Research outputs propel young academic to become professor

Dr Zayd Waghid (36), a senior lecturer in the Education Faculty, was recently promoted to the position of Associate Professor and became the youngest academic to bear the title in his faculty.

“My promotion to Associate Professor in less than seven years is a major turning point in my academic career. However, I don't think anybody should be too relaxed about things” said Waghid. “Thanks to the flexibility of my current position and support from my Head of Department, I've been able to significantly improve my research output, with seven publications in 2022 alone.”

Waghid began his career in higher education as a lecturer in 2015, transitioning from a career as a school teacher. “My 6.5 years of teaching experience helped prepare me for my current position,” he observed.

He added that despite the widespread protests that produced a lot of anxiety that year, he concentrated heavily on his teaching while still focusing on research.”

“After my first year of academia, I had a conversation with a professor and, when asked how many research outputs I produced, I said that I had mostly submitted approximately two papers to local journals,” recalled Waghid. “After that discussion I realised then that, although teaching has traditionally been the university's primary purpose, I wanted to find more efficient methods to boost my research output.”

He added that as he began to write more journal articles, book chapters, and his first co-authored book in 2016, he crafted a curriculum that would include a service-learning project. “This I believe was necessary in laying the foundation for me to focus on all three spheres in higher education, i.e. teaching, learning, research and innovation and community engagement.”

After receiving recognition for his research productivity, teaching excellence awards at the university level and registered a service-learning project he was promoted to the position of senior lecturer in 2018. “But I've always had this sense that I should not feel complacent” he said. “I collaborated on writing projects with people from various universities, both in South Africa and abroad and submitted applications for several National Research Foundation projects.”  

His latest entry into the Conversation Africa, an independent source of news and views from the academic and research community,where he further discusses research on his teaching can be viewed on https://theconversation.com/decolonising-education-in-south-africa-a-reflection-on-a-learning-teaching-approach-192190

His advice to young academics just beginning off in higher education: “Create a team of researchers to collaborate on journal publications, and put in time writing both group articles and single authored papers. Every morning except if you have an 8:00am class, start working on your research at 5:00am and don't stop until 10:00,” he continued. “Use this time wisely by focusing only on your research. Create an annual research plan and discuss it with your department head for approval. CPUT has a plethora of opportunities and use these wisely. Be selective about your research without overextending yourself. Do what makes you happy and the rest will follow.”

Written by Kwanele Butana
Email: butanak@cput.ac.za