This conference focuses on the changing roles of librarians in the transforming landscape of information science in a time of global disruption.
Download the Conference APP now on your mobile device.
Sponsored by Ex-Libris, A ProQuest Company
The APP gives attendees all the information required for the duration of the Conference. The IOS and Android Mobile app also gives you access to the Programme, Speakers, Sponsors and much more. This is your digital conference brochure on the go via your smartphone or tablet, whilst attending this virtual conference.
The University of Johannesburg will be hosting this Conference in collaboration with the Association of Commonwealth Universities.
The ACU is an international organisation dedicated to building a better world through higher education.
International collaboration is central to this ambition: by bringing universities together from around the world – and crucially the people who study and work within them – the ACU helps to advance knowledge, promote understanding, broaden minds, and improve lives.
The ACU champions higher education as a cornerstone of stronger societies, supporting its members, partners, and stakeholders as they adapt to a changing world.
With an extensive network of 500+ universities across the Commonwealth, the ACU helps universities to achieve their research ambitions through opportunities for international collaboration and exchanging good practice.
The ACU’s Supporting Research Community is a forum for all staff at ACU member universities who are involved in supporting the research process, including research management and administration, research impact and uptake, and library services. The community brings together colleagues from across the Commonwealth and creates a space for sharing knowledge, experience and good practice, discussing issues and solutions, showcasing ideas, and discovering potential avenues for
collaboration. Members can also keep up-to-date with the latest trends and opportunities in the profession and promote the work of their team and university.
The COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting the education sector and the world over. Many schools, colleges and universities have launched digital transformation initiatives to keep the academic year running as smoothly as possible. It is becoming clear that the pandemic will not be over soon and we all need to find ways to negotiate these chaotic and uncertain times that have disrupted life, as we know it.
In a variety of ways, librarians have had to go from knowing zero or very little about something, to mastering new technologies, trends and techniques in teaching, research and information support to assist the digital initiatives of their institutions. Librarians have become heroes helping users to navigate their way in this new world.
In many ways, this conference is a celebration of our resilience, ability to adapt, and the amazing work of thousands of librarians who have supported staff and students in their institutions in a multitude of seen and unseen ways.
We have designed this conference to be a space where we can share our stories of difficulties, disruptions, failures and the challenges we have overcome, in order to support each other, and exchange ideas.
To help us unpack our overall theme we have six subthemes, which in various ways examine the impact of COVID-19 and the post-COVID-19 world:
There will also be interactive workshop sessions giving you tools, examples and practical tips on implementing ideas, techniques and technologies in your environment.
Programme Director: Prof Maria Frahm-Arp, Executive Director: University of
Johannesburg (UJ) Library
10:00 – 10:10 | Thank you to our Sponsors |
10:10 – 10:15 | Welcome Address by Prof Maria Frahm-Arp, Executive Director, UJ Library |
SUB-THEME : Leading a Workforce of the Future |
|
10:15 – 11:40 | Prof Dhanjay Jhurry, Vice Chancellor: University of Mauritius Prof Maria Frahm-Arp, Executive Director: University of Johannesburg Library |
10:55 – 11:25 | Keynote Speaker - Erik Kruger - a speaker, author, and thinking partner to executives. He is also the founder of Modern Breed – an international learning and development aimed at developing & supporting modern leaders and teams for complex times. |
Q&A Session | |
11:40 - 11:50 | Thank you to our Sponsors |
SUB-THEME : Technologies for Research and Learning |
|
11:55 – 13:00 | Paul Weinberg - Research Associate with the South African Research Chair in South African Art and Visual Culture, University of Johannesburg Reflections of a Feral Archivist Dr Sandra Vengadasalam – Bloxberg Max Planck Digital Library, Germany Prof Thea de Wet, Senior Director: Centre for Academic Technologies (CAT), University of Johannesburg Shifts and Opportunities in Remote Teaching and Learning |
Q&A Session | |
13h00 | The University of Johannesburg presents the UJ LIBRARY CHOIR |
