Research and Innovation Reports

This is the Report (2020-2021) of the Engagement and Transformation Portolio (ETP) which is located in the broader framework of Vision 2030. Please read it against the wide backdrop of the history, present and future of the University. The report is an inviation for continuous critical reflection and unburdened conversations to make collective sense of what a dynamic African university in service of society might looklike, and how it can be advanced through the work of this portfolio. Our work is open and incomplete and we welcome ideas, collaborations and initiatives from across the university, the sector and society. This report also presents a sketch of the portfolio collectively drawn by countless engagements across the University and its publics, with first-rate support and guidance from Council, colleagues, partners, collaborators, communities and ourassociates, critics and friends.

Our report highlights the significant impact of research, often aided by digital transformation. Vision 2030 recognises the essential role of digitalisation in ensuring institutional sustainability and viability. Decreased state funding anda sluggish economy have placed pressure on higher education institutions.Collaboration is essential, and the Department of Higher Education (DHE) acknowledges the shift to digitalisation, reallocating funds to include this transformation. It is crucial for learning, teaching, research, innovation, internationalisation, information systems, data governance and cybersecurity.We are also considering the establishment of a Virtual Academy, designed before the COVID-19 era. This cloudbased campus can accommodate full-time online students, both locally and internationally, with a focus on Africa. Research Professor in Learning & Teaching Cheryl Foxcroft has been tasked with its development, promising exciting prospects in the coming years.

The University will continue to make strides in pursuit of its vision to be recognised for its leadership in generating cutting edge knowledge for a sustainable future. In so doing, we will engage in equalising partnerships with our stakeholders incommunities, government, industry, business, and civil society organisations to co-create a more inclusive, socially just world that honours the legacy and values of Nelson Mandela. This report showcases some of the exceptional research and innovation undertaken by Mandela University during the 2021/22 period. I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to all our staff and postgraduate students for their ongoing commitmentto living our values. I also extend my heartiest congratulations to the winners of the 2021 research and innovation excellence awards for their outstanding achievements.

In 2019, the University reviewed progress made in implementing its decadal Vision 2020 strategic plan and looked ahead at developing a fresh blueprint for the next decade to inform the Vision 2030 strategy. As part of these processes, Council approved the institutional research and innovation strategy during 2019, whichincludes intensified efforts to ramp up research output, productivity and impact as a key dimension of the University’s reputation and sustainability. To this end, it is pleasing to note that the research publication outputs of the University increased by 11% from 429 in 2018 to 474 in 2019. This contributed to the total weighted research output units of the University remaining stable at 1027 from 2018 to 2019, in spite of a decline in master’s and doctoral enrolments and research output units over the past two years. As a crucial precondition of revitalising the academy, the University is exploring strategies to expand the pool of postgraduate students through improved financial support and expanding postgraduate supervisory capacity cross all faculties. As a comprehensive university, Mandela University is poised to facilitate the convergence of inter- and transdisciplinary “blue sky” and applied research as a centrepiece of progressive scholarly inquiry in response to the major challenges of our time, such as poverty, the burden of disease, global inequality and environmental degradation. This is part of a broader strategy to reconfigure theUniversity in alignment with a reimagined and non-paternalistic paradigm of engagement that can more meaningfully engage with, and contribute to, alleviating human precarity. 

A culture of vibrant research, innovation and internationalisation is central to the growth and reputation of Nelson Mandela University. Senate has therefore approved a new strategy to advance our research and innovation culture by supporting researchers from honours all the way through to postdoctoral fellows and established researchers. As we know, there is a direct correlation between the proportion of academic staff with PhDs and research outputs, and we are committed to increasing our numbers of academic staff with doctorates, doctoral graduates, and our cohort of postdoctoral fellows. It is pleasing that for 2018, with a weighted research output(WRO) of 1.67, our university edged closer to the national average of 1.88 WRO. We are also pleased that our doctoral graduates for 2018 increased by 11% to 102, compared to 92 in 2017. We are currently hosting 63 postdoctoral fellows, compared to 52 in 2017. They significantly contribute to the university in terms of publication outputs, postgraduate supervision and general research productivity. In 2018 our postdoctoral fellows published over 50 peer-reviewed papers. External funding for postdoctoral fellowships has, however, been declining, and this has become afocus area for future resource mobilisation. Another focus is the decline in our honours and master’s graduates; a situation we are investigating, as these are crucial for growing our academic pipeline.

NMU new institutional research themes, the product of a wide consultative process, speak both to the present and the future, namely, our existing knowledge asset base, as well as our aspirations. They speak to what we have chosen to be and howwe are positioning ourselves in terms of our research priorities in the higher education sector. As a university we have settled on the following organising themes to steer our differentiating scholarly contribution:• Ocean and Coastal Sciences• Social Justice and Democracy• Environmental Stewardship and Sustainable Livelihoods• Innovation and the Digital Economy• Origins, Culture, Heritage and Memory, and• Humanising Pedagogies