], Senate members which is where most decision-making occurs within the UWC community. We are also part of provincial, national, and international advocacy groups that are engaged in debates about these issues within civil society and government spaces.

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We are a part of national conversations that are engaged in the idea of the energy just transition plan which intends to address issues of access to affordable and clean energy in line with SDG 7.

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The Gender Equity Unit provides a space to work decently and to grow for students and staff who enter through our voluntary programmes, work-study opportunities, learning and teaching opportunities, research opportunities and community engagement.

We also partner with unions within the UWC to continuously engage on issues related to gender equity for workers and employees of the UWC in ways that enable decent work and opportunities to grow and thrive as workers within the UWC community in line with SDG 8.

We are also involved and engaged with other unions on the public domain as part of this work.

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The Gender Equity Unit is working to strengthen its research and innovation capacity in the next couple of years to ensure that we become more innovative in translating the gender and sexuality work that we lead into varied innovation outputs that involve different stakeholders in the areas of research, academia and community engagement within the UWC and on the public domain.

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This is one area that we are deliberately working towards to improve and strengthen in the next 3-10 years beginning in 2024 in line with SDG9. We are also innovating through EduDrama which runs a theatre edutainment programme that raises consciousness on themes related to gender equity and sexuality. Annually EduDrama runs performances for the UWC community, the surrounding communities of the UWC and at the National Arts Festival.

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The Gender Equity Unit plays a significant role in an effort for the UWC to reduce inequalities on the grounds of gender, sexuality, race, class, and other related status. We do this through our involvement in the Employment Equity Forum, varied appointment committees of faculties, human resources, and the Senate within the UWC community. We are also involved in other clusters that bring together students & staff to pursue this agenda in line with SDG 10.

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HOW THE UWC GENDER EQUITY UNIT CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs VISION 2030

SDG •

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The Gender Equity Unit uses an intersectional feminist analytic lens to engage in our relationship with the consumption and production of our work. We remain mindful that as we produce, create and engage in gender and sexuality, we do so within an imperialist, capitalist, neo-colonial, and heteropatriarchal society that remains deeply pervasive in taking, extracting, and exploiting consumption and socio-economic and political production of life.

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Our work constantly does a power check through an intersectional feminist analysis that positions us in ways that we are always cautious in how we relate to ideas and praxis of power over in the processes of consumption and production. We raise this consciousness in all spaces that we are in within UWC and in the public domain to ensure responsible consumption and production in our work and everywhere we participate in line with SDG 12.

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The Gender Equity Unit is working to build a strategic partnership with the Centre for Food Excellence & PLAAS at the UWC, The Global Ecovillage Network, and Khoilife on the public domain in food, farming, and climate action innovations, research, policy, and advocacy. We have started these conversations in 2023 and we are forging a collaboration in this area for the next couple of years. This is work that is linked to our food programme, Isandla Sethu, in line with SDG 13.

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The Gender Equity Unit is actively involved in various initiatives of the City of Cape Town, the Provincial government of the Western Cape, the National Government and in the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa to ensure that we are a part of the imagination of what sustainable cities and communities can look like for South Africa. We enter this debate through the lens of gender and sexuality because we firmly believe that sustainable cities are not possible without the eradication of gender-based violence and femicide as the number one pandemic in South Africa and the reduction of socio-economic inequalities that is embedded in our psyche as a nation. We always enter, speak, engage, and deliver inputs in these debates as the Gender Equity Unit of the UWC. In these spaces to ensure that the UWC is seen to be contributing towards SDG11 through our work amongst other initiatives that the University is running as part of the SDG agenda.

The Gender Equity Unit is involved in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics [STEM] research to interrogate gender and sexuality within STEM. As part of this work, we are talking to scientists who are doing research and teaching in this area, and in this way, we see ourselves growing more towards engendering STEM research and innovations that relate to life below water, the role of involvement of women, transgender people and men in this area of work.

UWC ANNUAL RESEARCH REPORT 2022/23

HOW THE UWC GENDER EQUITY UNIT CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs VISION 2030

SDG •

The Gender Equity Unit is involved in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics [STEM] research within UWC to interrogate gender and sexuality within STEM. As part of this work, we are talking to scientists who are doing research and teaching in this area, and in this way, we see ourselves growing more towards engendering STEM research and innovations that relate to life on land, the role of involvement of women, transgender people and men in this area of work. Similarly, we are involved in the public domain in debates regarding women and land, the scholarship and politics of land, and gender in line with SDG 15.

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We have started conversations with WAFIRA and AIMS in order to forge strategic partnerships as part of this work.

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The Gender Equity Unit plays a significant role in an effort to encourage the UWC to reduce inequalities on the grounds of gender, sexuality, race, class, and other related status. We do this through our involvement on the Employment Equity Forum, varied appointment committees of faculties, human resources, and the Senate within the UWC community. We are also involved in other Clusters that bring together students & staff to pursue this agenda in line with SDG16.

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The Gender Equity Unit also leads the development, review, and monitoring of a Gender Equity policy for the UWC to enhance gender equality in all functions of the University. We further monitor the implementation of gender equity through ongoing gender audits that we do with various sectors of the University community annually towards the realisation of gender equality in all spheres of the UWC in line with SDG5 and 16. This is work that we do in partnership with the Human Resources, Procurement, Finance, Faculty Committees, Employment Equity Forum, the Student Representative Council, Central House Committees, Reslife, Student Development, and Support and Senate Committees, amongst others.

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We are also an active part of the Community of Practice [CoP] against Gender-Based Violence and Femicide within Universities to ensure that we contribute collectively towards building and sustaining peaceful, just, strong, and equitable Universities in South Africa in line with SDG 16.

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The Gender Equity Unit is actively involved in varied initiatives of the City of Cape Town, the Provincial government of the Western Cape, the National Government, and in the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa to ensure that we are a part of the imagination of what sustainable cities and communities can look like for South Africa. We enter this debate through the lens of gender and sexuality because we firmly believe that sustainable cities are not possible without the eradication of gender-based violence and femicide as the number one pandemic in South Africa and the reduction of socio-economic inequalities that is embedded in our psyche as a nation.

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Dr Clement Nyirenda

HOW THE UWC GENDER EQUITY UNIT CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs VISION 2030

SDG •

We always enter, speak, engage, and give input in these debates as the Gender Equity Unit of the UWC in these spaces to ensure that the UWC is seen to be contributing towards SDG11 and 17 through our work amongst other initiatives that the University is running as part of their SDG agenda.

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In the next 3-10 years we are aiming to strengthen strategic partnerships with faculties, research units, student formations, res life, CPS, unions, and community engagement at the UWC and with NGOs, CBOs, and research institutions on the public domain to strengthen our mandate as part of a collaborated effort at the UWC and on the public domain and to alleviate fragmentation and alienation of services in line with SDG 17.

Director eResearch Unit (eR Unit) The eResearch Unit strives to promote and support the use of advanced information technologies to enable better, faster and higherimpact research. This need has come to the forefront because of the rise of big data, which is affecting almost every research endeavour.

This has led to an increase in the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) touching on issues such as data management, software, hardware, data storage and collaboration tools.

Despite the turbulent times, the eResearch Unit made the following achievements between May 2022 and April 2023: SDG

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HOW THE UWC eRESEARCH UNIT CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs •

Data-driven solutions for sustainable African food systems (successful application under NRF’s CPRR – 2023-2025, attracting ~R700,000): the project is open to involve three postgraduate students (bursaries are being applied for in reference to the funded project) and a postdoctoral fellowship for two years.

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Determining factors that most influence malnutrition in children under five in South Africa by using machine learning (ERO – SSPS – CoEFS 2021- )

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The eR Unit continued to support users of REDCap at the UWC, a software program for collecting and managing research data.

In the past year, the number of research data collection projects have more than doubled, bringing the total to over 145 and despite shortage of staff, the assistance offered to researchers has remained uninterrupted. Its increasing usage is presented here in the latest usage statistics.

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SDG

HOW THE UWC eRESEARCH UNIT CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs •

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The eR Unit served as the host for the coding summer school that focused on Data Visualization, Data Analysis, Modelling and Simulation, Stochastic Methods, Machine Learning and Software Management. This summer school was organised by the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) and the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences (NITheCS) from 30 January 2023 – 10 February 2023. Over 25 postgraduate students attended and their positive feedback was highlighted by their repeatedly expressed need for sustained support for practising coding. They are now continuously engaged in regular coding challenges, where they are supported to develop their skills for computational sciences further.

Effective Data technology for monitoring and decision support for fresh agriproducts (FSNet-Africa research fellowship 2022-2023)

In collaboration with partners from Stellenbosch University and the K U Leuven (Belgium), Dr Isingizwe acted as an HDI partner in a bilateral funding application (SA-Flanders FWO joint research programme 2024-2026). Oriented to supporting life on land, and food security, the project will be in the area of mathematical and conservation ecology, investigating estimates of trait mediated plant-animal interaction matrices using online large data sources. If granted, the funding will support workshops and conferences to advance the Data Intensive Research (DIR) agenda at the UWC, especially benefitting the Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology. A provision would also be made for a postdoctoral researcher to be hosted in the same department.

theme in the first draft. The eR Unit will work with ICS, in collaboration with other stakeholders, to develop and maintain the UWC’s Research Cloud Computing Facility. Furthermore, technologies that break down larger workloads across edge devices in order to leverage available computing power and decrease dependence on data centres & cloud processing will also be supported.

2. Data Management Procedures: The existing partnerships on RDM with the Library and Research Development and Postgraduate Support (RDPS) will continue. The eR Unit will also provide support for advanced data collection mechanisms such as Wireless Sensor Networks and drones as well as guidance of the dark side of data (threats to privacy, confidentiality, cybersecurity, the POPI Act). Furthermore, researchers will be encouraged to set up datasets for public use.

3. The eResearch Knowledge Unit: Apart from regular training sessions on eResearch-related topics, the eR Unit will also be actively involved in mentorship of students for HPC, Data Science and Cybersecurity competitions. Furthermore, the eR Unit will collaborate with the Department of Computer Science in the development of a Structured MSc in Artificial Intelligence, with the aim of launching the programme in 2025.

4. Extension of the eResearch agenda beyond Natural Sciences: So far, the eResearch agenda has generally focused on data intensive research (bioinformatics and astroinformatics). Henceforth, deliberate efforts will be made to extend our reach to social sciences. Plans are already underway, in collaboration with Talarify, to offer support to researchers in the following faculties: Law, Arts and Humanities, CHS, EMS, and Education.

5. Guidance & coordination of research administration & management systems (RAMS): In collaboration with the Research Development and Postgraduate Support, the eR Unit will establish the challenges in the existing RAMS and develop a draft UWC RAMS Strategy. Once approved, this will serve as a guide for the development and maintenance of the UWC RAMS software.

6. Boosting the UWC’s role as an anchor institution: The eR Unit will be supporting research tailored for the Tygerberg District and the greater Cape Town in the following areas: AgTech for the wine and food industries; Extended Reality and Data Analytics for the tourism and property development industries; Anti-crime technologies; eHealth; and Smart energy and water systems. These activities are in line with the SDG 2030 Agenda.

7. Financial Sustainability of the eResearch Agenda: The eR Unit will encourage the use of free open-source software. The eR Unit intends to generate income through short courses and consultancies. Researchers will also be encouraged to put together funds for high end HPC infrastructure. Furthermore, researchers will be guided to ensure that they have clear hardware and software budgets in their proposals to prevent them from choking the university’s resources.

In collaboration with the library and the Division for Postgraduate Studies (DPGS), the eR Unit conducted a workshop on “Creating a Data Management Plan’’ in July, 2022.

As from 1 August 2023 we will be welcoming our new Director E-research, Dr Clement Nyirenda.

He shares his vision with us. Going forward, the eResearch Strategy, which was developed in 2020, will be revised and expanded to ensure that it aligns with the UWC’s IOP 2021-2025, the SDG 2030 agenda, and the general advances in eResearch. The revised strategy will focus on the following key areas: 1.

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Investment in Data Intensive Research Infrastructure, Support & Training: This was the major

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Mrs Althea George Manager Grants and Finances and Acting Director Special Projects

The Special Projects Office primarily drives capacity development initiatives in an effort to ‘make research and innovation count through connecting possibilities.’ These initiatives are closely associated with the institutional strategic objectives as articulated in the IOP 2021-2025. In 2022/2023 the efforts of the Special Projects Office were centred on research and postgraduate engagements and activities aligned with the SDG 2030 agenda.

The office was intentional in supporting research projects, conference support, staff networking and postgraduate student support as key priority areas that were aligned with the SDGs. This purposeful alignment of the SDGs through capacity development programmes has benefitted from the funding support by the DHET though its University Capacity Development Grant (UCDG), the Historically Disadvantaged Institution Grant (HDIG) and more recently the Sibusiso Bengu Development Grant (SBDG) to further drive the research, innovation and postgraduate imperatives of the university and address some of the inequities and inequalities that plague the higher education landscape, and more so, historically disadvantaged institutions (HDI).

