Supervisors: The Inside-out Outside-in Engaged Scholarship project team members

Field of specialisation: Community psychology, Corrections studies, Social psychology

The Engaged Scholarship Project, Inside-out Outside-in South African Corrections Interest Group hosted in the Department of Psychology invites prospective MA and PhD students to consider conducting corrections related studies under our supervision. The Inside-out group has been involved in the interdisciplinary supervision of post-graduate studies in corrections related research topics since its inception in 2013.

Some completed corrections related research studies by MA and PhD graduates in 2023 and 2024:

Mamashu Mabowa (MA study). The lived experiences of offenders enrolled in an open distance e-learning (ODEL) university: A career counselling perspective in Johannesburg correctional centre. (supervisors Mbongiseni Mdakane and Eduard Fourie)

Sheron Mathlatse (MA study). Mothering Behind Bars: Lived Experiences of Female Offenders at Johannesburg Correctional Facility, Gauteng Province. (supervisors Eduard Fourie and Bianca Parry)

Charity Brown (MA). Exploring recidivism among male ex-offenders in the Johannesburg Metropolitan Area. (supervisor Mbongiseni Mdakane)

Gladys Moabelo. (MA). Exploring the social reintegration experiences of former female offenders who committed fraud: A case of Tshwane district Municipality. (supervisor Mbongiseni Mdakane)

Nkanyiso Madlala (PhD). “Telling our stories”: Exploring and documenting the lived experiences of sexual and gender-diverse offenders in two South African correctional facilities. (supervisors Eduard Fourie and Martin Terre Blanche)

Research themes for the period 2025 to 2027

• Prevention of victimisation of offenders within the correctional services system as part of the Victim Empowerment Programme (VEP) and support systems to reduce the impact when victimisation has occurred
• The successes and pitfalls of victim offender dialogues (VODs)/mediation from the perspectives of victims, offenders, and correctional officials and how these inform efforts for social reintegration
• Reproductive Health, especially menstrual health, as an ignored health concern within carceral facilities. [Exploring such issues is in alignment with two of Unisa’s catalytic niche areas in addition to the Sustainability Development Goals on gender equality]
• Correctional officials’ experiences of work engagement (intrinsic motivation, passion, and level of involvement in one’s work tasks)
• Perceptions of police officers towards offenders during crime investigations
• Support systems for the children / parents / partners of the incarcerated
• The effectiveness of Department of Correctional Services schools and curriculum

Application process

• Should you be interested in working on one of the listed research topics or any other corrections related topic, please contact Prof Masefako Gumani at gumanma@unisa.ac.za  
• Indicate the topic you are interested in and summarise your motivation/reasoning.
• The Inside-out team will arrange a meeting with you to discuss the details and the way forward.

For more information about the Inside-out group, visit our website at https://sites.google.com/view/insideoutwikipage/

Compiled on 15/08/2024