CALL: DHET Future Professors Programme (Phase 01): Fellowship in Academic Excellence and Leadership

DHET Future Professors Programme (Phase 01) FELLOWSHIP IN ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AND LEADERSHIP

Deadline: 31 July 2020

This is the second Call for the Future Professors Programme (FPP), a competitive and selective programme of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) to prepare promising early career academics to become a new cohort of South African professors across the disciplines. The Call, the second of three in successive years, seeks to identify a group of the country’s most talented young academics to benefit from a structured and intense programme aimed at accelerating their readiness for the professoriate. Thus, it aims to produce a critical mass of academic excellence and leadership within South African Higher Education. The programme is intended to complement initiatives hosted by both the DHET and individual universities aimed at developing a pipeline of early-career academics with an emphasis on black and woman scholars. Academics preferably - but not exclusively - in the lecturer and senior lecturer categories in South African public universities, may be nominated by their universities. Applicants should hold a doctorate and already boast a track-record of some academic achievement that would signal advancement to the senior ranks of the academy. From these nominations a cohort will be selected for the programme, to commence in January 2021.

The programme includes three core components: a residential series of seminars; a baseline evaluation which will help each scholar understand their standing in the discipline and propose trajectories for future development; and international engagement appropriate to the scholar’s particular intellectual project.

We are looking for the following attributes in the candidates:

• A deep commitment to the pursuit of advanced scholarship.
• Evidence of productive and imaginative scholarly work
• Early signs of purpose and direction in academic work.
• Novelty, richness and a willingness to take risks in the pursuit of large ideas.
• Personal qualities of self-awareness, teachability and the need to grow.
• Evidence of resilience and persistence in the face of setbacks
• A willingness to benefit from and contribute to a community of scholars.

Documentation required for submission:

1. A curriculum vitae including the following information

• Name and date of birth.
• Contact details (work and cell phone) as well as preferred email address
• Educational history (including the title of PhD thesis, the year received [use date of graduation ceremony not submission of thesis], the university that awarded the degree and the name/s of supervisor/s).
• Employment history (including the department where you currently serve and the name of your head of department).
• Publication record (including papers submitted/accepted and where).
• Research projects and funding you might have generated for your projects to date.
• Current teaching and supervisory responsibilities (distinguish undergraduate and postgraduate).
• Google Scholar H-Index and Scopus H-Index, if pertinent (some fields in the humanities, for example, don’t make use of this metric).

2. A two-page evidence-based submission explaining how you meet the attributes listed above. This submission should include a commitment from the scholar to participate fully in the programme, if selected.

3. Contact details of three referees.

4. The application will be accompanied by an institutional nomination completed by your University’s designated authority, addressed to the Project Leader, Professor Jonathan Jansen.

Submission:

Applications should be submitted electronically no later than 31 July 2020 to the office of the designated authority of your University. For the name of the designated authority, you can contact the FPP project officer, Ms Zinia Bunyula (e-mail: [email protected]). Each university may nominate only five candidates and these nominations will be accompanied by an institutional support letter from the designated authority.

The FPP cannot respond to individual applicants on matters of selection and outcome but will direct inquiries in this regard to your University’s designated authority. Outcomes will be communicated to successful candidates, the Vice Chancellor of your university, and the designated authority, by the DHET.

Further Information:

For further information on the Programme or the application process, you are most welcome to contact the project officer, Ms Zinia Bunyula (e-mail: [email protected]).

Sincerely,

Professor Jonathan Jansen

FPP Project Leader

Staff Writer

This article was written and edited by a staff writer.