13h10 | MEET OUR SPONSORS - BREAKOUT ROOM SESSIONS WWIS – Presented by Magoba Zanele - Innovation designed by challenges: How various innovative solutions implemented in the information management space have been driven by specific challenges? American Psychological Association (APA) – Presented by Roohana Khan, Academic Solutions Consultant, International - APA Research Products Designed to Help Address Society’s Most Pressing Issues Proquest – Presented by Gregory Judelson, Collections Specialists – Product: Text & Data Mining Studio WOLTERS KLUWER – Presented by Tarja Huttunen, Technical Sales Engineer/Consultant - Overview of Lippincott Procedures SPRINGER – Presented by Philip de Kock, Licensing Manager Southern Africa - Springer Nature Video Discovery in Motion SABINET – Presented by Christelle Vermaak, International Portfolio Manager - Discover the core of African Research with Sabinet African Journals |
SUB-THEME : Shifts and Changes in the Research Landscape |
|
13h30 – 15:00 | Dean Christopher N Cox – Dean of Libraries, Clemson University, South Carolina, United States Predictions for Academic Libraries After COVID Dr Mathew Moyo - Chief Director: Library & Information Service, North-West University, South Africa Dr Simon Kerridge - Director of Research Services, University of Kent, United Kingdom Shifts and Changes in the Research Landscape: Possible Trends in the Research Landscape Dr Nnamdi O. Madichie - Professor of Marketing & Entrepreneurship, UNIZIK Business School, United Kingdom Dr Lauren Rickards - Associate Professor, RMIT University, Australia, and Prof Wendy Steele - Associate Professor, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia Engaging with the SDGs: What does that mean for research |
15:00 | UJ Arts & Culture presents, The Pandemic Project |
15:10 | BREAKOUT SESSIONS – CHOOSE ONE UPON REGISTRATION WORKSHOP A: Working with and Mentoring Tutors Online hosted by Lizette van Zyl (Faculty Librarian: Law, UJ) & Catrin ver Loren van Themaat (Information Librarian: Law, UJ) WORKSHOP B: Marketing, Digital Marketing and Social Media hosted by Reneka Panday (Team Leader: Marketing & Special Projects, UJ) and Theodorah Modise (Events Coordinator, UJ) |
15:00 – 15:20 | Welcome Address by Prof Tshilidzi Marwala, Vice Chancellor and Principal at the University of Johannesburg |
SUB-THEME : Thinking about Universities with COVID-19 in the Global Financial Crisis |
|
15:25 – 15:45 | Keynote Speaker: Prof Saurabh Sinha, Deputy Vice Chancellor: Research and Internationalisation, University of Johannesburg |
15:45 – 16:05 | Arif Zaman - Senior Lecturer: Bloomsbury Institute, United Kingdom Teaching and studying (Business) and living through COVID-19 -thinking about universities in the Global Financial Crisis |
Q&A Session | |
16:20 – 16:30 | Thank you to our Sponsors |
16:30 – 16:40 | UJ Arts & Culture presents, The Pandemic Project |
SUB-THEME : Digital Scholarship & Open Access |
|
16h40 – 17:20 | Dr Budd Hall - Professor Emeritus, School of Public Administration, University of Victoria and a Co-Chair, UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility In Higher Education. Open Science and the Decolonization of Knowledge Ms Louise Jones – University Librarian, Chinese University of Hong Kong Digital Scholarship: The Library as Provider, Partner & Pioneer |
Q&A Session | |
17:25 – 17:35 | MEET OUR SPONSORS - BREAKOUT ROOM SESSIONS WILEY – Peter Foster, Associate Director, Wiley Digital Archives - Title: Digital archives for research and teaching in a time of pandemic – Wiley Digital Archives |
SUB-THEME : 4IR Technologies and Libraries |
|
17:40 – 18:20 | Cheryl Peltier-Davis - Librarian at the Open Campus Libraries and Information Services at the University of the West Indies, Open Campus, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago From Papyrus to 3D Printers: Disruptive Technologies in Libraries Pavlinka Kovatcheva – Faculty Librarian: Science, University of Johannesburg Innovative Learning Hub: New places roles and skills for academic support |
Q&A Session | |
18:20 – 19:00 | BREAKOUT WORKSHOP WORKSHOP C: Transitioning to online training experiences and reflections final hosted by Ivy Segoe (Faculty Librarian: Research, UJ) & Madumella Mofokeng (Information Librarian, College of Business and Economics) |
Speaker presentations available on the UJ Library YouTube channel.
View speaker presentations on the UJ Library YouTube channel.
Professor Dhanjay Jhurry was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mauritius (UoM) in March 2017.
Professor Maria Frahm-Arp obtained her PhD in the Sociology of Religion from Warwick University (UK) at the end of 2006.
Erik Kruger is a speaker, author, and thinking partner to executives.
Paul Weinberg is a photographer, filmmaker, writer, curator, educationist and archivist.
Dr Sandra Vengadasalam leads the department Digital Labs of the Max Planck Digital Library (MPDL) in Munich, which serves a community of 14,000 scientists across 84 Max Planck Institutes worldwide.
Professor Thea de Wet is Senior Director of the Centre for Academic Technologies (CAT) at the University of Johannesburg and Professor of Anthropology and Development Studies.
