Unlocking the Power of Research Data

 

                                               By Nkululeko Magwaza & Nonjabulo Ngcobo

Introduction: Research data holds immense potential in driving innovation, addressing challenges, and fostering collaboration within the academic community. The recent "Unlocking the Power of Research Data" event at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) shed light on the significance of effective data management, the role of repositories, and the transformative impact of open science. Organized in collaboration with Figshare, a leading platform for research data management, the event aimed to raise awareness of Yabelana, a Figshare-powered repository managing research data at UKZN. The event provided researchers with a platform to share insights, exchange experiences, and explore innovative approaches in research data management.

Harnessing the Full Potential: The event emphasized the vital role of research data in advancing scholarly pursuits and the opportunities unlocked through open research data practices. Cross-pollination of ideas, facilitated by open data sharing, enriches the research landscape and fosters collaboration among institutions and entities. Yabelana, utilizing Figshare as its renowned repository, empowers researchers to securely store and share their research data with the wider academic community. Open research data allows for systematic approaches to finding practical solutions to ongoing challenges and emerging problems.

Paving the Way for Academic Excellence: UKZN, committed to cultivating a data-driven research culture, recognizes the value of research data and invests in the necessary infrastructure and expertise. Yabelana, powered by Figshare, plays a crucial role by providing a robust platform for managing research data at UKZN. Researchers can securely store, preserve, and share their data, ensuring accessibility and long-term impact. The event acted as a catalyst for fostering innovation, enhancing research outcomes, and strengthening UKZN's reputation as a hub for ground-breaking discoveries across disciplines.

Promoting Transparency and Community Engagement: The event highlighted the importance of open science in promoting transparency, reproducibility, and community engagement. Open research data allows for greater visibility, impact, and collaboration within and beyond the academic community. Yabelana, aligned with these principles, enables researchers to openly share their data, increasing transparency and facilitating collaboration. Figshare's comprehensive features, including data citation and version control, ensure the integrity and reproducibility of research findings. By embracing open science and making research data openly available, institutions and researchers contribute to a more inclusive and collaborative research ecosystem.

Raising Awareness and Best Practices: Events like "Unlocking the Power of Research Data" play a crucial role in raising awareness, fostering collaboration, and promoting best practices in research data management as the demand for accessing scholarly materials and research data continues to grow. Organized by the University of KwaZulu-Natal Library in partnership with Figshare, the event facilitated discussions on data management strategies, sharing protocols, and publication practices. It provided a platform for sharing knowledge, experiences, and innovative approaches, contributing to the advancement of research data management practices. Researchers gained practical insights and explored the potential of Yabelana in supporting their research endeavors.

Conclusion: The "Unlocking the Power of Research Data" event at UKZN, organized in collaboration with Figshare, highlighted the transformative potential of research data in driving innovation and collaboration. Through Figshare's robust platform, institutions and researchers can enhance visibility, impact, and collaboration within and beyond the academic community. Yabelana serves as a valuable repository for managing research data at UKZN, offering secure storage, easy accessibility, and efficient sharing of datasets. As the research landscape evolves, events like these acts as beacons, guiding researchers towards harnessing the full potential of research data and unlocking new frontiers of knowledge and discovery.

 

Crime on campus

 

by Omesh Jagarnath & Mfezi Mjwara

Introduction

Crime in South African institutions of Higher Education is a notable fact, which often stems from the high crime rates within the country, thereby filtering into universities and colleges of education.

Although many would perceive the university institutions as being a safe environment where education is the common language for everyone, it is an inevitable fact that students often become victims of crime within the campuses or even in their own residences.

This is very traumatizing not only to the victims but also to parents who now have to worry about their children residing in a so called “safe environment” far away from home.

However, many Universities are faced with a tremendous challenge of maintaining safety and security on campuses. This is especially because of the diversity of the campus environment, with multiple buildings and lecture halls spread out over the campus terrain. Some of the lecture venues and residences are very secluded and isolated, thereby providing an ideal environment for criminals to operate.

