USAf-ACU Symposium on Developing the Capacity of Early Career Researchers

From 18 to 19 March 2019, 20 of South Africa’s 26 public universities converged on the University of Johannesburg grounds to delve deeper into the conversation about developing the capacity of early career researchers at South Africa’s public universities. Up to 70 delegates comprising vice-chancellors; their deputies; senior directors and managers responsible for developing and maintaining the research enterprise at their institutions, attended the two-day symposium. The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), which co-hosted the event with Universities South Africa (USAf), deployed four delegates headed by ACU’s Chief Executive and Secretary General. Also, in attendance were scholars from South Africa and Zimbabwe, who led a session on ACU’s support programmes for early career researchers.

Deliberations explored numerous areas, namely, a) the importance of supporting emerging researchers; b) building a cadre of emerging scholars for South Africa’s higher education; challenges they face and support programmes available to them from the ACU and South Africa. Based on the two days’ deliberations, the delegates went on to explore in-depth, appropriate interventions to speed up capacity building of emerging scholars from numerous perspectives including university policy and strategy; institutional structures and planning and funding.

The USAf-ACU symposium was in fact continuing a discussion dating back a few years and which peaked at USAf’s biennial Research and Innovation Dialogue of 2018. The emerging researchers’ discourse, dating back as far back as 2005, first drew the sector’s attention to the ageing professoriate in South Africa’s university system. The conversation was further inspired by findings of a year-long study completed in 2017, which looked at a) the profile of SA’s academic staff; key research drivers within South Africa’s public university system and b) key enablers for, and impediments to building a pipeline of emerging researchers. The 2017 study findings brought under spotlight, areas needing attention, and also recommended strategic actions to undertake at the systemic, institutional and individual levels to increase the number, diversity and representation of emerging researchers in the university system.

Together, USAf and the ACU envisaged that the symposium would suggest interventions aimed at supporting early career researchers in South Africa and in the wider region. That vision was achieved.