Ms Sikho Siyotula, who obtained her MA in African European Cultural Relations earlier this year and is currently employed part-time in the Department of Visual Arts and acting as co-ordinator of the Museum Studies programme, has been offered one of 12 positions in the Minor Cosmopolitanisms Doctoral Research Training Group at the University of Potsdam. This opportunity will enable her to spend the next three years working towards her doctorate while participating in the programme − all expenses paid. The scholarships are sponsored by the DFG (German Research Foundation).

The positions were advertised specifically in the participating countries: Canada, India, South Africa and Germany), and Sikho was selected as one of 20 finalists. She had a Skype interview with the selection panel in Berlin, which secured her place as one of the 12 recipients. The title of her research proposal is 'Visualising Southern African Late Iron Age Settlements in the Digital Age'.

Ms Siyotula holds a BA Fine Arts degree from UP. After obtaining work experience as an art curator, she returned to UP in 2013 to teach in the Department of Visual Arts. While working on her master's, Sikho also did courses in the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies and two years of German in the Department of Modern European Languages.