Marlie Holtzhausen is a PhD student in the Department of Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria. Ms Holtzhausen’s research asks how Relational and Human Economy Approaches can inform and guide innovative ways of understanding and addressing poverty and inequality in South Africa. Increasing global inequality and deprivations create an important opportunity to apply new and innovative research methods which can contribute to development theory. She received the NRF-DAAD Masters and Doctoral Scholarship in 2018 which gives an additional opportunity to apply for funding for a DAAD Short-Term Research Scholarship to Germany. Ms. Holtzhausen was awarded the funding for May to October 2019.

Ms Holtzhausen met Professor Hubert Zimmermann, Chair of International Relations of the Politics Department at Marburg and Dean of the Faculty, after attending a workshop in Germany, Bonn in September 2018 and she also had meetings with senior researchers, professors and lecturers within her research field, including Executive Director Professor Susanne Buckley-Zistel and Research Fellow Dr Werner Distler from the Center for Conflict Studies. She not only received great support from all of them, but they encouraged her to pursue a research visit to Marburg. The exposure to approaches on inequality and poverty provided at Marburg University, as well as the expertise, facilities, resources and opportunities to work collaboratively with others on research, presentations and articles can greatly contribute, shape and strengthen Ms Holtzhausen’s research and extend far beyond the PhD.

The Department of Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria has built in recent years strong institutional links with the Faculty of Social Sciences of Philipps-University Marburg in Germany. The collaboration between the two universities was initiated in early 2017 during a Fact-Finding Mission funded by the DAAD. It also includes the Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Nairobi. The initiative aims to promote the exchange of students and staff as well as research cooperation between the universities. It has led to joint panels at international conferences, workshops, student exchange and various linkages and networks between researchers at the three institutions. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Philipps-University and the University of Pretoria in November 2018 to continue these collaborations to the benefit of students and staff at both institutions.

Although most of Ms Holtzhausen’s time will be spent in Marburg, she will also visit Bonn for research purposes. In September 2018, she went to an international workshop in Germany, Bonn on “Mobilization for Change: Promoting and Defending Justice for Marginalized People”. It was organised by the Association of German Development Services (AGdD), hosted by the Right to Livelihood College (RLC) global education and research initiative at the Center for Development Research (ZEF), and supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and Robert Bosch Stiftung. Senior Researcher Dr Till Stellmacher at RLC/ZEF agreed to be her tutor as she travels to Bonn. Ms Holtzhausen will actively participate in RLC/ZEF academic life (including seminars and discussions) and write a joint collaborative publication on her PhD research. Co-publishing with Dr Stellmacher will add great value to her work since he is an expert within development studies with an interdisciplinary focus on development.

Ms Holtzhausen has worked as tutor, assistant and part-time lecturer at the University of Pretoria for many years and she is excited to learn and to exchange ideas from other people, organisations, groups and institutions. The research visit is an opportunity to transfer knowledge and skills back to the South African context and to take more decolonial perspectives from the global south to Germany. She hopes and trusts that the research visit will equip her with new knowledge and skills to become a multiplikatorin within her context and community in South Africa.