 

Safety and Security

So, what is meant by Safety and Security?

Here are a few definitions:

•     Safety is the condition of being safe from undergoing or causing hurt, injury, loss to a person or violation including vandalism of an organization’s property/facilities. 
•   Security refers to protection of a person, building, organization or institution against threats such as crime.

Risk management are those policies and plans that address matters such as organizational or institutional issues & serious events caused by safety or security violations, and protection from liability.

Campus Safety & Security is a service provided by security personnel on campus, catering for all students, staff, alumni and visitors – the ultimate goal being to ensure a safe, harmless and conducive environment for all personnel on university property. 

Universities have a moral responsibility of ensuring the safety and security of both staff and students entering the campus. This responsibility also extends to University residences as well as students utilizing University shuttle services to and from campuses and residences.

Recently, there has been alarming reports of the escalating rate of crime incidents taking place nationwide in Institutions of Higher Learning. Measures such as access control; checking of ID cards; visible presence of security personnel in both residences and buildings such as libraries, key “hot spot” areas, etc. should be in place to control and monitor criminal activities.

Security personnel on campus are under pressure to provide effective security in order to ensure a safe environment for staff and students. The reason for this is when higher institutions fail to provide safety, students get discouraged from attending such institutions and parents become reluctant to send their children to an unsafe environment to learn. Campus crimes affects the image of institutions, as well as the security officers’ jobs; thereby undermining the quality of learning and students’ activities on campuses (Sewpersad & Van Jaarsveld :47).

 

One of the main issues facing tertiary institutions is managing student access, i.e., who goes where and when. This applies to both campus as a whole and to residences.

Campuses have easy access, open at all hours which often allows criminals to come and go and remain unnoticed (Sewpersad & Van Jaarsveld :47).

In institutions where 24/7 access to facilities is available, such as University LANS and Libraries, safety and security becomes even more of a concern and a necessity. Many students prefer to use these facilities after hours, due to the peace and quiet - hence walking to and from their residences as well as being in these physical spaces should give them peace of mind to work in a safe and secure environment without worrying about having their possessions stolen or being mugged.

These facilities should not only have the necessary access control measures in place, but also a security officer stationed at the entrances to monitor and check student cards, especially after hours and report or apprehend suspicious looking individuals.

 

Most common examples of crimes in University institutions include:

•        Theft inside university premises (computers, identities, books, etc.)
•     Cellphone and laptop robberies at gun point.
•      Car remote jamming in parking areas.
•     Verbal and sexual assaults.
•    Cyber-crime (ATM jamming, scamming, frauds, hacking, online drug trafficking, cyber bullying and software piracy).
•     Forced entry, alcohol & drug abuse.

Who is targeted in these crimes?

       ·   Students more especially first year students ~ Female Staff members

•      Disabled students are easy targets ~ Delivery guys (food or university facilities)
•        University visitors ~ Alumni 

The University of KwaZulu Natal and Risk Management Services (RMS) is making a move and taking steps daily in the fight to protecting not only the University facilities but also improving student safety and the University security system, including cyber-crime. https://rms.ukzn.ac.za/

Tips for students & staff to avoid falling victim to crime

Safety tips for students’ in residences:

•        Always lock your residence door, even when you are in the room.
•        Residence hall doors must be secure at all times. If you find someone has propped a door open, remove the barricade and secure the door.
•        Report suspicious persons you may see in residence or office corridors.
•        Never open your door to strangers.
•         If you have lost your residence key, report it immediately and have the locks changed.
•         Don’t keep residence and vehicle keys on the same keyring and never disclose your address on your keyring.
•         Preferably keep all valuables, including cash, locked in a safe.