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The Office of Special Projects initiates the 17 SDGs in the following pathways: SDG

HOW SPECIAL PROJECTS CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs •

Through our special projects we were able to support both research and postgraduate students with funding to conduct research, complete postgraduate studies and produce publication output to address this SDG.

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●By conducting research and completing qualifications for staff and students through our funding instruments we can support career development to assist with overcoming poverty.

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In partnership with faculties the Special Projects we can fund postgraduate students by providing bursaries and work-study research opportunities to assist with student cost of living expenses.

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The demands of being a researcher and postgraduate student places many demands on one’s wellbeing. Through Special Projects programmes we can afford participants on our programmes with holistic support, one of them being mental health support. The support provides participants with coaches and mentors to ease the academic journey.

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Participants on Special Project programmes have been able to conduct research across the health and well-being landscape.

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Through our Special Projects we can provide access to staff to capacity development initiatives by addressing both gender and race disparities in higher education.

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Provide staff with conference and networking opportunities for staff to expand in research areas. This enables key learnings to impact on curriculum changes and enhancements to quality postgraduate education.

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Through our postgraduate capacity initiatives, we can train supervisors to augment the postgraduate student experience through improved engagements in the student-supervisor relationship.

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Furthermore, postgraduate students have access to writing opportunities such as proposal writing support, dedicated coaching support, thesis editing support and thesis completion writing support.

These mechanisms have been designed to enhance the student experience and aid successful student throughput.

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We have collaborative capacity development programmes such as ADAPTT and USDP that focusspecifically on black females’ PhD completion.

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Our Special projects programmes comprise 73% women. They are supported to complete their PhDs, complete leadership programmes to build the next generation of leaders and to expand their research networks.

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SDG

HOW SPECIAL PROJECTS CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs •

Our Special Projects enables women to apply for personal promotion. From the 2022 Ad Personam Promotion process fortytwo participants accessed our capacity development programmes of which 95% of the applicants were successful to be promoted to new ranks in 2023. Of the forty-two participants 48% were females.

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In partnership with the uwc future innovations lab and our industry partner, samsung, we support under-resourced and disadvantaged youth (18-35) with a matric qualification to explore different pathways to careers in software development and digital innovation.

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By capacitating students and staff to complete qualifications we are contributing to a diversified workforce.

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Special projects have welcomed interns (youth between 18-35) to gain work experience as part of the presidential youth employment initiative higher education employment initiative. The programme is aimed at providing unemployed university graduates with workplace training that will equip them for future employment opportunities.

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Continued professional staff training through sarima to ensure that we are abreast of changes, best practices and training opportunities within the research administration and management landscape to best support the ever-changing higher education research landscape.

Through our capacity development initiates we can provide faculties and units with upgraded research equipment to enhance scientific research and innovation.

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Through our capacity development initiatives, we have appointed researchers and post-doctoral fellows, therefore, increasing the number of research and development workers to enhance scientific research.

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Special Projects advocate for equitable access to education, research information and innovation.

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Capacitating postgraduates, next generation, early career and midcareer researchers assists in addressing the disparity in equalities in the higher education landscape to address inequities.

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Reducing inequalities by promoting interdisciplinary research for all capacity development programmes, thus, working together to achieve a common goal by using different lenses.

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Special projects support PhD student capacity development in agriculture studies as a research niche area through bursaries.

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This is further supported by the appointment of a UWC Research Chair in Sustainable Agriculture for the next 5 years.

UWC ANNUAL RESEARCH REPORT 2022/23

SDG

HOW SPECIAL PROJECTS CONTRIBUTES TO SDGs •

Special projects ensure that all programmes and projects are monitored and expenditure is in accordance with funding parameters and university finance policies.

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Special Projects have successful collaborative partnerships both internal and external to the institution.

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These include our capacity development training initiatives in partnership with our Human Resources Department, Faculties and Units.

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Special Projects have fostered external partnerships with other HDIs in South Africa in an effort to capacitate and collaborate to further their research, innovation and postgraduate outputs of the higher education sphere through addressing common SDG goals in line with the NDP and Agenda 2063 imperatives.

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We continue to build on existing partner relationships such as the NRF, MRC, HSRC, DHET, DSI, to name but a few to, continue delivering on the SDGs.

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Forged North-South partnerships initiatives through SANORD and SASUF collaborations to address the SDGs.

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Leveraging existing partnerships to find solutions for societal problems.

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The University of the Western Cape's diverse research activities and their measurement through an interdisciplinary approach. We are delighted to offer a concise overview of our university's exceptional achievements captured in numbers. The past year stands as a testament to our steadfast dedication to excellence, innovation, and progress. We extend an invitation to witness the profound impact we have had on transforming lives and shaping the future.

These numbers represented in the At-A-Glance 2022 infographic below showcases the incredible efforts and dedication of our university community.

They exemplify our commitment to fostering academic excellence, research breakthroughs, and creating a positive impact on society. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and partners for their invaluable contributions to our continued success. Together, we are shaping a brighter future through education and innovation.

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Ranking:

SDG research %

of 601- out 1625 800 institutions

95.5 The Impact Rankings are constantly changing and increasing annually as many more universities seek to illustrate their commitment to delivering on the SDGs. It allows institutions to demonstrate swift advancement year-on-year, thereby providing transparent evidence of their progress.

The Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings show that universities worldwide are increasingly recognising the importance of the United Nations' SDGs, with a significant increase in participation. Over the past three years, the UWC has contributed to several SDGs, and the figure below (p. 63) indicates the increase in contribution in the area of research in Goals 1,2, 3, 7 ,10, 16 and 17.

The University of the Western Cape is a place where people experience and confront the challenges outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) directly. Our students and staff come from marginalised communities, and we are deeply committed to making a positive impact on their lives. We are not merely following a trend. Rather, we are a source of hope for those who have been overlooked in society. Our mission, "from hope to action, through knowledge," drives us to address the major societal challenges we face. While UNESCO's recent document on higher education and the SDGs acknowledges the role universities play; we have been living and working towards these goals for a long time, albeit perhaps unintentionally. Our commitment to research, outreach, and education is centred on empowering and improving South Africa.

To achieve our strategic goals effectively, the University has identified four interconnected areas that can drive substantial change. These areas include leveraging our capabilities to address the challenges of the digital age, playing a vital role in our local communities, forming mutually beneficial partnerships, enhancing our standing within the higher education ecosystem, and strengthening our international relationships. While we have been extensively involved in these areas through various initiatives, there is a risk of spreading ourselves too thin and lacking a coherent approach.

Instead, we need to adopt a more thoughtful and structured approach to ensure that our efforts cumulatively benefit the entire university and lead to meaningful and sustainable change. (file:///C:/Users/Admin/Desktop/Impact%20Rankings%202023/THE%20Impact%20 Rankings%202023.html)

Ranking:

SDG research %

of 401- out 1218 600 institutions

83.4

Ranking:

SDG research %

of 101- out 876 200 institutions

77.5

Ranking:

SDG research %

of 101- out 901 200 institutions

75.8

Ranking:

SDG research %

of 401- out 647 600 institutions

72.8

Ranking:

SDG research %

of 601- out 812 800 institutions

72.2

Ranking:

SDG research %

of 401- out 910 600 institutions

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The UWC academics, researchers, and students continue to embark on research endeavours which are focused on addressing the various social ills plaguing our society. Below is a figure illustrating the projects that sought, and/or received ethical clearance in the year 2022 - with two new SDGs making the top 5 in comparison to the previous year. The most popular SDGs at UWC in terms of the 2022 ethical projects are: SDG 3 good health and wellbeing , 4 quality education, 8 decent work and economic growth, 11 sustainable cities and communities, and 16 peace, justice and strong institutions. Furthermore, we investigated the top 3 targets per SDG as the SDG targets gives us a more specific lens to view the targeted areas within each SDG. Have a look at the top 5 SDGs and their top three targets that our campus community focused on, in the year 2022:

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Our most productive researchers are featured by the top 20 researchers based on their publication units and the top 20 researchers based on the number of publications. It is worth noting that the researchers with the highest unit count may not necessarily have the most publications. As we assess the publication subsidy, it becomes evident that research output is influenced not only by the authors' affiliation but also by the number of authors involved. A publication authored solely by an individual from our institution accrues 1 unit, equivalent to 1 publication. On the other hand, a publication involving three authors from different institutions yields 0,33 units per author, making it equivalent to 1 publication.

The top 20 researchers who garnered the most DHET (Department of Higher Education and Training) units during the 2022 academic year.

Among the top 20 researchers ranked by the number of DHET units, the leading five individuals are as follows: Prof Mujuzi, from the Law Faculty, who amassed 10,5 units; in the second position is Prof Yengopal, from Dentistry, with 9,75 units; next, we have Prof Bouchard from the Faculty of Natural Sciences, with 9,27 units; completing the top 5 are Prof Padmanabhanunni with 8,73 units, and Prof van Wyk with 808 units, both representing the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences.

In the top 20 researchers ranked by the number of publications, Prof Bouchard from the Faculty of Natural Sciences holds the first position with 31 publications. Following closely in second place is Prof Iwuoha, also from the same faculty, with 25 publications. The top 5 is rounded out by Prof Van Wyk, Prof Padmanabhanunni, and Prof Roman, all from the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences, with 22, 22, and 21 publications, respectively.

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Strengthening the UWC’s research capacity has been a key priority. In order to continue to develop the pipeline for SARCHI chairs, the DVC for Research and Innovation initiated the UWC Research Chairs programme in 2022. The second cohort of chairs were appointed in 2023 and we highlight their niche areas.

COMMUNITY AND HEALTH SCIENCES PROF BARRY ANDREWS (Chair in High Performance Sport) Prof Andrews is the project leader for the HDI funded High Performance Sports Project; Head of Department of the Sports, Recreation and Exercise Science; and was appointed as the UWC Research Chair for High Performance Sports at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town/South Africa. Prof Andrews believes that Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide an important framework for organisations using sports to focus their work on. His niche research area is in High-Performance Sports and maximising the sporting potential of persons with disabilities, and he has written numerous articles in these fields. He has served as a visiting professor at Leuven University, Belgium and has given numerous lectures at several foreign partner universities. He indicates that it is really an exciting time as it is rare that people hear about any sort of highperformance directive or niche area or movement towards getting their athletes and sporting codes to move in a high-performance manner. At the UWC: Sports has been identified as a vehicle not only for professional sports athletes, but also recreational and his main goal is to build on the High-Performance legacy.

As part of the HDI funding he has been able to contribute to seeing the university build a highperformance gym on campus by the stadium. The niche area has brought in a host of health professional services linked to sports to work with our athletes and these included physiotherapy, biokinetics, a sports physician as well as strength conditioning experts and a dietician. One of the key successes of the approach used within the high-performance sports project is the multidisciplinary team, which is the way they need to start operating in the world nowadays.

The Research Chair for Sports will allow for further development in the high-performance sports niche especially, building upon work done from the HDI High Performance project. Specifically, linking to the SDGs, it will add to quality education SDG 4 with the development of the higher certificate in high-performance sports and recreation; aid in sustainability SDG 11 of highperformance on the campus by developing a sustainable model built on research and partnerships both within the UWC and from external partners; and these partnerships SDG 17 will aid to create a multi-disciplinary centre of sports and specifically in high-performance sports to facilitate the best performances from our athletes and teams, thereby helping to build the university’s name.

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DENTISTRY PROF MANOGARI CHETTY (Chair in Oral Health) Prof Chetty is a full Professor and a board certified Oral and Maxillofacial Pathologist in the Faculty of Dentistry. She is recognised nationally and internationally in the fields of Dental (Craniofacial) Genetics, and Non-communicable diseases, in particular rare diseases which manifest in the head and neck. Prof Chetty sees this opportunity of being the research chair as a way to afford oral health practitioners the opportunity to actually do research in fields that are generally quite limited in terms of funds.

Having been introduced to the world of Human Genetics in 2012, several research projects within the field of genetics and molecular dentistry were initiated. This is the branch of dentistry that focuses on the effects that inherited genetic variation among individuals has on both risk of developing rare (e.g., orofacial clefting) and common (caries, periodontitis and head and neck cancer) dental diseases and disorders. Just as physicians envision a future of “personalised medicine” where the “one size fits all” model of diagnosis and treatment are a thing of the past; this same strategy is also emerging as the new field of “personalised dentistry.” She believes that there is an urgent need for those involved in oral health research to participate in translational clinical research that will accelerate targeted scientific breakthroughs in the management of oral diseases in Africa, and will be addressed.

