Department of
Research and Innovation

The Department of Research and Innovation at UCT comprises three separate, but complementary, offices: the Research Office, Research Contracts and Intellectual Property Services, and the Postgraduate Centre and Funding Office. Each of these offices plays a key role in measuring, tracking, and enabling UCT’s research performance, be it through the awarding of bursaries and scholarships to postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers or developing capacity to help UCT’s researchers apply for grants and funding and NR F rating as well as assisting them to enter into complex research contracts.
Research Office

The work of the Research Office is primarily geared towards enabling optimal research activity and excellence. This is achieved through a service-oriented approach and the implementation of internationally benchmarked systems, structures and procedures. Its wide range of activities include running research development programmes, accrediting and evaluating the university’s research groupings, facilitating its engagement with global rankings, tracking its publication count, building proposals, forging new and strategic partnerships, and expanding access to grants.

DR MARILET SIENAERT
Director: Research Office
Research Contracts and Intellectual Property Services Office

This was another exciting year for the Research Contracts and Intellectual Property Services Office, which has seen externally funded research agreements reaching new highs in terms of volume (up by 31 percent to 1 360 contracts) and value (up by 29 percent to R722 million). The value of contracts entered into with foreign entities was R438,62 million for 2011 (compared to R382.5 million in 2010 and R334,7 million in 2009).

PIET BARNARD
Director: Research Contracts and Intellectual Property Services
Postgraduate Centre and Funding Office

Postgraduate Centre and Funding Office is accountable to the university’s Postgraduate Studies Funding Committee (PSFC) as part of the cluster of research-related committees accountable to Senate. The office and centre are situated adjacent to each other and located in a heritage site – the Otto Beit Building – on Upper Campus.

LINDA VRANAS
Director: Postgraduate Centre and Funding Office