Christopher Cox is Clemson University’s Dean of Libraries. As Dean, he is dedicated to collaboratively developing a vision for a world class research library that meets the needs of Clemson’s students, faculty and staff.
Mathew Moyo is currently Chief Director: Library and Information Service at the North-West University, South Africa.
Dr Simon Kerridge is the director of Research Policy & Support, University of Kent, UK. He has been a research manager and administrator for over 25 years, the past eight leading the research office at Kent.
Nnamdi O. Madichie is Professor of Marketing & Entrepreneurship at the UNIZIK Business School, Awka, Nigeria.
Associate Professor Wendy Steele is an Australian Council Research Fellow (ARC DECRA and ARC Discovery) and Associate Professor in the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies at RMIT University, Melbourne.
Associate Professor Lauren Rickards is a co-leader of the Climate Change Transformations research programme of the Centre for Urban Research, and Associate Professor in the Sustainability and Urban Planning area of the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
Professor Saurabh Sinha obtained his B.Eng, M.Eng, and Ph.D. degrees in Electronic Engineering from the University of Pretoria.
Arif Zaman is Senior Lecturer at the Bloomsbury Institute, London. He is a member of the visiting faculty at Henley Business School, University of Reading and Executive Secretary, the Commonwealth Research Network on International Business.
Dr. Budd Hall is a Professor Emeritus, School of Public Administration, University of Victoria and a Co-Chair, UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility In Higher Education.
Ms Louise Jones has been University Librarian at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) since 2013.
Cheryl Peltier-Davis is Librarian at the Open Campus Libraries and Information Services at The University of the West Indies, Open Campus, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago.
Pavlinka Kovatcheva is a Faculty Librarian for the Faculty of Science at the University of
Johannesburg.
Partnership and collaborations remains at the heart of UJ Library.
As part of our commitment to ensuring that, our extensive network continues to engage and collaborate during this challenging time and beyond. We are using this virtual conference platform to cross borders, narrow divides, and create access to inspire change.
This virtual international conference will offer practical advice and lessons learned, exploring a range of key areas in higher education.
It will enable delegates to get insights and perspectives from university libraries both nationally and internationally to advance our knowledge and support.
Professor Dhanjay Jhurry was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mauritius (UoM) in March 2017. He is championing the vision of a research-engaged and entrepreneurial university working in close partnership with the public and private sectors as well as with the community to foster innovation. He is putting a lot of emphasis on organizing research at the University around the SDGs and is leading various initiatives to develop human, intellectual, business and social capital through an inclusive and openness approach. Under his leadership over the past 3 years, the University of Mauritius has championed the concept of international education diplomacy and built strong partnerships with Universities worldwide.
He held previously (2012 to 2017) the post of National Research Chair in Biomaterials and Drug Delivery under the Mauritius Research Council, while heading the Centre for Biomedical and Biomaterials Research (CBBR), a centre attached to the University of Mauritius, which he founded.
Prof Jhurry studied at Bordeaux University (France) and received his PhD in Polymer Chemistry in 1992. After spending three years as Research Chemist at Flamel Technologies Company in Lyon, France working on biomedical polymers, he joined the Dept. of Chemistry at the University of Mauritius as Lecturer and was appointed Professor in 2005.
Prof Jhurry worked on sucrose-based polymers for his PhD. His mainstream research in polymer science, biomaterials and tissue engineering, nanotechnology/nanomedicine and drug delivery has led to over 75 papers in scholarly journals, with an h-index of 20.
He has received various national and international awards and recognition including the first Best Mauritian Scientist Award in 2011, the ‘Grand Officer of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean’ and the ‘Commander of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean’ insignia by the Rep. of Mauritius in 2019 and 2012 respectively as well as the ‘Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques’ insignia by the Rep. of France in 2007.
Prof Jhurry is an elected member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) since July 2017 and a member of the Scientific Council of the Francophone Association of Universities (AUF) since September 2019. He is a Board member of the Regional Multidisciplinary Centre of Excellence (Mauritius) since January 2020. He was appointed Chair of the ACU SDG Network in January 2020. He is also a member of Ashinaga’s Kenjin-Tatsujin International Advisory Council (Ashinaga Africa Initiative) and he was Vice-President of the COMESA Innovation Council from 2013 to 2015.
Can we in the developing world close our eyes on the digital transformation wave?
Computer-mediated delivery of lectures, the development of educational technologies, digital libraries all date back to the 1990s. But it is a fact that Universities in the less developed and developing world have been lagging behind, the consequences of which have been felt during the COVID-19 pandemic especially on the African continent. Preparedness and proactiveness are very important to face adversity. At the University of Mauritius, we had shifted to the ‘Learner-Centred Credit System’ in August 2019 to not only develop outcome-based and independent learning but also to encourage the use of EdTech in the delivery of lectures. The transformation of the University of Mauritius library into a digital library was completed in 2018 and all this helped us transition smoothly through the pandemic and lockdown.
