Monash South Africa launches research partnership

1 September 2010

Deputy President of the NRF, Dr Gansen Pillay, with Associate Professor Dina Burger, Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor: Research at Monash South Africa

Monash South Africa has celebrated a historic milestone with the official launch on campus of its participation with the National Research Foundation (NRF). Themed 'Embarking on research excellence through collaborative partnerships' the launch was attended by Vice-Chancellor Professor Ed Byrne and Deputy President of the NRF, Dr Gansen Pillay.

In his opening address Professor Tyrone Pretorius, Pro Vice-Chancellor and President of Monash South Africa, described the five-year journey of the institution and the NRF.

"We all reap the benefit of an NRF Board decision to provide Monash South Africa academics access to the services and funding streams of the NRF," Professor Pretorius said.

"This launch signifies the next stage in our development. The ball is now in our court as an institution, and we look forward to capitalising on our relationship with the NRF under the leadership of our Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Dina Burger who has already done so much in bringing us to this point."

Professor Ed Byrne said it was a momentous day in the development and promotion of research excellence at the Monash South Africa campus.

"This research collaboration is the culmination of tremendous work by several people from Monash and the NRF. We are now positioning ourselves for cutting-edge and relevant research on issues of concern in South Africa and the continent as a whole," Professor Byrne said.

"A key component of research excellence is collaboration, and I call on all our academics to make full use of this opportunity."

Partnerships developed with numerous universities since 2006 will enhance existing research strengths of the campus in water research, injury prevention and safety promotion, nuclear proliferation studies, cold war studies, development informatics, victimology, oil violence in the Niger Delta, HIV and AIDS-related research, and development informatics.

In her address Professor Dina Burger said that since the establishment of the research portfolio at Monash South Africa in 2006, the University had developed an institutional 'research activeness' that would lead to research excellence, and had identified strategic partnerships that could assist in achieving these aspirations.

"Early on we identified the NRF as a key facilitator of our aspirations, but discovered that as a private higher education institution we could not gain access to any of the services or financial streams available at the NRF," Professor Burger said.

"We then took a strategic decision to engage with the NRF on these matters and after a series of discussions and substantial submissions, the NRF Board approved our request. This partnership will go a long way to increase research activity among the academics, which will ultimately lead to the achievement of our aspiration of research excellence."