To achieve this objective, further research will focus on genetic, genomic and molecular investigations into non-communicable oral health conditions such as oral cancer, periodontitis and rare diseases with craniofacial manifestations and dental management implications. Research capacity development is another focus of the proposed project. Prof Chetty is proposing to train dental clinicians to have expertise in various niche areas such as clinical human genetics, laboratory sciences, particularly molecular biology, teaching and learning, and research methods. These dentist-scientists will be the pioneers in the field in South Africa and will be responsible for training future undergraduate and postgraduate students. Her work addresses SDGs 3, 4, & 10.

SDG 3: Good Health and wellbeing, enhanced translational clinical research that will accelerate targeted scientific breakthroughs and result in the improved management of patients with oral diseases in Africa. SDG 4: Quality Education, this project will be the catalyst of transdisciplinary, collaborative, and translational oral health science research, training and innovation. SDG 10: Reduced inequalities (reduce inequality within and amongst countries). Translational oral health research in Africa for Africans. Reduce our overdependence on findings from technologically advanced countries.

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EDUCATION PROF TREVOR MOODLEY (Chair in Early Childhood Development) Prof Moodley is an Associate Professor in the Educational Psychology Department, Faculty of Education. He has been in education since the beginning of 1988. He previously spent 21 years in basic education and then transitioned into the higher education sector as an academic. He has gained invaluable experience across the education sector and has a keen sense of the lived experiences of teachers, learners, parents and communities which has served him well in his university role as a teacher educator and scholar.

His passion for teaching and his professional expertise as an educational psychologist has always prompted an interest in the factors that influence teaching and learning, as well as ways to enhance teaching and learning. He is an ardent promoter of holistic education that develops whole beings from a young age. He is keenly aware of the importance of Early Childhood Development (ECD) in setting the foundations for so many different life outcomes that have enormous impact on individual and societal life experiences. These interests are reflected in his academic outputs in the form of research projects, conference presentations, journal articles, book chapters and completed supervisions of postgraduate studies.

He is currently developing an early childhood development higher certificate qualification which focuses on preparing teachers to work in early childhood care and education centres (also known as ECD centres) with babies, toddlers and young children from birth to four years of age. This qualification will contribute towards the professionalisation of the early childhood education sector, prior to formal schooling; which is sorely needed in the country. An ECD focus is especially important in South Africa, given our many challenges which are often rooted in the early learning and development experiences of young South African children.

The Faculty of Education is the appropriate research context to set and expand a research footprint in ECD, since the primary role of the Faculty is to provide professional training for preservice teachers and extend knowledge in education through postgraduate course offerings and research in the field of education. The Research Chair in ECD offers the opportunity to consolidate and extend scholarship in the field of ECD within the Faculty of Education and with external partners in higher education and the non-governmental organisation sectors. This scholarly endeavour speaks mainly to SDG 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, which includes as one of its targets, access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education. Since the quality of ECD is a good predictor of other life outcomes, this Research Chair niche also speaks to other SDGs such as the eradication of poverty SDG 1, ending hunger and improving nutrition SDG 3, achieving gender equality SDG 5, and reducing inequality within and across countries to improve decent work and economic growth SDG 8. He sees this as an honourable opportunity, which will allow him to focus on ECD as both a teaching, research and scholarship niche.

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ECONOMIC AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

LAW PROF KARIN VAN MARLE

PROF CHUX IWU

(Chair in Gender, Transformation and

(Chair in Entrepreneurship in Higher

World-making)

Education) Prof Iwu is a Professor in Entrepreneurship Management at the School of Business and Finance, University of the Western Cape. He has a multidisciplinary background that encompasses degrees in Library Studies, Industrial and Organisational Psychology, Human Resources Management, and an advanced diploma in Management. Prof Iwu researches the broad area of socio-economic issues in emerging economies.

A common socio-economic problem in Africa is graduate unemployment. South Africa struggles with that as well, resulting in the need for students to become economically active during and after their studies and subsequently pursue self-employment instead of paid employment. The university is an integral part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Entrepreneurship development in South Africa’s higher education is, therefore, a crucial agenda.

South Africa’s National Development Plan (2030) makes a fervent call for the reduction of poverty and inequality and further advises that to achieve those, there is a need to broaden opportunity and employment through economic inclusion, education, and skills, thereby promoting mutual respect and inclusiveness as enshrined in the constitution. A further justification is drawn from the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, which hopes to achieve broad-based, and sustainable economic growth by promoting policies that encourage entrepreneurship and consequently job creation. The goal of the Chair is to realise productive entrepreneurship through research that leads to accelerated interest in entrepreneurship among students. Reaching a culture of innovation and entrepreneurial thinking among students, faculty, and the wider university community is linked to the university’s mission and goals, which promote entrepreneurial teaching, research, and community engagement. In achieving this goal, entrepreneurship research should uncover elements that support entrepreneurial uptake, and how these elements are embeded in the curricula of business and non-business-related programmes in South African institutions of higher learning.

While this niche area can find a home in any of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it is closely associated with goals #1 (No Poverty), #4 (Quality Education), #8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and #10 (Reduced Inequalities). The UN considers quality education and sustainable economic growth to be crucial for developing economies’ advancement. The essence of quality education is that it broadens one’s chances of attaining decent work opportunities, which in turn advance the economic growth of a nation.

There is a link between joblessness, inequality, and poverty in South Africa. The latest figures for unemployment in South Africa depict the dismal struggle to curb the triple threat of poverty, inequality, and unemployment. Entrepreneurs have played important roles in reducing poverty, inequality, and unemployment. The outcome of entrepreneurial initiatives is found in small, medium, and micro businesses and so over the years, small, medium, and micro businesses have gained fame as noteworthy contributors to the economy of any nation. .

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Prof Van Marle is a Professor in the Department of Public Law and Jurisprudence at the University of the Western Cape. Prof Van Marle has taught Jurisprudence on undergraduate level for 27 years, as well as electives and masters modules in Critical Legal Theory, Feminist Theory, Law and Aesthetics and related fields. Her research falls within the broad field of law and the humanities and involves critical theory, legal philosophy and jurisprudence. Her work on post-1994 jurisprudence engages with the crisis of modernity and a rethinking of law and legal theory along the lines of fragility, finitude and a ‘giving up of certitudes’. She is an ethical feminist, and her research and writing are inspired by and embedded in feminist theory. Her research focus and projects over many years have been on the question of transformation and co-habitance/living together. She is particularly concerned with the possibilities of transforming society in a way that could live up to the ideals of freedom, equality, dignity, social justice and democracy for all, with an emphasis on gendered lives.

As Research Chair in Gender, Transformation and World-making she aims to engage in depth with the question of the extent to which the structural and everyday challenges of gendered lives have changed, if at all. Transformation will be taken as a framework through which to investigate the past and present position of gender as well as an aspirational framework of possible futures and the making of gendered worlds.

The research chair in Gender, Transformation and World-making links with sustainable development goals through Prof Van Marle’s focus on gender and transformation, which speaks directly to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The vision driving her research includes the aspiration for ‘[a] world in which every woman and girl enjoys full gender equality and all legal, social and economic barriers to their empowerment’.

Prof Van Marle will draw on various theories to reflect on, and respond to the description of the world today with regard to the discussion around SDG’s. Section 20 of the vision speaks directly to gender equality and the extent to which ‘full human potential and sustainable development is not possible if one half of humanity continues to be denied its full human rights and opportunities.’ Equal access to quality education, economic resources, political participation, employment, leadership and decision-making, an increase in investment and support for institutions relating to gender equality, and the empowerment of women are envisioned. All forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls should be eliminated. The SDG Goals 5 and Goal 11 relate directly to the project. Goal 5 speaks directly to gender equality and empowerment and Goal 11 which refers to cities and human settlements being made inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

Prof Van Marle would like her work to contribute to society and to serve the community, and believes in the high value and capacity of conceptual works (thinking and theory) to make a change with slow reflection and recognition for her work as an active researcher. She aims to complete a scholarly monograph, an edited collection and a special issue of a journal. Each of these publications will be linked to one of the three main themes of the project. She sees the university as a public space and hopes that the chair can contribute to a revival of the idea of the university as a space of contestation and active dialogue, opening the conversation to plural worlds.

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NATURAL SCIENCES PROF NDOMELELE LUDIDI (Chair in Sustainable Agriculture) Prof Ludidi is a Professor of Biotechnology at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa.

He is an established researcher (NRF rating of C2) with expertise in plant molecular biology, plant physiology and biochemistry. He has extensive university-level teaching experience in biochemistry, plant biotechnology and plant physiology.

His research interests are in plant environment interactions, with a focus on abiotic and biotic stress in crop plants. The abiotic aspects of his research relate to physiological and molecular effects of drought, heat and salinity stress on plants. The biotic aspects of his research concern the influence of microbial diversity on crops tolerance to the aforementioned abiotic stresses. He explores plant-environment interactions, which encompasses the effects of cropping systems on soil health and the interaction between plants and insects. He merges these diverse fields of study towards the establishment of climate-smart regenerative agricultural systems to produce climate change resilient crops and develop crop production systems that promote environmental sustainability in agriculture and ensure food security. He uses his expertise in research and teaching within the plant science discipline and contributes to community agricultural development that impacts on food security positively.

Sustaining soil health through optimised plant cropping systems, regenerative agriculture, and agro-ecologically sound principles, coupled with the associated improvement in plant crop yield, ensures that sufficient and high-quality crop-based human food and animal feed is produced, which contributes towards achieving SDG 2 (Zero Hunger). The regenerative agricultural and genetic approaches used in his research ensure that crop production can be done in an environmentally sound approach that reduces the contribution of agriculture to greenhouse gas emissions while enhancing agricultural adaptation to climate change, which is crucial to SDG 13 (Climate Action).

Prof Ludidi is actively involved in teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level, in which he keeps abreast of the latest developments in his academic discipline to ensure that he delivers a high-quality learning experience for his students, thus striving for attainment of SDG 4 (Quality Education).

His expectation is that through being the change in sustainable agriculture, everyone would be able to train more students in sustainable agriculture practices, develop programmes and modules that really entrench sustainable culture as part of the university offering from an academic point of view. He is expecting this to be one of the major achievements, besides postgraduate student collaborations in publications. Publications can be seen in three ways. Firstly, publishing through writing books or chapters in books, and peer-reviewed journals, and also international and national presentations or key note addresses at conferences now. What the Chair anticipates, is mainly concerned with a greater number of students being trained in sustainable agriculture, but also an increase in publications that are related to sustainable culture coming from our tendency.

Also, creating an impact at the policy level in order to change the way our culture is practised, nationally. And it is hoped that that achievement would then have a trickling effect towards community impact, where the work we do is not seen only as academic, but really applied research that has an impact on food security and environmental sustainability.

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Social responsibility at the UWC is highly important due to its social impact, as it can do more to deliver against the SDGs, working with faculty, staff and students, as well as the wider stakeholder community. Driving social responsibility is critical in helping to shape novel methods, educating global citizens and delivering knowledge and innovation into society, ultimately making the UWC as an engine of societal transformation.

Below, we showcase two significant projects that have been implemented in the past year, which sought to drive social responsibility and contribute to the UWC as an engaged university. These projects focused particularly on activities that speak to value leadership, gender equity and woman empowerment.

The DVC: Research and Innovation identified the need for a mid-career research leadership programme to ensure that the next generation of research leaders is capacitated. In June 2022, the mid-career PEEP Leadership Programme was launched by the office of the DVC: Research and Innovation. The programme addressed four main modules known as Purpose, Equipping, Environment and People. Leadership extends beyond the limitations of academia. It encompasses the individual, holistically on all levels of leadership engagement. Our responsibility as an institution under the banner of the DVC: Research and Innovation, is to ensure that we strive towards and effectively realise the motto of connecting possibilities.

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From left to right: Mrs Shamiema McLeod, Prof Marieta Du Plessis, Prof Kenechukwu Obikeze, Prof Taltiha Crowley, Dr Meron Okbandrias, Dr Angela Van Der Berg, Dr Sebolelo Mokapela, Prof Glynnis Dykes, Prof Priscilla Brijlal, Dr Carel Jansen Van Vuuren.

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Developing the next generation of leaders for higher education is vital to the sustainability of the sector. In January 2023, we celebrated the achievement of the mid-career participants who completed the PEEP programme that ran for the 2022 academic year and this is what the participants had to say:

“Galileo Galilei who said, “You cannot teach a person anything, you can only help them to discover it within themselves”. This for me was the power and challenge that I learnt in PEEP. Some of what we learnt was new admittedly; but a significant part was uncovering, exploring and strengthening what you already knew about yourself as a person, as a leader, your career trajectory, and about the power of engaging with others. Having influential conversations and developing the awareness to understand the effects of your engagement on the collective and on yourself. It was a real privilege to be part of this training. I will use the learning that I gained about myself and the skills and knowledge and apply these further in my engagements with my colleagues and leadership in the department and beyond.”

