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Engagement and Transformation
The Engagement and Transformation Portfolio
Co-creating the transformative, responsive university.
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Engagement
Engaging and forming partnerships, interacting with stakeholders and reaching out and contributing towards the sustainable development of the communities we serve.
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Transformation
Promoting institutional transformation through programmatic interventions focusing on the Constitutional principles of human dignity, equality, fairness, non-racism, non-sexism, and redress.
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Anti-Gender-based Violence
Support, reporting and management of gender-based violence for students and staff.
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*iconography adapted with the permission of artist: Xolela Madlanga
Research and Engagement Entities
Centre for the Advancement of Non-racialism and Democracy
CANRAD provides an intellectual and social space for debate and research on the complexities of post-apartheid South Africa as we seek to establish a new non-racial and democratic social and economic order.
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Centre for Women and Gender Studies
Framed around the histories of African intellectual traditions in the region, the CWGS seeks to contribute to an inclusive gender programme through research, gender mainstreaming in teaching, advocacy and engagement.
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Centre for Integrated Post-School Education and Training
CIPSET is a centre of learning, engagement and research excellence through socially engaged public scholarship in the areas of community, vocational and worker education.
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HIV & AIDS Research Unit
Striving to promote and sustain a collaborative response to the HIV & AIDS pandemic through governance, teaching and learning, research, community engagement and service provision.
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*iconography adapted with the permission of artist: Pola Maneli
Research Chairs and Institutes
Chair – Critical Studies in Higher Education Transformation
CriSHET's praxis and programmatic work is rooted in the study of higher education through the lenses of critique and critical action, within the orbit of Critical University Studies (CUS) and other radical approaches to the study of the sector.
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DSI-NRF SARChI Chair in African Feminist Imagination
Linked to the Centre for Women and Gender Studies (CWGS), the Chair in African Feminist Imagination is dedicated to the study of creative sites of feminist expressions.
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Transdisciplinary Institute for Mandela Studies
TIMS is a joint project between the University, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Human Sciences Research Council to implement the scholarly formulation of the Mandela legacy.
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*iconography adapted with the permission of artist: Pola Maneli
Strategic Projects and Working Groups
Hubs of Convergence
The HoC offers physical and intellectual spaces to explore, experiment and reimagine the process of engagement between the University and its communities.
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COVID-19 Coordinating Committee
The CCC coordinates the University's external response to the COVID-19 pandemic in collaboration with a variety of stakeholders, including local and provincial government, civil society, the private sector, and other communities.
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Food Systems Working Group
The Food Systems Working Group aims to understand, clarify, and map the various existing food system projects and programmes active in the University space, and to explore the potential of connecting - or the convergence of - these projects and programmes to be responsive to the challenges of food and food systems, both locally and globally.
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*iconography adapted with the permission of artist: Pola Maneli
Engagement and Transformation News
Maizena, Sunlight Soap and Pepsi revolutionise print-making in SA
Artist and fine art lecturer in printmaking at Nelson Mandela University, Jessica Staple, currently has a solo exhibition Drawing from Life at Art on Target in Gqeberha (4 – 25 April 2025).
Mandela University PhD study explores Fela Kuti as a vernacular intellectual
Nigerian-born Clifford Osabuohien Uwuoruya will cap a lifelong admiration for Fela Kuti when he crosses the graduation stage at Nelson Mandela University on 22 April 2025, with a doctoral degree in Sociology.
From apples to algorithms: Prof spells out complex topics in engaging address
From the mystery of falling apples to the weird behaviour of sub-atomic particles, quantum theory and pure mathematics were brought to life at Nelson Mandela University last week.
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Music lecturer honoured with prestigious HSS award #R2bP
Reasons to be Proud - #R2bP: David Bester, Senior Lecturer in Mandela University’s Department of Music and Performing Arts recently earned top honours at the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Awards — a flagship initiative of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS).