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DRD team engages with global experts at 2024 SARIMA conference in Mozambique

26 November 2024 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied

SARIMA presentations 2024 — The UFS DRD team that attended and presented at the 2024 SARIMA conference in Maputo, Mozambique.

The Directorate Research Development (DRD) team from the University of the Free State (UFS) joined research management professionals from across the globe at the 2024 Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA) Conference held in September this year. This year's conference, hosted for the first time in Mozambique, focused on the theme, It Takes a Village to Raise a Child, highlighting the collective effort needed in research and innovation.

The UFS delegation participated in workshops on navigating change, unlocking research impact potential, tools and techniques for research and innovation project management, reviewing research-related contracts, and assessing associated risks. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also led a training session, while other workshops explored strengthening global research partnerships and advancing competencies in research management.

Opportunity to share and learn about best practices

Boemo Segoje, Officer for RIMS, Ethics and Creative Outputs, reflected on the conference’s collaborative atmosphere, noting the opportunity to share and learn about best practices. Segoje, alongside Maricel van Rooyen, Senior Officer: Project Manager, RIMS and Ethics, presented a poster titled, Empower the Village with an Effective Research Management System, showcasing the university’s InfoEd Research Information Management System (RIMS). “Our audience was particularly impressed with how RIMS consolidates various research functions into one platform,” said Segoje.

Another UFS poster by Mpho Mashamba, Officer: RIMS Development and Maintenance, and Ethics and Katleho Nyaile from the Centre for Graduate Support (CGS) focused on Breaking Down Silos: Enhancing Interdepartmental Communication in Research Administration. They highlighted the need for collaboration within the university, emphasising how interdepartmental communication enhances research outcomes. “We referred to the importance of collaborating with other units, keeping a line of communication open, as well as engaging various stakeholders. This is especially important for a team like ours whose work impacts every faculty member,” said Mashamba.

Mandy Jampies, Senior Officer Postdoctoral Fellows presented on It Takes a Village: Fostering Collaborative Networks for Postdoctoral Fellow Management. This talk focused on building a ‘village’ for postdoctoral fellows by streamlining visa processes and establishing partnerships with other institutions, such as the University of Johannesburg. "The audience showed great interest in our initiatives, particularly the visa partnership with the Department of Home Affairs," Jampies remarked.

Jampies’s commitment to supporting postdoctoral fellows extended beyond her presentation. In addition to discussing ways to build a supportive ‘village’ through streamlined visa processes and collaborative partnerships, she also played a role in the science communication pre-conference workshop. Reflecting on this workshop, Jampies noted it as a standout moment. “Boemo Segoje and I had the chance to present on the university’s initiatives to boost research visibility through newsletters, social media and webinars,” she shared.

Sugan Moodley, Director of Research Development Finance, remarked that it was interesting to see the Research Management progression made by universities and to compare similarities, differences, strengths and weaknesses between the UFS and other universities.

AI, here to stay

Mashamba found inspiration in a session by the University of Ghana, where he drew parallels between Ghana’s research fund and the UFS Central Research Fund. “Learning from their experience will help enhance our processes here at the university,” he shared. A big fan of lifelong learning, he saw the conference as a great opportunity to pick up new ideas. He said, "I really made the most of every moment. For me, a few key things stood out. First off, having clear policies and standard operating procedures (SOPs) is important for making things run smoothly and getting more done.”

He continued, “As for AI, it’s definitely here to stay. I’m excited about the potential AI has to help streamline our work. Once it’s ready to be used effectively in the workplace, I’d love to bring it into our systems and even use it to improve what we’re already doing." Additionally, Dr Glen Taylor, the Director of Research Development at the UFS, expressed similar enthusiasm for the AI presentation, finding it an interesting insight into the future of research processes.

For Segoje, the conference also highlighted the importance of leadership in research management, referring to a session by the University of Pretoria on Ubuntu leadership. “The emphasis on Ubuntu aligns with the UFS’s values, emphasising the importance of sharing knowledge and empowering others,” she said.

Reflecting on the conference, Jampies concluded, “SARIMA 2024 was one of the best conferences I have attended, providing a wealth of practical knowledge that I can apply to improve my work portfolio.”

News Archive

University publishes its Integrated Report

2013-08-23

23 August 2013

The university is proud to have published an integrated report in line with the King III requirements on corporate governance. The university is one of the first universities – if not the first – in South Africa to do so. The UFS sees integrated reporting as a public process through which we report to all our stakeholders, using evidence-based data, on the achievements and challenges of a public university.

Our first Integrated Report reviews the overall performance, non-financial and financial, of the UFS for the 2012 academic year. It is the first report of its kind delivered to stakeholders and guided by the King III framework which recommends integrated, sustainable performance that is reported in a way that enables stakeholders to make an informed assessment of an institution.

The Integrated Report notes that the conditions under which higher education institutions operate have become more demanding in the last two decades and there is a growing need for universities to be more explicit and transparent about the manner in which their core functions (teaching, research and public duty), as well as its administrative operations, are defined by and support good governance, sustainability and corporate citizenship.

The university welcomes this opportunity to present in public an integrated account of itself. In particular, the UFS sees this report as an opportunity to align more strongly its financial and non-financial reporting in pursuit of organisational sustainability and social transformation in South Africa.

Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector, notes in the report that in the past four years the university has made significant progress in respect of its two foundational commitments, the Academic Project and the Human Project.

There are now more students entering the university who satisfy the higher requirements set for admission. “This will improve the throughput and graduation rates of incoming students, ensuring their personal success and satisfaction with higher education.” The establishment of a state-of-the-art Postgraduate School, for example, is expected to increase the number, quality and success rates of postgraduate students.

The research output has increased steadily and the contribution of the new Senior Professors project, as well as the five research clusters, have helped to improve the quality of research and the spread of postgraduate recruitment beyond South Africa.

On transformation, the Vice-Chancellor observes that “We have made significant progress in building inclusive, democratic and embracing campus cultures which affirm the value and dignity of all students and staff. With the steady increase of black students in a majority black campus, our goal remains to retain our diversity in a university that serves as an experiment in teaching students to live and learn and love together.”

Financial sustainability is a major commitment and the UFS has not only maintained its record of unqualified audits, but has steadily built a culture of risk management and performance evaluation throughout the system. Internal auditing is a strong instrument in our arsenal to secure financial and operational compliance in every department of the university.

“What integrates the systems and functions of the university is the alignment of everything we do with our two pillars, the Academic and Human Projects, built on a solid foundation of professional support services as described in the Strategic Plan adopted in 2012. In the process of preparing the Integrated Report we discovered how much still needs to be done to align the still disparate and independent activities of the three campuses, seven faculties and more than 100 departments of this large university,” according to the Vice-Chancellor.

The report is available at: http://www.ufs.ac.za/content.aspx?id=184.

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