nGAP during the time of COVID-19

29 April 2020 | Story Robert Morrell. Photo Nosipho Mzenzi. Read time 3 min.
Zevenwacht writing retreat. Back, from left to right: Walter Nevondo, Ojelanki Ngwenyama, Hanne Westh Nicolajsen, Ayanda Pekane, Philile Mbatha, Kentse Mpolokeng, Tabisa Mayisela, Xolisa Guzula, Amanda Mtya, Colin du Sart. Front: Robert Morrell, Mochelo Lefoka.
Zevenwacht writing retreat. Back, from left to right: Walter Nevondo, Ojelanki Ngwenyama, Hanne Westh Nicolajsen, Ayanda Pekane, Philile Mbatha, Kentse Mpolokeng, Tabisa Mayisela, Xolisa Guzula, Amanda Mtya, Colin du Sart. Front: Robert Morrell, Mochelo Lefoka.

Things have been quiet for members of the New Generation of Academics Programme (nGAP) cohort since the University of Cape Town (UCT) – and the country – responded to the first cases of COVID-19 infection. Since then, UCT steadily put measures in place to enforce social distancing, reduce risk and eventually followed the president’s decree into lockdown.

Meetings of the nGAP cohort have ceased, although communication has not. Email and other technologies have ensured that the cohort remains united. Dr Linda Price is offering a space for members to meet virtually via Zoom to have coaching conversations. These are designed to share experiences of academic life within the context of the current uncertain and challenging work and social contexts.

“Familiar boundaries between work and personal life are far less delineated than in the past, and we tend to fulfil various life roles within one space,” said Price. “It can therefore be helpful to identify the many relationships that comprise our lives and put structures in place to meet their different requirements.”

Writing retreat

The cohort was fortunate to have the first writing retreat of the year scheduled in the first week of March, before the COVID-19 restrictions were put in place. Zevenwacht Wine Estate played host again and the 13 people who attended all confirmed, again, that it was a very productive and congenial time.

We were fortunate to have on the retreat Professor Ojelanki Ngwenyama (Department of Information Systems, UCT) and Professor Hanne Westh Nicolajsen (IT University of Copenhagen). Professor Ngweynama supervises the doctoral studies of Ayanda Pekane, an nGAP member.

Further posts awarded in Phase 6

A few months ago, UCT received the news that it had been awarded a further five posts in Phase 6 of nGAP. These are in the following departments: civil engineering; environmental health; information systems; mathematics and applied mathematics; and theatre, dance and performance studies. This is the third time that UCT has been awarded a full house (the maximum of five posts permitted by the application process).

In this newsletter we introduce three newly appointed Phase 5 lecturers. Colin du Sart (mechanical engineering), Dylan Valley (film and television studies) and Bianca Arendse (organisational psychology). We also introduce Dr Maxwell Chirewha, a new nGAP associate from the Department of Clinical Pharmacology.

We heard about the achievement of Melissa-Rose Abrahams in being the lead author on a groundbreaking paper in Science Translational Medicine, and Musa Nxele takes us on a journey to Paris.


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New Generation of Academics Programme (nGAP)

 

UCT has responded energetically to the New Generation of Academics Programme (nGAP), an opportunity provided by the Department of Higher Education (DHET) to build a new generation of black South African academics. The DHET’s 2015 vision document, “Staffing South Africa’s Universities Framework: A comprehensive, transformative approach to developing future generations of academics and building staff capacity”, proposes a suite of initiatives to address the challenge, with nGAP being the major instrument to increase the numbers of black South African academics.

The programme “involves the recruitment of highly capable scholars as new academics, against carefully designed and balanced equity considerations and in light of the disciplinary areas of greatest need”. The nGAP scholars are appointed into permanent positions where from the outset their conditions are customised to ensure their successful induction into the ranks of established academics.

The DHET provides funding over a six-year period to support the appointment of an nGAP lecturer, and their time is protected to provide the best possible opportunity for the completion of a doctorate degree in the shortest possible time. Once the degree is completed, the nGAP lecturer’s teaching commitments are steadily increased until they shoulder a full teaching load.

Since the first advertisement for nGAP posts in 2015, UCT has been awarded 17 nGAP positions: 5 (Phase 1), 4 (Phase 2), 3 (Phase 3) and 5 (Phase 4). These are distributed across all faculties.

UCT’s nGAP scholars operate as a single cohort, managed and coordinated by Dr Robert Morrell. Lecturers meet for quarterly meetings, writing retreats and various capacity-building activities all designed to support the completion of postgraduate qualifications (particularly doctorates) and to develop records of achievement that will testify to their emergence as self-standing, excellent academics. Each lecturer is mentored by a senior scholar, who provides support and guidance on the challenges that routinely face academics.

The nGAP manager sets great store in building the cohesion of the cohort and encouraging the establishment of new UCT networks while producing a collaborative, mutually supportive and embracing work culture.

According to Dr Morrell, “This group of academics will lead UCT in 15 to 20 years’ time ... Their vision of excellence, of being African and South African, of serving a wider community and producing knowledge for the planet, the continent and the country, will power UCT in years to come.”

