Background informa???tion
The goal. Through the Public Squares, Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票 aims to catalyse, produce and externally fund research for impact: research that can help sustain resilient economies, promote health and wellbeing, cultivate arts and culture, make the world greener, and foster a more socially cohesive society, to name but a few areas of potential focus. In short, research with tangible societal impact.
Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票's strategic re??search areas (SRAs).
Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票 (SU) has identified five broad strategic research areas that describe its institutional research strengths, these include:
- Social justice and development
- Health and human society
- Human creatively and social innovation
- Systems and technologies for the future
- The natural environment
Together, these five areas serve as the overarching 'umbrella' themes for our research, under which we wish to develop a number of problem-focused, transdisciplinary, impactful research entities/groups. To achieve this goal, we need to focus on unique areas in which SU has developed expertise and in which real impact can be achieved through interconnectedness, cross-faculty collaboration, and a transdisciplinary approach.
The SU 'cityscape'
At Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票, we use the analogy of a cityscape to frame our research initiatives across the five Strategic Research Areas (SRAs). Within this research cityscape, we have historic, established structures, such as traditional academic departments and faculties, alongside quaint, medium-sized centres, including our Type 1 research entities and Research Chairs with their teams. Additionally, we feature 'high-rises' like the School for Data Science and Computational Thinking, the School for Climate Studies, and the Centre for Environmental Research and Innovation (CERI), representing our well-established Type 2 and Type 3 research entities.
Why do we need Public ???Squares?
Our cityscape needs to evolve in response to the shifting global knowledge landscape and emerging societal challenges. Therefore, we decided to enhance connections between existing structures by creating new "public squares" (or "play parks") within our research cityscape. These spaces are designed to foster interaction among individuals from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, encouraging collaboration and brainstorming that could lead to the establishment of new transdisciplinary entities—potentially the high-rises of the future.
The Public Squares p??rogramme
In June 2023, Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票's Division Research Development invited researchers to submit a brief expression of interest to participate in the establishment of new Public Squares. We received 27 individual proposals and the project team engaged in a process of rigorous peer-review to select ten competitive projects using the criteria outlined below.
The selection criteria for the Public Sq?uares:
- Promote solution-oriented, collaborative engaged or transdisciplinary research.
- Foster Knowledge Exchange to find innovative solutions for societal challenges.
- Address pressing societal issues as outlined in the South African national development plan, DSI White Paper on STI, and the SDGs, including Africa's Agenda 2063.
- Leverage SU's unique research expertise and location.
- Establish new collaborative, team-based research focus areas.
- Involve researchers from diverse disciplines, emphasizing the integration of STEM and Arts & Humanities.
- Engage proactively with quadruple-helix stakeholders, including industry, government, and community partners.
- Collaborate with national and international academic and non-academic partners.
- Compete effectively in the international research grants arena.
The development proces??s
In the end, 11 proposals were selected to develop through this initiative. Over three years, through the public squares programme, researchers (as well as their postdocs and PG students) are being supported to interact, brainstorm fresh ideas, develop novel cross-faculty focus areas. They are being trained in engaged research methodologies, public engagement tools, as well as budgeting expertise and grant writing skills to advance their research careers and make a meaningful impact on society. ??
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