EMS Faculty Hosts First-Ever Research Day

The EMS Faculty Library team participated in the first-ever EMS Faculty Research Day on 8 September 2023, held at Future Africa. Research Day was intended to highlight the different research themes and topics embarked upon by EMS Faculty researchers, alumni, and current Ph.D., masters and honours students. The research ideas are meant to illustrate how research contributes to industry. Speakers included the Faculty Dean of Economic and Management Sciences, the Deputy Dean of Research and Postgraduate Studies, and an Extraordinary Professor from the African Tax Institute.

The program was divided into five consecutive sessions. The first comprised an introduction and a panel discussion covering the topic: “How can EMS research matter for industry?”, with five researchers and industry players making up the panel. The second session included ten 15-minute presentations from EMS Researchers and alumni across eight departments of the faculty. The third session covered 15 PhD three-minute thesis competitions in a presentation format. The fourth session contained a variety of 15 posters from researchers across eight departments, and the fifth and final session covered ten poster presentations from master’s students in the Department of Marketing Management.

As it was the first-ever Research Day for the EMS faculty and us as the EMS Faculty library team, our goal was to highlight the alignment of our services and products to the research pursuits of the faculty. We set up a table outside of the venue, where researchers and guests could visit and we could provide them with the USE YOUR LIBRARY! handouts from the DLS Marketing Office. A few of the Research Visibility and Impact infographics were printed to be offered as handouts as well. The set-up allowed us to talk to our faculty EMS staff, researchers, students we had trained before, and the ones we had never met face to face, as well as sponsors present.

Jabu Radebe and Ephenia Peu at the library stand during the EMS Research Day at Future Africa.

Jabu Radebe and Danie Malan at Future Africa for the EMS Research Day.

We observed some improvements to be made in the future. Quite a few guests, especially students, did not commit to their RSVPs, which provides us with an opportunity to market the 2024 Research Day to our post-graduate students during their first quarter training sessions - so that they can participate. We were unable to secure a place in the program, due to time constraints; nonetheless, we acknowledged the significance of the occasion and sought to make a meaningful impact. The lunch and networking session provided many opportunities to reintroduce ourselves and our services and products to the faculty staff and students because it is not often that we have all of them in one place. We also realised that researchers love goodies from the library and that we should strive to offer more of them at the next Research Day.

Despite these challenges, we believe our presence at the event served to underscore our unwavering support for the faculty's research activities. Our commitment to fostering a strong working relationship is continuously reinforced and we are optimistic that our participation will contribute to the continued success of future Research Days.

We are enthusiastic about and looking forward to the prospect of improving our approach by collaborating with other relevant DLS units to ensure a more impactful presence at the next EMS Faculty Research Day. We remain dedicated to actively engaging with and contributing to the scholarly pursuits of the faculty.