Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网’s Centre for Postgraduate Studies (CPGS) has secured £30 000 from the British Council to offer publication support for emerging researchers.
The grant stems from a collaboration between Asiphe Mxalisa, CPGS lecturer, and Professor Jan McArthur of Lancaster 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网. Together, they developed the proposal for the SAVASS project — South African Voices in the Arts and Social Sciences.
The project addresses the significant intersectional challenges faced by early career researchers (ECRs) in the Eastern Cape and Free State provinces of South Africa. These challenges include limited access to academic resources, job insecurity, and the difficulty of balancing caregiving responsibilities alongside academic work. One of the key features of the programme is its focus on gender equality.
SAVASS will offer two residential workshops, complemented by online activities, to build a strong, peer-support network for ECRs. The focus is on helping them articulate their unique South African voices through high-impact knowledge dissemination. The workshops will centre around co-operative learning and partnership-building both between global South and North academics and within South Africa, empowering scholars to publish without compromising their authentic voices.
The workshops will involve experienced international and national journal editors and mentors with a focus on navigating the challenges faced by South African ECRs. The project will develop mentorship capacities to ensure sustained support. This project not only facilitates the creation of strong corridors between Eastern Cape and Free State universities but also expands on international partnerships to encourage the dismantling of geopolitical differences. This grant opens space for meaningful collaboration and growth for the next generation of South African scholars.
Project leads Asiphe Mxalisa (Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网) and Jan McArthur (Lancaster 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网) will work alongside Sybert Mutereko (Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网), Melanie Walker (老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 of the Free State), and Tineke Brunfaut (Lancaster 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网) to shape a collaborative and supportive research environment.