2021eResearchReport - Flipbook - Page 5
Supporting the
research enterprise
To achieve our Vision 2030 goal of
‘unleashing knowledge in, for and
from Afrika’ we seek to capacitate our
researchers with the latest tools and
technologies, as well as the skills to use
them, in the increasingly data-intensive
world of research.
Africa is the frontline for many of the
grand-challenge problems outlined in the
United Nations Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs). Issues of climate change,
food and water insecurity and inequality
all play out on the continent and can be
best understood here, by researchers
who understand their communities and
the challenges they face. All too often
our own researchers are relegated to
junior partners in research collaborations
because, while we operate in a data-rich
environment, our ability to turn that
data into information and knowledge is
hampered by a lack of access to skills and
infrastructure.
These pages show the work of UCT
eResearch to address that gap, not only
providing the critical infrastructure, but
through their work with the Researcher
Development Academy and Emerging
Researcher Programme to build skills and
capacitate our researchers to hold their
own in data-driven research.
Interdisciplinary research and big data
are both necessary if we are to tackle
the SDGs sustainably and successfully,
working with their various partners, UCT
eResearch supports that effort.
To continue to progress in this area we
are in the process of establishing data and
methodology hubs to address capabilities
for big data storage and analysis,
including the necessary methodological
tools to curate our data appropriately and
to put that data to good use, for a longterm approach.
We have also made public our support
of the principles of the Declaration of
Research Assessment (DORA) which
seeks to acknowledge the non-traditional
ways to assess the impact of research
in addressing the grand challenges
for Africa. This is part of an overall
recognition that to achieve real outcomes
in solving real-world problems we
need to reassess the way we do things.
This through balancing the building of
fundamental knowledge with ensuring
the impact of new knowledge to make
sure our research shows maximum impact
for the communities we serve, as well as
globally.
To do this most effectively, we need
to bring together the full range of
technologies with the rich data we have
at our fingertips as African researchers
and create sustainable solutions to be
a university that is not only the best in
Africa, but also the best for Africa.
Professor Sue Harrison
Deputy Vice Chancellor for
Research and Internationalisation
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Research Office
in the eResearch
partnership
The overarching mandate of the
Research Office is to build and support
infrastructure to enhance and sustain
the entire UCT researcher enterprise’s
excellence and relevance.
Key to this mandate, and increasingly
relevant in the UCT eResearch
partnership, is our work nurturing the
next generation of researchers.
This began with the Emerging
Researcher Programme through which
UCT eResearch found high levels
of engagement by researchers. The
eResearch team responded well to this
engagement, developing and customising
their training offering according to
the requirements of the researchers.
We are all excited to see this capacity
building rolling out in the collaboration
between the Office of Research Integrity,
eResearch and Digital Library Services
titled “Research Integrity: Managing and
Sharing Human Research Data (Module 5)”
available on Success Factors and beyond
UCT through the Researcher Development
Academy.
The research systems support team
is also an excellent contribution to the
UCT eResearch offering. The electronic
Research Administration (eRA) system
began as a project based within the
Research Office, and that project now
mainstreamed and managed by a
dedicated team supporting this and
related research systems.
This year saw a great deal of effort in
the rolling out of the ethics module of the
eRA which will bring the research-ethics
processes at UCT online and in line with
national and international best practices.
This work to build and support
systems underpinning research, allows
us to better support research, reducing
risk, ensuring sustainable research,
and tracking trends to be able to better
respond to global calls for research for
impact.
Dr Linda Mtwisha
Executive Director,
Research Office
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