The first Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) Research Day was hosted on 8 September 2023. As part of the day, the Faculty invited postgraduate students to share their research by means of poster presentations. The master’s programme coordinator in the Department of Marketing Management, Prof Pierre Mostert, together with the Marketing Management and Tourism Management students, accepted the challenge, and a total of nine master’s students decided to share their research.

 

As part of the learning experience, the students were expected to design their own research posters – and all the study supervisors were in agreement that the students did a very good job. The following research topics featured:

 

 

Duané Kitching’s poster received the prize for the best Marketing and Tourism Management poster presented at the Research Day, following a voting process by all the staff in the Department.

 

When asked to reflect on the Research Day, Duané Kitching said: “The EMS Research Day was a great experience, especially for young professionals aspiring to venture into the academic world. As students, we often have limited opportunities to gain insight into what the ‘academic world’ truly entails and to network with others in the Faculty.”

 

Not only was it an opportunity for the students to showcase their own research, but the students were exposed to a variety of presentations by colleagues across the EMS Faculty – something most of them never experienced before. As Sabrina Dias explained: “I loved the overall experience. I loved being able to physically see my research come to life in my poster, as it made me feel proud of what I have accomplished.”

 

With many senior academics presenting during the Research Day, it was not surprising that the students saw first-hand not only the importance of research but also the passion that researchers have for their respective research fields and studies. Henrietta Amofa, whose poster was titled “Assessing consumer readiness to purchase via mobile live stream shopping”, summarised this point as follows: “Seeing presentations of research from well-respected academics, highlighted the importance of research and motivated me to continue and conclude my research to the best of my ability. Displaying our research posters and our hard work felt as if we were taking the first step into being part of the academic world.”

 

When asked if our master’s students would want to participate in poster presentations again if they had the opportunity, they answered with one voice: “Most definitely!”