College of Human Sciences
Applicants are required to prepare a research outline in line with the departmental focus/niche area requirements and the guidelines provided. Uploading a research outline is applicable to all qualifications, except for the MBA, MBL, coursework LLMs and coursework MCom in Industrial Psychology. Click here for the guidelines for preparing a research outline.
All students applying for qualifications in the Department of Health Studies (qualification codes 90010, 99502, 90029 and 90143) must complete the research outline guidelines template as part of their application process.
Explore the research focus areas across the University of South Africa (Unisa) College of Human Sciences.
| Research area |
Research focus areas |
| African Languages |
African Languages and the Macro or Microenvironment; African Languages and Applied Linguistics; African Languages and Sociolinguistics; African Languages and Literature or Literary Studies (Traditional and Modern); Children’s Literature; Computational or Digital Linguistics; 4IR and Digitisation of African Indigenous Languages; Folklore; Language Planning and Language Policy; Onomastics; Terminology and Lexicography; Translation and Interpretation; Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatics and Discourse Analysis; Historical and Comparative Linguistics; Gender and Language; Language and Education; Language, Literature and Law (Forensic Linguistics and Literature); African Languages, Culture and Indigenous Knowledge Systems; Indigenous Languages Preservation |
| Research area |
Research focus areas |
| Afrikaans Literature |
Afrikaans Prose; Afrikaans Poetry; Afrikaans Drama; The Fourth Genre: Literary Nonfiction; Literary Historiography; Afrikaans Gay Literature; Queer Studies; Cultural Studies; Women's Studies; Animal and Plant Studies; Ecocriticism; The Detective Novel/Crime Fiction; The Horror Genre; Ghost Literature |
| Afrikaans Linguistics |
Document Design; Behaviour Change Communication; Cognitive Semantics; Language and Law; Corpus Linguistics; Discourse Analysis; Semantics; Pragmatics; Sociolinguistics; Forensic Linguistics; Language Performance; Translation Studies |
| Theory of Literature |
General Literary Theory; Critical Theory; Genre Theory; Narratology; Cultural Studies; Comparative Literature; South African and African Literary Studies; South African Drama and Theatre Studies; Soweto Theatre; African Humanism and Decoloniality; African Imaginary and Identities; Postcolonialism; Posthumanism; Animal Studies; Ecocriticism; Masculinities Studies; Creative Writing |
| Research area |
Research focus areas |
| Anthropology |
African Epistemologies; Critical Anthropology; Cultural Heritage; Decolonial Epistemologies; Economic Anthropology; Educational Anthropology; Environmental Anthropology; Feminist Anthropology; Historical Anthropology; Medical Anthropology; Organisational Anthropology; Ritual; Sex and Gender; The Anthropology of Development; The Anthropology of Disability; The Anthropology of Space and Place; Urban Anthropology; Urban Parks |
| Archaeology |
19th and 20th Century Material Culture Studies; Archaeological Heritage Management; Archaeologies of Conflict; Archaeologies of Identity; Archaeologies of Slavery and the Slave Trade; Archaeozoology / Archaeofaunal Studies; The Archaeology of Food and Foodways; Colonial Frontiers and Culture Contact Studies; Historical Archaeology, with a focus on Southern and West Africa; Landscape Archaeology; Mission Archaeology; Pre-Colonial (Iron Age) Farming Societies in Southern Africa; Early State Formation in Southern Africa; Textile Archaeology; The Comparative Use of Written, Oral & Archaeological Source |
| Research area |
Research focus areas |
| Musicology |
Africanist Ethnomusicology; Composition (Classical, Instrumental, African & Popular Forms); Contemporary Afrikaans Music; Critical Theory; Historical Musicology; Improvisation; Jazz Studies; Jewish Music in Twentieth Century South Africa; Learning Theory; Music Cognition and Perception; Music Education; Music in South Africa; Phenomenology of Performance; Philosophy of Mind; Philosophy, especially as related to Embodiment and Cognition; Semiotics; South African Art Music Composition and Practice; Theory of Film Music; Landscape; Photography; Performance Art; Postcolonial and Decolonial Perspective; African Modernism; Technological Perspectives and Methods; Curatorial Studies; Environmental and Ecological Aesthetics |
