Page 6 - Annual Report A4

Executive Summary

he strategy to address performance utilised the agreed RIE priority areas and has
been rooted in the following six interrelated, mutually reinforcing desired outcomes:

i T
To create an institutional environment that will allow researchers to thrive.

In the current reporting year, the research chair graduated two doctor of engineering
candidates as well as five master of engineering students while supporting four

post-doctoral fellows. Various institutional awards celebrated the contribution of
the chair to the research environment exemplifying the striving expected of all

researchers. The five-year celebration of the prototype exhibition preceded the
official launch of the newly formed Institute of the Future of Work, thus clearly

contributing to both the local and global conversations around the future of work.

ii To develop areas of work in priority areas that provide TUT with a

sustained reputation for solution focused, user-inspired research, where
research, teaching and engagement (broadly defined) are closely linked.

The main development that has occurred in the past year has been the launch of the IFOW

in which the Research Chair served as a member of the task team for the Technology Hub.
The exploration of the use of Virtual Reality in TVET colleges was another dimension that
received a concerted effort by the chair evident in the activities to ensure that the “mission

drift” of universities of technology and the vocational training establishments feared by the
DHET would be avoided.

iii To develop a well-prepared corps of next-generation researchers

postgraduate students, postdoctoral fellows and young staff members.

The annual writing workshop was indeed a success as several novice
writers witnessed their first journal articles being accepted without rejection.

In the past, the practice of masters students publishing in conference proceedings
has been extensive, but this year the trend moved towards ensuring that masters

students publish in DHET accredited journals. Besides the graduations, a critical
mass of researchers is truly being mentored. Similarly, the appointment of a centre

manager with vast experience will ensure that the activities of the chair contribute
to alternative career paths for the contented researchers as entrepreneurs.

2 RESEARCH CHAIR IN MANUFACTURING AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2021/22