Annual Research Report 2020

11 In its first five years of existence, SPU was focused on the devel- opment of teaching and learning. The research activity taking place was not formally structured and was managed in a decen- tralised way. Research management (RM) took place in various places such as the DVC: Academic’s Office, the Registrar’s Office, within the School structures and through the researchers them- selves. With the 2020–2024 strategy giving focus to developing a conducive research environment, a more structured and central- ised approach was taken in establishing the Research Office in the office of the DVC: Academic. The idea of university research offices has now become an accepted strategic move in struc- turing the provision of a conducive research environment. They form part of the university structures that enable research and innovation impact and excellence (Langley and Theron 2018). It is generally understood that RM mainly takes place within such a Research Office. Although most of the RM functions are being centralised in the Research Office at SPU, there are various governing structures which oversee the research environment in the university. These flow from School committees at the School level to the university level which includes sub-committees of Senate, the DVC’s Office, the VC’s Office and Senate. The Research Office positioned un- der the DVC: Academic’s Office, engages with structures at both the School and the University level. The establishment of the Research Office began in December 2019 with the onboarding of the Director: Research. The year 2020 therefore became a foun- dational year for the office and the centralisation of RM systems and procedures. Human resources have been the mainstay in building the Research Office. In addition to the Director, the Office appointed one intern in March 2020 and one contract administration officer in August 2020. The Research Office works closely with the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Programme Development (CTLPD) on ac- ademic staff development through the Career Path Development programme manager, who took on this role in February 2020. The Office organogram was approved in November 2020 for the filling of positions over a period of five years. This structure al- lows for the incubation of the Innovation and Technology Transfer and the Postgraduate Studies and Internationalisation portfolios within the Research Office until such time that the University has developed standalone structures for these portfolios. Research enhancement and funding support stand as portfolios on their own. This structure will adequately resource the Research Office to provide the most effective support for both academic staff and postgraduate students. The following are some of the highlights of the first year of the Research Office: • SPU’s first research output report was submitted to the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), report- ing on 2019 publications. • The 2020 research output has shown a significant increase (over 200%) in publications which highlights the accelerated rate of research growth and the effective support provided by the Research Office. These publications include 48 accredited journal articles, two conference proceedings with 14 confer- ence papers, and five book chapters. Our goal is to keep on in- creasing both the quantity and quality of our research output. • The postgraduate portfolio supported honours and postgradu- ate diploma students in areas such as bursary and scholarship Establishing the Research Office Ms Takatso Semenya Research Director Research Office team (from left to right): Mr Tshepo Pule (intern), Ms Takatso Semenya (Director Research) and Ms Anthea Poss (Research Officer)