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13 December 2022 | Story Lacea Loader | Photo Supplied
Prof Mogomme Masoga
Prof Mogomme Masoga, newly appointed Dean: Faculty of the Humanities.

The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) approved the appointment of Prof Mogomme Masoga as Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities for a five-year term during its quarterly meeting on 25 November 2022. 

He is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Zululand. 

“Prof Masoga has extensive and an impressive national and international research standing, established networks and partnerships, and substantive management experience. He is a visionary leader and a renowned scholar and will be able to lead and manage the faculty at academic, research, engaged scholarship, and community-service level,” says Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor. 

Prof Masoga holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of the Free State. He began his academic career with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where he proceeded to complete two honours and a master’s degree. He received a second Master of Arts in Musicology from the University of South Africa.

Prof Masoga has an excellent record of research publication within the broad niche area of Oral History, Africanism, and Indigenous Knowledge System Studies. He has developed a well-grounded sense of autonomy and involvement, as he has been able to establish a number of research projects and has produced single and co-authored articles. He was able to synergise and sustain his research niche on Africanism and Indigenous Knowledge Studies, which has informed his research over the years. 

He has maintained a coherent research trajectory as a recognised NRF-rated scholar in Indigenous Knowledge System Studies. Prof Masoga’s participation in international collaborative projects has had a positive impact on his scholarly growth, as well as on other colleagues and departments in his faculty at the University of Zululand. 

“Prof Masoga will be able to sustain his existing networks and build new ones that will support research and postgraduate studies at the UFS. This will be particularly valuable in support of the university’s Vision 130, which expresses the institution’s strategic intent to position itself in the period leading up to 2034 when the university will be 130 years old. Vision 130 furthermore exemplifies our commitment to be acknowledged by our peers and society as a top-tier university in South Africa, ranked among the best in the world,” says Prof Petersen. 

Prof Masoga will assume duty on 1 March 2023.

News Archive

International scholars take part in 2nd Summer Programme
2013-11-28

 
Dr Gansen Pillay, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the National Research Foundation, explaining to the scholars what will be expected of them.
Photo: Steven Collett

On Monday 25 November 2013, young researchers were welcomed to the University of the Free State (UFS) to take part in the 2nd Annual South African Young Scientists Summer Programme (SA-YSSP).

These 36 scholars, hand-picked from some of the world’s most promising and top researchers, will spend altogether three months in the Free State to work on various projects.

The SA-YSSP is a novel three-month programme for advanced doctoral candidates whose research interests align with the Department of Science and Technology’s (DST) grand challenges and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis’ (IIASA) current research programmes regarding global environmental, economic and social change.

Dr Priscilla Mensah, Co-director of the SA-YSSP, says the University of the Free State is proud to host the Southern African Young Scientists Summer Programme, which brings together some of the world's greatest minds in systems analysis to work with talented young scientists on addressing complex global challenges.

“At the end of the programme, the young scientists will showcase their work during a two-day colloquium (20-21 February 2014), which will also be streamed live to a wide audience. Additional information on the programme is available at www.ufs.ac.za/sa-yssp."

The programme will form part of an annual three-month education, academic training and research capacity-building programme jointly organised by IIASA, based in Austria, the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the DST. IIASA is an international research organisation that conducts policy-oriented scientific research in the three global problem areas of energy and climate change, food and water, and poverty and equity. South Africa’s engagements with IIASA, specifically with regard to the SA-YSSP, relate primarily to the DST’s Ten-Year Innovation Plan.

The UFS is the first institution outside Austria to host the Summer Programme. Researchers in the programme are, among others, from South Africa and the rest of the African continent, the USA, the Netherlands, India, Hungary, Austria and Germany.

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