Inaugural UCL-South Africa fellowship empowers researchers to promote their work

The Public Voices Fellowship programme has been set up to help academic communities at UCL and partner institutions in Africa raise the profile of their research in order to better influence discussions at local, national and international levels.

The programme, which saw three UCL academics travel to South Africa for a week in March, followed by three South African academics coming to UCL the following week, is a partnership between UCL and the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, supported by the UCL’s Global Engagement, Public Policy, Media Relations and the Policy Lab teams.

All three of the Witwatersrand fellows – Dr Skye Adams, Dr Gillian Mahumane and Dr Mandisa Simamane – were from the university’s Faculty of Health Sciences.

They spent the week in London taking part in a varied programme of activities aimed at honing their media, communications and public policy skills and meeting staff from across UCL.

This included attending UCL’s External Engagement team’s all-staff meeting where they shared their research and what they hoped to get out of their visit. They also had a separate meeting with the department’s Vice-President Kirsty Walker and members of her team.

Dr Adams, who is a lecturer in the Department of Speech Pathology, said: “It was an amazing week. I really enjoyed my visit to UCL and the fellowship really helped think about how to make science more accessible to the public—understanding who our audiences are, how to make meaningful impact, and how to share our work effectively.

“It’s been a great collaboration.”

The three UCL academics who took part in the programme were Dr Heba Abd el-Gawad (UCL's Institute of Archaeology), Dr Jhono Bennett (The Bartlett, UCL’s Faculty of the Built Environment) and Dr Siyabonga Ndwandwe (Research Department of Primary Care and Population Health, Faculty of Population Health Sciences).

Dr Bennett, who is a South African architect and a lecturer at The Bartlett, said: “The fellowship has been incredibly valuable in helping me expand my understanding of how to navigate and communicate the common ground between my research and practice work around spatial inequality.

“It’s offered practical tools and insights that have allowed me to think more strategically about how to engage wider audiences and has strengthened my confidence in contributing to public discourse around justice-oriented urbanism.”

The UCL workshops covered storytelling, broadcasting, podcasting and feature writing, policy engagement, and social media strategy.

The programme provided hands-on opportunities to strengthen their public-facing skills. Fellows also met with senior UCL academics, policy fellows, and mentors, as well as professional teams supporting UCL public, community, policy, and media engagement, including UCL’s External Engagement team, to refine their individual engagement plans and share ideas.

The six researchers share a commitment to enhancing public engagement in their respective fields.

The Johannesburg programme emphasised co-creating research with local communities and exploring the role of academia in delivering social, cultural and economic benefits.

Professor Lynn Morris, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation at the University of the Witwatersrand, said: “We welcomed the opportunity to collaborate with UCL and the Public Voices Programme and encourage diverse thinking among underrepresented academic communities.

“In South Africa, there is a strong need for what we term science engagement – sharing knowledge with various communities so that people can understand and appreciate the value of research and innovation.

“Sharing this knowledge through non-peer-reviewed media in a meaningful way is an important skill to build among early career academics. We hope the partnership continues.”

Kirsty Walker, UCL Vice-President (External Engagement), said: “Public Voices reflects our commitment to shaping a more inclusive global research landscape.

“We believe that empowering diverse voices is not just an ethical imperative but a necessary step in delivering research that matters – research that is informed by, and speaks to, the full richness of global society.”

The fellowship also includes a six-month mentorship scheme and an extended programme of virtual engagement, culminating in public-facing outputs such as editorials, podcasts, policy briefings, community events and white papers.

Looking ahead, UCL is exploring opportunities to expand and enhance the Public Voices programme, with a focus on developing new models of cross-sector and cross-country engagement.

Building on this year’s collaboration, the next phase will explore fresh partnerships and contexts for supporting underrepresented researchers to shape public discourse and policy.

Links

• UCL Public Voices
• UCL Global Engagement
• UCL Public Policy
• UCL Media Relations
• UCL Policy Lab
• University of the Witswatersrand, Johannesburg
• Dr Heba Abd el-Gawad's academic profile 
• Dr Jhono Bennett's academic profile 
• Dr Siyabonga Ndwandwe's academic profile 
• Dr Skye Adams's academic profile
• Dr Gillian Mahumane's academic profile 
• Dr Mandisa Simamane's academic profile

Image

From left to right: Dr Renzo Filinich Orozco (University of the Witwatersrand), Dr Jhono Bennett (UCL fellow), Dr Lethu Kapueja (Wits’ Residency Programme Academic Lead), Dr Mandisa Simamane (Wits Fellow), Dr Heba Abd el-Gawad (UCL Fellow), Dr Siyabonga Ndwandwe (UCL Fellow), Dr Gillian Mahumane (Wits Fellow) and Dr Skye Adams (Wits Fellow)

Media contact

Nick Hodgson

nick.hodgson [at] ucl.ac.uk

+44 (0)7769 240209