Cultural memory maestro's B3 rating celebrated

College of Human Sciences

Prof Kgomotso Masemola, Executive Dean: College of Human Sciences

Unapologetically African, Prof Kgomotso Masemola is the Executive Dean of the College of Human Sciences (CHS), the largest college at Unisa. He holds a National Research Foundation (NRF) B3 rating, a fact which was celebrated at the recent 2022 Unisa Research and Innovation Awards.

Click here for coverage of the 2022 Unisa Research and Innovation Awards.

As the ultimate national indicator of research excellence, the NRF ratings are allocated only after a stringent process examining a candidate’s recent research outputs as perceived by local and international peers. Masemola’s B3 rating signifies that he enjoys considerable international recognition by his peers for the high quality and impact of his research.

Interviewed after the awards ceremony, Masemola shared his thoughts on this singular achievement.

What does this achievement mean to you?

This achievement vindicates my pursuit of academic excellence. The University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Sheffield have had a strong influence on my research ethos, which lends itself to internationalisation. My parents believed that I had to go to university. Likewise, my daughter is set on that high road.

How do you, as Executive Dean of the largest college at Unisa, cope with all your responsibilities while still managing maintain such a high research standard and output?

I believe in leading by example. The managers in the office of the deanery are committed to the academic project and contribute to the National Innovation System through praxis. It involves advocating academic excellence on all platforms of academic citizenship and, at the same time, showing research leadership alongside sound governance.

What advice would you give upcoming researchers?

Emerging researchers should do more than what is required of them. They must choose their mentors carefully and publish only in accredited journals. Instead of following academic fashions and resorting to tawdry expressions and fashionable quotations, they should create new concepts.

Finally, what would you like to be remembered for?

I would like to be remembered as a philosopher critic with a knack for creating a conceptual world in the field of autobiographical cultural memory. And I would like to inspire other researchers to be prototypes of the metaversal executive manager whose governance accountability is indexed by high quality research outputs.

* By IHlubi Veli Mabona, Marketing Assistant, College of Human Sciences

Publish date: 2022/06/21