www.uj.ac.za/postgrad

June 2017

Proposal Writing Workshop for Management Faculty A two-day proposal writing workshop was held on 8 and 9 June for Master’s and Doctoral students from the departments of Industrial Psychology and People Management and Business Management. The workshop was facilitated by the Postgraduate School’s writing consultant, Mr Patrick Healy, and a research writing specialist, Professor Jane Castle, who provided one-on-one discussions on their research proposals.

Workshop on newest version of ATLAS.ti A two-day ATLAS.ti Version 8 workshop was held on 12 and 13 June. The workshop was targeted at supervisors and academic staff completing a doctorate. The workshop introduced staff members to the latest version of ATLAS.ti, which is suited for the management and analysis of qualitative data. The workshop was facilitated by Professor Brigitte Smit, an NRF rated researcher and Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at UNISA where she coordinates research courses and teaches qualitative research.

Grant Proposal Writing WorkshopsThere was a large turnout of academic staff and postgraduate students for the proposal writing workshop held on 15 June. Due to the demand, a repeat session is being held on 17 July. A grant proposal writing workshop focused on assisting grant seekers in preparing a coherent and convincing grant proposal, with special emphasis on the demands of common funding organisations such as the NRF, was held on 19 June.

Both workshops were facilitated by Professor Emeritus Marissa Rollnick, who has graduated ten doctoral and 21 Master’s students and has published 52 refereed articles and books.

Research as argument workshop series A series of workshops aimed at assisting novice researchers and PhD candidates in strengthening their research arguments were facilitated by Dr Arnold Wentzel on 22 June. ‘Finding an original contribution’, explained what it means for a research contribution to be original and offered techniques for ‘gap-spotting’ research and deriving more interesting research contributions. ‘Rethinking the basics of research in light of an argument’, looked at the basic skills of research, but through the lens of argument. It showed participants how to: search for sources that support an argument, read academic sources with argument in mind, summarise academic sources argumentatively, and how to argue in one’s own words. ‘Writing research as argument’ focused on how to write research as an argument. Through the ‘imaginary conversation technique’ the workshop was aimed at developing the metaphor of argument as conversation and showing how to put it into practice.

Arnold Wentzel was a senior lecturer at the faculties of Economics and Financial Sciences and Education at the University of Johannesburg before moving to Colombia, where he teaches research methodology and research writing.

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Professor Shireen MotalaSenior Director: Postgraduate Schoolsmotala@uj.ac.za011 559 3781Dr Pia LambertiHead: Research Capacity Development plamberti@uj.ac.za011 559 3649Praveen SinghHead: Postgraduate Fund Managementpraveens@uj.ac.za 011 559 4148Lerato DialeDepartmental Secretaryleratod@uj.ac.za011 559 3785

Kelebogile ChakaReceptionistkchaka@uj.ac.za011 559 3704

Dr Richard DeveyHead: Statistical Consultation Servicermdevey@uj.ac.za011 559 4406

Upcoming Workshops

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Postgraduate Fund Management - NRFOn the 13th of June 2017 the University of Johannesburg’s Postgraduate School hosted a workshop to support Postdoctoral Research Fellows to submit successful funding applications to the National Research Foundation (NRF). The workshop was organised by the Head of Postgraduate Fund Management, Mr Praveen Singh. Ms Thashni Pillay, the Director of the NRF Grants Management and Systems Administration Department, addressed over 80 attendees on the NRF Postdoctoral application process. Prof Liza Bornman from Faculty of Science and Prof Thaddeus Metz shared their experience as NRF panel members, where they advised the audience on what reviewers look for and how they could prepare high quality applications.

A current NRF Postdoctoral Fellowship holder, Dr Pandey from the Faculty of Science, outlined how he prepared his successful NRF application. Mr Tshediso Msibi from the Postgraduate School closed the workshop by describing the role played by the School’s Bursary Administrators in the NRF fellowship application process and how the staff members disburse funds to successful fellows. On the 22nd of June 2017 a similar workshop was hosted to support Masters and Doctoral candidates to submit successful funding applications to the National Research Foundation (NRF). Dr Langelihle Dlamini and Dr Patrick Njobeh from UJ’s Faculty of Science shared their experience as NRF panel members to over 100 attendees, and advised the audience on what reviewers look for and how they could prepare high quality applications. Mr Thabiso Masango closed the workshop by explaining the role of the Postgraduate school in the pre and post NRF applications and awards.

Postgraduate Fund Management The Rhodes Foundation Trust

The Rhodes scholarships were established in the will of Cecil Rhodes in 1902. Rhodes scholarships fund postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford. It is widely considered to be one of the world’s most prestigious scholarships.

The Rhodes Trust is inviting the University of UJ students to apply for the prestigious scholarship for students who are at least 19 years and younger than 25 years on the 1st of October 2018.

The call for the Rhodes scholarships is out for applications. Students have to apply directly to Rhodes Trust by selecting an appropriate region. An application form can be downloaded from the Rhodes website: www.Rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/section/Rhodes-Countries. Online application opened in June 2017 and the application deadline is on the 15th of August 2017.

As part of the application process, students were invited to attend the information session on the 14th of June 2017. 84 students who attended the Rhodes information session, in the Postgraduate School Training Room. Mr Sizwe Mkwanazi (Rhodes scholarship awardee) presented on the background and prerequisite information in applying for the scholarship.

3 and 5 July - Writing for publication workshops for Master’s and Doctoral graduates from the Faculty of Education

Short courses on postgraduate supervision

Three additional short courses aimed at UJ supervisors will commence in July: ‘Research ethics in postgraduate supervision’, ‘Supervising quantitative research’ and ‘Postgraduate research supervision’. These short courses are offered at no charge to UJ staff members. For more information, please contact Pia Lamberti, X3649

SOTL in the South Conference strand on postgraduate studies

The first SOTL in the South Conference will be held at APB in the last week of July, topics relevant to postgraduate studies that will be covered are: ‘Postgraduate supervision as a tool for national development’, ‘Accounting for the differentials in faculty productivity of PhD graduates’, ‘PhD candidates’ perspectives on how supervision approaches influence outcomes’The Postgraduate School has funded the visit from Professor Catherine Manathunga from Victoria University, Melbourne, who will do a keynote presentation and a pre-conference workshop on intercultural supervision at the conference.