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Emerging researchers and scholars encouraged to use available support tools for success – USAf CEO

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“We cannot claim to have covered all the bases concerning the support and empowerment of early career researchers and academics, but we are getting there,” Dr Phethiwe Matutu, Chief Executive Officer at Universities South Africa (USAf), so stated in a conversation exploring universities’ performance in creating conducive environments for emerging scholars to thrive. 

“However, compared to when I was fulfilling my own postgraduate study ambitions, I could say that the sector is making good progress in ensuring that support tools and critical knowledge resources are available,” she said. “While I cannot speak for individual universities in detail, I can reflect on what we, as the representative body of universities, have done to contribute in this regard.”

Thuso Resources and Thuso Connect, the platforms we host within the Advancing Early Career Researchers and Scholars (AECRS) Programme, have assisted numerous individuals. We are continuing to build on the users’ and other stakeholders’ feedback to increase their depth and utility,” she said.

Thuso Resources, dubbed “The National Toolbox” for early career researchers, enables universities and other relevant entities to share invaluable materials and information on an open-access online platform. These tools range in purpose, enabling users access to:

  • academic capacity building, including a focus on research integrity and ethics, data analysis, research protocols design, research proposal writing and grant proposals writing;
  • publishing, selecting where and how to publish, promoting the research post-publication, advice on predatory journals, and open access;
  • funding, such as fellowships, scholarships, and research grants;
  • professional development (career planning and support in an academic setting);
  • skilful teaching;
  • understanding administration, policy, and processes in Higher Education;
  • supervisory resources (guiding research, managing research groups); and
  • opportunities for networking.

Thuso Connect, on the other hand, is a national platform that links South African researchers and scholars to an interactive mentorship programme, online. Through Thuso Connect, individuals seeking mentorship and those willing to offer it get to meet ethically and practically, and agree to work in a partnership. 

The pairing of mentors and mentees on this platform is determined mainly by interests and other factors beyond academia, and not necessarily by disciplines or institutions. Thuso Connect seeks to build lasting connections, even after the stipulated one-year mentorship partnership on this platform has ended.

The AECRS Programme, funded by the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), and housed within USAf, was established to respond to the expressed needs of emerging academics and researchers, working towards mid-career levels. AECRS provides essential support and building capacity in identified areas of need. 

Even though a lot has been achieved to date, the USAf CEO concedes that the road ahead is still long and not devoid of thorns. 

“Academia is a challenging terrain, as evidenced in the findings of the 2018 Study on Building a Cadre of Emerging Scholars for Higher Education in South Africa, that uncovered why many academics were not advancing in their doctoral or postdoctoral pursuits. That study inspired the DSTI to sponsor the AECRS programme. The programme runs on USAf staff, who convene engagements that conceptualise projects, ensure successful projects implementation and manage the programme budget.”

Where to, from here?

“I am proud to be a part of this promising response,” Dr Matutu said, adding that with the AECRS now in full swing, early career researchers face brighter prospects ahead.   

She said the AECRS Programme gives apt expression to one of USAf’s strategic objectives to improve the sustainability of the higher education sector, financially, environmentally, and from a staffing point of view.

“The programme is here to level the playing field for all our early career researchers and scholars across the sector,” she said. “But they must optimise use of these supportive tools. Thuso Resources and Thuso Connect must achieve the objectives for which they were created.”

Nqobile Tembe is the Marketing and Communication Consultant for USAf’s Advancing Early Career Researchers and Scholars (AECRS) Programme.

The post Emerging researchers and scholars encouraged to use available support tools for success – USAf CEO appeared first on Universities South Africa.


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