by Phaphama Tshisikhawe
A strategic conversation on impactful research, themed Innovation for Sustainable and Resilient Socio-Economic and Political Transformation, took place among the professoriate of the Tshwane University of Technology’s Faculty of Humanities at the Protea Hotel - Menlyn, on 6 February 2025.
Convened by Professor Mashupye Maserumule, Executive Dean of the Faculty, the discussion was angled around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emerging global, continental and national trends.
In his opening remarks, Prof Maserumule talked about what makes the success of a nation, which he said, is the function of investing in ideas that work and that research and innovation are catalysts of this. He said the Faculty’s professoriate must be characterised by what he called ‘scholarship of consequence’. He argued that this is the only way to achieve impactful research.
The discussion also touched on the implications of South Africa’s G20 Presidency - from the perspective of the Faculty’s research agenda.
An invited guest, Prof Rasigan Maharaj, delivered a thought-provoking presentation, titled Our Contemporary Conjuncture: Climate Change & Social Justice, which animated the discussion. Prof Maharaj cautioned against monodisciplinary approaches to research and binaries among the fields of study. He agitated for inter-, multi- and trans-disciplinarity as key interventions to optimise research endeavours.
Integration of various disciplines to address complex sustainability and resilience challenges, as well as the incorporation of diverse ideological, ethical, cultural and scientific perspectives, as Maharaj argued, contribute to social changes in a big way.
Prof Rasigan Maharajh delivering the keynote address
at the Faculty of Humanitys Professors workshop.
Prof Thelma de Jager, Assistant Dean for Research, Innovation and Engagement, shared the University’s research strategy with the professors. This was followed by robust discussions, all marked by commitment to position the Faculty at the cutting edge of research endeavours to shape the future of humanity. Ultimately, the conversation spawned the following, as the Faculty’s core research focus areas, linked to the United Nation’s SDGs and the African Agenda 2063:
- Literature and Ecocriticism: In this thematic area the potential and actual impacts of emergent pedagogical literature on innovative teaching methods and strategies with a focus on its influence on people’ attitudes towards social change will be analysed, including further exploring themes of sustainability and resilience, ecological, polycrises, languages, drama, poetry and fiction.
- Cultural Studies and Anthropology: Here the focus will be on diversity of cultural approaches to the praxis of sustainability and resilience whilst deepening explorations of indigenous and traditional knowledges about ecological integrity and sustainable practices. Societal dimensions of sustainability and resilience, focusing on urban planning, safety and security, disaster management and community practices will also be explored.
- Political Science and Policy Studies: Of critical importance in this thematic area will be the contemporary geopolitical conjunctures, looking at the effectiveness of different governance ideologies, systems, structures, policies and strategies in reducing precarity, promoting sustainability and exploring the impact of social structures on gender equity and environmental justice, safety and security, peace and justice
- Linguistics and Communication focus on how language media and communication impact the development of an awareness about sustainability and resilience challenges.
- Digital humanities: In this thematic endeavour, which seeks to respond to the surging technology of the fourth Industrial Revolution, the intention is to develop and implement innovative education strategies, methods and curricula that leverage technology to optimise our pedagogical praxis, including integrating sustainability principles.
Over the years, the Faculty has been making remarkable progress, consistently increasing its research outputs. It is because of this that Prof Maserumule said the research agenda that the Faculty has set for itself is within the research. The Faculty has nine full professors and nine associate professors.
The conversation was also attended by the heads of the department and chairpersons of the research departmental committees in the Faculty. Inputs that came from the discussions brought a sense of novelty in the commitment to improve research, including impact.
Linked to this, which was also emphasised, related to how the University could effectively communicate research findings beyond only publishing in academic journals.
Academics in the Faculty of Humanities who participated in the Professors workshop.