| Visual Arts |
African Art and Cultural History; Animation and videoArt and sustainability/ eco-art; Art Education, Curriculum and Professional Development in Visual Art; Art in the Urban / Public Domain / Place / Site; Collaborative Community Art Projects; Comics Studies; Contemporary Painting, Drawing, Printmaking and Sculpture; Digital- , Internet-, New Media Art and Digital Manipulation; Esoteric Symbolism, Rituals and Greco-Roman Mythology; Evolution of Culture and Heritage; Installation Art; Intermedial and Transmedial Practice; Narratives, Framed Narratives and Transmedia Narratives; Post- and Altermodernism; Posthumanism; Practice-Led Research; Site-Specific- and Performance Art Practices; The Aesthetics of the Sublime; Theory Of Mind and Simulation; Trauma and Memory |
| Art History |
African Art; Art Acquisition Policies; Art as Social-Critical Practice; Art Education; Artistic Embodiment; Contemporary Art; Culture Industry and Production; Curatorship and Professional Exhibition Practice; Environmental Aesthetics and Ecocritical Perspectives in Art History; Feminist Perspectives; Gender Studies; Hermeneutics; Landscape; Participatory Practices; Phenomenological Perspectives; Photography; South African Art and Cultural History; South African Art Collections; Surveillance and the Gaze; Trans-Humanism; Urban and Consumer Culture; Visual Culture; Women, Space & Place |
| Research area |
Research focus areas |
| Old Testament |
Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology; Biblical Hermeneutics; Exegesis; Biblical Theology; African Biblical Hermeneutics; Afro-centric readings of the Bible; Postcolonial readings of the Bible; Decolonial readings of the Bible; Feminists / womanist readings of the Bible; Gender and the Bible; Bosadi readings of the Bible; Scripture and context; Pentateuch; Book of Prophets; Wisdom Literature; Prophetic Literature; Second Temple Period |
| Ancient Near Eastern Studies |
Ancient Near Eastern Literature; Ancient Near Eastern Mythology; Ancient Near Eastern Religions; Ancient Near Eastern cultural expansion/reach (specifically to/in Southern Africa); Comparative Cultural Studies; Information Science in Archaeology/History; Egyptology and Hieroglyphic Studies |
| Classical Studies |
Cinema and Videogame Studies and the Ancient World; Classical Reception Studies; Audience Reception Theory; Decoloniality and the Ancient World; The Practice of Magic in the Graeco-Roman World; Graeco-Roman Religious Practice; The Ancient Novel; Gender Studies and the Ancient World |
| New Testament |
Early Christianity: Origins of Early Christianity; Historical Jesus Research; The Jesus movement; Pauline Writings; Johannine Writings; Apocalypticism; The Gospels; Aspects of Greek and Roman Culture with Specific Reference to Early Christianity |
| Research area |
Research focus areas |
| Christian Spirituality |
Biblical Spirituality; The Old Testament and Christian Spirituality; Post-Secularism in the Third Millennium; The Patriarchs and the Pentateuch; Theory of Spirituality; The Bible and Faith Trends in the Global 21st Century; Sexuality, Spirituality and Song of Songs; Early Christian Spirituality (New Testament and the Early Church); The Hermeneutics of Early Christian Spirituality; Contemporary Christian Spirituality; The Johannine Literature; Socio-Rhetorical Criticism as Research Methodology; Early Christian Experiences, Devotion and Discipleship; The Bible and Faith Trends in Church Ministry; Christian Spirituality in African Contexts; Christian Spirituality in Catholic Context; Christian Spirituality in Tshwane Contexts |
| Church History |
South African Church History; Christianity in Africa; South African Methodism; South African Church History; Early Church History; Reformation; Significance of Church History for the Modern Church and Society; Influence of Christianity on the South African Society; Christian Education; Historiography; Church State Relations; Catholic History; Mission, State and Land; Historiography; Early Church History; South African Church History; South African Baptist History; Quality Assurance in Higher Education |