Prof Glynnis Dykes from the Community and Health Sciences, Social Work Department.

“The PEEP Leadership programme was more than a leadership programme. It brought new meaning to leadership. It served to enhance skills I already had, develop skills that I did not have, and facilitate the expression of the skills that I garnered. The programme gave new meaning to my academic trajectory and set me on a path of greater service. I believe "Being a People’s Person is the core of leading - it is about taking people forward with you else you will not have led!”

Prof Priscilla Brijlal from the Dentistry Faculty, Department of Oral Hygiene.

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“This has been the most impactful programme I have been on in all my years at the UWC. One of the Es in PEEP stands for equipping, and that is what the programme has done for me. From equipping me with an understanding of different personality types and how to better manage a team, to skills on managing during VUKA. A key moment for me was in the writing session in the third workshop was when vital tips on writing for publication that I have put into practice and can already see bearing results were shared. The mentorship provided during the programme has helped to concretise the things I learned and overall, I have grown so much in this one year of the programme. My only regret is that I didn’t have a chance to attend this programme much earlier in my academic career.”

Prof Kenechukwu Obikeze from the Faculty of Natural Sciences, School of Pharmacy.

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The University of the Western Cape functions from an understanding that higher education needs to be reimagined or redesigned with sustainability in mind. An integrated approach to sustainable development requires a systematic analysis of the capacities, knowledge and skills required to address a given development challenge. As we address sustainability we need to ensure that the next generation of academics are adequately prepared while also addressing the challenge of transformation. Various capacity development programmes were designed and implemented based on the needs of the university community. The programmes funded by the UCDG, HDI and USDP grants, were designed to meet the requirements of the most disadvantaged South Africans, especially women, who are vulnerable to circumstances beyond their control.

Aligned to the 2030 Agenda calling for transformation, ownership for a transformative agenda requires strong buy-in for the principles of the agenda at all levels within HEIs. In 2022, we conducted an impact analysis of the implemented programmes to assess to what extent we were achieving our goals of transformation at UWC. Through the various programmes were able to capacitate women in our programmes: 1.

The Academic Doctorate Advancement Project Towards Transformation (ADAPTT): This program hosted 7 females out of 9 participants and 4 of the females completed their PHDs and of the 29 articles that emerged from this group over the three-year period, 27 articles were from the female participants.

2. University Staff Doctoral Programme (USDP) Community Development and Community Education.

This programme hosted 6 females out of 9 participants and of the 5 who completed their PHDs, 4 were females.

A total of 21 articles emerged from this group over the three-year period of which 17 articles were from the female participants.

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“Workshops and funds enabled me to conduct my research towards the completion of my PhD and could use the funds to interact with my supervisor and complete the PhD proposal. This USDP programme provided support for me to collect data and for transcriptions of interview data. I also used it for editing articles related to my PhD studies.”

FUNDISWA KHAILE

“I think the main thing for me is confidence. The USDP helped me to gain a strong level of confidence. To be able to share my research, being able to put myself out there, you know, the confidence that comes in with that. I have learnt not to be afraid, to knock at people’s doors when I need assistance. When I was writing my last article for my PhD, I reached out to one of the gurus in the field, and surprisingly, they’ve been following my research and we ended up collaborating on a paper which is currently accepted for publication”

RONEL KOCH

“I never felt isolated, I always felt I had support.

Other PhD students sometimes complain that they feel that it’s a lonely journey. I never experienced that. So, if compared to the two, the student with a proper mentorship programme and one without.

My experience has been totally different. And in a positive way”.

LUZAAN KOCK

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3. The UWC Historically Disadvantaged Institution (HDI) grant: We were able to support 3 PhD completions of which 2 were female and 26 articles were published through workshops on this grant and 16 were authored by female participants.

Each of the projects and programmes mentioned above was developed to meet a specific purpose and objectives to create an impact on the individuals, institutions and the education sectors in South Africa. A key focus on the above-mentioned projects was capacity building. The 2030 Agenda recognizes that capacity-building forms part of the means of implementation for the SDGs. Each SDG contains targets relating to means of implementation, including capacity-building. Capacitybuilding has long been recognised as one of the means of implementation for the achievement of sustainable development.

4. The University Capacity Development Grant (UCDG): Through this grant we supported 80 PhD candidates of which 68 were female, 38 completed their PhDs with 23 being female.

“The programme is a special one because it has given me a sense of purpose, a sense of direction and meaning – both in my research academic career and in other spheres of life,” she said. “The programme has provided me with invaluable opportunities, resources, skills, and practices to enable my empowerment to become both an independent and interconnected research scholar.”

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This Indaba intended to identify the characteristics of a successful, effective, inclusive and durable multi-stakeholder approach and to discuss how different actors in various areas can take full advantage of partnerships and how this knowledge can be shared between sectors. The indaba sought to provide an opportunity to explore known challenges and identify solutions that can ensure that multi-stakeholder partnerships contribute toward SDG implementation, follow-up and review at local, national and regional level.

UWC's dedication to creating a meaningful influence on the SDG goals was emphasised during the SDG Indaba event held on 6 June 2022. The event, entitled 'A Paradigm Shift to Agenda 2063,' was organised in collaboration with the Department of Science and Innovation. Distinguished speakers from various organisations emphasised the significance of meaningful and equitable partnerships and collaborations in order to bring about substantial changes while addressing the social challenges outlined in the UN Agenda 2030 and leveraging the UNESCO Biosphere Reserves.

The theme of the event was "Agenda 2030: A Paradigm Shift to Agenda 2063”, referring to the UN's plan to achieve the SDGs by 2030 and the African Union's similar goals known as Agenda 2063. The Indaba aimed to emphasise that these agendas are interconnected, and it's crucial to collaborate in order to achieve sustainable development.

During the event, the university brought together key stakeholders, including communities, to engage in high-impact, interdisciplinary research and address these global challenges collectively.

UWC has a unique perspective on the SDGs as it is situated in a community composed largely of working-class families facing the very social issues that the SDGs seek to address.

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“It must be noted that we don’t stand a chance if we continue working in silos and therefore, we must involve civil society, government, industry partners, interdisciplinary research and other strategic collaborations in our endeavours to truly make an impact.”

PROFESSOR JOSÉ FRANTZ, DEPUTY VICE-CHANCELLOR: RESEARCH AND INNOVATION AT UWC

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Milestone Achievement: Three Years of Transformative Software Development Skills Training Collaboration between UWC and SAMSUNG Uplifts Lives and Boosts Youth Employability

been addressing the lack of female software developers in the industry. In this regard, we achieved a 90% female representation in our third cohort and we look forward to continuing addressing this significant empowerment challenge.

Mihlali Mtiki, a recent graduate of the internship programme now employed as junior developer, reflects on her journey: “I was blessed to have been accepted and have grown since this programme.

I have made friends here and want to keep them for life,” Mtiki says. The programme has also given her a solid sense of her future. Mtiki is keen to enter a career in cyber security because she wants to become part of the South African government’s defence against hackers.

Laren Cloete, currently doing a Robotic Process Automation internship with IOCO reflected on his path to successful employment in industry: “Before I started the Future innovation, I was directionless. The programme provided me with the necessary skills and confidence to pursue my hopes and dreams.”

Empowering Lives Beyond Code: While the acquisition of technical skills is central, the programme's emphasis on holistic development sets it apart. Participants have not only learned how to craft elegant lines of code but have also imbibed essential life skills. Soft skills such as communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and time management have been woven into the curriculum, ensuring that graduates are well-rounded individuals poised for success in both their careers and personal lives.

A recent highlight was the participation of three generations of Future-Innovation Lab students and alumni in roundtable discussions with their Majesties the King and the Queen of the Belgian people around the role of digital inclusion in impacting their employability in the Digital Economy.

Their Majesties the King and the Queen of the Belgian people paid a historic visit to the University of the Western Cape (UWC) on Saturday, 25 March 2023.

The Future-Innovation Lab at UWC, a trailblazing collaboration between UWC and SAMSUNG for technological education and empowerment, proudly marks a significant milestone as it celebrates the successful completion of the first three years of its ambitious 10-year Software Development Skills Training Programme. This landmark achievement reflects the unwavering commitment to fostering professional growth, personal development, and societal progress through the power of education and innovation.

Says Lauren Fisher, Cohort 3 graduate and currently employed at IOCO as software developer:

The Future-Innovation Lab’s Programme was launched in 2019 with a visionary goal: to equip individuals from diverse backgrounds with the technical expertise and life skills necessary to thrive in the digital age. As the programme reaches the conclusion of its first phase, the achievements are not only remarkable but also deeply transformative.

Paving Pathways to Employment:

Unleashing Technical Excellence: Over the past three years, the programme has empowered its beneficiaries with comprehensive training in cutting-edge software development technologies. Participants have gained proficiency in high-demand coding languages, software architecture, web and mobile app development, database management, and more. The hands-on and project-based approach has ensured that graduates emerge not just with theoretical knowledge, but also with the practical skills demanded by the modern job market.

Just over 70% of the Foundational Introduction to Software Development Programme’s 161 beneficiaries have already successfully been taken up in industry. The App Factory Internship programme achieved 95% industry uptake rate, with 22 beneficiaries being employed at specialist Robotic Process Automation Developers with IOCO, a leading software company. A core focus has 64

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“I remember first coming to this programme. New faces and excitement through the roof, I was really happy to be coding again. I didn’t think I would actually be recruited for an internship, but if I could tell my past self-anything, I would tell her “Thank you”. From not knowing a thing about mobile development and GitHub to building an app for children with autism, as difficult and frustrating the development process was, I would do it all over again.”

One of the most remarkable outcomes of the programme is the tangible increase in employability.

Graduates have found themselves not only better equipped for roles within the software development industry but have also been sought after by a spectrum of businesses across sectors.

From startups to established corporations, the impact of the training is evident as beneficiaries find meaningful employment opportunities that uplift their socio-economic status.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation, Professor José Frantz said: “We use that space to capacitate young learners that have not been able to access a university and train them as coders, which is a much-needed skill in our country. We have a 30% unemployment rate in South Africa and so we as a university need to contribute towards growing the employment rate here in South Africa.”

Community and Collaboration: The success of the Future-Innovation Lab is a testament to the collaborative efforts of the UWC and SAMSUNG team, passionate trainers, dedicated mentors, and enthusiastic participants. By

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creating an inclusive and supportive learning environment, the programme has fostered a sense of community and camaraderie that transcends the confines of the classroom. Former students are regularly coming back to share their inspirational journeys with the next generations of FutureInnovators.

Looking Ahead: As the programme enters its fourth year, the partners remain resolute in their commitment to shaping the future through education. With innovation as its driving force, the Future-Innovation Lab is poised to introduce newly updated training modules, expand its outreach, and forge further industry partnerships that amplify its impact.

The remarkable achievements of the first three years are a testament to the potential that resides within every individual when given the opportunity and resources to excel. UWC and SAMSUNG are excited to continue this journey of transformation, empowering lives and reshaping the landscape of the digital era.

The Department of Research Development and Postgraduate Support (RDPS), under DVC R&I, hosted its 6th Research and Innovation Week between the 24-27 October 2022. The theme of the year was: “University of the Western Cape's Contribution to the SDG 2030 Agenda”. Research and Innovation Week in its scope is aligned to the University of the Western Cape (UWC) Institutional Operation Plan 2021 -2025 (IOP). The university continues to work towards being intentional in positioning itself to be increasingly recognised for its ability to generate and produce novel insights through strong and credible research and academic study domains.

Advancing knowledge translation through innovative and impactful pursuits.

One of the main goals of the 2022 Research Week, is to celebrate, discuss, share and explore the diverse ideas and collaborations involved in research at the University of the Western Cape.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be considered as the blueprint in attaining a better and more sustainable future for all. The 17 goals address a majority of challenges faced at a global scale, including to poverty, inequality, the environment, climate change, peace, and justice. The UWC DVC R&I office, through initiatives such as Research Week, continues to spread awareness on the most crucial global conversations, encouraging researchers and academic staff to use such platforms to purposely promote their most recent research projects and new research possibilities. Included in the 2022 Research Week full programme were multi-disciplinary topics which mapped out the relationship and links that exist in between disciplines in practice, and how these are aligned to the SDGs as strong research areas.

More importantly, the role played by the institutional disciplines in the respective specialization.

Although all the faculties and/or units addressed the UN’s SDGs, the interdisciplinary nature of the research was not evident as it was still coming from a specific faculty perspective. Due to the dates of the research week, a number of activities such as preparation of examinations, finalisation of continuous assessment marks, etc was happening at the same time. This resulted in less than desired attendance at some of the presentations.

