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Dear colleagues
The purpose of this announcement is to keep members of the UCT research community informed about news and funding opportunities in the research space. All new funding opportunities can also be found on the current funding opportunities page of the Research Support Hub.
In this newsletter:
Noticeboard
Funding opportunities and funder announcements
Noticeboard
On the Research Announcement noticeboard, we share news and items of interest from the UCT Research Office.
Call for applications: UCT prize for implementing the 4Rs in animal research
Application and nomination deadline: 29 October 2021 at 17:00 SAST
The university recognises the importance of ensuring compliance with the highest ethical standards in the use and care of animals for scientific purposes. This award is to recognise UCT animal researchers, or facility staff who have demonstrated
leadership and innovation in ensuring that their research, or related activities, implements at least some elements of the ‘4Rs’.
These are REPLACEMENT with a non-animal model, REDUCTION in number of animals used, REFINEMENT in the use of animals (adequate use of enrichment, analgesia, humane endpoints
etc) and RESPONSIBILITY in all aspects of their research such as post procedure, welfare monitoring, identification and prompt response to unexpected incidents etc.
The award, to the value of ZAR30 000, will be given to a maximum of three nominations on an annual basis. Generally, one to two awards are made in any one year, and no award will be made if no nomination of sufficient merit is nominated.
Please download the detailed call for applications here. The application form can be accessed here.
For more information about these awards, contact [email protected].
Call for nominations and applications: UCT Distinguished Social Responsiveness Award
Nomination deadline: 29 October 2021
UCT now invites nominations and applications for the Distinguished Social Responsiveness Award. This award, to the value of ZAR35 000, recognises staff who play an active development role in our cultural, economic, political, scientific, and social
environment.
More details of the award, the nomination and application process and eligibility can be viewed here.
For queries, please email Sonwabo Ngcelwane.
Secure research data storage at UCT
The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI Act or POPIA) requires the reconsideration of research data storage options to ensure the protection of personal information relating to data subjects. Following the UCT position statement on POPIA compliance for research, and subsequent announcement highlighting policies, guidelines and services available to support responsible research practice, this announcement outlines the secure data storage platform
provided by UCT.
The secure research data store and server infrastructure is located in a data centre on Upper Campus. The data centre has redundant power feeds from separate distribution boards, supported by redundant UPS power. Physical access is managed via
biometric control and limited to authorised ICTS personnel. The data is replicated once a week for disaster recovery purposes to a storage array in a secure data centre in an off-site location in Cape Town. Implementation of an archiving solution,
storing data utilizing magnetic tape is in progress. Media is sent to a vaulting company for preservation.
The protection of personal information requires careful consideration of which members in your research team will have permission to process your data. Designated members are assigned access rights on the principle of least privilege – the minimum
levels of access or permissions needed to perform the job functions. The data, or assigned portion thereof, is then accessible via the UCT VPN client using UCT user credentials for audit purposes. Access to the data is enabled from anywhere in the
world, and the storage allocation can be readily extended as required.
Benefits of using the central UCT research data store
- Storage location within the borders of the Republic of South Africa renders your research data POPIA compliant
- Highly available and fully redundant storage architecture
- The storage and server infrastructure are supported and maintained 24/7 by highly qualified ICTS Systems Engineers
- Your data is stored in highly secured, biometrically controlled data centres
- Huge volumes available from GB to several TB
- Secure access and audit trail via UCT credentials
- Data accessible via multiple devices
- Data accessible securely from anywhere in the world
- Data can be shared between individuals and groups of users
- Data can be transferred via multiple software tools
- Accessible on Windows, Linux or Apple Mac computers
- Data accessible via standard file tools as well as the Web
Commercial cloud storage options
Cloud companies are global entities offering services in various regions that are not limited to geographic areas or national jurisdictions. UCT supports the use of commercial cloud storage platforms including Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive
for limited volumes of research data that do not contain personally identifiable information. Alternative file sharing services such as DropBox, Box, Amazon Drive, etc. are not supported.
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Microsoft OneDrive |
Google Drive |
| URL |
https://onedrive.com |
https://drive.google.com |
| Access |
Use UCT credentials |
Use UCT credentials |
| Cost |
Free to UCT staff & students |
Free to UCT staff & students |
| Quota |
1 TB |
1 TB |
| If you need > 1TB of storage |
Use UCT's Research Data Storage platform (1TB - 100s TB) |
Use UCT's Research Data Storage platform (1TB - 100s TB) |
| Backups |
No backups |
No backups |
| Deleted Files |
Goes into Recycle bin for 93 days |
Goes into Trash bin for 60 days |
| Where is data located |
Dublin Ireland - will be migrated to data centres in South Africa in near future |
Data is hosted in Google data centres in the USA |
| Medical /PII data |
Not recommended for storing medical or personally identifiable information (PII). |
Not recommended for storing medical or personally identifiable information (PII). |
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Not suitable for POPIA/GDPR-sensitive data, e.g. human subjects. |
Not suitable for POPIA/GDPR-sensitive data, e.g. human subjects. |
| If you need secure storage for medical /PII data |
UCT's Research Data Storage platform is recommended, offering highly available, secure on premise data storage. |
UCT's Research Data Storage platform is recommended, offering highly available, secure on-premise data storage. |
How to request pricing and access to UCT's research data storage platform
Service and infrastructure costs are linked to eRA Pre-Awards to assist in budgeting for research grant applications, and the details listed on the eResearch website. For further enquiries
or to request research data storage contact UCT eResearch, or log a request on the ICTS Service Desk.
Funding opportunities
Visit the current funding opportunities page on the Research Support Hub to view all open funding opportunities.
Reminder: UCT-Harvard Mandela Fellowships
Deadline: 31 October 2022
The UCT-Harvard Mandela Fellowships are intended to strengthen connections between the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research and UCT.
The purpose of the Harvard-UCT Mandela Fellowships is to provide opportunities for UCT staff to gain international experience and also to support the professional advancement of academics working particularly, but not only, in the humanities and
social sciences.
Applicants can be from any disciplinary field but must demonstrate how their research will contribute to the ongoing development of teaching and learning in South African higher education.
For this application round, dates available are:
- Full academic fellowship year from August 1st 2022 to May 31st 2023
- Fall semester from August 1st to December 31st 2022
Details of the package will be negotiated by the Du Bois Institute with candidates individually. See here for full eligibility criteria.
Queries can be directed to Kathy Erasmus.
The Research Announcement is produced by the Research Office, University of Cape Town.
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