| Missiology |
Theology of Mission; Ecumenical Missiology; Contextualisation; Models of Liberation Theology; Intercultural Theology; Mission and Transformation; Missional Hermeneutics; Missiological Theories; Theology of Mission; Women, Gender and Mission; Women’s Theologies; Faith-Based Communities and Sustainable Development; Urban Ministry; African Renaissance and the Unity of Africa; Evangelism and Mass Media / TV Broadcast; Third Wave Movement / Christianity; African Theology; Intercultural Communication of the Gospel; Missional Theology; Urban Mission; African Theology; Children and Youth Movements; Anti-Racism and Reconciliation; Social Media; Emerging and Missional Church; Theology of Mission; Mission and Power; Mission and Unity; Integral Mission; Community Economic Development; Urban Ministry; Mission and Social Policy |
| History |
Public History and Post-Apartheid Heritage; Critical Heritage Studies; History Education; Politics of History, Heritage and Memory; Museums and Galleries; Public Arts and Cultural Representations; Public and Visual History; Asian History; African Economic History; Modern Chinese Political Economy; Imperialism in East and Southern Africa; Neocolonial History in Africa; Decolonisation, Independence, and Social Changes in Modern Africa; South African History; Pan Africanist Scholarship; Black Consciousness; The Anti-Colonial Struggle of Southern Africa; The Anti-Apartheid Armed Struggle; Armed Struggle History; Sports History Identity and Racism; Biographies; South African Political Biography; African Diaspora; 19th and 20th Century African History; African American History; Decolonisation of Education; History of Religion & Religion; Slavery and Slave Trade, Slave Culture; Transformation in Higher Education; 19th Century US History |
| Practical Theology |
A Contextual Approach to Practical Theology; Africanisation of Pastoral Care and Counselling; Celebration and Worship; Christian Care, Human Rights, African Women and Widowhood Rites and their Consequences; Christian Faith and Moral Formation Educational Practices; Church Leadership; Community Development; Contextual Practical Theology in Africa; Digital Pastoral Care and Online Ministry; Diversity Issues in Christian Communities; Ecclesiology in African Christian Perspective; Empirical Research in Theology; Faith Formation and Spiritual Development in Adolescents; Homiletics; Homiletics and Hermeneutics; Human Rights and Religion; Hymnology and Church Music; Integration of Psychology and Theology; Liberation – Contextual Practical Theology; Life Narrative Research; Liturgical Studies; Management and Administration; Marriage and Premarital Issues and Gender Studies in African Context (Particularly Women’s Rights); Ministerial Training / Clergy Formation; Ministry in the Context of Poverty; Multicultural Teaching and Learning; Pastoral Care; Pastoral Therapy; Pastoral Care and Counselling; Practical Theology and Action Theories; Practical Theology and Mental Health; Practical Theology and Public Theology; Religious / Christian Education; Religious Communication; Religious Education; Spiritual and Faith Development; Spiritual and Moral Leadership; Spirituality in the Workplace / Theological Education; The Christian Ministry to the Sick in the African Context; The Church's Diaconal Service; The Impact of Faith and / or Spirituality on Youth Identity Formation and Development; The Methodology of Practical Theology; The Profession and / or State of Youth Work in South Africa; The Role of Family, Culture and Youth Sub-Cultures in Youth Socialisation; Theological Education in South Africa; Unity and Injustices within Reformed Churches; Worship and Identity; Worship and Leadership; Worship and Spiritual Formation; Youth Ministry |
| Research area |
Research focus areas |
| Media Studies |
