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03 September 2019 | Story Charlene Stanley | Photo Katleho Mbele
UFS-UCT workshop
Attendees at the successful inaugural UFS-UCT medical research training workshops.
“A pioneering training session.”
“Excellent attention to my specific challenges.”
“Research as a whole makes so much more sense now.”

These are some of the responses by attendees after first-of-its-kind workshops for supervisors and MMed students in the UFS Faculty of Health Sciences, recently held at the FARMOVS Clinical Research Facility on the Bloemfontein campus.

UCT trainers

The workshops were presented by two medical research experts from the University of Cape Town (UCT), Prof Delva Shamley and Ms Annemie Steward. 
The two facilitators went through the research process with attendees and helped to refine individual research questions.
“There was a fantastic turnout by our students and great engagement from them,” says Dr Claire Barrett, Clinical Research Director from the School of Clinical Medicine, who initiated the training.

Training research supervisors

Two “train-the-trainer” workshops were also presented to MMed research supervisors at the School of Clinical Medicine. 
“The mandatory research component in our MMed studies was only implemented in 2012 and is applicable to all medical schools in South Africa. This means many supervisors don’t really have a research background themselves,” Dr Barrett explains. “These workshops gave them the tools to effectively guide students through the research process.”  

Inter-institutional effort

The invitation was also extended to supervisors from the Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences at the Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT).
Dr Barrett is hoping to have similar inter-institutional sessions at least once every three months.

She notes that these introductory workshops would not have been possible without the support of the Head of the School of Clinical Medicine, Prof Nathaniel Mofolo, and FARMOVS.

“We have a valuable mutually beneficial relationship with the Faculty of Health Sciences, whose clinical expertise is often put to great use in drug development trials,” says Dr Michelle Middle, CMO of FARMOVS, who hosted the workshop. 
“Medical research is something we’re passionate about – so it was a great privilege to contribute to the success of these groundbreaking workshops.” 

News Archive

Community engagement must be a core function of universities
2009-05-21

 
 Members of the NatCEMF Steering Committee are, from the left: Mr Jerome Slamat, Senior Director: Community Interaction, Stellenbosch University, Ms Beatrix Bouwman, Manager: Community Engagement, North-West University, Rev Kiepie Jaftha, Chief Director: Community Service, UFS and chairperson of the committee, Prof. Allan Femi Lana, Director: Institute for Rural Development and Community Engagement, Mangosuthu University of Technology, Prof. Seth Pollack, Fulbright Scholar, University of Western Cape (guest speaker at the meeting), Prof. Denver Hendricks, Director: Community Engagement, University of Pretoria, and Prof. Priscilla Daniels, Chairperson: Human Ecology and Research and CHESP Research Coordinator, University of the Western Cape.
Photo: Lacea Loader
 It is important that all tertiary institutions in South Africa should work together and commit themselves to advance the cause of community engagement in the country.

This was one of the main outcomes of the second meeting held by the National Community Engagement Manager’s Forum (NatCEMF) at the South Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein recently. The meeting was attended by 34 representatives of 16 higher education institutions in the country.

“I am astounded at the interest in this matter. The representatives are committed to make community engagement a core function of their institutions and we all agreed that we should get more involved in expanding this across all institutions. A need for a formal structure for us all to work together and have a more collective voice was also identified,” said Rev Kiepie Jaftha, Chief Director: Community Service at the UFS and Chairperson of the NatCEMF Steering Committee.

“There is a growing need to expand and develop our engagement with communities – to share our experiences and best practices and to learn from each other. There are universities that are doing excellent work in this field and, by having a formal structure, we can do a lot more towards advancing community engagement,” said Rev Jaftha.

The meeting identified matters such as the coordination of higher education institutions’ involvement in community engagement, the facilitation of research about community engagement, promoting service learning as transformation, the establishment of a community engagement resource centre and the organisation of a national community engagement conference as some of its aims. A national steering committee was also elected.

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