Not everyone is au fait (familiar) with writing for an academic audience. The audience is almost faceless but can get very critical and judgy. How do you showcase your important work? Let us engage with the key concepts presented in “The Art of Academic Scholarship.” The session is designed to provide participants with the essential skills and techniques required for effective academic writing in the energy field. Participants will learn how to structure their writing, present their research clearly, and adhere to the specific conventions of academic writing in energy studies. The workshop is designed across seven points contributing to the art of academic writing.

Bio: Prof. dr. René Pellissier is an international consultant, strategic and research specialist. She heads the Southern African Regional Universities Association Climate Change and Sustainable Development programme including the development of the transdisciplinary curriculum for the master’s programme in Climate Change and Sustainable Development for SADC. Prof. dr. Pellissier also heads the German Industrialisation Organisation’s Industrial Pharmacy Fellowship across the SADC. She has been involved in the design and development of several EU grants. In her other work, she heads the Cape Higher Education Leadership Academy, where she designs and facilitates leadership development programmes in Higher Education and presents the following workshops: Operational Excellence in Higher Education, Human-centric Leadership in Higher Education, Knowledge co-production and mode 3 thinking and Systems Thinking in Higher Education.

Prof. dr. Pellissier supervises doctoral students in Digital Transformation and Complexity and regularly offers research design and research methods workshops. She works as strategist, researcher, and systems engineer in the international arena based on her extensive international experience across the globe at universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and across Africa and sees herself as an international traveller and transdisciplinary innovator. Her specialisations are technology and innovation and complex adaptive systems.

She is a futurist and consultant specializing in the world of future work based on the evolution of technology and the resultant societal changes and needs. She is Professor of Research and Innovation (SA) and Professor of Information Management (UK). Prof. dr. Pellissier holds an MSc in Mathematical Statistics, an MBA and a PhD in Industrial Engineering (Systems Engineering).

Publishing Master’s or PhD research requires distinct skills beyond thesis writing; this session outlines the publication process and provides strategies to communicate findings to a broader scholarly community. This workshop aims to enhance understanding and skills in academic publishing. This interactive session explains the publication process and provides strategies and tools to help communicate research findings to a broader scholarly community.

Bio: Prof Ruth Albertyn is an NRF-rated scholar with a research focus and expertise related to postgraduate research development. She has been involved in the higher education sector for three decades and an extraordinary associate professor affiliated with Stellenbosch University. She teaches research methodology in various disciplines, has supervised, and examined master’s and doctoral theses and is a mentor on the early career academic mentoring programme. She presents capacity development workshops for academics at various universities. Prof Albertyn has won awards for teaching, research, and the Emerald Literati Award for outstanding review of an article in an international journal. She has published articles in her field and has co-edited three scholarly books.

Brings together leading voices in the renewable energy sector to explore how innovation in research can transition from academia. It will explore the vital role of entrepreneurship in transforming renewable energy research into impactful, market-ready solutions. Attendees will hear from industry experts on key topics, including regulating the green and just energy space and be exposed to practical examples of transitioning academic research to the marketplace. Participants will leave with a comprehensive understanding of the commercial potential of renewable energy innovations and how academic research can drive tangible change in the green energy sector.

Bio: Prof. Dr Lorenzo Squintani is Professor of Energy Law and Director of the Wubbo Ockels School for Energy and Climate at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands). He is also founder and member of the managing board of the Like!Me Living Lab which studies how to improve the effectiveness of public participation practices in the field of energy and environmental matters. He is also founder and member of the managing boards of the European Environmental Law Forum (EELF.info) and of the U4 Environmental Law Network. Besides, he is Chief Editor of the Journal for European Environmental and Planning Law (JEEPL) and Series Editor of the EELF Book Series. His research and teaching interests include EU substantive law and EU environmental, energy and climate law. Prof. Squintani has authored several publications in the areas of European environmental, energy and climate law. Prof. Squintani regularly advises Dutch, EU, and/or International institutions on (EU) environmental, energy and climate issues.