Cultural Studies; Decolonisation; Film Studies; Gender Studies; Health Communication; Indigenous Language and Media; International Communication; Journalism and Media Genres; Media (and) Representation (this would include, for example, a sub-field of Feminism or Gender Studies); Media and Community; Media and Democracy; Media and Development; Media and / in International Communication; Media Audiences (media reception and use); Media Management; Media Policy and Regulation; Media Sociology (the media in/and society); Memorial (memory) and Trauma Studies; New Media and the New Media Environment; ODeL-related Media Research; Political Communication; Popular Culture; Telecommunications & Information Policy; Television Studies; Media Research Methodology; Broadcasting and Digital Technologies |
| Organisational Communication |
Concept of Learning Organisations and Organisational Learning; Applied Communication; Corporate Communication; Internal Communication / Intra-Organisational Communication / Integrated Organisational Communication; Knowledge Management; Management Communication; Marketing Communication and Integrated Marketing Communication; Organisational Communication (general); Organisational Discourse; Disruptive Digital Communication and Environment; Political Communication / Public Relations; Public Relations / Image Management; Strategic Communication; Corporate Social Investment and Corporate Social Responsibility; Corporate Governance; Development Communication; Online Communication / Digital Communication; Consumer Behaviour; Public Health Communication; Tourism Communication / Marketing; Social Entrepreneurship; Decoloniality; Stakeholder Relationship Communication and Management; Leadership; Crisis Communication; Government and State Communication; Stakeholder Engagement, Public Participation and Community Engagement; Brand Communication; Communication for Social Innovation, Change and Development; Sustainability |
| Research area |
Research focus areas |
| Development Studies |
Development Debates and Issues; Gender and Development; Governance and Development; Sustainability, Development Policy, Practice and Development; Human Security and Development; Rural Development; Energy Studies; Mining Health and Development; Community Development; Environment and Development; Climate and Development; Education and Development; Public Affairs; Economic Development; Rural Entrepreneurship; Marine Studies (water focused) |
| Research area |
Research focus areas |
| English Studies |
Academic Literacy and Multidisciplinary Language Support; African Literature; African-American Literature; South African Women’s Writing; Autobiography (Self-Writing); Children’s Literature; Comparative Literature (English-French; English-Italian); Creative Writing; Cultural Studies; Decolonial Theory; Diaspora and Literary-Historical Study of Representations of Genocide in African Literature; Discourse Analysis; Applied Theatre in Education; Embodied Memory; English as Medium of Instruction in Multilingual Societies; English Language Studies; English Language Teacher Education; English Teaching / English in Education; Female Writers of the Romantic and Victorian Period; Feminist Speculative Fiction; Feminist Theory; Visual Media; Folklore, Fairy Tales and Myth; Gender and HIV / and Migration / and Language Impact; Gender Studies and Women’s Writing; Gothic Fiction; Harlem Renaissance; Historiography and Literary History of Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Natal; Iconography and Representation of the Irish Wolfhound in Text and Visual Media, c.1750-Present; Language and Power; Language Ideologies and Power; Language, Literacies and Identity; Language Socialisation; Literacies in General; Literacy in ESL; Literature and Language; Literature / Language Instruction; Literary Representations of Terrorism & Racial Profiling in Popular Culture; Literary Theory; Modernism; Multilingualism; Nineteenth-Century Writing; Old English and Middle English / Medieval Studies; Online Learning (and Mobile Learning); Onomastics; Poetry in / and Education; Popular Culture; Postcolonial Literature and Theory; Promoting Accuracy in Written English for the Work Environment; Psychoanalytical Readings of Fantastic Fiction; Queer Theory; Reading and Writing Skills (Education); Renaissance Writing; Representations of Violence in South African Literature; Romantics; Science Fiction and Fantasy; Sociolinguistics; South African Literature; Systemic Functional Linguistics; TEFL; TESOL; (Trans)Cultural Memory; Trauma and Testimony; Twentieth Century Literature; Victorian Literature |
