Faculty of Health Science's Research Forum
26-27 August 2021
This year, the annual Health Sciences Faculty Research Forum will be held from 26-27 August 2021 in the Francois Retief Building on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS), in a blended format or virtually, depending on the COVID-19 pandemic. The Student Research Forum will take place on Tuesday 24 August 2021. The 50th Celebrations panel discussion and Ethics session will take place on Wednesday, 25 August 2021. All articles that are to be considered for a medal must be submitted by 12 April 2021. Abstracts should be submitted no later than 9 July 2021.
This forum held in the faculty will once again be characterized by high-quality submissions and presentations. A remarkable increase was observed since 2017 in the quality of submissions for presentations, and we aim to do the same this year. The Faculty Research Forum serves as a worthy reflection of a faculty known for its high academic standards, efficient service, and quality research.
One of the most important yardsticks used to evaluate academic institutions is the quality of the research conducted at such an institution. At the Faculty of Health Sciences, we place a high premium on the quality of research, and quality research is conducted on an on-going basis. The pursuit of improvement, a scientific approach, and academic enrichment remain some of the objectives of the faculty. The aim of the Faculty Research Forum is to serve as a showcase for all the research conducted in the faculty and also as exposure for junior staff members.
Staff members involved in research are therefore invited to use this opportunity for presenting the results of their research.
Abstracts can be submitted online.
Who may participate?
- The researcher must be a staff member of a department/division of the faculty, and the work must be done by the staff member in the faculty
- Should work be done at another institution, e.g. abroad, it must have been done with the permission of the faculty
- Should a staff member be appointed in the faculty after completion of the work and have done the work themselves, the staff member may participate
- Postgraduate students of the faculty may participate
- Enrolled undergraduate students may take part in the Student Research Forum
- External persons with lecturer status
- Individuals and institutions who have a formal and informal association with the faculty may participate
In order to facilitate the arrangement of the forum, kindly take note of the information about participation and the guidelines. The abstract must be according to the template and the maximum number of characters is 2 500 for the content (approximately 300 words).
Medals
During the Faculty Research Forum, three medals are awarded to the authors of the best scientific articles published in a scientific journal. The requirements are as follows:
- Journals must have made use of peer review
- The principal author must be a staff member and/or student of the faculty
- The article that is submitted must have an affiliation with the university. Acknowledgement must also be given to the university, regardless of where the research was conducted
- Articles published between January and December of the previous year may be submitted for evaluation
- The John van der Riet Medal is awarded in the clinical disciplines, the Muller Potgieter Medal in the laboratory disciplines, and the Kerneels Nel Medal in the educational disciplines
Floating Trophies
Floating trophies will be awarded to the best junior and best senior papers in each of the three categories.
The following documents from the Faculty Research Forum held in previous years are still available: