FACULTY OF

The past year has been a period of reflection and change. Prof Johan esterhuyse sadly passed away, and this left a gap in both research supervisory and administration capacity in the faculty. The faculty however continued to undertake activities in pursuit of its aims and objectives, and our staff and students continued on their quest towards research excellence, building on the tradition of conducting quality research as they had done in the past. The research administration activities were restructured, new emerging research areas were identified, and staff were selected to give support to national research initiatives.

The faculty is particularly honoured that Prof Peter Clarke-Farr has been appointed Research Associate and Honorary Research Fellow of the African Vision Research Institute which provides supervision opportunities of master’s and doctoral students in Optometry across the African continent. He was also appointed the Managing Editor of the African Vision and Eye Health Journal (formerly the South African Optometrist). This is a peer reviewed DHET subsidy-accredited journal and the only one of its kind on the African continent.

The biggest new potential for emerging research was reflected in the Department of Emergency Medicine. In its first year of starting a new master’s programme, a number of postgraduate students were registered from all parts of the country. At the same time, the staff embarked on obtaining their own postgraduate qualifications, resulting in the department having the best qualified staff in the country. This bodes very well for the future research activities in that department.

The research scope in the faculty covers both fundamental and applied research. There are clear indications that our research is not only informing our undergraduate teaching programmes but also providing new career opportunities for our graduates. Our diverse yet related research activities form a rich tapestry of various facets of health and healtheducation investigations within the context of a university of technology. The majority of the academic staff have research qualifications, and this provides a strong platform for providing appropriate supervision to our postgraduate students. Our research success comes about as a direct result of planning, hard work and effective research leadership. In this regard, the faculty researchers and postgraduate students are to be congratulated for their efforts.

This report provides an overview of the research accomplishment of a very able and dedicated group of people who strive to better the health of our people and who work to address the needs of the most vulnerable and “at-risk” members of our society. Translation of research from the laboratory to application is essential and continues to be the cornerstone of the high national relevance of research.

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