Creative Outputs

Research

The recognition that the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) gives annually to high-quality creative and innovation outputs from universities is important. It demonstrates that the best creative work being produced at universities has academic merit in its own right and that the intellectual effort invested in, for example, an art exhibition or musical composition, may be every bit as rigorous as that mobilised for long-established research outputs such as journal articles, books, book chapters and conference proceedings.

The system of rewarding creative outputs in various forms, including the fine arts, literary arts, music, design, film and television and theatre, performance and dance, was introduced in 2019 and entered its fifth cycle in 2023.

To date, the DHET has awarded a total of 17.0652 subsidy-bearing units to Unisa for creative outputs submitted, representing a success rate of 66.67% for 2020 and 100% for 2021. A year-by-year breakdown shows that the DHET approved zero units for 2019, 12.83 for 2020 and 4.2352 for 2021. Unisa submitted 15 successfully peer reviewed applications in 2022 and 10 successfully reviewed applications for 2023. We await the unit allocation from DHET for the last two years.

In 2022, for the first time, Unisa began awarding research incentives to staff members whose creative outputs received approved units from the DHET. The first group to receive these incentives are five art and three music scholars whose work was submitted for the 2020 creative output cycle.

The music scholars are Prof Karen Devroop, whose work received 4.5352 units from the DHET, Marc Duby Professor Extraordinarius (1.5 units) and Mr Bernett Nkwayi Mulungo (two units).

The arts scholars are Elfriede Dreyer Professor Extraordinarius (one unit), Dr Ania Krajewska (one unit), Mr Lawrence Lemaoana (one unit), Dr Nathani Luneburg (one unit) and Dr Gwenneth Miller (one unit).

Meanwhile, Unisa submitted its latest creative output application in September 2022 and in February 2023 received the news that 16 entries had been successful, comprising 10 creative outputs for fine arts, five for music and one for innovation.

The successful scholars are listed below, together with the years in which they produced the outcomes, the category number allocated to each and the title of the work.

Fine Arts

2019 COFA008 Whistleblowing and precarious power, by Mr Kabelo Maja
2020 COFA001 Diaspora. Dispersed artists from the Lowveld, by Dr Nathani Luneburg
2020 COFA002 Enfolding, by Dr Gwenneth Miller
2021 COFA001 Gills of other creatures, by Dr Gwenneth Miller
2021 COFA002 Isikhuni Sibuya Nomkhwezele, by Mr Sango Filita
2021 COFA004 Resilience. Mental health, by Mr Daniel Mosako
2021 COFA005 Transshipped, by Prof Elfriede Dreyer
2021 COFA006 Matrix, by Prof Elfriede Dreyer
2021 COFA007 A Dictionary of Arts and Sciences Compiled upon a New Plan, by Dr Ania Krajewska
2021 COFA010 Soft targets, by Mrs Hetta Pieterse

Kabelo Maja	Dr Gwen Miller during the academic talks at Uncanny story
Academic talks during Uncanny stories exhibition	Academic discussions during Uncanny stories Sango Filita
Full installation Gwenneth Miller Gills of other creatures 2021
Hetta Pieterse Soft targets left view
Hetta Pieterse Soft targets view from the right

Music

2019 COM001 Gazankulu Suite (for Piano Trio: Piano, Clarinet and Violin), by Mr Bernett Nkwayi Mulungo
2019 COM002 Ndabe Zitha: String Quartet No. 1, by Mr Bernett Nkwayi Mulungo
2019 COM003 Karen Devroop and Fabrizio Savino – Unisa Jazz Festival 2019, by Prof Karen Devroop
2019 COM004 Sophiatown Swing, by Prof Karen Devroop
2020 COM005 Lockdown! Recording a song using household objects and a cell phone, by Dr Christopher D Jeffery

How work is selected and vetted

All creative outputs submitted to the DHET are selected and approved by the Departmental Research Output Vetting Committee (DROVC), which applies strict criteria to ensure that only high-quality work is submitted.

The selection process starts once applicants submit their creative items to the DROVC. An appointed specialist then performs internal quality control of annotations and links, checks the required attachments, monitors uploading to the Unisa Institutional Repository and identifies two suitable external reviewers.

The Chair of the DROVC then approves the data and recommends the reviewers to the Chair of the Art and Music Department, who approaches the reviewers to ascertain their willingness to participate. The Directorate Research Support then loads the data onto the Research Outputs Submission System (ROSS), which alerts the two external reviewers to conduct independent reviews.

Research Support then sends the review outcomes to the DROVC for approval. The committee submits the approved applications and its meeting minutes to the Research Output Quality Subcommittee (ROQ-SC) for approval, upon which confirmation is received from Prof Thenjiwe Meyiwa, Vice-Principal: Research, Postgraduate Studies, Innovation and Commercialisation.

In the final step from Unisa’s side, the Directorate Research Support submits all applications, peer reviews and required declaration of authorship and originality to the DHET, together with the necessary letters.

The members of the DROVC for 2022 were Prof Thomas Pooley (Chair of the Department of Art and Music); Mr Alistair White and Ms Dorcas Ndou (Directorate Research Support); Dr Ania Krajewska (Fine Art); Dr Chris Jeffery and Dr Annemie Behr (Music); Dr Alwyn Roux (Literary Arts); and Dr Gwenneth Miller (Fine Arts and Chair of the DROVC).

Last modified: Wed Dec 20 12:11:17 SAST 2023