While culture change is the hardest part of digital transformation because it creates uncertainty and insecurity, it is now inevitable. The equation is simple, either you embrace it or you are out of business. So, the workforce of the future will have to be fully equipped with critical digital skills – (1) information, media and technology skills; (2) learning and innovation skills; and (3) life and career skills.
To achieve this, public policy concerning education for a better-prepared workforce is capital.
Prof Maria Frahm-Arp obtained her PhD in the Sociology of Religion from Warwick University (UK) at the end of 2006. She in an NRF rated scholar and the author of over twenty book chapters and journal articles on Pentecostal Charismatic Churches in South Africa. In 2010 she published ‘Professional Women in Pentecostal Charismatic Churches in South Africa’ and in 2015 the book ‘Into the Deep: Finding God in the Midst of Suffering’. She is the winner of the UJ Humanities Teaching and Learning Award (2014) and the Vice Chancellors Distinguished Teaching and Learning Award (2016). In 2017 she worked as the Vice Dean in the Faculty of Humanities and in 2018 she became the Executive Director of the Library and Information Centre at UJ.
Rising Stronger: Leadership during a Global Shift in Education
COVID-19 has seen leaders having to change how they lead in order to help their staff manage a worldwide pandemic and the crises that arose from this. As things began to settle into a ‘new normal’ leaders had to find ways to lead their organisations virtually innovating change so that organisations can adapt to the new customer needs in an agile and reflexive way. This paper explores and reflects on the leadership practices used to address the challenges COVID-19 has brought about from addressing social injustice in the work place to celebrating staff ingenuity and commitment.
Erik Kruger is a speaker, author, and thinking partner to executives. He has a Masters degree in Business and Executive Coaching and regularly presents on the topics of high-performance and leadership. He is also the founder of Modern Breed – an international learning and development aimed at developing & supporting modern leaders and teams for complex times.
Becoming The Future
In this talk, Erik Kruger – speaker and writer on developing leaders for the future, says that perhaps our obsession with asking the question “how do we prepare for the future?” is misplaced.
That there is a better question to be asking.
How do we become the future?
Leonard Sweet said that the future is not something we enter, the future is something we create.
But what’s more important is that we create ourselves. Continually redefining ourselves as we adapt to a world that never stops moving.
This means that the mental models that we cultivate and use to navigate the world then ultimately shapes the future that you find yourself in.
It influences your career, your relationships, how you lead, and how you live.
This talk specifically covers five mental models that will help you to ceaselessly recalibrate to who you are becoming and the future that you are creating.
Are you antifragile?
Are you prioritising resilience or evolution?
Are you being Dangerous?
Are you becoming the future?
Paul Weinberg is a photographer, filmmaker, writer, curator, educationist and archivist. He began his career in the late 1970’s by working for South African NGOs, and photographing current events for news agencies and foreign countries. He was a founder member of Afrapix and South, the collective photo agencies that gained local and international recognition for their uncompromising role in documenting apartheid, and popular resistance to it. From 1990 onwards he increasingly concentrated on feature rather than news photography. His images have been widely exhibited and published, both locally and abroad. He also initiated several major photographic projects, notably Then and Now, a collection of photographers from the collective photographic movement of the 1980s, Umhlaba, a project on land and The Other Camera about vernacular photography in South Africa. In 1993 Weinberg won the Mother Jones International Documentary Award for his portrayal of the fisherfolk of Kosi Bay, on South Africa’s north coast. He has taught photography at the Centre of Documentary Studies at Duke University, and initiated the Masters in Documentary Arts degree at UCT. He currently works as an independent curator, archivist and photographer and is presently a research associate with the South African Research Chair in South African Art and Visual Culture, University of Johannesburg. He has published 18 books either as the photographer and/or author.
Reflections of a Feral Archivist
Digital archives are a swift flowing river with extraordinary potential to support and innovate scholarship, research and memorywork. The Covid 19 pandemic has shown us the extraordinary depths of communicating in a virtual environment. It has also unmasked the strengths and weaknesses of social media, and asked questions about the veracity of digital communication itself.
As the world grapples with the ongoing pandemic, it has offered opportunities to reflect on how we can be better humans in a world that yet again has exposed the painful contradictions that permeate our country, continent and world. Pre Covid 19 hard questions under the umbrella of the decoloniality discourse, have not disappeared but only been more urgently reframed. I would argue the digital moment is at its centre.
How do important Special Collections repositories and archives effectively engage with their collections in a way that stimulates critical scholarship and research, at the same time meaningfully wrestles with uncomfortable histories?
I would like to reflect on these questions from a number of perspectives by sharing some key digital curated projects which in turn point to examples of potential strategies going forward. In so doing I hope to prompt institutions not just to be jolted from a kind of complacent slumber but to be actually integrally engaged in a decolonial process of self-reflection, not by default or pressure but by choice and agency with a renewed commitment to the ‘new normal’.
Sandra Vengadasalam leads the department Digital Labs of the Max Planck Digital Library (MPDL) in Munich, which serves a community of 14,000 scientists across 84 Max Planck Institutes worldwide. The mission of Digital Labs is to ensure a constant pipeline of new technologies to provide innovative and sustainable services for all Max Planck researchers. Blockchain technology and specifically innovative services for academia based on blockchain technology, is a passion for Sandra and her team.
Furthermore, Sandra is one of the founders of the Max Planck Open Access Ambassadors initiative – a network of young PhD students disseminating the principles of Open Access and Open Science between young scientists. Before MPDL, Sandra obtained her PhD in biology focusing on molecular biology and biochemistry. After her doctorate she worked as PostDoc in the field of Epigenetics and Chromatin Remodeling at the Adolf-Butenandt-Institute in Munich. In her spare time she loves to play harp and violin.
Getting Science on the Blockchain – The Global bloxberg Infrastructure
The bloxberg infrastructure is a secure global blockchain established in early 2019 by a consortium of eleven world-leading research institutions. Currently the bloxberg consortium consists of more than 50 scientific organizations and continues to grow rapidly.
The aim of the bloxberg infrastructure is to provide scientists with decentralized services and to foster collaboration among the global scientific community. For example, concrete applications and demands for a transparent and safe online system based on blockchains in science are: to verify the authenticity of data, guaranteed protection of intellectual property rights, the exchange of valuable research results, peer reviewing, the publication of papers and much more. bloxberg`s vision is to have sufficient representation from various scientific entities participating in the consortium, so that the network itself may replace traditional scientific infrastructure such as closed-access publishing of research results, among others.
Become part of it! As a research institution join the bloxberg consortium and shape decentralized science with all bloxberg members worldwide. As a startup or scientist developing scientific dApps connect to the bloxberg blockchain and profit from the stable, renowned bloxberg infrastructure without any transaction fees.
Prof Thea de Wet is Senior Director of the Centre for Academic Technologies (CAT) at the University of Johannesburg and Professor of Anthropology and Development Studies. Thea has a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Florida in the USA. In 2000, after working for the South African Medical Council for 10 years she moved to UJ. Thea taught in both Anthropology and Development Studies, focussing on first-year modules and postgraduate supervision. Thea was awarded one of the UJ Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Awards in 2013 and a HELTASA/CHE National Commendation for Teaching Excellence 2014. In 2016, she moved to CAT. At CAT Thea is leading a team of learning designers and ICT specialists who design, develop and support teaching and learning with technology at UJ.
Shifts and Opportunities in Remote Teaching and Learning
The COVID pandemic has been a dramatic disruptor for teaching and learning in higher
education worldwide. Although many universities were already online, or partly online,
others were unprepared and under-resourced for the shift to remote education. The
immediate challenge for South African universities was how to go fully online in the context of staff and students without laptops or access to the Internet when they were off-campus.
Well-resourced universities managed to do so by sending students entry-level computing devices and providing free data bundles; all modules moved online and teaching continued.
However, this was not possible for universities serving remote areas and for students with little prior experience with learning online. Solutions included paper copies of learning material with low-data solutions, such as WhatsApp communication via smartphones. The last six months exposed glaring inequalities in terms of the lack of Internet access and the high cost of data for young people from poor communities and remote, underserviced areas. In this context, much reflection has taken place across higher education in South Africa. There are opportunities to address the digital divides and for innovative, socially just teaching and learning strategies.
Christopher Cox is Clemson University’s Dean of Libraries. As Dean, he is dedicated to
collaboratively developing a vision for a world class research library that meets the needs of Clemson’s students, faculty and staff. Prior to coming to Clemson, Cox was Dean of Library Services at the University of Northern Iowa. Cox has also served as Dean of Libraries at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington. He has a BA in English from Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania, an MA in English from the University of Connecticut and a Master of Library Science from the University at Albany, NY.
