UCT Post-graduate studies - Flipbook - Page 48
MEET A NEW GENERATION
OF RESEARCHERS
Five new members of staff joined the New Generation of Academics Programme
(nGAP) and their postgraduate research is well under way.
Phindile Ntliziywana, lecturer in
the Department of Public Law
Ntliziywana is committed to ensuring
that local governance meets the needs of
society’s poorest. Lady Frere in the Eastern
Cape, where he grew up, epitomises the
plight of many traditional South African
rural settlements. Services and resources
are meagre. Caught in a cycle of neglect,
the community is “defeated, disempowered
and disinterested,” says Ntliziywana.
His PhD thesis proposes that
professionalisation of local government’s
administrative arm could go a long way
to stemming the tide of incapacity and
dysfunction in many municipalities.
Closing the gap: PhD candidate and nGAP
scholar Phindile Ntliziywana’s thesis examines
the functioning and efficiency of the public
service, specifically local government.
Kentse Mpolokeng is
realising her dreams
of furthering her
studies in anatomy
research.
Kentse Mpolokeng, assistant lecturer in the
Division of Clinical Anatomy and Biological
Anthropology
Mpolokeng chose not to let rejection from the University of
the Free State (UFS) Medical School deter her career plans.
“My dream of a bright future didn’t end there,” she says. “I
enrolled for the Bachelor of Sciences degree and have always
aimed to become one of the top medical researchers in the
country.” She began her academic career as an anatomy
officer at the University of the Western Cape, and took up the
nGAP lectureship at UCT in 2016.
Mpolokeng is currently working on her master’s research in
anatomy, looking at variances in blood supply to the eye. Once
that is out of the way, she plans to enrol for a doctorate in the
same area.
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