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Universities operate on three main pillars, namely research, teaching and learning and social responsibility or community engagement. Our research informs our teaching and learning and therefore is integrated. By integrating research, teaching and learning and social innovation, we are able to create an ecosystem where knowledge is created (research), shared (teaching and learning) and applied (social innovation) to address the complex societal challenges. To assist the UWC academics/scholars to respond to societal needs, a Social Innovation Lab was implemented by the office of the DVC: Research and Innovation and the Dean of the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences. The Social Innovation Labs attempt to promote citizen-centric activism with a systemic, community-based focus. By employing these strategies, Social Innovation Labs create a conducive environment for the fostering of sustainable development and contribute significantly to the achievement of the SDGs on local, national, and international levels.

Inclusive, Social Innovation Labs serve as catalysts for transformative change by bringing together innovation, collaboration, and citizen engagement to address the complex and interconnected challenges laid out in the SDGs. Several social innovation projects emerged from this social innovation lab and we present each one below.

The Social Innovations Lab took participants through a process of innovation that transforms both emerging and established leaders and their institutions into sharper, smarter, better versions of themselves. The participants attended 10 modules which were an intensive sustainable innovation process that included idea exploration, testing and plan execution to hone entrepreneurship and innovative thinking skills while developing, and eventually executing, new or improved business models.

Figure #: Social innovation process.

The image above depicts the intensive sustainable innovation process which the participants went through. It included idea exploration, testing and plan execution to hone entrepreneurship and innovative thinking skills while developing, and eventually executing, new or improved business models.

Through interactive workshops and curriculum modules, participants from a variety of disciplines were able to imagine, refine, and pursue their own enterprises and innovations to solve social problems. Participants could learn from experts with real-life experience and research knowledge how to create social sector market opportunities, design new business models, and attract both seed money and sustainable funding from philanthropic and government sources.

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PROJECT 1: HANGOUTS FOR HEALTHCARE Team: Dr Luzaan Africa (Physiotherapist), Labeeqah Jaffer (Psychology), Dr Gérard Filies (Occupational Therapist), Prof Firdouza Waggie (Physiotherapist), Prof Renier Coetzee (clinical pharmacist), Nicole Keuler (Pharmacist)

PROJECT 2: UWC HIGH PERFORMANCE CENTRE (UWC HPC) IN COLLABORATION WITH THE SPORTING DEPARTMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE. Team: Brent Hess (Physiotherapist), Keenan Watson (Sports Scientist), Angelo Nelson (Biokineticist), Robyn Phillips (Physiotherapist), Kirsten Muller (Biokineticist)

"Hangouts for Healthcare" informs SDG 3 as it strives to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages. SDG 3 focuses on improving global health, reducing mortality, and ensuring universal access to healthcare services.

The development of Hangouts for Healthcare was motivated by three clear challenges in the clinical practice experience of students, clients/patients, and the curriculum. First, there is a lack of communication between students, clinical staff, and community fieldwork coordinators. Second, due to staff shortages, clients/patients do not have access to a comprehensive spectrum of health professionals who are able to address the growing health burden in communities. Lastly, despite its significance, there is no formal evaluation of interprofessional communication among healthcare students. These challenges highlight the importance of a communication platform as both an aid to and a gauge of communication and the quality of interprofessional learning in expanding client/ patient access to health services.

The Interprofessional Education team suggests Hangouts for Healthcare, a mobile application that allows students, clinical supervisors, and fieldwork coordinators to communicate and engage in intervention advice for clients/patients and access information from an array of different health professions’ input that they may not typically have access to in their respective clinical settings.

This digital platform has the potential to foster interprofessional education and collaboration, thereby granting clients/patients more comprehensive and varied health and wellness services.

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The key objective of this project is for the UWC to compete competitively among the best universities in South Africa. The UWC HPC seeks to enhance the university’s performance in sports using advanced technology, equipment and a diverse team of experts. Assessing and managing athletes’ performance: The UWC HPC utilises advanced technology and equipment to assess and manage athletes’ progress, assisting them to achieve their personal goals. Providing holistic support and education.

The UWC HPC project resonates with SDG 3: Good Health and Wellbeing, because it is focused on sports and athletics, and promotes physical activity and healthy lifestyles. By providing training facilities and resources to athletes, they contribute to improving health and wellbeing.

The UWC HPC milestones and benchmarks are the establishment of the HP Gym and staffing in 2022, as well as a Higher Certificate Programme set for 2024. These initiatives indicate the centre’s commitment to providing resources, personnel and educational programmes to support athletes’ development.

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PROJECT 3: AR & VR: THE NEW FRONTIER IN CLINICAL SKILLS TRAINING

PROJECT 4: SOCIAL WORK AND YOUTH GOING GREEN

Team: Dr Jeffrey Hoffman (Professional Nurse), Dr Juliana Willemse (Professional Nurse) & Prof Jennifer Chipps (Professional Nurse)

Team: Prof Marichen van der Westhuizen (Social worker), Prof Glynnis Dykes (Social worker), Dr Shernaaz Carelse (Social worker), Dr Ronel Davids (Social worker), Dr Anja Human-Hendricks (Social worker), and Mr Redau Safodien (Social worker).

This project seeks to improve the competence of clinical skills training of nurses in the Western Cape to pursue social impact towards social justice, through developing and educating a high calibre of nursing graduates. Professional nurses’ clinical settings are not able to teach students due to staff shortages and the ever-changing clinical practice environment that is currently experiencing an influx of innovation and technological advances in terms of care provision. This results in a situation where HEIs need to develop a creative platform for the clinical teaching for nursing students and nurses due to the clinical learning opportunities that have been greatly reduced on the clinical platform in the Western Cape.

The drive behind this project is the pairing of human wellbeing with environmental sustainability, with a key ingredient being the youth. It targets unemployed youths in Atlantis as youth unemployment in this area is concerningly high. It explores how it could establish a working relationship for a greener environment through small green business initiatives. Some of the lessons that were produced was that it is important to transform our traditional way of viewing social interventions to social innovation.

In addition, it strives for Integration of Virtual Reality (VR) into skills labs through dedicated VR labs, both immersive and non-immersive & VR scenario development for simulations of real clinical settings. Becoming the leaders in South Africa in clinical skills development through cutting-edge AI-technology through the integration of virtual reality and augmented reality.

The integration of AR and VR in the health sector has the potential to transform healthcare delivery, education, and patient outcomes, aligning with several SDGs focused on health, education, innovation, and partnerships for sustainable development.

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PROJECT 5: TELEREHABILITATION FOR SELFMANAGEMENT OF PATIENTS WITH NONCOMMUNICABLE DISEASES ATTENDING COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTRES IN THE WESTERN CAPE PROVINCE.

PROJECT 6: SOCIAL INNOVATION THROUGH SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Team: Dr Lwando Mdleleni (Social Scientist), Dr Thabile Sokupa (Social Scientist), Ms Shehaam Moosa (MA student), Mr Sihle Maphukatha (MA Student)

Prof Nondwe Mlenzana (physiotherapist), Prof Anthea Rhoda (Physiotherapist), Prof José Frantz (physiotherapist), Ms P Malema (Biokineticist)

This project is targeting community health centres where patients with non-communicable diseases access services for management. This project aligns with various SDGs by promoting equitable access to healthcare, supporting patient empowerment and education, and fostering sustainable healthcare systems through the integration of technology and collaboration among stakeholders.

The background is based on how we can minimise the number of patients accessing CHCs with NCDs and train community health workers to visit patients at home and teach them self-management of non-communicable diseases at home. This plan needs information that will be uploaded on the application so that patients can have access to information when they need clarity on the signs and symptoms that they are experiencing.

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The Social Innovation and development niche area at the University of the Western Cape, seeks to build on inconclusive evidence to illuminate the role that the universities can play to solve societal problems through collaborations and partnerships with the communities. In addition, it pursues to highlight how co-creation and bottom-up intervention can aid concrete social value.

Lastly, It seeks to use this research as a tool to further strengthen and improve the universities’ existing social innovation activities. Ultimately, to determine how universities contribute to youth unemployment through Social Innovation.

Social innovation through sustainable development plays a critical role in addressing complex challenges and creating a more equitable, prosperous, and sustainable world for current and future generations. By combining innovation, social impact, and environmental consciousness, these initiatives contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

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At the University of the Western Cape, we take great pride in the remarkable achievements and contributions of our researchers. Their dedication, expertise, and relentless pursuit of knowledge have propelled us to the forefront of innovation and discovery in relevant fields demonstrated in this section. These researchers have demonstrated unwavering commitment to advancing the frontiers of knowledge. Their groundbreaking discoveries, pioneering research studies, and impactful publications have not only garnered recognition within our institution here at UWC, but have also received acclaim and appreciation on national and international platforms.

The accomplishments of our researchers span across a wide spectrum of disciplines. Through their cutting-edge investigations and multidisciplinary collaborations, they have shed light on complex challenges, uncovered novel insights, and developed innovative solutions that have the potential to transform industries and improve lives.

In recognition of their exceptional contributions, we are dedicated to providing our researchers with a nurturing and supportive environment, fostering an atmosphere that encourages innovation, creativity, and academic freedom.

By nurturing and empowering our researchers, we aim to foster a vibrant research ecosystem that continues to produce groundbreaking discoveries and shape the future. We look forward to their continued contributions and the positive impact they will undoubtedly have on our institution, the academic community, and society as a whole.

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Furthermore, through the SARChI, ground-breaking research on strengthening families towards family wellbeing and social cohesion is being conducted.

PROF SHAZLY SAVAHL The Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Children, Families and Society (CISCFS)

The Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Children, Families and Society is a research centre based in the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences.

Informing Policy Formulation, Advocacy and Dialogue The work serves an important function in the generation and dissemination of information and expertise for policymakers, government agencies, and non-governmental organisations. In our engagement with the government sector, we have demonstrated our capacity to directly influence policy formulation by providing policymakers with evidence-based recommendations and insights. Through collaborations and partnerships with institutions, government, the NGO sector and communities, our research bridges the gap between academia and policy implementation, ensuring that policies are informed by the latest research findings and best practices. To this end the Centre publishes a range of policy briefs related to child and family wellbeing which relates to the SDG Goal 3: Good Health and Wellbeing.

Local and International Collaboration: Networks and Partnerships Our interdisciplinary collaborations harness the capacity of leading experts from various fields, such as social work, psychology, sociology, public health, law, and economics, to address complex social challenges. Currently, we have active collaborations with universities in South Africa, across Africa, and with a range of leading international institutions worldwide. These partnerships and collaborations act to strengthen the capacity of institutions and countries, including developing countries for the early detection, reduction and management of health and wellbeing risk for society, focusing on a holistic approach to practice and policy development. Goal 17: Partnerships of the goals.

Our mission is to harness highly skilled human capital to produce knowledge and skills through critically engaged scholarship, which is contextually relevant, responsive, and transformative to ultimately strengthen and benefit the health and wellbeing of individuals, families, communities, and societies.

This is achieved through the following: Academic Programme, Capacity Building and Training: The Centre offers three postgraduate academic programmes, namely the Postgraduate Diploma, Master’s, and PhD in Child and Family Studies. We further contribute to capacity-building efforts by offering training programmes, workshops, and seminars for other higher education institutions, policymakers, practitioners, community members and families.

These initiatives help to enhance the understanding of social issues, develop research skills, and promote evidence-informed decision-making. The Centre has also commenced with a joint research project: Inequality within and among countries - Implementing a research-based social work curriculum on Sustainable Development SDG Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities.

Knowledge Production and Generating Evidence-Based Research: The essence of their work is to conduct rigorous, evidence-based research on various aspects of child and family wellbeing, community development, and social upliftment. These research studies are directly aligned with generating knowledge to meet the goals of the SDGs. Through the generation of robust evidence, our research informs the development of practices and social policies that are grounded in empirical data – this invariably increases the social impact of our research.

A high impact research project of the Centre is Exploring the Nature and Scope of Trafficking in Persons (TIP) in Cape Town, South Africa. The Centre is also invested in two projects in early childhood development (ECD).

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PROF MOENIEBA ISAACS

DR ANGELA VAN DE BERG

Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS)

Director: Global Enviromental Law Centre

Prof Moenieba Isaacs is a Full Professor with the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). She is the academic manager for postgraduate teaching, co-coordinator of accredited short-course training on the Political Economy of Land Governance in Africa and on Convivial Conservation: new thinking on integrating biodiversity and social justice in southern Africa. Her research focus currently is on developing the concept of blue justice linking it to spatial injustices, the gendered dynamics of women in living landscapes in and around enclosures in the blue economy. She has worked extensively with communities in South Africa in an engaged and reflective research where she develops her thinking tools.

