The Humanities Institute within UKZN’s College of Humanities hosted a PhD writing retreat for holders of scholarships from the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) registered at UKZN and the University of Zululand.

The retreat focused on research data analysis and interpretation to address research problems, thesis finalisation, and writing articles for scholarly publications.

Professor Johannes Smit of the Humanities Institute who organised the retreat said that since its inception, the Institute has provided mentorship and support for 42 graduated PhD students. Four more students have submitted for examination and are awaiting examiners’ reports.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Humanities, Professor Nhlanhla Mkhize, said, ‘The Humanities Institute plays a pivotal role in mentoring and supporting PhD students. It spans the activities of PhD entry-level research proposal development, second-level data generation, and third-level thesis write-ups, including research data and information analyses, interpretation, and discussion towards the conclusive answering of research problems.’

Smit added that NIHSS scholarship holders work on research topics that are contextually relevant and aimed at addressing problematic phenomena and conundrums in society: ‘The research not only critically problematises existing human and social challenges, but also works towards research-intensive and conceptually founded empirical research that catalyses solutions to existing social problems. Conceptually- and contextually-relevant research not only originates from local community issues, but also embraces community participation and involvement for solution-driven research. This generates data for Africa-focused conceptualisation and theory building that are two sides of the same coin.’

Smit congratulated the students’ supervisors and mentors for developing the skill of ‘thinking with students’ to maximise the impact of their research in governance, society, and specific communities.

‘The Humanities Institute looks forward to the on-going upscaling of the College of Humanities and NIHSS-supported PhD students, where core activities focus on laying a solid foundation to begin research projects, including accompanying students on their research journeys towards graduation,’ he said.