Mathew Moyo is currently Chief Director: Library and Information Service at the North-West University, South Africa. His experience in the LIS field spans more than 25 years. Dr Moyo has also lectured in the Information Science field for more than 5 years. He holds a Doctoral Degree in Library and Information Science. He has read papers at national and international conferences, as well as serving as a reviewer for various journals and examiner for a number of universities. Mathew’s research interests are in the areas of information literacy, Research Data Management, user behavior, and governance/management, among others. He is also passionate about mentorship and
capacity building.
Shifts and Changes in the Research Landscape: Opportunities and Challenges
Research is constantly undergoing change due to a number of reasons including advances in technology, funding models or policies and the general shifts on the international scene. The changes bring about opportunities and constraints which researchers and librarians have to contend with. In this presentation, shifts and changes in the research landscape will be explored and determined with a view to offer advice on how best librarians can provide sound support to researchers. In a world where the level and quality of research output defines the position of a research institution on the ranking platform, sound research support holds key for success. The
presenter argues that as the research landscape shifts and changes, so does the role of the librarian.
The changes in the research landscape have revolutionized the role of the librarian from a supporter through collections and training, to a partner in the entire research life cycle. However, as in any change environment, there are challenges which librarians may encounter in their quest to promote research and these will be explored in this presentation. The presentation ends with some thoughts about new initiatives for the further promotion of research.
Director of Research Policy & Support, University of Kent, UK
Simon has been a research manager and administrator for over 25 years, the past eight
leading the research office at Kent. He is passionate about research management and
administration (RMA) as a profession and holds a number of international positions,
including being a steering committee member for the Association of Commonwealth
Universities’ (ACU) Supporting Research Community.
Simon is an EARMA (European Association of Research Managers and Administrators) Board member, and also sits on the Annual Conference Programme, and Awards Committees. He sits on the NCURA (US National Council of University Research Administrators) Select Committee for Global Affairs, is a past chair of ARMA, the UK association. He is an expert for the EU funded foRMAtion project.
Simon leads the leads the INORMS (International Network of Research Management Societies) RAAAP (Research Administration as a Profession) Task Force that is collecting longitudinal data about the profession. This follows the initial, NCURA funded, RAAAP project from 2016. Simon has also recently been awarded a follow-on RAAAP Analysis project.
He has presented, trained, and consulted widely on many aspects of RMA around the world including in Africa, America, Asia, and Europe. Simon holds a holds a professional doctorate in Electronic Research Administration, is an adjunct lecturer on the Johns Hopkins University international masters’ program in Research Administration, and an editor of the Journal of Research Management and Administration.
Shifts and Changes in the Research Landscape: Possible Trends in the Research Land
The research landscape is changing and evolving. And while, as the Covid-19 pandemic has clearly demonstrated, it is difficult to predict the future, I will try to outline some directions of travel.
– Research is moving from lone scholar to research teams
– Research is becoming more international
– Research outputs are more often internationally co-authored
– Open Access is on the rise (see the separate conference thread on this)
– Global Challenges are providing a focus for funding
– De-colonisation of research and “south-north” co-operation
– The impact of research is becoming paramount
– Research Co-Design is increasing
– Ethics, Governance, and Due Diligence are becoming more stringent
– Responsible Research & Innovation (RRI)
– Citizen Science, and Public Engagement with Research are more commonplace
– Metrics and League Tables are challenged
– Evidence-Based Policy Making
While I will undoubted be wrong on some of these, I hope that I won’t be too far off, and at the least will help inform the debate.
Nnamdi O. Madichie is Professor of Marketing & Entrepreneurship at the UNIZIK Business School, Awka, Nigeria. He is also Visiting Professor at the Coal City University, Enugu, Nigeria. Professor Madichie is a Research Fellow at the Bloomsbury Institute London, Research Fellow at the University of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, as well as External Examiner at the Liverpool Business School, UK. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM), Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI), and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy of England & Wales (SHEA).
This article addressing the theme “shifts and changes in the research landscape” builds upon the proposition in a recent Association of Commonwealth Universities article Strengthening universities Higher education during COVID-19: a snapshot of digital engagement in Commonwealth universities. It also reflects on my recent post on the University World News, Chequered value chain of academic research and publishing (25 July 2020) where I highlighted China’s shifts from Anglo-Saxon publication outlets and what this might mean for African scholarship. I pointed out that “Quality, process and impact – the unholy trinity of academic research and their chequered value chain when it comes to service to society.”
It is against the backdrop of research quality that international collaborations becomes an imperative and aligned with the sustainable development goals, especially SDG17. In recent weeks, if not days, African universities have been celebrating inclusion on the Times Higher Education (THE) World University rankings with the highest entrant from Nigeria placing outside the top-400 globally. Whether is calls for celebration is another matter. Meanwhile, as I have previously pointed out, “just like their counterparts in other emerging market contexts, African scholars should consider setting themselves more realistic targets or ‘upping’ their game in terms of research rigour in order to cope with the real or perceived American hegemony in this area.”
