The University of the Free State (UFS) has added another National Research Foundation (NRF) A1-rated researcher to its ranks with the appointment of Prof Victor Houliston, Research Professor in the Department of English. This brings the number of the university’s A1-rated researchers to three.

The university also boasts the first A2 rating in the field of arts in the person of Prof Willem Boshoff, a senior professor in the Department of Fine Arts within the Faculty of The Humanities and one of South Africa's foremost contemporary artists. The other scholars with an A1 rating are Prof Maxim Finkelstein, the distinguished Professor at the Department of Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Science, and Prof Melanie Walker, Distinguished Research Professor and National Research Foundation (NRF) Chair in Higher Education and Human Development.

The A rating is for researchers regarded as world leaders in their fields. Prof Houliston received his rating in 2022 – three years after retiring from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits).

Consistent research output

Prof Houliston, who is an authority on early modern British and Irish Catholic studies (religion and politics) and has also published on John Donne (especially his prose works and sermons) and Renaissance rhetoric, says there is no formula for receiving an A1 rating.

“The definition of an A-rated scholar is someone who has achieved a certain reputation in their field internationally. That comes from a consistent research output, building up a portfolio of work in a particular field and moving the debate along, so that you become the go-to person on that subject.

“There is that sense of focus and some shifting of the picture or debate or understanding in your field. In science, the evaluation of a person's standing is more straightforward; in the humanities, research has a more subjective element so one's work is more vulnerable to criticism. In my case, as my research has evolved from English literature into historical studies, it has entailed archival and linguistic groundwork which makes it a little more objective,” says Prof Houliston.

The importance of Robert Persons

It is hard to say whether he chose his specialism, or his specialism chose him: an unexpected request for help from Guy Butler in 1988 led to his investigating the life and career of Robert Persons, an English Jesuit from the time of Queen Elizabeth I. Over the intervening 30 years, this Catholic activist has become widely recognised as one of the most important figures in early modern European history.

Prof Houliston started with a re-interpretation of Persons' published works, culminating in a 2007 monograph, Catholic Resistance in Elizabethan England. He is now editing Persons' extensive multilingual correspondence, as the leader of an international team of experts. The second volume was published earlier this year, with a third in preparation. He is also working with a team of South African classicists to translate Persons' Latin publications.

"As with most research, we work from the known to the unknown, pushing back further into the primary material – the archive."

Prof Houliston says that as a researcher, one must jealously guard one's time, which is difficult because the demands of teaching and administration have become more burdensome. Most academics show great commitment and idealism when it comes to teaching, so they are reluctant to leave students to their own devices. Ironically, this often leads those who are on the A-rating trajectory to take refuge in specialised institutes or centres of excellence and stop teaching, which can be a loss to students.

Given space to do research 

“Lecturers at a university such as the UFS, with its goal of increasing its research productivity, need space to do research. Bureaucracy may have to retract a bit. Lecturers themselves have to learn where to draw the line,” he says.

"This may appear selfish, but it enhances the learning environment. If you were to ask students if they preferred to be in a university where high-quality research is taking place, they would likely say, 'Yes. That gives my degree greater credibility. I would want to feel that those who are teaching me are contributing to the increase of knowledge’.”

His advice to emerging researchers is to follow the advice of Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: conduct a weekly review of how they are managing to integrate research into their daily life as academics. Most lecturers are in a position where they only do research during vacations, but they can challenge themselves to carve out more regular times for research.

No slowing down

“That idea of constant review is important so that you are always moving forward. Many people just give up, because research is more challenging than, say, answering your emails, and you need energy and time. So, if you can reduce that start-up cost by doing a little every day, and preferably at the beginning of every day, it will make all the difference.

“The UFS, and especially heads of departments, can help to create a culture where scholars and researchers feel part of an interactive community. We need to move beyond the system to a sense of vocation. We have a vocation as university lecturers, professors and scholars, and everything else is secondary to the pursuit of knowledge. The system is merely a tool,” says Prof Houliston.

With multiple large-scale research projects on the go, as well as workshops and writing retreats, he is now busier than ever, with no plans for slowing down. He says: “I recently hosted a workshop for colleagues planning to apply for rating, to optimise their applications. One of my briefs is to enhance the research communities within the English department and the Faculty of Humanities in general, and especially amongst younger researchers.”

You could say he is speeding up. He recently completed a master’s degree in creative writing. "It's never too late to discover how many bad writing habits I have developed over the years!"