The University of Bristol are delighted to welcome Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town in South Africa, as the first ever Bristol Illustrious Visiting Professor. Over the course of this year-long appointment, commencing in October 2021, Professor Phakeng will engage with our academic community in various ways and we would like to give our researchers the opportunity to help shape this.

You can read more about Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng on our IRP webpage here:
www.bristol.ac.uk/international-research-partnerships/visiting-researchers/mamokgethi_phakeng/

We are delighted to now invite University of Bristol researchers to submit an expression of interest to engage with Professor Phakeng during her visit. This is your opportunity to introduce yourself and your research to Professor Phakeng, and highlight potential opportunities for engagement during her Visiting Professorship. To submit an expression of interest please complete the form below no later than Friday 5th November.

Professor Phakeng is an inspirational leader, a ground-breaking researcher in mathematics education, and a pioneer for community and civic engagement. You can use this ‘pitch’ to highlight your areas of research interest and expertise, to suggest spaces for collaboration, and to open dialogue over research and/or leadership topics. By hosting Professor Phakeng we hope to learn from and be inspired by her knowledge, approaches, and ethos. We will work together to build on and enhance our research endeavours in mathematics education in particular, as well as developing our institutional partnership with the University of Cape Town (UCT) more broadly.

All expressions of interest will be submitted to Professor Phakeng for her consideration, and we will help to coordinate individual and collective meetings with her to explore how to take discussions forward during her year-long placement. A short-list of applicants may also be invited to engage in a virtual engagement ‘pitch’ event, where they can highlight their areas of interest to Professor Phakengi and receive a direct response from her.

We will also do some mapping work across all applications received to identify common themes, which will help inform our higher-level activities with Professor Phakeng during her visit. For example, this may inspire a public lecture topic, a theme for an internal workshop, or a seminar/webinar with Professor Phakeng.

Please note that this opportunity is only available to current University of Bristol staff member and/or researchers (PhD onwards), and you must supply an official UoB email for your query to be eligible. Please also adhere to all word limits; applications which exceed these limits will not be considered.

If you have any queries please contact Samantha Barlow via irp-admin@bristol.ac.uk.