Safety tips for students & staff on campus:

•        Always walk in groups at night. 
•        Call RMS to organise a security guard to escort you.
•        Make sure your valuables are not visible.
•        Avoid taking routes which are dark and too quiet.
•        Do not give attention to strangers at night even if they tell you they are students.
•        Make sure you park in an open area where there are CCTVs.
•        Double check to see if your car is locked when parked.
•        Always look around to see if there’s any suspicious eyes around you when parking.
•        Report any suspicious act you see on-campus.
•        Try by all means not to leave your belongings unattended.
•        Keep away from campus premises when there is a strike.

 

Crime prevention strategies utilized at the University of KwaZulu Natal campuses, Libraries and students Residences

 https://ukzn.ac.za/safety-and-security-programmes/

University Security- Security personnel undergo seasonal workshops and training sessions in order to be well trained and keep up with the latest crimes.

Students access cards that allow students entry into the necessary buildings but restrict access for an unidentified person.

Visitors cards- Is for use by university alumni or visitors which grants them access the university as well as to utilize university facilities. 

Access control- Turnstiles / access control gates are installed in all UKZN Libraries, computer lab’s, theatres, departments and University entrances.

24/7 CCTV- Majority of the UKZN premises in and out is fitted with video surveillance which allows monitoring of students as well as to identify potential crime activities.

Awareness campaigns – A series of workshops as well as campaigns are held throughout the year in combating crime and enforcing a safe and secured university community.

UKZN RMS & SAPS – Work hand in hand in fighting crime in and around campus.

Conclusion

Safety and Security at Institutions of Higher Education is the responsibility of all individuals and stakeholders. This means that we should not only rely on the security personnel but all students, staff and management should take the initiative as well. We all need to understand the necessity and importance of creating a crime free and conducive University community. Hence, always remain vigilant and report suspicious behaviors to the security personnel.

 

FOR FURTHER READINGS:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/07/15/eight-student-safety-concerns-and-how-colleges-can-help-infographic

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED537696.pdf

https://theconversation.com/students-more-at-risk-of-crime-than-public-universities-must-rethink-how-to-keep-them-safe-52620

https://www.getkisi.com/guides/campus-safety-and-security

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20200824172935293

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311886.2022.2110199

https://boksburgadvertiser.co.za/461598/ways-university-students-can-master-crime-prevention/

https://www.saferspaces.org.za/understand/entry/crime-in-institutions-of-higher-learning

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311886.2022.2110199 - University campuses and types of crime: a case study of the university of KwaZulu Natal/Howard campus in the city of Durban-South Africa / Sazelo Mkhize, Samuel Fikiri Cinni,  Slindile Ngcece. Published online August 2022.

Sewpersad, S. and Van Jaarsveld, L. 2012: Campus security and safety: incorporating new technology to an old paradigm of guarding. Acta Criminologica:  Southern African Journal of Criminology, CRIMSA 2011 Conference Special Edition No. 1, 2012. p. 46-55.

 

 

 

 

 

Breaking news! Pmb subject librarian on the run

 

By Rosemary Kuhn

On June 11 at 5.30 am Simon (Mhlukanisi) Shezi, a subject librarian from the Life Sciences library in Pietermaritzburg ran his first ever Comrades Marathon and as part of the UKZN team. He maintained an even pace and arrived at the finish line in a time of 10:33:25. As a mature entrant to this race (Simon is enjoying the fabulous 50’s) he showed us it is never too late to prove that age is just a number!

Congratulations Simon, we are very proud of you. Said Simon of his race, “I enjoyed it, I will do it again next year.”

Well done also to Eric (Mbangiseni) Mchunu from the Pmb subject librarian unit, main library, who once again was a volunteer at a watering station at Kloof and was lucky enough to recognize Simon amongst the throngs of runners and give him some moral support (see pic below). At that stage Simon was comfortable and looking forward to reaching the end. 

                                                            Simon and Eric in Kloof

                                          

As for the rest (well, some) of us …..armchair enthusiasts, no running required!