She is currently lead PI on setting up and developing an effective convivial conservation evidence campaign and coalition that builds the basis for a systemic redesign of the conservation sector in Southern Africa called Living Landscapes in Action. Country coordinator for a Small-scale fisheries (SSF) project on Vulnerability to Viability (V2V), Team member transformative social innovations in the governance of small-scale fisheries in the Indian ocean region. She was co-PI on African food systems and Covid-19 PLAAS - one-year action-oriented project entitled “The Impacts of Covid-19 Responses on the Political Economy of African Food Systems”.

She was the regional coordinator and founding member a TooBigToIgnore – a global network of small-scale fisheries research. She co-chaired the Human Dimension Working Group on Integrated Marine Bio-geo-chemistry Ecosystem Research (IMBER) 2010-2015. She formed part of the UN Committee on Food Security’s High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) on the Role of Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture for Food Security and Nutrition. She is part of the Programme Committee of the Marine and Coastal Science for Management (MASMA) programme - a regional competitive research granting mechanism providing funding and technical support for coastal and marine research, training and communications in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region.

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The Global Environmental Law Centre (GELC), situated in the Faculty of Law, aims to foster legal research and innovation that enhances global environmental law and governance systems’ responses to the environmental crisis of the Anthropocene. Its research activities revolve around four thematic areas, namely re-imagining the future of environmental law and governance; human rights and the environment; biodiversity, ecosystems and oceans and climate change and sustainability.

Within the thematic focus on re-imagining the future of environmental law and governance, the GELCs research and teaching activities aim to contribute to the development of reflexive and responsive legal frameworks and institutional and governance structures equipped to respond to the local and transboundary social, economic and environmental consequences of earth system changes in the Anthropocene. The human rights and the environment research focus, in turn, exposes and integrates from both empirical and theoretical perspectives the interconnection and ongoing contention between human rights and the environment. It conceptualises the scope of human rights protections in relation to issues such as climate change, environmental conflict and security, environmental justice, environmental displacement, and procedural environmental rights, amongst others. Under the thematic research focus of biodiversity, ecosystems and oceans, the GELC conducts research activities that assess the important and crucial role of the law in promoting the conservation, sustainable use and management of the earth’s natural resources and systems within and beyond national jurisdictions. Finally, in the thematic focus of climate change and sustainability, the GELC conducts research that analyses and compares legal and governance structures and approaches in addressing climate change and enhancing sustainable development globally and in Africa.

The foregoing research themes of the GELC align with the agenda of the SDGs and specifically Goals 11, 13, 14, and 15. with an environmental bearing. The GELC has been actively conducting research in these areas. For example, in September 2022 Dr Angela van der Berg (Director of GELC) and Professor Jonathan Verschureen (extraordinary professor at GELC) edited the book: Urban Climate Resilience: The Role of Law, published by Edward Elgar under the Elgar Climate Law Series. This significant book addresses the most important legal issues that cities face when attempting to adapt to the changing climate. This includes how to become more resilient against the impacts of climate change such as sea level rise, increases in the intensity and frequency of storms, floods, droughts, and extreme temperatures. The book brings together a range of expert contributors to assess the current state of climate change law and policy at the city level, featuring analysis of key legal instruments that can help urban societies adapt to, and cope with, the changing climate. Overall, the book provides a critical overview of innovative legal approaches at city level geared at responding and adapting to climate change (SDG 13) and achieving urban sustainability envisaged by SDG 11.

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PROF HEIDI GRUNEBAUM Centre for Humanities Research (CHR)

If the founding concept of the Humanities and Social Sciences is the human, the CHR has committed itself to reworking the concept of the human, marked, as it has been by its subjection to the idea of race that apartheid left in its wake. The defeat of apartheid and the transition to democracy, as we know, was subject to another global transition at the end of the cold war. Out of that transition, the dynamics of the world after globalisation, accelerated technological transformations and ecological degradation have returned the complexity of the human condition to us with renewed pressure.

New constellations of ideas and new imaginings of the past and future are required that can help us to think about these interconnected and multi-scalar predicaments bearing down on us.

Our work, however, extends beyond offering solutions to these momentous challenges to creating spaces for engaged, imaginative and theoretically grounded questions about our collective futures.

Such commitment to co-inhabiting a future commons is best expressed in our experiments in public arts with our partners at ‘Net vir Pret’ in Barrydale that recentre ecological concerns as a practice of the post-apartheid era. The CHR hosts the NRF-DSI Flagship in the Humanities as well as the SARChI Chair in Visual History and Theory supporting new critical directions that engage with visual and documentary archives and contemporary theory in the arts and media. At the core of our Laboratory of Kinetic Objects, we open up to questions of how the aesthetic is impinged on by ecological changes as shifting forms of apprehension of social reality mediated and transformed by the senses, can illuminate the dynamics of multi-scalar planetary-wide change.

Thus, at the CHR, we consider the question of sustainable goals as part of a larger, historical commitment to asking what can be attributed to the human in its capacity for forging spaces of common existence. We also consider development in ways that question power relations in global governance that might overcome rather than reinforce the technological encroachment on new forms of oppression, social inequality and ecological catastrophe. We are convinced that Higher Education has a pivotal role in establishing conditions for the enactment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals through the university’s systematic consideration of the pressure of human and technological activities on interspecies relations and the planet’s environmental resources.

Our role, however, is not merely offering solutions to these timely challenges as much as creating spaces for engaged, imaginative and theoretically grounded questions about our collective future.

In response to this complex inheritance, we have learned at the UWC, as a university that has had to break out of the stranglehold of apartheid, that the Humanities and Social Sciences are central to the invention of new ideas, on the one hand, and to the expressive possibilities for a new contract between the state and the public sphere, on the other. Over the past twelve years, the Centre for Humanities Research has learned this by engaging a public sphere to connect urban and rural youth through an annual giant puppet parade which translates the humanities and sciences through the work of arts education. The CHR partnership with ‘Net vir Pret’, a rural arts education organisation from the small Karoo desert town, Barrydale. Since the start of our partnership more than eighty school leavers participating in the annual giant puppet parade have entered higher education. The CHR’s new Greatmore Humanities Hub in Woodstock, near to the city centre, is witness to the breaching of the racial boundaries and scripting of the world that was given by apartheid. This significant achievement for the university connects the local to the global through international partnerships, advanced research, postgraduate training, arts education and youth mobility across urban, peri-urban and rural divides. The Humanities enables us to reimagine a social contract that is adequate to understanding the complexity of the human condition while simultaneously unmaking the inheritance of apartheid’s logic.

At the Centre for Humanities Research, our research inquiries and endeavours in “making” have harnessed the enormous transformative potential that we see in the University, and the Humanities in particular, for inhabiting, understanding and transforming our planet-wide predicaments. The question of planetary change also guides our inquiries into an “aesthetic field” – specifically in our explorations in film, visual theory, sound and puppetry – as it leads us into a deeper understanding of differently constellated intellectual genealogies on the postcolonial, both in and beyond South Africa. Our combined commitment to scholarly research and art making inspire our capacity to invent new ideas for a common future that might guide our social and political lives whilst attending to the shifting dynamics that are changing the relationship between the human and technology.

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PROF MARION KEIM United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - (UNESCO Chair)

global and African partners and networks and is engaging and consulting with several key role players to make the above-mentioned priorities a reality in line with the SDGs, the trends and recommendations the Olympic Agenda 2020+5, the African Union Agenda 2063, and the UN Vision for 2030.

The University of the Western Cape. (29 March 2023). UWC Gets First UNESCO Chair in Sport in Africa. https://www.uwc.ac.za/news-and-announcements/news/uwc-gets-first-unesco-chair-insport-in-africa The University of the Western Cape. UNESCO Chair for Sport, Development, Peace and Olympic Education: Overview https://www.uwc.ac.za/study/all-areas-of-study/niche-area/unesco-chair-for-sportdevelopment-peace-and-olympic-education/overview. [Date accessed: 27 July 2023]

The vision of the UNESCO Chair for Sports, Development, Peace (SDP) and Olympic Education situated at the University of the Western Cape is to contribute to the understanding and advancement of Sports, Development and Peace as well as Olympic Education through high quality research, teaching, innovation, community engagement, integrating new technologies and learning as well as policy dialogue.

The major focus areas of the UNESCO Chair includes: The development of a Research Hub, facilitating partnerships and networks of African and international researchers and capacitating emerging researchers to enhance international collaboration with key role players in the SDP and Olympic Education field, with a focus on policy dialogue, research exchange and joint learning. This initiative will facilitate collaboration between high-level, internationally recognised researchers in the region and other regions of the world linked to the UN Agenda 2023, the SDGs and the Olympic Agenda 2020+5.

The development of a Portfolio of country profiles per continent. This Sport Policy Mapping Research Programme has been established as a flagship initiative of the UNESCO Chair for SDP and Olympic Education and involves an extensive programme over the next 5 years. This exciting programme has as aim, the sports policy mapping and development of country profiles of 75% of African states as well as conducting pilot programmes in Latin America, the Caribbean and beyond.

The facilitation of and support for Olympic Education at the global level through dialogue, education, communication, M&E and information-sharing. This component includes values education, training and mentorship as well as support for sports role models and career guidance. The establishment of the uMama Sports Story-Telling Programme. This initiative will record stories of Olympians, coaches, educators, women and girl athletes and educators about the role of their mothers in their sports life stories. A series of video programmes and written stories will be published and disseminated for discussion and learning.

The promotion and advocacy of the concept of campus@peace. This initiative aims at advocating and actively engaging and working for a peaceful living together on campuses globally. The UNESCO Chair co-facilitates and supports the campus@peace initiative at the UWC with partners and the initiative promotes mutual respect, tolerance and understanding, values, living united in differences and diversity and thereby promoting inclusion, solidarity, trust, love, care and giving back to communities. The initiative is aligned with the SDGs for building a safe and sustainable world of harmony, wellbeing, and peace for all.

The UNESCO Chair for SDP and Olympic Education promotes a collaborative approach amongst

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2. PROF SHAZLY SAVAHL

In 2006, the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) founded the South African Research Chairs Initiative, which is currently overseen by the National Research Foundation (NRF). The primary objective of this initiative is to enhance and strengthen the research and innovation capabilities of public universities, with a focus on generating exceptional postgraduate students and producing research and innovation outcomes of high quality. Here, we present examples of how our South African Research Chairs have conducted research that contributes to the promotion of sustainable development.

1. PROF MATTIA VACCARI Department of Physics and Astronomy Faculty of Natural Sciences Rating level: B2

Prof Vaccari’s recent research lays the foundations for a strong involvement in upcoming radio surveys with the SKA precursors and pathfinders, and in particular with MeerKAT (MIGHTEE) and uGMRT (SuperMIGHTEE), but also in the LSST optical survey planned with the Rubin Observatory.

His research is focused on the following: Scientific Exploitation of deep and wide radio continuum extragalactic surveys: The aim is to further the integration of MeerKAT/GMRT/LOFAR surveys to carry out comprehensive statistical studies of the number counts, luminosity functions, far-infrared correlation and radio spectral index as a function of stellar mass, redshift and environment. He is the co-investigator of the ORCHIDSS ESO/4MOST proposal which would be able to observe a substantial fraction of MIGHTEE sources and thus overcome one of the main limitations of current (particularly AGN) studies, i.e., the lack of spectroscopic redshifts and classifications. He plans to use deep radio samples well characterised by LOFAR/GMRT/MeerKAT and use them as “training sets’’ for machine learning approaches to validate EMU and VLASS science exploitation pipelines and thus allow to robustly make the most of wide-area surveys as well. His ongoing projects such as EMU and VLASS anticipate the power (but also the difficulties) of very-wide-area surveys with the SKA. This orders-of-magnitude increase in the number of sources being studied will call for increasingly automated data reduction and scientific exploitation workflows which are not customary in radio astronomy, and we have started working on deep learning approaches to some of these issues while also planning to adopt ‘classical’ machine learning techniques which are extensively used in other fields.

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The Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Children, Families and Society. - CISFS Faculty of Community and Health Sciences Rating level: B2 Prof Savahl’s research niche-area is that of children’s subjective well-being (SWB). His research contributes towards the development and validation of scales to measure children’s SWB, which is an area that requires further scientific inquiry. His research aims to further advance psychometric studies on cross-cultural measurement of SWB continuing with his work on the Children’s World Survey. He is also advancing theoretical and epistemological approaches to understanding children’s SWB, specifically how the ideologically configured nature of childhood implicates children’s SWB. He is continuing with this work on the Multinational Qualitative Study on Children’s Understanding of their Well-Being with his strategy on developing childhood and child well-being studies as an emancipatory praxis located in the social justice framework. He utilises a critical social science approach in his research that is geared towards the promotion and facilitation of consciousnessraising and the advancement of evidence-based practice to challenge identified injustices. This he hopes to achieve by embedding his research within the ‘lived experiences’ of those who are often the most silenced within societies.