Bio: Michel De Paepe is professor of Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer at the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture of the Ghent University. He is head of the Sustainable Thermo-Fluid Systems Research Team. Research in his team focuses on the thermodynamics of sustainable thermal energy systems, thermal energy storage, energy efficiency in buildings, in industry and in electrical drive trains. Michel De Paepe is president of EnergGhentIC, the interdisciplinary community of Ghent University innovating our energy future in partnership with industry and policy makers. Michel De Paepe lives with his family in a certified Passive House, thus applying his knowledge in practice.

This interactive panel brings together esteemed experts to discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with renewable energy research. Panelists will tackle key issues such as securing funding, and overcoming technical and market barriers and highlight emerging opportunities in the renewable energy space, collaboration between academia and industry, and the future outlook for sustainable energy.

Bio: Professor Sibusiso Moyo holds a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Natal, Durban, and a Masters (with distinction) in Tertiary Education Management from the LH Martin Institute, University of Melbourne Australia. As a scholar, she has published widely in the Mathematical Sciences with a focus on differential equations and optimisation problems in international peer reviewed journals. She has also successfully supervised postgraduate students and continues mentoring and supervising at Master’s and Doctoral level.  She has served in various capacities and levels at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) as Associate Director and Professor in the Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics and Director Research and Postgraduate Support up to mid-2017. She is currently an sssociate editor for the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management published by Taylor and Francis and has served as guest editor of the Mathematical Methods in the Applied Sciences Journal (published by John Wiley & Sons) and Journal of Engineering Mathematics (published by Springer). She is also board member for Agenda Feminist Media (which hosts the Agenda journal published by Taylor & Francis).

At DUT, Professor Moyo was responsible for driving the research, innovation and engagement agenda including supporting student entrepreneurship and innovation through the newly established DUT Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.  She was part of the DUT Founding team that has established two start up entrepreneurial desks which acted as student incubators both in the Midlands and Durban campuses established in 2018. In 2019 and 2021, she was awarded the special national Entrepreneurial Development in Higher Education (EDHE) award to a deputy vice-chancellor responsible for facilitating remarkable institutional support for entrepreneurship development in terms of student entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship in academia and in growing an entrepreneurial university.

She currently serves as chairperson of the Board of Directors for CASME (Center for the Advancement of Science and Mathematics Education) and is board member on the boards of Innovate Durban, the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Advisory Board for the Future Professors Programme and innobiz.

She is honorary dean of the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Tianjin Vocational Institute, Tianjin, China from 2021 to 2023; and was co-Dean of the Confucius Institute from 2018 to August 2022.Her current position is Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Studies at Stellenbosch University.

Prof Mamphweli is the Head of the Department of Science and Innovation’s Energy Secretariat at the South African National Energy Development Institute. His role is to Science and Engineering National Energy Flagship Research Development and Innovation programmes. The programmes include the Coal CO2 to X programme, the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Hub and Spokes Programme, Hydrogen South Africa and Energy storage.

Prof Mamphweli possess a PhD in Physics, he has published close to 100 research articles including four book chapters, he has accumulated more than 2000 research citations (Google scholar), He has supervised more than 26 Masters and PhD Students to completion. He was recognized by Stellenbosch University as Full Professor of Process Engineering and gave Inagural address in 2018. He was also recognized by the University of Fort Hare as Associate Professor in 2015, and he was  winner of the University of Fort Hare’s Vice Chancellor’s emerging researcher medal in 2012. He graduated Masters with distinction from the University of Venda.

Prof Mamphweli is currently appointed as an Extraordinary Professor in Chemical Engineering by Stellenbosch University. He is also appointed by Durban University of Technology as an Honorary Research Professor.

He currently serves in various advisory committees and boards in the energy space, and he is a member of the President’s Energy Crisis Committee workstream 7 that is dealing with data modelling and data repository.

Bio: Professor Cristina Trois is the Director of CRSES. She also holds the position of Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)/National Research Foundation (NRF) South African Research Chair in Waste and Climate Change at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She is a Full Professor in Environmental Engineering and has expertise in Waste Management, Climate Change, Sustainable Cities, and Renewable Energy.

Prof. Trois has authored over 130 publications, supervised numerous postgraduate students, and led multi-million Rand waste and resources management projects. She is also involved in various national and international engineering associations and initiatives.