AwardsHonours &

Visual and Performing Arts student Robin Gengan received 2nd Runner Up Award at BRICS Postgraduate Research Forum

Durban University of Technology’s Robin Gengan a PhD student in Visual and Performing Arts received the 2nd Best Paper Runner Up Award at the BRICS Postgraduate Forum which took place at the University of Campinas in Brazil from 26th to 27th September 2022.

The two-day hybrid event saw postgraduate students from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa share their research papers with leading experts in the field of academic research. The students also received guidance on how to improve their work and feedback from the BRICS senior scholars who attended the forum.

Gengan said was thrilled and excited to receive the award: “It has motivated my drive towards creative outputs in research that will be commercially profitable to sustain future research, add value to local communities and set foundational platforms for future researches.”

His presentation was titled: Innovative entrepreneurship through creative outputs for emerging filmmakers in South Africa: A conceptual framework. “The paper describes emerging film creative leadership in terms of an Entrepreneurial Conceptual Framework that includes a functional relationship equation.

The conceptual framework explores the relationship between the four key dimensions (soft skills, innovation, film project management, and iterative content generation) and the four key competencies (high-quality content, influence, education, and entertainment) and their ultimate effect on entrepreneurial creative leadership in the filmmaking landscape.

The functional relationship equation identifies four key characteristics (vision, collaboration, adaptability, and emotional intelligence) that distinguish a creative leader in the film industry from other forms of leadership.

Both the conceptual framework and the functional relationship equation set innovative and structural foundations and form creative outputs for artists, emerging filmmakers, local independent film productions, and future academic arts studies,” he explained.

Passing her congratulatory message to Gengan on his sterling achievement, Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Engagement at DUT, Prof Motaung said: “Well done Robin. I am so proud of you.”