Annual Chairperson’s Report 2017

Presenter and Chairperson for 2017: Prof Motlalepule Ruth Mampane

Date: 16 January 2018

Venue: Suite 1

Co-opted Exco members: Dr Morgan Mokwi Maphutha from the university of Limpopo was co-opted to Exco as the coordinator for 2019 EASA conference

Successes of the Association:

1. Membership continues to grow
2. Financial growth was experienced due to affiliation fee, conference participation and funds from SAJE (journal of EASA)
3. SAJE is doing well
4. Financial report in order
5. Website successfully hosted by Cactus and website is linked to SAJE; WERA websites and SIGs are highlighted – Thank you to Dr Eric Eberlein and Prof Gouws for the successful management of the website
6. The Conference is well supported with estimated attendance (based on programme of 150 delegates for the duration of the conference)
7. Special Interest groups coordinator was recruited to replace Prof Ralarala who resigned from EXCO due to increased work responsibilities. Dr Estelle du Plessis from Unisa is the current SIG coordinator and her responsibility is to ensure that SIGs are active
8. Two newsletters were published for 2018 and shared with EASA members.
9. National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences funding
10. A template is being designed for the newsletter which will ensure uniformity of the newsletter and promote easy publication and writing of new items on the newsletter starting in 2018. It is important that SIGs use the newsletter to communicate their progress and activities. The incoming chairperson will be responsible for the newsletter.
11. Hosting the 2019 conference by the university of Limpopo is a success in moving EASA conference to Limpopo, especially Universities of Limpopo – we hope this will increase membership from Universities of Limpopo and Venda

Challenges for the Association

1. Sharing of news items by members remains a problem
2. SIG’s active participation is not experienced
3. Mobilisation of other universities to attend EASA conference is needed
4. Award nominations to recognise achievements in research activities is not as expected, this year we received overall four nominations, this remains a challenge as members do not participate in this activity.

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