Mr Ahmed Riaz Mohamed awarded the Vrije University Amsterdam Desmond Tutu Doctoral Training Programme from 2017

Congratulations to Mr Ahmed Riaz Mohamed of the Department of Psychology at the University of Pretoria who is one of five awardees for the Vrije University Amsterdam Desmond Tutu Doctoral Training Programme from 2017.

 

The Desmond Tutu Doctoral Training Programme (DTTP) was established in honour of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s lifetime struggle against inequality and his quest for reconciliation. The National Research Foundation (NRF) and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VUA) entered into a partnership in 2009 to co-fund South African students carrying out doctoral studies in a Joint Degree (split-site) mode. The rationale of the DTTP is that VUA joins forces with its South African partners, to build human capital in selected research fields that are of mutual interest. The DTTP also aims to strengthen co-operation between VUA and South African partner universities through joint supervision of South African doctoral candidates. At VUA, the supervision is carried out by the Desmond Tutu Chairs as well as other Faculty staff whose research interests are aligned with the objectives of the programme. Bridging Diversities for Academic Advancement’ is the overarching theme of the DTTP. The aim is to contribute to a more equal world by integral thinking in which diversities are considered enriching rather than threatening. Bridging diversities means making connections: the programme stands for dialogue and engaged scholarship.

 

 

For the 2017 intake, five doctoral candidates have been selected from various institutions in South Africa and from diverse fields to be fully funded for the DTTP of which Mr Mohamed is one. 

 

Research and practice within the mental health sector in South Africa on intellectual disability (ID) is highly limited. ID is largely marginalised and side-lined in favour of mainstream psychiatry and psychology. This results in a critical lack of services for children and adults with ID who have comorbid mental health challenges, and significant strain for the few services that are available due to the high demand and need for such services within the pubic service. International research supports this, showing that people with ID are increased risk for psychopathology compared to those without ID. In children, poorer attachments are associated with increased risk for psychopathology, and children with ID are at increased risk of developing less secure attachments, which turn places them at risk of psychopathology. However, there is no research within SA in this domain. Mr Mohamed’s proposed project will focus on attachment in young children with ID. He plans to profile attachment in these children using the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP), and then to explore the links between attachment style (as assessed by the SSP) and psychopathology. Finally, he will test the efficacy of an attachment-based intervention (administered by trained members of the community i.e. non-psychologists) in enhancing attachment and in reducing psychopathology and challenging behaviour in a sample of children with ID. So this work aims to fill a much needed-gap in both the attachment and related intervention literature in SA. It is also aimed at making contributions to, and advocating for, services that are available to children with ID that are not necessarily dependent on highly qualified psychologists who are not readily available or accessible in the public service in many communities. He will be supervised by Dr Paula Sterkenburg (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) and Prof Esme van Rensburg (North-West University).

 

For more information about his project, please contact Mr Mohamed on [email protected]