| Research area |
Research focus areas |
| Health Studies |
Scholarship Development in Nursing; Scholarship of Teaching and Learning; Youth and Adolescent Health; HIV and AIDS; Preventive and Promotive Healthcare; Healthcare for Diverse Populations; Public Health |
| Research area |
Research focus areas |
| Information Science |
Archival Science; Archives and Records Management; Diplomatics; Digital Records Forensic; Bibliometrics, Infometrics and Webometrics; Social Informatics; Information Sources; Children's Literature and Services; Library and Information Science Education and Training; Current Trends in LIS (Library and Information Science); Library and Information Science; e-Records and e-Government; Indigenous Knowledge Systems; Information Access, Information Use, Information Behaviour and Information Seeking; User Studies and User Education; Information for Development and Change; Information and Society / Culture; Information Society; Information Literacy and Family Literacy; Information Organisation, Representation and Retrieval; Information Dissemination; Information Law, Ethics and Philosophy; Information and Knowledge Management; Political Economy of Information; Libraries and Information Centres or Agencies (School, Public, Academic, Private, National and Provincial Libraries); Research Trends in LIS; Infopreneurship; ICTs in Library and Information Science |
| Research area |
Research focus areas |
| Gender and Health |
HIV and Gender; MSM; WSW |
| Literary Genres |
Science Fiction; Fantasy; Children’s Literature; Gothic Literature; Literature of the Supernatural; Folklore; Fairy Tales |
| Theoretical Approaches |
Gender Theories: Feminist Theory, Masculinity Studies, Queer Theory; Postcolonial Theory, Including Theories of Hybridity, The Postcolonial Subject and Subalternity |
| Research area |
Research focus areas |
| Linguistics & Modern Languages |
General Linguistics; Sociolinguistics; Applied Linguistics (i.e. Second Language Learning and Teaching); Reading / Literacy; Translation Studies; French Literature and Language; Portuguese Literature and Language |
| Research area |
Research focus areas |
| Philosophy |
Aesthetics; African Philosophy; Africanist Social Theory; Applied Ethics; Bio-Medical Ethics; Catholic Intellectual Tradition; Critical Reasoning; Environmental Philosophy; Epistemology; Ethics; Existentialist Philosophy; Feminist Phenomenology; Feminist Philosophy; Feminist Philosophy of Education; History and Philosophy of Science; Human Rights; Indigenous Traditions and Modernity; Legal Philosophy; LGBTQI+ Rights; Logic; Mediaeval Philosophy; Metaphysics; Phenomenology; Philosophies of Liberation; Philosophy of AI; Philosophy of Computability; Philosophy of Culture; Philosophy of Education; Philosophy of Religion; Philosophy of Values; Political Philosophy; Science and Religion; Social Movement Theory; Social Philosophy; Theory Formation; Thomist Philosophy; Ubuntu Philosophy |
| Religious Studies |
African Indigenous Religions and Human Rights; Buddhism in South Africa; Buddhist Meditation; Buddhist Religious Ritual; Critical Theories of Religion (Comparative and Historical, Colonial and Post-Colonial, Sociological and Anthropological); Early Christianity within its Jewish and Greco-Roman Contexts; Hindu Meditation; Human Rights, Constitutional Law and Religion; Madhyamaka Buddhist Philosophy; Material Religion: Objects and Senses in Religions; Metaphysical Thought; Modern Buddhist history (c. 1850 – current); Modernism and Religion; New Religious Movements – 19th Century; New Religious Movements – 20th and 21st Century; Politics of Religion; Postmodernism and Religion; Religion and Education (Policy and Curriculum Design); Religion and Gender (Media Representations and Religious Practices); Religion and Marriage Practices; Religion Education, Human Rights and Values; Religion, Civil Society and Technology; Religion, Conflict and Politics (with Specialisation in Gramsci Thought); Religion, Curriculum Development and Technology; Religious Hermeneutics; Religious Nationalism and Violence; Representations of Religion in Contemporary Literature; Research Methodology in Religious Studies; Ritual, Ideology and Power; Western Philosophy of Religion |
