UCT’s Research Support Hub website is your first stop for all your research support needs. Owned by the Research Office, the website will guide you through the various support services available to our researchers at every step of the research project lifecycle.

Executive | Research Support Enterprise | Data Analytics and Reporting | Research Support Services | International Grants Hub | Postgraduate Funding Office | Research Finance and Operations | Global Strategy and Visibility | Postgraduate Studies and Researcher Development | Office of Research Integrity | eResearch | Research Systems

Executive

Research Support Enterprise

The research support enterprise unit encompasses data analytics and reporting, research support services, the international grants hub and the postgraduate funding office.

Data Analytics and Reporting

The data analytics and reporting hub in the Research Office provides research analyses to support institutional strategy planning. The hub also helps the advancement of international research collaboration and the impact of UCT’s research. It is responsible for the statutory reporting on Research and Development activity.

Research Support Services

Research support services are responsible for a number of services in support of the university’s researchers and the research endeavour. These include the support of UCT’s evaluation applications and funding proposals to the National Research Foundation; the servicing of UCT research funding and strategic committees (such as the University Research Committee and its sub-committees); and statutory reporting requirements to government such as submission of research output data to the Department of Higher Education and Training. Contact the research support services team at researchfunding@uct.ac.za.

International Grants Hub

The International Grants Hub (IGH) provides both proposal development and administrative support to UCT’s academic staff seeking and applying for international funding for their research. Proposal development support services are geared towards multidisciplinary, multinational collaborative grant applications to international funders, and include writing, editing, proofreading, strategic advice on proposal content, budget development, liaising with the funder, and coordinating and integrating inputs from multiple collaborators. Administrative support services range from identifying suitable sources of funding to being the expert port of call for the submission process and guiding researchers on internal UCT processes for submission to different funders. Support is subject to availability, and proposal development support must be requested at least 3 months in advance of submission deadlines. To request proposal development support, please contact the team at internationalgrants@uct.ac.za.

Postgraduate Funding Office

The postgraduate funding office (PGFO) is responsible for the management and administration of postgraduate and postdoctoral awards. It is made up of three teams: General Awards Team, NRF and Departmental Awards Team and Info, Fellowship and Development Team. Find out how the PGFO can help you navigate funding opportunities in this presentation. You may also request a one-on-one session with PGFO staff by sending an email to pgfunding@uct.ac.za.

Research Finance and Operations

The finance and operations unit manages the financial planning and budgeting, financial analysis, evaluation and reporting as well as financial control and risk management for the Research Office. The operations arm of the cluster covers all administrative and financial coordination within the Research Office, as well as space management, health and safety liaison and the logistical coordination of visits to the office.

Global Strategy and Visibility

The global strategy and visibility unit is the strategic arm of the Research Office, and includes a number of functions all to a greater or lesser extent focused on lifting the university’s international profile, particularly its research, and strengthening communication around the research endeavour. This includes supporting the Executive in the Vice-Chancellor’s Office in their global engagements, identifying and nurturing international partnerships and networks with a research focus, supporting strategically important interdisciplinary research groups, and the communication and marketing of research. Contact the team at researchvisibility@uct.ac.za.

Office of Research Integrity

The office of research integrity works collaboratively with research ethics, animal ethics and biosafety committees as well as individual researchers under the auspices of the senate ethics in research committee and senate animal ethics committee and the institutional biosafety committee, to promote responsible conduct of research (RCR). Our scope and function is broad and includes topics such as research ethics, (financial) conflicts of interest, misconduct, authorship issues, regulatory and funder compliance and, whistle-blowing. We provide advice and support, facilitate many compliance processes and strive to promote RCR across the broad research landscape. Contact the office of research integrity at research.integrity@uct.ac.za.

Postgraduate Studies and Researcher Development

The postgraduate studies and researcher development unit supports the development of research capacity through seminars, workshops, one-on-one consultations and some research funding. Recognising that academics can have very different research backgrounds, we aim to help them achieve their individual research potential. We support academics to reach key research milestones - their PhDs, publications, successful postgraduate supervisions and winning grant proposals, among others; throughout, we are mindful of their responsibility towards broader society through engaged scholarship.

eResearch

UCT eResearch is a distributed organisation that promotes the use of advanced information technologies to support innovative research practice. eResearch partners with research groups to accelerate and transform research, connecting them to the most appropriate systems and services to support the research lifecycle. Contact the eResearch team at eresearch@uct.ac.za.

Research Systems

The research systems unit ensures that innovative, ICT-based management and information systems – aligned with UCT’s Research Strategy – are implemented to support the UCT research community. This includes the eRA system. The systems manager is tasked with working across a range of professional staff departments that support research (Research Office, Postgraduate Studies, International Academic Programmes Office and Research Contracts & Innovation) to ensure integration with other ICT systems, provide business systems leadership for current and possible future research and student mobility requirements, and provide overall management and support coordination of these systems.