“Postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows are the engines of research and it is essential to support and develop them to achieve our ambition of being Africa's leading research-intensive institution," says Mr Nugent Lewis who took up the post of Director: Emerging Scholar Funding and Support in the Division for Research Development (DRD) in May this year.

Lewis was previously the Deputy Director: Postgraduate Office and Head : Postgraduate Funding from August 2019 – May 2024.

In his new position as Director, the respective heads of the Postdoctoral Office and Postgraduate Funding Office report to him.

​SU has ±10 000 postgraduate students and ±350 postdoctoral fellows and is currently pursuing significant expansion of its postdoc numbers, always with a focus on quality, to make sure the University produces a strong pipeline of emerging scholars.

“Emerging scholar funding in my portfolio includes Honours, Master's and doctoral students, as well as postdoctoral research fellows," Lewis explains.

The future of academia

“The future of academia in South Africa rests on our ability as higher education institutions to develop these future leaders today, to ensure we grow our numbers and provide equitable access for all quality scholars. This includes making sure they are not hindered in their academic progress because of a lack of funding."

To help streamline SU's postgrad and postdoc expansion process, in September 2023 the Division for Research Development combined and modernised the postgraduate and postdoctoral research funding ecosystems under one directorship.

“It makes total sense to provide a holistic support centre for the full life cycle from postgraduate to post-doctorate within the DRD," says Lewis. “We support their funding applications, provide wrap-around support opportunities and we work closely with our colleagues in the Development and Alumni Division who work on the fundraising side. We also work closely with our colleagues in the Research Grants office to support students who are funded on grantholder-linked research projects be it from the NRF or the range of local and international funders.

Expanding the Postdoctoral Project

In 2023 SU initiated postdoctoral fellowship funding from the University's coffers and by September 2024 30 new postdocs have been onboarded. The initiative is led by our DVC Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Studies, Professor Sibusiso Moyo and is called the Rector's Postdoctoral Fellows Programme “It directs funding from the institution to support our priority areas for research, and establish postdoctoral positions in these areas," says Lewis who serves on a number of committees including for donors, bursaries and loans and student fees.

“It's an essential initiative because while South Africa spends a fair amount of its GDP on education, in real terms funding for emerging scholars and research has gone down since 2016," Lewis explains. “Our focus and attention is to increasingly work with the private sector, donors, funders and local and international research organisations in order to expand our research grants.

Lewis has been with SU since 2006 when he did his BA in Industrial Psychology and Human Resource Management. This was followed by his BCom Honours in Public and Development Management, and his MPhil in Urban and Regional Science which he did as a full-time SU staff member from 2014 in his post as the Coordinator: National Research Grants. Ten years later he is in his Director role.

"I am deeply appreciative of the support and mentorship from my leadership, including Professor Moyo, the previous DVC Professor Eugene Cloete, and my current head and mentor, Dr Therina Theron, as well as the rest of my DRD team."

First generation Matie

A first generation Matie, he grew up in Wellington where his Dad was a factory worker and his Mom looked after the family and volunteered at their schools. His older sister, Gretchen Minnaar, was the first person in their family to go to university, and she did a Social Work degree at SU. “Our family was immensely proud that she could go to SU as it is one of the top universities in South Africa and I always knew I wanted to study here too," says Lewis who was fully funded by scholarships for his degrees. “I attribute this to the culture of hard work and resilience that was instilled in us at home."

Focus changed to a passion for research

His focus changed to a passion for research when, after completing his Honours studies, he was appointed the Research Project Administrator for the US-AID PEPFAR initiative – a R100 million SU-led medical education research initiative, funded by the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in Africa. “Professor Marietjie de Villiers, was PI of the project and SU's Vice-Dean for Teaching and Learning at the time, and was such as good mentor to me," says Lewis.

“I was exposed to an internationally-funded research project and I got to see the whole research life cycle. It was focused on the training of medical professionals in rural healthcare and I experienced first-hand the power of research and its social impact in directly solving problems that society faces. So many South Africans live in rural settings which are under-resourced environments and medical professionals need to be trained to deal with the difficulties."

Lewis subsequently applied for a post in what is now the Research Grants Office where he administered grants for researchers. In 2017 he was promoted to Coordinator: National Grants. Two years later he was promoted again to Deputy Director: Postgraduate Office and Head : Postgraduate Funding

“This was during Covid, which was a massively challenging period but it also opened up opportunities. I had plans for our offices to become paperless and to create online platforms for our students to engage with us and remove the long lines of students waiting to be attended to at our offices. With Covid, we immediately had to go online and since then we have been able to reach more students, more efficiently and at the same time maintain personal attention and care."

Lewis says SU did extremely well in keeping research funds and living stipends flowing to the recipients during Covid, “We had to be very agile and communication was key as we did not know what was coming next."

Regarding the future, he says: “We are working hard to significantly provide additional funding opportunities for our emerging scholars, and to help the full cohort reach their full potential as socially impactful agents of change who produce new knowledge and help solve the difficult problems society is facing."