 

Newsletters


May 2021 10:00, 3 May 2021
April 2020 09:00, 29 April 2020
October 2019 12:50, 25 October 2019
March 2019 14:50, 22 March 2019
November 2018 20:30, 5 November 2018
July 2018 10:30, 15 July 2018
February 2018 08:30, 21 February 2018
October 2017 10:30, 15 October 2017

 
 

In the news





Bianca Arendse: New nGAP lecturer Bianca Arendse joined Organisational Psychology in the School of Management Studies in the commerce faculty at UCT as a Phase 5 nGAP lecturer at the beginning of 2020. 29 Apr 2020
Maxwell Tawanda Chirehwa: New nGAP associate Maxwell Chirehwa is a research officer in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology in the Department of Medicine at UCT and has recently been appointed as an nGAP associate. 29 Apr 2020
Melissa-Rose Abrahams published in Science Translational Medicine Melissa-Rose Abrahams was the first author on a paper published in October 2019 in the Science Translational Medicine journal. 29 Apr 2020
Musa Nxele: Paris, Parish and a PhD Musa Nxele has recently returned from Paris, France, after spending months studying towards his PhD. 29 Apr 2020
Anatomy of a transformation Transforming an entire academic section – staff, curriculum, texts and culture – takes an exceptional team with big vision. Meet the winners of the 2019 Vice-Chancellor’s Transformation Award. 02 Dec 2019
nGAP: Growth, profile and consolidation Writing retreats provide a chance for sustained writing, and many take advantage of this, waking up early and burning the midnight oil. 22 Oct 2019
Department of Higher Education creates a task team on gender-based violence In May Naledi Pandor, then Minister of Higher Education and Training (DHET), appointed a Task Team to advise her on how to help to prevent sexual harassment and sexual violence at universities. 22 Oct 2019
Award, public profile and international conferences – nGAP makes its mark Philile Mbatha, Amanda Mtya, Kentse Mpolokeng and Taahira Goolam Hoosen have been busy. 22 Oct 2019
Zevenwacht writing retreat Writing retreats are a staple of nGAP life. These quarterly events are held at local conference venues and provide ideal conditions for writing, reflection and connection. 22 Oct 2019
Andiswa Mfengu: New nGAP associate Andiswa Mfengu is a lecturer in the Department of Knowledge and Information Stewardship. 22 Oct 2019
Muzi Sikhonde: New nGAP member Muzi Sikhonde has just joined the Numeracy Centre in the Centre for Higher Education and Development (CHED). 22 Oct 2019
Nastassja Koen: New nGAP member Nastassja joined nGAP in August 2019 having successfully applied for a Phase 5 position. She is a senior lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health. 22 Oct 2019
Envisioning a bright future Rising UCT academic Mochelo Lefoka says he has his grandparents to thank for instilling in him an understanding of the value of a quality education. 10 Dec 2018
Book launch inspires budding scientists The interactive launch of UCT academic Xolisa Guzula’s isiXhosa translation of the children’s book by Lucy and Stephen Hawking took place last week. 19 Jun 2018
Why the people's Parliament is failing the people Two researchers in law offer new insights into the failure of the recent no-confidence vote and efforts to hold the president to account for Nkandla. 19 Sep 2017
How do youth find their place in the world? A UCT contingent’s July 2017 trip to Japan kick-started a research project that interrogates how citizenship is experienced and claimed by young South Africans and Japanese. 07 Sep 2017
UCT in M&G’s top 200 UCT students, alumni and staff have put in a strong showing on the 2017 Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans list. 14 Jul 2017
Translating a path to success Xolisa Guzula is working hard to ensure that isiXhosa-speaking children are able to learn and read in their own language. 11 Jul 2017
Decolonial Alternatives Project Space A former burial ground for black men, women and children who were taken into slavery on the Rustenburg slave plantation during the early colonial period will be developed into a unique heritage site at UCT. 14 Sep 2016
Meet a new generation of UCT academics Five new members of staff – all part of the New Generation of Academics Programme (nGAP) – speak about what brought them to UCT, and what they're doing to advance the fields of public law, anatomy, African studies, architecture and human geography. 26 May 2016
PhD examines complex governance systems in Kosi Bay It was the timely intervention of a far-sighted early mentor, Professor Dianne Scott, in Philile Mbatha's honours year at the University of KwaZulu-Natal that changed the course of her life. 26 May 2016
Professionalisation the tonic for municipalities' dysfunction Violent service protests across the country reflect the disjuncture between the needs of civil society's poorest and local government's roll-out of resources and services. It's a topic close to Phindile Ntliziywana's heart. One of UCT's five New Generation of Academics Programme (nGAP) participants, Ntliziywana's PhD examines how the public service, specifically local government, can be improved. 17 May 2016
'Why do we still aspire to whiteness?' Zuziwe Msomi, an nGAP* lecturer in the Centre for African Studies, is interrogating racial identity in post-apartheid South Africa. 16 May 2016
Sadiq Toffa, the nGAP scholar with a commitment to transformative knowledge The New Generation of Academics Programme (nGAP) is an initiative funded by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) in partnership with individual universities that recruits young scholars into permanent academic positions at South African universities. 03 May 2016
"Bold" Mpolokeng believes in the beauty of her dreams When Kentse Mpolokeng took up an nGAP* lectureship in anatomy at UCT at the beginning of this year, she was fulfilling a career ambition that she had spelled out to an interview panel years ago. But it almost didn't happen. 15 Apr 2016

 
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