3. PROF JOHN-MARK IYI The African Centre for Transnational Criminal Justice (ACTCJ) Faculty of Law Rating level: C1 In the last eight years, Prof Iyi successfully anchored and entrenched his scholarship in the theory and praxis of regional approaches to humanitarian intervention, the use of force for the prevention of mass atrocities and the maintenance of peace and security in the West African and African regional contexts. In his ongoing work on Burundi, he examines the legal conflict between the planned 2015 African Union Peace and Security Council intervention and the judgement of the Constitutional Court of Burundi. He further examines the combined effect of both developments on the conflict and the actions of the actors at the time and points out that the attempted AU intervention and the Constitutional Court judgement presented a conflict of two legal regimes —

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the domestic constitutional order of Burundi and the regional constitutional order of the African Union especially its APSA which can best be resolved in favour of the domestic legal regime as a reflection of the Burundian grundnorm.

The significance of the study is that it proposes ways in which the African Union can handle intervention in post-election violence and disputes implicating domestic judicial processes. In his paper on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), the Protection of Civilians (PoC) and Article 4(h) of the AU Constitutive Act, he undertakes a deconstruction of the three as a political norm, legal norm, and legal provision and their practical application in cases of military intervention on the African continent. All three concepts gained momentum since the 2000s having been invoked by relevant authoritative agencies but with enough significant convergence and divergence in their conceptual scope and application in practice. Their conceptual similarities have not only theoretical but also practical significance and utility in the implementation of the AU-UN Partnership Framework.

4. PROF MULUGETA DINDABO The Institute for Social Development Centre (ISD) Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences Rating level: C2

Prof Dindabo’s main research focus is migration studies, refugees, asylum seekers and others.

Some of his ongoing projects commissioned by the Africa Union are titled “Combating Human Trafficking/Migrant Smuggling in the Curricula of Training Academies of Law Enforcement Agents of AU-Horn of Africa Initiative Member States”. The specific objectives of the project are to: a) develop a training module on combating human trafficking and migrant smuggling; b) integrate the training module on combating human trafficking and migrant smuggling for integration in the training of training academies of law enforcement agencies of the AU-HoAI; c) develop a framework for monitoring and evaluating the delivery and impact of the mainstreamed training module on combating human trafficking and migrant smuggling; and d) monitor and evaluate the delivery and impact of the mainstreamed training module on combating human trafficking and migrant smuggling.

In addition, he will focus on establishing a Centre of Excellence in Migration Studies in Africa.

The African Union’s Vision 2063 acknowledges the debate revolving around migration and development to reduce poverty and fostering sustainable development. The centre will facilitate and link academia to government, the private sector and other stakeholders by providing policy advice as well as informing practice. His interest is in modelling migration, forecasting the impact of remittances and predicting future migration flows in Africa, Europe and North America.

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5. DR WHA-SUCK LEE Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics Faculty of Natural Sciences Rating level: C2

Dr Lee worked on the remaining problems of empathy theory. Empathy theory is a branch of evolution equations. Evolution equations is an operator theoretic approach that reduces a partial differential equation into a simpler ordinary differential equation (in an infinite dimensional space).

The operator theoretic approach of empathy theory, in contrast to the well-known semigroup theory, uses a double family of evolution operators. A double family arises naturally when one considers a more realistic way of modelling the boundary of the system as a separate entity in its own right. The corresponding pair of intertwined resolvent operators then give rise to more powerful techniques to handle dynamic boundary conditions in the form of solutions requiring lower regularity. In his PhD he pioneered the new algebraic-analytic framework of generalised operators or admissible homomorphisms with fully developed Laplace transform theorems by the marriage of ideas from vector-valued distributions and abstract harmonic analysis. He extended the semigroup solution to the state-space equation of control systems to the notoriously difficult ill-posed systems. The natural occurrence of empathy theory shows how empathy theory complements semigroup theory for badly behaved systems.

6. PROF FAREED MOOSA Department of Mercantile and Labour Law Faculty of Law Rating level: C2

His niche area of research, namely, taxpayers’ rights in the field of tax administration is dynamic and not static. It undergoes regular change, both domestically and internationally. To avert losing relevance as a highly rated and serious researcher in this field, he accepts that it is incumbent on him to be continuously engaged in research on pressing legal and/or constitutional issues of our time

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that affect taxpayers’ and their rights when SARS or its agents administer taxes, whether in SA or abroad. His research over the next few years will not only be a continuation but also an expansion of his work on taxpayers’ rights with the intention to broaden his research focus to include an examination of taxpayers’ rights during tax administration by SARS under the laws governing customs and excise. Since the Tax Administration Act excludes that legislation from its scope of application, his research to date has not covered taxpayers’ rights within that context. Hence, the progression in that direction is a natural fit to his niche and would reflect further development in this field of research.

8. PROF ANITA PADMANABHANUNNI Department of Psychology Faculty of Community and Health Sciences Rating level: C2

7. DR MIMONITU OPUWARI Department of Earth Sciences Faculty of Natural Sciences Rating level: C2

The overarching aim of his research is to develop a comprehensive static sandstone reservoir zonation scheme for South African Offshore Basins. The research aims to complement the existing knowledge on Offshore Basins, which has recently been of commercial interest due to the recent hydrocarbon discoveries in the Luiperd and Brulpadda wells, located in the Southern Outeniqua Basin Offshore South Africa. Bredasdorp Basin is an active gas field that comprises exploration and appraisal wells. Previous studies on the Bredasdorp Basin have mainly focused on the sequence stratigraphy and the petroleum systems, seismic expressions and rock physics. However, the availability of gamma-ray well logs and core data motivate his current study aiming to provide essential insights into flow zone identifications and compare our results with previous findings.

Despite the various studies conducted in these sandstone reservoirs, there is a paucity of published work regarding reservoir flow zonation. His planned research is to focus on the eastern part of the Bredasdorp Basin, the other sub-basins of the Outeniqua Basin (Gamtoos, Algoa, and Southern Outeniqua ) with no evidence of published paper on reservoir flow zonation. It is envisaged that the findings from this study will provide a holistic view of reservoir flow zonation in the Offshore South African Basins that will culminate in the development of a reliable reservoir zonation framework.

Prof Padmanabhan aims to assess the efficacy of an existing internationally designed smartphone application in reducing symptoms of secondary traumatic stress among mental health care providers in South Africa. The rationale of this is that the majority of interventions for trauma have focused on survivors and use in-person interventions. However, there is consistent evidence that providing mental health care to those who have experienced traumatic events is associated with serious adverse psychological outcomes for the service provider. Psychology-specific smartphone applications are a relatively recent technology that offers a vehicle for enhancing access to mental health care in contexts where they are most needed. However, these applications have not been sufficiently evaluated in developing countries. Her research therefore aims to address this gap by implementing and evaluating the efficacy of an internationally designed smartphone application in targeting secondary traumatic stress reactions and building resilience among mental health care providers in South Africa. She has also implemented training in delivering psychological interventions through digital technologies for MA students in the Clinical Psychology Training programme at the University of the Western Cape. This type of training aims to broaden access to psychological services while facilitating students’ exposure to the use of technology in the delivery of mental health care.

9. PROF BRADLEY RINK Department of Geography, Environmental Studies & Tourism Faculty of Arts and Humanities Rating level: C2

Prof Brink’s ongoing and future research will continue to focus on mobilities, urban place-making and the shaping of urban identities through movements and circulations. He is an active participant in the African Urban Mobility Research Network and the UWC’s Migration and Mobilities Research

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Niche. In his paper “Capturing amaphela: Negotiating township politics through shared mobility” he addresses the paucity of evidence concerning amaphela [meaning ‘cockroach’ in isiXhosa] taxis.

The primary and innovative contribution of this paper is to extend a people-centred approach, to illustrate how amaphela services in Cape Town negotiate harsh social, economic and spatial environments brought by state regulation of transportation services and apartheid’s inequalities.

The research thus allows us to humanise an often-time-dehumanising experience of public (paratransit) transportation in the South African context. In a chapter titled “Cultures of flying and low-cost carriers in Southern Africa: Accessible air travel for all?” The cultures of aeromobility through a case study of two low-cost carriers in Southern Africa is interrogated. The expansion of LCCs in a region of marked socio-economic inequality unsettles the privileged origins of flying as a means of transport, complicates the mundane position of flying as a form of mobility, and brings to the surface questions of identity, class and race amongst the flying public. Considering the cases of Kulula.com and the failed Santaco Airlines, this chapter highlights how the democratisation of aeromobility in Southern Africa pushes the boundaries of the normative cultures of air travel.

10. DR ULJANA HESSE Department of Biotechnology Faculty of Natural Sciences Rating level: C3

For the next few years, Dr Hesse aims to 1) establish all remaining essential laboratorial methods and computational resources for plant genome analysis; 2) finalise and publish the rooibos genome and all ancillary results in high-impact journals; 3) drive implementation of the knowledge gained from the rooibos genomics programme in the agricultural production process; 4) establish a machine learning algorithm prototype that can be trained to classify diverse protein families; 5) identify and characterise the genes involved in the production of medicinally active phenolic compounds in rooibos, 6) continue with the development of a yeast expression system for in-vitro production of plant compounds; and 7) expand collaborations with national and international research teams and industry partners to drive development of novel technologies in plant genome research and expand the South African Medicinal Plant Genomics programme by other plant species (e.g. those shortlisted for COVID research). Her most challenging project is the development of a yeast expression system for the in-vitro production of selected plant compounds. Globally, only few laboratories have experience in this research field, yet it is essential to establish these laboratorial tools locally to ensure leadership in the biotechnological exploitation of the endemic flora. Having established main methods and procedures for plant transcriptome and genome research, she is now looking to expand the programme by other endemic medicinal plant species. Her main priority will be plant species that have been shortlisted by the National Recordal System for research on COVID-19 response.

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11. PROF ISIOMA ILE School of Government Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences Rating level: C3

Prof Ile’s ongoing research is broadly in the area of governance with specialisations in policy monitoring and evaluation. She has worked in this area of policy monitoring and evaluation for about 8 to 10 years now, and it is clear that Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is mostly driven by governments for reporting purposes and not necessarily adding the expected value. Hence, the current norm is that of limited participation of the beneficiaries and stakeholders. To this end, participatory monitoring and evaluation emerged as a theme which she pursued in the last 2 to 3 years. The practice of participatory M&E remains critical, especially the way it can be mainstreamed in the governance spaces in various sectors. She started pursuing the indigenous monitoring & evaluation systems and she will explore the value that indigenous governance systems can bring to the governance space (especially indigenous M&E). This is an original area for research in the next few years, as it is largely unexplored. Her current and future research trajectory comes together as follows: From Governance to policy monitoring and evaluation to participatory monitoring and evaluation to indigenous monitoring and evaluation case studies and opportunities for governance reforms. She intends to pursue, identify, document and analyse rich case studies in the African continent that show where and how indigenous M&E could add value to governance reforms.

This will primarily be focused on social policies that directly impact on the lives of citizens in local communities including food governance, social security and peace-related governance practices.

It is hoped that this research agenda which is original and cutting edge will truly contribute to decolonising the governance construct in Africa, thereby making governance more accessible and sustainable especially at the local level of government.

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12. DR FREDERIC ISINGIZWE NTURAMBIRWE

eResearch DVC: Research & Innovation Rating level: Y2

Dr Isingizwe Nturambirwe’s ongoing research is aimed at contributing towards food security by improving technological solutions in food systems. Food production and post production processes are empowered by technological advances such as mechanisation of production practices and the use of information systems in post-harvest practices for quality assurance and logistical purposes. Two specific aims are at the centre of the ongoing research and they are as follows. Finding solutions for low-cost devices that can be used in quality evaluation of horticultural products to increase accessibility by small-scale farming businesses. Secondly, implementation of the cutting-edge computational methods such as machine intelligence to advance progress in solving the most pressing and long-standing issues regarding quality determination, sorting and grading of produce in the horticultural industry. This research will advance the methodology of predictive data modelling in the application of NIRS to “large samples” of biological objects for food quality testing, and will produce a group of features that are characteristic to the nondestructive detection of mechanical damage in apple fruit.

13. DR BEY SCHMIDT School of Public Health Faculty of Community and Health Sciences Rating level: Y2

Dr Schmidt’s research centres on 1). conducting high-quality and responsive evidence syntheses, specifically systematic reviews of effectiveness, qualitative evidence synthesis and scoping reviews, and 2). promoting the use/uptake of synthesised or routine data in health decision-making (knowledge translation or research impact). She is providing methodological expertise on qualitative and quantitative systematic reviews. Some of the topics included are “Task shifting for children living with HIV” commissioned by the World Health Organization as part of the Research, Evidence and Development Initiative. Another review commissioned by the World Health Organization is “User perspectives on TB diagnostic tools”.

