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Department of Research and Innovation
is a customisable database that provides researchers
with access to information about funding opportunities
specific to their own research areas. When the database
was rolled out to the UCT community during 2012,
subscriptions peaked at 550 by year end, with more than
3 000 international funding opportunities being made
available to researchers. Furthermore, the Research Office
provided substantive technical support to researchers
applying for funding from the United States’ National
Institutes of Health (NIH), which resulted in 20 such
proposals being developed in 2012 with UCT as the
applicant institution. On the national front, the Research
Office actively provided assistance with 400 applications
for funding and rating from the NRF.
In addition to supporting access to grants, another
key priority is to help develop researcher capacity.
The Research Office runs pioneering programmes to
assist academics in furthering their profiles, in which all
faculties participate.
The Emerging Researcher Programme (ERP) reached its
tenth year in 2012 and continues to provide support that
ranges from counselling by a programme co-ordinator
to more structured mentorship sessions, as well as
workshops and seminars. It awards modest grants
through a developmental process of proposal writing
and its impact is reflected in the rapid growth from 44
participants in its founding year to 548 by the end of
2012. Fifty-six joined in 2012 alone.
Through the Programme for the Enhancement of
Research Capacity (PERC), the Research Office works
with faculties, departments, and individuals to offer
support to the more established researcher. Activities
to support this sector of the research community
include preparing staff to apply for NRF rating and/
or re-evaluation, promoting inter- and transdisciplinary
research, providing financial and intellectual support
for Africa-based research and the production of Africa-
centred knowledge.
The work of PERC and ERP is further complemented by
Supervision Training and the Mellon Visiting and Retired
Scholars Mentorship Project. The latter aims at giving
further individualised support to young academics
through structured mentoring organised within selected
host departments that apply for such support through
a competitive process. (
Also
s
ee feature on research
development initiatives at UCT, on pages 22–25
).
The support provided by the Research Office is delivered
within the framework of the university’s mission and
also its research strategy. In collaboration with the
International Academic Programmes Office, the office
strives to realise UCT’s Afropolitan vision of playing a
consistent and visible role on the continent that is in line
with the university’s position as one of Africa’s leading
universities. Already a recipient of the NIH’s International
Extramural Associate Research Development Award
(IEARDA), the office was awarded a supplementary
grant that enabled collaboration with other IEARDA
grantees to transfer their skills to research managers and
administrators on the African continent. In conjunction
with the University of Zambia, Moi University in Kenya
and Mbarara University of Science and Technology in
Uganda, workshops were conducted in Lusaka and
Cape Town in 2012. The latter workshop, hosted by the
Research Office, was attended by 38 delegates from 25
institutions in sub-Saharan Africa.
UCT’s relationship with international organisations plays
an equally important role in fostering our engagement
with the international research community. Such
relationship-building is supported by the Research
Office and happens in a variety of ways, including
participation in formally structured bodies, such
as the Worldwide Universities Network, as well as
through formal agreements with strategically selected
international partners where there is already evidence
of strong and productive collaboration in a selected
area. In 2012, special focus was given to partnerships
with the International Centre for Education, Marine
and Atmospheric Sciences over Africa, a joint initiative
between several laboratories in South Africa and France,
and the establishment of a consortium focused on social
science research and PhD/researcher training with the
London School of Economics and the universities of
Ghana, Dar es Salaam, Ibadan, Makerere, and Nairobi.
Key to the success of each of the support structures
is effective communication and the appropriate
organisation and storage of knowledge. Information
linking each of the above, coupled with an effective
grants-management system, will soon be incorporated
into an online Research Portal being developed in
partnership with UCT’s Information and Communication
Technology Services. There is also a concerted shift
towards open-access platforms, with policies and
structures currently under development to maximise
open scholarship in the realm of research.
Over the last year in particular, and thanks to a very
efficient and hardworking team, the Research Office has
expanded its partnership with the research community.
We salute our researchers and look forward to an
excellent year of productivity ahead as we consolidate
and build on these foundations.