University of Pretoria MDP and MRL alumni participate in Zeppelin University’s International Student Research Conference
University of Pretoria MDP and MRL alumni participate in Zeppelin University’s International Student Research Conference
Five alumni from the Albert Luthuli Leadership Institute at the University of Pretoria presented the research they conducted in 2020 at the online Zeppelin University International Student Research Conference from the 21st to the 22nd of April. This included three alumni of the global Master’s in Development Practice Programme (MDP), as well as two alumni of the MPhil in Responsible Leadership (MRL), both hosted in the Department of Business Management in the Economic and Management Science Faculty. The topics of the students were as follows:
- Ms Priscilla Morley (MDP): Addressing the SDGs in Africa through responsible leadership: The case of a multi-stakeholder partnership (MSP) in Orange Farm;
- Ms Zinzile Tshongwe (MDP): Transformational Leadership in an Educational Setting: The case of Imagine Scholar’s Education Model;
- Ms Melissa Brouard (MDP): The North-South Gap in transitional justice processes;
- Ms Munyai Ludzula (MRL): Enhancing the impact of corporate donor funding towards social innovation as a social justice issue: My autoethnographic journey;
- Mr Arend Kahlau (MRL): Self-reflection as tool to uncover and develop an understanding of social justice.
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted Zeppelin University to move their annual Student Research Day online, which allowed them to invite students from other universities and enabled the format of a two-day International Student Research Conference. This allowed 77 students from 23 universities and 15 countries to present their research projects, with themes including Sociology & Inequality; Public Management & Governance; Archaeology & Forensics; Gender & Black Identity; European Studies; Culture, Philosophy & Pedagogy; Macroeconomics & COVID-19, Innovation & Digitalisation; Gender & Feminism; Politics & History; and Communication & Marketing.
The conference, which had a total of 400 registered guests, included Keynote addresses by Dr Sithembile Mbete (University of Pretoria), Dr Murat Akpinar (Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences), Dr Dorothea Bowyer (Western Sydney University), and Prof Dr Habil Mihai Mutascu (West University of Timisoara). A number of Zeppelin University research projects were also launched, and students were able to attend workshops on employability and skills; motivation, time, and self-management; academic writing; and transcultural competence. Other participating Universities were the University of Oldenburg, the University of Göttingen, the University of Kiel, the Humboldt University of Berlin, Goldsmiths College, California State University, the University of Marburg, the University of Warschau, the University of Siena, the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, the University of Economics in Bratislava, JAMK University of Applied Sciences, the University of Vienna, the University of Regensburg, the University of Timisoara, Kampala University, the University of Potsdam, the Ruhr-University Bochum, the University of Hohenheim, St. Ignatius of Loyola Universtiy, and the University of British Columbia.