UCT Sustainability and the SDGs 2022 - Report - Page 29
representation of black and female staff members in
associate and full professor positions. Since its inception,
there have been 39 promotions, including nine from
associate professor to full professor and 30 from senior
lecturer to associate professor.
The initiative cultivates a nurturing network of academics
through diverse activities. These include retreats,
workshops, social events, coaching sessions and
individualised guidance. Within the NGP community, peer
support is robust, encouraging the sharing of resources,
knowledge and emotional support among its participants.
In 2022, NGP member Zarina Patel was selected for the
Norwegian cCHANGE Transformational Leadership for
Sustainability Programme and Amir Patel was awarded
the 2022 Oppenheimer Memorial Trust (OMT) Sabbatical
Award.
Capacitating early-career
academics to grow their
research
Reducing Racial Inequality
Data collected in 2022 also shows
the effectiveness of the ERP in
reducing racial inequality among
academics at UCT:
76%
proportion of researchers at UCT
who are South African
88%
proportion of UCT researchers
enrolled in the ERP who are
South African
37%
proportion of researchers at UCT
who are black South African
61%
proportion of UCT researchers
enrolled in the ERP who are black
South African
Established in 2003, the Emerging Researcher
Programme (ERP) is the Research Office’s flagship
capacity-building programme. The ongoing programme
targets early-career academics to grow their research
capacity, amplify their productivity, and provide
an enabling environment that contributes to
transformation and retention. One of the
programme’s goals is to retain black South
African academics, while also growing the
pipeline of black and women academics as
well as academics with disabilities.
In 2022, 65 new
members were recruited
to the ERP, bringing its
cumulative membership to
1 143, a jump from 45 at its
inception in 2003.
Top right: Associate Professor Amir Patel
at the UCT Mechatronics lab.
Left page and bottom right: A graduation
ceremony at the Sarah Baartman Hall,
UCT.
Sustainability and the SDGs 2022 – 29
