You have your PhD? Don't shelve it!

College of Human Sciences

The Office of Graduate Studies and Research in the College of Human Sciences recently hosted a webinar that assists doctoral graduates to publish from their theses. The online workshop forms part of a research postdoctoral incubation programme for staff members who have recently attained their doctoral degrees.

Initiated by Prof Azwihangwisi Mavhandu-Mudzusi, Head of the Office, aims to mentor, coach and groom newly-graduated doctors in crucial research and supervision activities.

The programme, which is based on Mavhandu-Mudzusi’s experience when she joined the college in 2012, was officially launched on 26 February 2020. Since the launch, the incubates, as the doctoral graduates are known, are supported continuously with research-related materials, webinar links and workshops.

The purpose of the latest workshop was to guide PhD holders to publish articles from their theses as most of their doctoral work is shelved. "The work ends up being read by the author, supervisors, external examiners and the students supervised by the PhD holder," says Mavhandu-Mudzusi, adding that this is because most people do not even know how to turn the material in the PhD thesis into articles.

She says that some will copy and paste the contents from their theses and be penalised for 100% plagiarism. At the same time, others get frustrated because of the outright rejection of their manuscripts by journal editors.

To end such happenings, the webinar was held with experts in publications such as Prof Jimi Adesina and Prof Kopano Ratele. "We also requested CHS journal editors to guide the incubates on how to increase the chances of being published. The expected outcome following the workshop is that all the incubates should start drafting a manuscript from their thesis. A follow-up workshop will be conducted in the form of a writing retreat where we shall invite the experts to offer guidance to individual incubates."

You can also watch the webinar and gain from the expertise on offer.

Session 1 of part 1 of the workshop:

Session 2 of part 1 of the workshop:

Session 3 of part 1 of the workshop:

Session 1 of part 2 of the workshop:

Session 2 of part 2 of the workshop:

The next workshop, which will be in August, will be on streamlining research to ensure readiness for National Research Foundation (NRF) rating.

* Story and edited videos by Rivonia Naidu-Hoffmeester, Communications and Marketing Specialist, College of Human Sciences

Publish date: 2020/07/29