Human Sciences research award

Recipients of the research awards in the Faculty of Human Sciences; from left: Dr S Lebelo; Ms C Cilliers; Dr E Burger; Dr K Dube; Dr V Labuschagne and Prof K Moloi

The Faculty of Human Sciences had their annual Faculty Research Awards on Thursday, 28 November 2019 at Quest Conference Centre with the aim of showing appreciation to staff for their important contributions with regards to research throughout the year 2018. The Acting Executive Dean of the Faculty of Human Sciences, Dr Lazarus Maleho welcomed all guests to the prestigious event and introduced the guest speaker, Prof Babs Surujlal, a former colleague and friend of the Faculty.

Prof Babs Surujlal, also formally received the Faculty Researcher of the Year award three times, the University Researcher of the Year Award twice as well the Faculty of Management Sciences Research Excellence Award at the Vaal University of Technology. Prof Surujlal, who is currently the Deputy Dean of Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the North-West University, said that when he started at VUT in the year 2000, it was not a research driven university. Today VUT, like many other Universities, has improved its research capabilities and is continuously increasing its research capacity. Prof Surujlal further encouraged the Faculty to keep on doing the good work and to continue strengthening research and innovation. Prof Surujlal said that all staff members can contribute to research, because research is like filling a bucket with water from the tap, and each drop of water contributes to filling the bucket. He emphasised that even though not all staff members received a reward, their contribution to research is important and appreciated.

Recipients of the research Excellence awards in the Faculty of Human Sciences, from Left: Dr E Burger (Second Place); Prof K Moloi (First Place) and Dr V Labuschagne (Third Place).

Mr Teboho Bojabotseha, the Programme Director of the event introduced and presented the awards to the recipients. The Research Awards was presented in two categories as follow:

In the Research Achievement category, third place was awarded to Ms C Cilliers, second place was awarded to Dr K Dube and first place was awarded to Dr S Lebelo.

In the Research Excellence category, third place was awarded to Dr V Labuschagne, second place was awarded to Dr E Burger and first place was awarded to Prof KC Moloi.

Recipients of the research Achievement awards in the Faculty of Human Sciences, from Left: Dr S Lebelo (First Place); Ms C Cilliers (Third Place) and Dr K Dube (Second Place).

In closure, Prof Allan Munro from the Department of Visual Arts and Design congratulated the recipients and thanked everyone for their attendance and contributions, including the sponsors Ms Connie Mashaba from AMKA, Mr Firoz Saloojee from Motor Deal, and Prof Riana Van der Bank, the Acting DVC: Teaching, Learning and Student Support for her encouragement and continuous support.