18 September 2026  |  By Andre Damons  

Learn better ways of working and supporting research

According to Mandy Jampies, Senior Officer: Postdoctoral Fellow Coordination, who presented on Research impact through strategic postdoctoral coordination, she is bringing back a stronger focus on encouraging postdoctoral fellows to think beyond publications when defining research impact. “In my day-to-day work, I will emphasise opportunities for fellows to translate their research into collaborations, innovation, policy influence, community engagement, capacity development and real-world solutions.

“My presentation focused on strategic postdoctoral coordination at the University of the Free State, highlighting how effective governance, institutional partnerships and coordinated support can enable postdoctoral fellows to contribute to broader research impact. Following the presentation, several institutions expressed interest and enquired about UFS’ best practices, particularly our approaches to postdoctoral coordination and support,” she said.

Muneera Mansoor, Office Manager, says attending the SARIMA conference was really about learning from other people working within the research management and innovation space, but also about sharing what they are doing at the UFS.

“We sometimes become so focused on our own day-to-day work that we don't necessarily get the opportunity to see how other institutions are approaching similar challenges. The conference gave me an opportunity to engage with colleagues from across the sector, exchange ideas and practices, and come back to DRD with a broader perspective.”

Sokutu agreed, saying, researchers and the people who support research can benefit a lot from these discussions because they can learn better ways of working and supporting research. Universities also benefit because better research support can improve funding, partnerships and the quality of research. In the end, she said, communities and the public also benefit because research should not only stay within universities; it should help solve real problems and improve people's lives.

Connecting with industry partners and counterparts

Willem Kilian, Research Ethics and Information Management System Officer, said one of the highlights for him was the opportunity to connect with research management industry partners as well as with counterparts, both old and new, from other South African higher education institutions – especially those who are working with research outputs at their institution, such as UNISA and the University of Johannesburg. 

“We were able to workshop and achieve a lot during the week with our electronic research administration system service provider, InfoEd Global, implementing enhancements, learning more about upcoming upgrades, and even problem-solving in collaboration with colleagues from the other institutions. This strengthened our bond, reinforced the concept that we are collaborative partners with InfoEd as much as we are clients, and showed us the benefits of working together to solve problems,” said Killian.

Behind every successful research project are research managers who play a pivotal role

Boemo Segoje, Officer: RIMS (Research Information Management System), Ethics and Creative Outputs, who presented a poster presentation titled Institutional best practices for realigning research ethics support to promote research impact with colleague, Thabo Mokgokong, said the conference encouraged her to think differently about existing business processes in her portfolio and how these processes can contribute more strategically to the institution’s research goals. Going forward, she continued, her consideration is to ensure that research administration processes contribute to improved research impact.

“I believe on a day-to-day basis; we could continue to achieve this by making greater use of data from the research information management system (RIMS) to gain insights into where additional research support is needed. This information could then inform targeted training, needed guidance, and process improvements. In this way, we are using existing mechanisms to enhance research support and maximise research impact,” Segoje said.

“This conference was a beautiful reminder that behind every successful research project stands a group of research managers who plays a pivotal role. A key theme was to reimagine the research management administration profession for impact. This was a reminder that although much of what we do is behind the scenes, the impact is seen in research that impacts societies.”