Associate Professor Wendy Steele is an Australian Council Research Fellow (ARC DECRA and ARC Discovery) and Associate Professor in the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies at RMIT University, Melbourne. She is the co-leader of the Critical Urban Governance research program in the Centre for Urban Research and an Urban Scholar for the United Nations Global Cities Compact Program. Her research focuses on cities in a climate of change with current projects on the sustainable development goals in higher education, ethical innovation and urban futures.
Wendy is an executive member of the Australasian Cities Research Network (ACRN) and on the International editorial board for the Journals of Urban Policy and Research and Sustainability. She was awarded the Peter Harrison Memorial Award by the Fenner School, Australian National University for her contribution to environmental sustainability.
Engaging with the SDGs – What does that mean for research?
Researchers are increasingly encouraged to frame their research in terms of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the related agenda Transforming our World. But what does that actually involve? And why should we within universities bother? In this presentation we outline an approach to the SDGs that moves beyond logos and indicators to engage with what they are at essence – which is a call to reappraise our current trajectories, think imaginatively about the role of research in the world, and develop new ways of working together to generate positive change within – as well as beyond – our institutions. Drawing on our recent report Research Impact as Ethos we present a new way of thinking about research impact that goes beyond the existing maximisation logic and project by project approach to become more discerning and joined-up in order to better meet the escalating challenges the SDGs call on us to address.
Associate Professor Lauren Rickards is a co-leader of the Climate Change Transformations research programme of the Centre for Urban Research, and Associate Professor in the Sustainability and Urban Planning area of the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. Lauren is an interdisciplinary researcher with a background in human geography. Her research examines the sociocultural dimensions of climate change and broader environmental challenges, including their implications for higher education.
A Rhodes Scholar with extensive industry experience and networks, Lauren is a Lead Author in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report, and a Senior Research Fellow with the Anthropocene and Resilience networks of the Earth System Governance programme. Together with Wendy Steele and other colleagues, Lauren has been working to deepen critical engagement with the UN SDGs and the concept of research impact at RMIT University and beyond.
Engaging with the SDGs – What does that mean for research?
Researchers are increasingly encouraged to frame their research in terms of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the related agenda Transforming our World. But what does that actually involve? And why should we within universities bother? In this presentation we outline an approach to the SDGs that moves beyond logos and indicators to engage with what they are at essence – which is a call to reappraise our current trajectories, think imaginatively about the role of research in the world, and develop new ways of working together to generate positive change within – as well as beyond – our institutions. Drawing on our recent report Research Impact as Ethos we present a new way of thinking about research impact that goes beyond the existing maximisation logic and project by project approach to become more discerning and joined-up in order to better meet the escalating challenges the SDGs call on us to address.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research & Internationalisation, University of Johannesburg
Prof Saurabh Sinha obtained his B.Eng, M.Eng, and Ph.D. degrees in Electronic Engineering from the University of Pretoria. As an established researcher, rated by the National Research Foundation, he has authored or co-authored over 130 publications in peer-reviewed journals, books and at international conferences. On 1 October 2013, Prof Sinha was appointed as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). As of 1 Dec. 2017, Prof Sinha is the UJ Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Internationalisation. Prof Sinha served the 2014-2015 IEEE Board of Director and as IEEE Vice-President: Educational Activities.
Arif Zaman is Senior Lecturer at the Bloomsbury Institute, London. He is a member of the visiting faculty at Henley Business School, University of Reading and Executive Secretary, the Commonwealth Research Network on International Business. He is Executive Director of the Commonwealth Businesswomen’s Network, an accredited organisation directly recognised by 54 Governments on women’s economic empowerment and leadership. He co-edited the Bloomsbury Institute Working Paper Series Special Issue on the Commonwealth (April 2020).
Arif is author of the bestselling book on Reputational Risk (Financial Times, 2004 and published in Russian, 2008). He has authored several publications including for Chatham House, the IOD, the Commonwealth Secretariat, BSI and ACCA. He led the Commonwealth’s work on corporate governance as Adviser on both Corporate Governance and South Asia to the Commonwealth Business Council (2005-14).
Arif was Global Market and Industry Analyst at British Airways (1996-2005) where he won several company awards including for his contribution to BA’s Business Principles and Sustainability Policy and industry awards for his work on logistics, trade and strategy. He is a Fellow of the RSA, the Royal Asiatic Society and the Higher Education Academy and sits on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Business Strategy.