| Arabic |
Arabic Syntax and Morphology; Modern Arabic Poetry; Teaching of Arabic in a Non-Native Environment; Teaching of Arabic in a Non-Native Environment; Translations of Arabic Religious Texts; Translations of Classical Arabic Literary Texts; Translations of Modern Arabic Religious Texts |
| Islamic Studies |
Biographies of Selected Muslims; Classical Islamic History; Classical Philosophy in Islam; Contemporary Islamic Thought, Philosophy and Law; Hadith – the Study of the Muslim Prophetic Tradition; History of Islam in Southern Africa; Islam in South Africa; Islamic Banking and Finance; Islamic Doctrinal Theology; Islamic, Modernity and Secularism; Muslim Minorities in the West; Qur’anic Commentary and Exegesis; Qur’anic Hermeneutics; Sufism (Islamic Mysticism) |
| Research area |
Research focus areas |
| African Politics |
African Constitutions and Constitutionalism; Selected African Electoral Systems and Elections; Selected African Governing and Opposition Political Parties; Selected African Political Economy Issues; African Political, Regional and Economic Institutions; African Political Thought; African Politics in Comparative Perspective – Selected Countries; African State Building, Political Leadership and Environmental Politics |
| Politics |
Black Consciousness; Civil Society; Constitutional Law and Politics; Democracy, Democratisation and Governance; Elections, Electoral Studies and Electoral Systems; Environmental Politics; Epistemology and Methodological Issues; Human Rights Issues; Human Security and Security Issues; Nationalism and Separatism; Political Conflict Resolution: Theories, Transitions and Constitutional Negotiations; Political Parties and Party Systems; South African Politics; Sovereignty; Sports and Politics; Transitional Justice; Separation of Powers |
| International Politics |
Foreign Policy; Foreign Policy of African States; Foreign Policy Decision-Making; Diplomacy; International Organisations; International Political Economy; International Relations Theory; Military Coups; Nuclear Energy; Environmental Politics; Political Leadership; Security; Disruptive Diplomacy and New Media |
| Research area |
Research focus areas |
| Psychology |
Psychology in Society; Psychological Science; Therapeutic Psychology; Scholarly Development of Students in Psychology; Social Justice and Inclusion; Hidden Histories of Psychology; Neuroscience and Neuropsychology; Therapeutic Contexts and Lived Experiences; African Psychologies and Epistemologies; Health, Wellbeing and Developmental Psychology; Forensic Psychology; Cognitive and Experimental Psychology |
| Research area |
Research focus areas |
| Research Institute for Theology & Religion |
African Christian Cultures and Religious Philosophies; Science and Religion; Ecumenical and Public Theologies; Religion, Development and Social Change; Womanist, Feminist and Bosadi Theorisations |
| Research area |
Research focus areas |
| Social Work |
Vulnerable, Marginalised Groups, Populations at Risk; Social Issues / Problems; Social Development; The Social Work Profession - Management and Supervision; Social Work Education and Training in the CODeL Context; Specific / Specialised Methods of Social Work Intervention; Specialised Fields of Social Work (Adoption Social Work, Probation Social Work, Occupation Social Work, Clinical Social Work); Employee Health and Wellness / Employee Assistance Services; Social Entrepreneurship, Technology Innovations and Strategies in Social Work; Research Approaches and Specialised Research Methods; Quality Management and Enhancement of Social Services; Social Work and Adverse Events |
| Research area |
Research focus areas |
| Sociology |
Vulnerable, Marginalised Groups Populations at Risk; Social Issues / Problems; Social Development; The Social Work Profession; Social Work Education and Training in the ODL-Context; Specific / Specialised Methods of Social Work Intervention; Specialised Fields of Social Work; Research Approaches and Specialised Research Methods |
