Beyond research and teaching: exploring what it means to become a socially engaged academic citizen in Africa

 

This course is designed with postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows in mind, who have a keen interest in pursuing academic careers.

 

Academic citizenship is about more than teaching, research, and publication. It is about how we choose to engage with knowledge, communities, institutions, governance, and society.

This interactive short course invites participants to critically explore the values, responsibilities, and possibilities of academic citizenship in (South) Africa. Encouraging you to think deeply about the kind of academic citizen you aspire to become.

Through conversations on the African university, decoloniality, engaged scholarship, transformation, and social justice, participants will have opportunities to reflect on their own academic identities, disciplines, and research - asking themselves 'What kind of academic do I want to be?'.

The relationships you develop during the course, supported through in-session group work, will culminate in a collaborative manifesto for socially engaged academic citizenship in Africa. 

 

Spaces are limited to 45 participants, and attendance from session 1 is required. Be sure to secure your place as soon as possible. 

 

Course dates

A requirement for attending the course is your commitment to attending these sessions on the following dates:

1. The Ontology of the (South) African University - 27 August 2026 (16h00 - 18h00, online)
2. Dimensions of Decoloniality in Academia - 3 September 2026 (16h00 - 18h00, online)
3. Being a Socially Engaged Academic Citizen in Africa: Panel Discussion - 10 September 2026 (16h00 - 18h00, online)
4. Engaged Scholarship and Social Justice - 17 September 2026 (16h00 - 18h00, online)
5. Group Work Preparation Week - Heritage Day (Public Holiday) - no session on 24 September 2026
6. Group Presentations - 1 October 2026 (16h00 - 18h00, online)

 

Cost

Please note that this course is Free to UCT students.

 

About the facilitators

Janine Carlse, Capacity Development Specialist, Office of Postgraduate Studies and Researcher Development

From 2020 to 2022, Janine Carlse was a lecturer on the Global Citizenship Programme at the University of Cape Town. In her current role as Capacity Development Specialist, Janine’s primary responsibility is to conceptualise, implement and ensure successful delivery of postgraduate development and academic transformation initiatives in line with certain strategic goals, and in partnership with various departments across the University of Cape Town.

Janine’s experience within the higher education sector includes a combination of research, project management and administration, stakeholder engagement and partnerships, working with civil society organisations, student academic support, tutoring, facilitation and lecturing.

 

Lauren Grootboom, PhD Candidate, Civil Engineering

Lauren Grootboom (she/her) is currently a PhD candidate in Civil Engineering, Lauren’s research is positioned at the intersection between water systems in South African marginalised spaces, indigenous knowledge systems, and gender. She is also a tutor for various courses, and student assistant in the Office for Postgraduate Studies (OPGS).

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE COURSE, CLICK HERE.

 

What level of study is the workshop aimed at?

Postgraduate Diploma	Yes
Honours	Yes
Masters	Yes
PhD	Yes
Postdoctoral Fellow	Yes
Junior Research Fellow	Yes

 

Which faculty/faculties is the workshop aimed at?

Humanities	Yes
Commerce (including GSB)	Yes
Law	Yes
EBE	Yes
Science	Yes
Health Sciences	Yes
CHED	Yes

 

Requirements

MS Teams

It is recommended that you install the MS Teams software onto the device that you will be using to join the workshop, so that you have full functionality of the software features. If you require any technical assistance with this task or require guidance in using the software, please contact the ICTS helpdesk at icts-helpdesk@uct.ac.za or on +27 21 650 4500. When registering for this workshop, you will be prompted to input your UCT credentials, including UCT e-mail address, for security reasons.  A confirmation e-mail will then be sent to the UCT e-mail address with which you registered and will contain the MS Teams link to join the workshop on the day. To join the online workshop on the day, log into MS Teams via the profile linked to the e-mail address with which you registered and not a personal or company profile, to avoid access issues.