ResearchAnnouncement

Research Announcement: news from the Data Access Working Group and other updates

29 July 2021

Dear colleagues

This announcement aims to keep members of the 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:


Funding opportunities

Visit the current funding opportunities page on the Research Support Hub to view all open funding opportunities.


Announcement: Data Access Working Group to assist in managing access to sensitive UCT data in support of Open Science

By default, UCT's Research Data Management Policy emphasises the principle of Open Access to data resulting from publicly funded research and encourages access that does not involve registration, nor an application process.

However, the recent implementation of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) has raised awareness that some of UCT's research data is not Open. Examples include where technology transfer and potential patent interests require controlled access procedures to such restricted information; or where the terms of the ethics committee approval do not permit for data to be shared openly, defining such data as confidential.
 
In response to these considerations, a Data Access Working Group (DAWG) has been established to provide direction in the review and approval of requests from bona fide data users from the internal/external research community to access sensitive research data generated at UCT, comprising either restricted or confidential data.

DAWG will review each request received, considering the access mechanisms, particularly relating to personal information or commercial interests. The establishment of the DAWG under the oversight of the Data Governance Committee and the University Research Committee fills the gap in providing secure access to sensitive data, assisting researchers to comply with both emerging regulatory frameworks and the terms of data sharing conditional of funding and scholarly publishing in Open Science.

For further information please contact Dr Andrew Bailey from Research Contracts and Innovation.


Workshop: Navigating the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA)
18 August 2021 from 13:00 to 15:30 via MS Teams

The Senate Ethics in Research Committee will be hosting its Annual Workshop on 18 August 2021. This year's topic will be "Navigating the Protection of Personal Information Act".

Researchers and research ethics committees (RECs) and their support staff can use this opportunity to learn more about the effects of POPIA and the "ASSAf Code of Conduct for Research" on research activities and institutional responses to the legislation.

The free workshop aims to provide guidance to researchers and to inform colleagues responsible for the review of ethics applications under the newly promulgated act.

You can download the invitation here. To register for the workshop, please complete the registration form.


Watch: UCT research symposium asks how can Africa rise to the challenge of a sustainable future?

UCT’s most recent Research Symposium looked at exploring the synergies between Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as outlined by the United Nations, Africa’s Agenda 2063 and UCT’s Vision 2030. The event proceedings included two keynote presentations which are now available to watch in full. A brief description of each follows below. 
 
Pedro Conceição, the director of the Human Development Report Office at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in his address took a closer look at some of the common threads that ran through the SDGs and Africa’s Agenda 2063. 
 
UCT's own Prof Edgar Pieterse, NRF South African Research Chair in Urban Policy and founding director of the African Centre for Cities (ACC), in the event's second keynote address, emphasised the necessity for cross-disciplinary efforts to create “sustainable infrastructure transitions in Africa that reinforces structural transformation in the direction of green industrialisation.”

Read more about the event and watch the insightful presentations here.

The Research Announcement is produced by the Research Office, University of Cape Town.

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