On 20 June 2024, the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) at the University of Pretoria  hosted its annual EMS Staff Awards to honour staff members who demonstrated outstanding excellence in teaching and learning, research and media engagements during the 2023 academic year.

In her welcoming address, Professor Margaret Chitiga-Mabugu, Dean of the Faculty of EMS, explained that these awards recognise unwavering commitment to academic excellence and celebrate the significant contribution made by the staff to the Faculty’s standing and reputation.

“Today we gather not just as a community of scholars, but as a family united by a shared passion for knowledge, growth, love of our students and the quest for excellence. The journey of an academic is one of dedication, perseverance and a hunger for continuous learning, teaching and discovery. We therefore salute those among us who have not only embraced this journey, but have also illuminated the path for others to follow,” she said.

Awards were presented in three categories, namely research, teaching and learning, and media engagements.

Professor Theuns Steyn, Deputy Dean for Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of EMS, told the audience that the Faculty had continuously improved the quality of its teaching and learning, as could be seen in the 2023 teaching achievements, the decline in drop-out rates and the high throughput rates.

Innovation has been integral to the continuous improvement and enhancement of the quality of the teaching and learning in the Faculty. This year, for the first time, the teaching and learning awards included an award for innovation. The teaching and learning awards, which recognise and reward excellence in teaching and learning activities, are given to academic staff who have made a significant contribution to student success by enhancing the students’ learning experience and improving their learning outcomes by introducing innovative pedagogical methods.

“This excellence is clearly visible in our remarkable student successes, our exceptional academic programmes that are widely recognised for their quality and relevance, and the innovative teaching offered by our academic staff,’ said Prof Steyn, who presented four awards in this category to staff members. Prof Alex Bignotti from the Department of Business Management won the Innovative and/or Diverse Teaching Methods Individual Award, and Prof Anculien Schoeman and Tanya Hill were the recipients of the Innovative and/or Diverse Teaching Methods Group Award. The Financial Sciences departments were presented with the Curriculum Innovation Award for the BCom Accounting Sciences Programme. Prof Madeleine Stiglingh, the coordinator of the programme, accepted the award on behalf of the departments and said they would donate their cash prize to the Lizette Kotze fund, which was established in memory of a lecturer in the Department of Accounting who passed away last December.

From Left to Right: Prof Elmar Venter, HOD of the Department of Accounting, Prof Hanneke Du Preez, HOD of the Department of Taxation, Prof Margaret Chitiga-Mabugu, Dean of the EMS Faculty, Prof Madeleine Stiglingh, Coordinator the CA Programme, Prof John Hall, HOD of the Department of Financial Management, and Prof Johan Oberholster, HOD of the Department of Auditing. 

Prof Karin Barac, Deputy Dean for Research and Postgraduate Affairs in the Faculty of EMS presented the research awards, which recognise academics who have propelled the vision and mission of the Faculty through their research outputs. She explained that quality research outputs were a key determinant of the winners of these awards and said: “To realise this vision and to live out its mission to advance relevant knowledge and co-create value for society, the Faculty focuses on increasing both the quantity and the quality of our research outputs, as well as the number of NRF-rated researchers.”  She further pointed out that the criteria for the research awards place greater weight on the quality of the research outputs than on the quantity published, and in determining quality, the various rankings of journals in which articles were published are used as a primary benchmark.

The four awards presented in the research category were for Best Researcher of the Year (senior and junior), Top Researcher of the Year, Most Improved Research Outputs by a Department, and the First Journal Article Award, presented to academics whose articles had been accepted for publication in an accredited journal for the first time. This year the last-mentioned award went to Dr Stefan Bezuidenhout from the Department of Accounting.

The Best Researcher of the Year Awards were presented across the various disciplines. The Best Junior Researcher Awards went to Dr Stellah Lubinga of the School of Public and Management Administration (SPMA) for the Management Sciences discipline, Dr Zack Enslin of the Department of Financial Management for the Financial Sciences discipline and Dr Carolyn Chisadza for the Economic Sciences discipline.

In the senior division of the Best Researcher of the Year Award, staff had to be either Professors or Associate Professors to be rewarded for their research excellence. EMS heads lead by example winning in this division for their exceptional research outputs. The award for the Best Senior Researcher in Management Sciences was presented to Prof Chitiga-Mabugu, Dean of the Faculty of EMS, while Prof John Hall, Head of the Department of Financial Management was named the Best Senior Researcher in Financial Sciences. Prof Roula Inglesi-Lotz, Head of the Energy Economics Research Unit, was named the Best Senior Researcher in Economic Sciences. For the tenth consecutive year, Prof Rangan Gupta of the Department of Economics, was once again awarded the Best Researcher of the Year Award for publishing over 60 journal papers in 2023.

As part of the EMS Awards, researchers were also recognised for sharing their research, expertise and knowledge with the public through various media engagements during the 2023 academic year. Prof Barac, who presented the three media engagement awards, said that the awards honour individuals who enhanced the research visibility of the Faculty and also contributed to the visibility of the University. The EMS Conversation Africa Award, which recognises academics who published the most articles in The Conversation Africa, or had the highest number of views, was presented to Prof Alex Bignotti from the Department of Business Management. In the category Newsmaker of the Year, academics from SPMA were rewarded for the publicity received by their research on the role of communities in crime prevention. Dr Mary Mangai received the Junior Newsmaker of the Year Award, which is presented to academics at lecturer or senior lecturer level, and Prof Natasja Holthauzen was the recipient of the Senior Newsmaker of the Year Award, presented to eligible academics at associate professor or professor level.

According to Prof Chitiga-Mabugu, the addition of the media engagement awards to the EMS Awards was “essential to magnify the impact of our efforts and open doors to potential partnerships in terms of funding, transdisciplinary collaborations, and nurturing the minds of future and current students”.

She extended her gratitude to all the awardees for their profound impact in the academic community at UP and globally, and concluded by saying: “Your contributions shine a light on our academic path, and we march forward with determination, united by our search for knowledge and excellence.”