Several changes have been made to the staff and operational structures of the Research Development and Support division (RDSD) to improve its service to researchers and postgraduate students in the Faculty of Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University. The RDSD operates under the leadership of Prof Jimmy Volmink, Deputy-Dean (Research), and aims to provide a friendly, professional and efficient service for the promotion of research in the faculty.
Broad areas of research development and support covered by the RDSD include: compliance with regulatory requirements such as the ethical approval of research protocols; developing new, and strengthening existing, research capacity; obtaining research funding (i.e. the pre-award research granting process); and the financial management of research grants (i.e. the post-award process).
To support these functions, the division now consists of focused clusters under the management of three cluster managers:
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Dr Lyn Horn, who manages the regulatory environment cluster which deals with ethics approval for research projects involving human and animal subjects.
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Mr Org Groenewald who manages the Grants Management Office dealing with pre-award budgeting and contracting aspects, as well as the post-award financial management of research grants.
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Dr Tania Botha manages the "Funding Opportunities and Capacity Development" cluster. This function supports and develops the RDSD's activities around research funding - internal faculty-specific funding processes, as well as national and international programmes and funding agencies; and capacity development initiatives (including the establishment of a postgraduate Office in the Faculty of Health Sciences). Keep an eye out for the Division's new monthly newsletter on funding opportunities - GrantEd - distributed to Faculty members via Impromptu.
A number of related cross-cutting projects in the division address specific areas of development. One of these is the Strengthening Clinical Research (SCR) project, a research training programme under the management of Dr Tania Botha, and the second is the NIH IEARDA research capacity development grant with Dr Lyn Horn as Principal Investigator. The third project entails the development and implementation of a new campus-wide research information management system, InfoEd, in the faculty, and is overseen by Dr Tania Botha. The RDSD at Tygerberg furthermore maintains close links with the Division of Research Development on main campus, in addressing a number of other research-related issues.
Researchers and postgraduate students in the Faculty of Health Sciences are invited and encouraged to make use of the research development and support mechanisms on offer by the RDSD, by visiting the division on the 5th floor, Teaching block, Faculty of Health Sciences.
