Faculty of Dentistry - Top Achiever

Professor Sudeshni Naidoo

Importance of evaluating where to invest your energy most

PROFESSOR Sudeshni Naidoo was promoted to Senior Professorship based on a proven research and mentorship record, contribution to curriculum development, teaching excellence, departmental and faculty leadership, and service to academic and professional fields locally, nationally and internationally. Today, she is an Emeritus Professor at the University of the Western Cape as well as the Director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Oral Health. Her main research focus areas include infectious diseases and infection control; ethics, bioethics and research ethics; using information technology for teledentistry; as well as trauma and child abuse.

“I was careful to engage with and prioritise self-care for my mental and physical health.”

“For many women already juggling ‘double burdens’ or ‘second shifts’, the pandemic shattered the precarious, fragile balance between their professional and personal lives. Routines were upended. Daily habits have completely changed; homes suddenly became workplaces and childcare spaces.” She sums up the current situation by observing that women’s participation in academic life has been severely threatened. “The disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic have endangered the engagement, experience and retention of women in academia, making jobs more precarious than before. This has caused much anxiety and stress, especially since the demand for academic performance from university management continues as normal.”

This view is reinforced in a study conducted by Professor Jonathan Jansen and his team entitled Gender Inequality in the Shadow of Covid-19. They showed that there was a dramatic increase in the academic and administrative workload for women working under lockdown conditions (additional teaching and support; and intensified — doing more of the same thing). This caused both intellectual and health challenges for women.

When asked what the hardest thing about dealing with the pandemic has been, Prof Naidoo admits that “the transition towards online teaching has been an unwelcome distraction to the progress of writing and research during this time.

“Spending more time online teaching leaves you with less time for research. Organising online seminars and supervising students digitally are obstacles to writing and publishing productivity.

“There has also been an increase in the time needed for general admin, which has been a hindrance to conducting robust research. There are delays in the administrative processes, such as the registration and ethical clearance of research projects (due to the reduced number of Senate Higher Degrees and Research Committee meetings) and because of the inability to collect data, carry out laboratory work, face-to-face interviews, observational studies, etc.”

The pandemic helped her realise how important it was to continuously evaluate where she needed to invest her energy most.

“I was careful to engage with and prioritise self-care for my mental and physical health. Essentially, the balance of a good quality of life together with a healthy work-life centred on more effective time management, stress management, keeping my husband and family members happy, and ensuring the sustainable management of my professional and personal lives. These were useful techniques that helped me integrate work-life-family commitments.”