Three academics in the Faculty of Education have been awarded new ratings by the National Research Foundation (NRF) in recognition of their research outputs.
Prof Liesel Hibbert was awarded a C2 rating while Drs Zayd Waghid and Pieter Boer each received a Y2 rating.
“I am deeply honoured and grateful to have successfully received an NRF rating,” said an ecstatic Waghid. “A Y2-rating is a testimony of the fact that one’s research outputs were of high quality and that it has significant impact in my field of educational research, which is social justice education.”
He added that a rating is a strong indication that one is ready to enter the professoriate, which has always been his goal to serve the academe at the highest level in his capacity as a researcher. “I hope to share my knowledge and experiences with colleagues in my faculty in the hope that they will also apply for NRF rating in the near future,” enthused the Senior Lecturer in Senior Phase and Further Education and Training.
Waghid said the rating is a vindication of CPUT’s stance on research as there are not that many rated researchers in the country, particularly in the field of educational inquiry. “The presence of rated scholars enhances CPUT’s research ethos both nationally and internationally,” he contended.
Boer said he is delighted and humbled by this recognition. “I have been doing research on the functional fitness for individuals with Down’s Syndrome for 12 years and it has been an extraordinary journey,” he added.
He said the rating provided direction and purpose into the research that he does and motivation to work harder and become a leading expert in a very specific area of research. “Furthermore, improving the quality of life for a vulnerable group of individuals provides feelings of appreciation and contentment,” intimated Boer.
Hibbert’s interdisciplinary research includes sociology of language and politics, educational linguistics, educational research, psychology, literature and discourse analysis.
According to the NRF website, a C2 rating is awarded when, with the exception of no more than a single reviewer raising some minor concerns, all other reviewers are firmly convinced that the applicant is an established researcher with a sustained recent record of productivity who are recognised by their peers as having produced a body of quality work, the core of which has coherence and attests to ongoing engagement with the field.
