Areas of responsibility

  • Partnerships – Regional, national and international.
  • Capacity Building – SI Orientation, SI workshops, SI discussion series, SI communities of interest.
  • SI initiative brokering of partnerships.
  • Conferencing and publications.

Mawethu Nyakatya

Manager: Engaged Scholarship

Profile

Mawethu Nyakatya is the Manager: Engaged Scholarship, a position that supports the university’s commitment to community engagement through engaged research and engaged teaching. The position facilitates and maintains mutually beneficial partnerships between the university and societal partners such as government, business, and civil society. Mawethu has a BSc and Honors degrees in Ecology from the Nelson Mandela University (Former University of Port Elizabeth) and an MSc in Sub-Antarctic Ecology from Stellenbosch University.

Mawethu has worked as a Field Researcher for the then Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in the sub-Antarctic Marion Island, and for the South African National Biodiversity Institute in Kirstenbosch, Cape Town. He then gained knowledge and experience in Research Management by doing management courses at Stellenbosch University Business School and a Research Management Internship at the Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology at Stellenbosch University where he later worked as a Projects Manager.

Mawethu is now interested in science and society projects, and in his role of Manager: Engaged Scholarship he is responsible for the overall promotion and support for engaged research and engaged teaching and learning activities at Stellenbosch University.

The role is about fostering and maintaining scholarly partnerships and relationships between the university and external societal organizations such as government, business and civil society. The role is also about supporting the spread of engaged scholarship institutionally, nationally and internationally through orientation sessions, capacity building workshops, active participation in national and international dialogues, collaborations and publications.