Dr. Budd Hall is a Professor Emeritus, School of Public Administration, University of Victoria and a Co-Chair, UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility In Higher Education. He has 40+ years’ experience in community-based research, is world-renowned for his advocacy and activism in advancing equality and equity in higher education for marginalized students and has spent his career working with vulnerable populations in Canada and around the world. Dr. Hall is actively engaged in decolonializing open source and open access scholarship and knowledge democracy mobilization. Budd is also a poet and actively engaged in addressing injustice through all forms of poetry.
Open Science for and with communities-beyond Open Access
While many countries and scholars understand “Open Science” to mean the same as “Open Access” to publications and data, we argue that it can and should go further. Analyzing all the possibilities of openness during the COVID-19 pandemic, we explain how science could also open itself to society and be more relevant-particularly to civil society organizations and social movements. We suggest greater openness to knowledges and systems of thought that come from Indigenous Peoples, minorities, and cultures from the Global South. These knowledges are often ignored or excluded from Eurocentric science even though they could enrich scientific conversations across boundaries. Finally, we propose considerations for each form of openness to bring about a fair, decolonial Open Science—for and with communities, and beyond open access.
Ms Louise Jones has been University Librarian at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) since 2013. She had previously been Director of Library Services at the University of Leicester in the UK. Leading the library at CUHK she is responsible for strategic planning and overall delivery of library operations. In Hong Kong Ms Jones is a member JULAC, Hong Kong’s academic library consortium, and served as its Chair in 2018/19, and now chairs JULAC’s Research Support Committee. She was a Founding Council Member of the Guangzhou – Hong Kong –Macau University Library Alliance, and it’s Chair in 2019/20. She was President of Hong Kong Library Association in 2017 and 2018. In 2019 Ms Jones became a member of IFLA’s Library Buildings and Equipment Section Standing Committee.
She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in psychology from Manchester University, a Master’s Degree in Information Studies, and a Master’s in Public Administration from Warwick University.
Digital Scholarship: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Library as provider, partner and pioneer
A recent Research Libraries UK survey on the role of the research library in digital scholarship wrote of the Library as provider, partner and pioneer. This presentation focuses on the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Library’s digital scholarship (DS) team established in 2014. As provider the Library offers space and technology through a Digital Scholarship Lab and CUHK Digital Repository, coupled with the expertise of the DS team delivering training and consultancy. CUHK Library’s approach to partnership will be illustrated, as will the role of Library as pioneer using the Digital Repository as a DS testbed. The presentation will conclude with reflections on the importance and sustainable of DS for CUHK Library.
Cheryl Peltier-Davis is Librarian at the Open Campus Libraries and Information Services at The University of the West Indies, Open Campus, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. She has spent the majority of her professional career (spanning a period of more than twenty years), working in academic libraries in the Caribbean and in the US. Her continued interest in emerging technologies has led to the publication of two volumes of The Cybrarian's Web series, a guide written to assist librarians and other information professionals keep up to date with social media tools applicable to libraries. In 2019 she was designated as Caribbean Information Professional of the year by the Association of Caribbean University, Research, and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL).
From Papyrus to 3D Printers – Disruptive Technologies in Libraries – A Practitioner’s Perspective
Artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, robotics, blockchain technology, Internet of Things, are examples of disruptive technologies that are reshaping our world today, revolutionizing the way we live, learn, work and play. These technologies are the drivers of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, often referred to as ‘4IR’ or ‘IR 4.0’. Librarians, in their role as early adopters of technology, have always been proactive in their response to utilizing technological innovations through the decades, markedly adroit at harnessing myriad disruptive technologies to craft cutting-edge innovative services to multi-generational clients. This presentation focuses on the success stories of library practitioners in the field. It profiles real- world examples of the use of disruptive technologies in libraries. The case studies highlighted, are derived from the author’s independent, evaluative research of recent library literature, emphasising projects which are adoptable and adaptable, enabling seamless implementation and integration into the workplace.
Pavlinka Kovatcheva is a Faculty Librarian for the Faculty of Science at the University of
Johannesburg. Her interests range from Social media and digital marketing, to new technologies and the impact on librarians and academia. Pavlinka enjoys interacting with students and academics and she strive to use an innovative way to support them in their teaching, learning and research.
Working Online from home during COVID-19 lockdown, presented a new challenge to overcome from face-to-face and blended to full online support.
Innovative Learning Hub: New places, roles and skills for academic support
The Innovative Learning Hub is a UJ Library project, that was developed as a searchable content platform in support to the University of Johannesburg Teaching and Learning. Planned as a Blended learning catalogue of pre-selected resources, the platform is now a space to search and find innovative tools and ideas to support virtual teaching and learning. The presentation will provide an overview of the platform and why it is beneficial tool to explore.