She is also the Cochrane mentor to a novice principal investigator on a review on “Hepatitis A immunisation in persons not previously exposed to hepatitis A. She is conducting primary research on strengthening community engagement in TB and HIV trials in South Africa. In addition, she contributed to the COVID-19 Evidence Network to support Decision-making (COVID-END).

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Annually we recognise our top achievers as well as emerging researchers at the research recognition awards. We share some of the views of the winners of the 2022 annual awards.

One of our awards is to recognise women researchers and in 2022 this award went to Prof Nicolette Roman, our current Sarchi chair in Development Of Human Capabilities and Social Cohesion. According to Prof Roman, through this award, the recognition of a female researcher and academic provides significant opportunities for validation. This award has the potential to voice the voiceless by promoting gender equity and advancing research and development at UWC, in the country and globally.

Her research focuses on strengthening families by exploring human capabilities in and through families and how this is linked to social cohesion.

Since family plays a priority role in all aspects of human and social development and behaviour and society at large, her intention is to use a more family-centred approach when strengthening, developing and implementing policy and programmes. The family is at the centre of the SDGs but in terms of the contribution of her work the following SDGs (1,3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 16).

Prof Roman encourages others with the following words:

“(1) Create the vision and then live it, get people to buy into it and grow it with you. So, collaborate starting with the UWC, then communities [especially those who need help] and then others [the rest of the continent and the globe]; (2) Build strong networks - Strengthen capacity, mentor, and supervise while creating the domino effect – teach one teach all; (3) Advocate for equal opportunities and recognition in the workplace, particularly for women and other underrepresented groups; (4) Always have a plan A, B, C, and D. Yes, plan for the unexpected but also be a risk-taker.”

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Another award recognises the impact of research through books. Books are a building block for sharing knowledge and are as important as publications. We recognised the book titled: Languages, Identities and Intercultural Communication in South Africa and Beyond edited by Prof Kaschula. With regard to the award Prof Kashula states that: “It is a recognition of my work and I am very grateful for that. When I say my work, I may have written the book, but it is really an accumulation of knowledge over time and it belongs not only to my students but also to my peers. I have learned so much from everyone around me and I think the book speaks to that”. His work links to several SDGs. These include quality education (SDG 4); decent work and economic growth (SDG 8); reducing inequalities (SDG10) and fostering peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16) to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective and accountable institutions”. It is about equal access to justice and promoting the rule of law in the workplace.

As an encouragement Prof Kaschula says:

“Be consistent in what you do and never giving up. Without perseverance and consistency over the years, as well as a belief in the work and maintaining a sense of curiosity, it would not have reached finality”.

PROF RUSSELL KASCHULA Recognising the best-established researcher that has demonstrated significant growth and impact in one or more subject areas which was awarded to Prof Priscilla Baker.

The award demonstrated the validation of my scientific achievements and professional growth through awards and recognition from the national and international scientific community.

The DVC: Research and Innovation award recognising the best-established researcher that has demonstrated significant growth during the preceding evaluation period, was also a recognition of the investment in research development, made by the University of the Western Cape, through funding support, infrastructure development and capacity building.

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As an encouragement Prof Priscilla Baker says:

“Hard work is its own reward. Don’t wait for the prize, enjoy the journey of doing your best, honour the gift and purpose you have been blessed with. Walk with integrity for integrity is priceless.”

PROF PRISCILLA BAKER She believes this strongly speaks to the sustainable development goal of ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. (SDG 4).

Furthermore, in its very conception, the SARChI chair in Analytical Systems and Processes for Priority and Emerging Contaminants (ASPPEC) seeks to combine cutting edge analytical technologies in innovative ways to deliver real world solutions, particularly in the water sector. The ASPPEC SARChI chair responds directly to the need for ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all (SDG 6). Through leveraged funds, the scope of the ASPPEC SARChI chair has been expanded to applications in seawater and the effective management of specific maritime safety challenges as directed by the International Maritime Authority (IMO). The collaboration with the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) speaks directly to the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development (SDG 14).

Recognising a mid-career researcher who has completed their PhD within the last six years, and has demonstrated significant growth and impact in one or more subject areas.

“It is important to choose a research area that one is passionate about and to read extensively. Developing a research plan is also essential to ensure that your research is systematic, organised, and achievable. Research is a collaborative process, and seeking help and feedback from others is key to success.”

PROF TIMOTHY DUBE This scientific research award had a range of impacts, including recognition, funding, collaboration, career advancement, and impact on society as well as increased career visibility and reputation within my field research. The award helped me to foster new collaborations and partnerships, as researchers in the same field took notice of the relevance of my work. Additionally, winning this scientific research award had a positive impact on my scientific career, opening new opportunities for advancement. Finally, the findings and discoveries made from my research have implications for water security, food security, technology, and other important areas of society, making this research awards an important driver of progress and innovation, especially under the fourth industrialisation era. More importantly, this award has been an inspiration and motivation to my research group team members, postgraduate students and colleagues across the academic spectrum.

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His research aligns with the priorities of the African Space Policy and Strategy Framework, which emphasises the significance of using space technologies to address critical global grand challenges in Africa, such as water management, biodiversity conservation, and food security.

He has helped to address some of Africa’s most pressing issues, such as water scarcity, food insecurity, and biodiversity loss, by utilising geospatial data sets and space technologies. By using space technologies to monitor and sustainably manage natural resources, he contributed to the achievement of SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG 13 (climate action), SDG 14 (life under water) and SDG 15 (life on land). His contribution to the use of space technologies for monitoring and sustainable management of natural resources is very valuable and makes an important contribution to Africa’s development. At the national level, the National Research and Development Strategy has identified the provision of EO data to government, the private sector and the SADC region as critical to the sustainable management of natural resources.

The South African National Space Science and Technology Strategy sets strategic goals for the use of space technologies in the areas of environment and resource management, health, security, innovation, economic growth and social development.

As we acknowledge the next generation career researcher who. within five years of being appointed to the UWC, has demonstrated significant growth and impact in one or more subjects. These are as follows:

“Don’t give up. Persevere. It’s going to be a lonely journey. Make academic connections along the way. Be yourself, no matter what. Learn new technologies all the time. The world is moving so fast, and software technologies are evolving at such an extraordinary rate that one needs to keep current or you will be left behind.”

Reduced inequalities (SDG 10) in dentistry, refers to individuals not having equal access to good quality dental treatment. Now there are over 6 500 dentists in the country, as opposed to over 80 000 medical practitioners. There is more access for the 60 million people in South Africa to medical practitioners than dental practitioners in South Africa. We need to improve access to care to the much-needed marginalised individuals, to prevent dental disease from occurring.

An early career researcher who has completed their PhD within the last five years, and has demonstrated significant growth and impact in one or more subject areas.

“I will advise the researchers on this journey to be hardworking, focused, dedicated, motivated, resilient and goaloriented. They should have a mentor and be open to collaboration and networking (locally and internationally). They should develop their research skills.”

DR BABATOPE ADEBIYI “The award is an acknowledgement of a job well done and justification for the agony, the selfdoubt and the hard work that went into winning it.”

His work has contributed to Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing). His work has contributed to the FASD prevention and management of FASD. The research can potentially promote healthy pregnancies and improve the lives of individuals with FASD. He has also contributed to minimising the impacts of COVID-19 on Families and vulnerable groups (migrants) by exploring their lived experiences.

DR FAHEEMAH KIMMIE-DHANSAY When one does research, you are often by yourself for many hours and working with a handful of people on various projects for many months, or even years. Although very interesting, it can be a very lonely journey.

Her work is related to Good Health and wellbeing (SDG 3), as one cannot have good health without having good oral health. Wellbeing not only refers to physical wellbeing, but to mental and social well being. Promoting oral health is thus essential for promoting overall wellbeing.

Oral health neglect can be manifested through poor knowledge about oral health, not just the cessation of free-sugars, but also of the importance of maintaining good oral hygiene (through brushing twice a day and flossing daily). Which is why she would like to see more oral health promotion being delivered at a school level in the curriculum as part of general health and not just as a once-off toothbrushing programme which has no integration with medical programmes aimed at teenagers (SDG 4) Quality Education.

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Awards for individuals in research and management Lifetime Award Prof Emmanuel Iwuoha – Senior Professor: Chemistry; and DSI/ NRF SARChI Chair (Tier 1): Nano-Electrochemistry and Sensor Technology, University of the Western Cape (UWC) He has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) of UK since 1999 and a Chartered Chemist of the RSC since 1990.

He received the University of Western Cape Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Researcher Award for 2015. He was a finalist in the 18th National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF)-SOUTH 32 AWARDS 2015/16 which recognises excellence within the SET and innovation community. He was a Member of the University of Western Cape (UWC) Governing Council and its Executive Committee from 2005 - 2017. From 2010 - 2018 he was a member of the Senior Appointment Committee of the UWC Council. He is the Founder and Director of SensorLab (UWC Sensor Research Laboratories) since 2002; and he was the Leader of the “Development of Catalytic Materials” Research Niche Area (2007-2011) under the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa’s Institutional Capacity Development programme. He led the establishment of the DST’s National Nanoscience Postgraduate Teaching and Training Platform as part of the implementation of the DST’s nanoscience pedagogical strategy.

Accordingly, he coordinated the planning, development and implementation of the first interuniversity (involving NNMU, UFS, UJ and UWC) MSc Nanoscience degree programme in South Africa (as well as in Africa), with specialisations in NanoBiomed, NanoChem and NanoPhysics. Prof Iwuoha is an electrochemist, and all his research work is done under the umbrella of SensorLab (the University of Western Cape Sensor Laboratories). His research work relates to the designing and production of ‘smart’ nanomaterials (polymeric, dendritic, graphenated and carbon nanotubes composite systems; as well as multi-metal nanoalloys and quantum dots) for application in the construction of sensors, reactors and energy-generating systems (such as batteries, supercapacitors and solar cells).

TW Kambule-NSTF Award: Researcher Prof Marique Aucamp – Associate Professor: Pharmaceutics Dept, School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of the Western Cape Prof. Aucamp has an in-depth knowledge of pharmaceutical sciences with experience in the regulation of pharmaceutical products and processes. Her research focuses on the solid-state chemistry of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), from determining its physical properties, to researching its physical transformations, investigating chemical reactions, and supramolecular modifications of APIs in order to address certain inherent undesirable properties of the API, such as poor solubility, bitter tastes, poor wettability, and 102

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low permeation. Her research links pharmaceutical preformulation (a stage of development where the physical chemistry properties of a drug is established and characterised) with pharmaceutical processes and product formulation, ultimately designing improved pharmaceutical dosage forms.

She is actively involved in the teaching and learning of undergraduate students, mentoring of postgraduate students, publication of research results, project and module coordination as well as patent development. To date, she supervised 28 completed postgraduate studies and currently 5 PhD and 5 MSc students are enrolled under her supervision/co-supervision. Up to this point in time she has authored/co-authored 49 peer-reviewed papers, 3 book chapters, 26 conference proceedings and is the inventor/co-inventor of 3 innovations.

Communication Award Prof Burtram Fielding – Dean: Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of the Western Cape Professor Burtram Fielding is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the University of the Western Cape. Amongst other positions, he has previously served as the UWC Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) from the period (2016-2017), the UWC Director for Research Development (2018-2021), two terms as the inaugural chairperson of the UWC Animal Research Ethics and the Biomedical Research Ethics Committees, and a threeyear term as the inaugural chairperson of the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee. As a researcher, Professor Fielding is the principal investigator for the Molecular Biology and Virology Research Group in the Department of Medical Biosciences at the UWC. A UWC alumnus, Professor Fielding’s research focus has been on applied molecular biology in human health. Specifically, his main area of research is the molecular virology of human coronaviruses, although his lab is also involved in studying the molecular biology of medicinal plants as potential treatment for human diseases. Professor Fielding’s interest in the coronavirus was sparked in Singapore where, from 2003 to 2006, he was a research fellow in the Collaborative Anti-Viral Group at the acclaimed Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB). At the IMCB, he studied the molecular biology of the first human Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus, which broke out in Asia in 2003. Prof Fielding completed a MPhil (Management Coaching, cum laude) at the University of Stellenbosch Business School in 2019.

A fervent believer that scholars have a role to play in society as public intellectuals, Professor Fielding has a passion for sharing COVID and SARS-CoV-2-related research with the public.

To this end, during the pandemic he published several opinion pieces in the popular press; was interviewed and quoted in countless international magazines; and was interviewed on a host of continental and international television and radio channels. In South Africa, he did more than 500 media engagements, which includes radio, television and newspaper interactions. In addition, he appeared on various podcasts and did presentations to communities to discuss the COVID vaccine and other COVID-related matters. Prof Fielding was a National Science and Technology ForumSouth 32 2021/2022 finalist in the Communication Awards category.

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