The Institute for Rural Development and Directorate of International Relations are pleased to announce that they are co-hosting Prof Jephias Matunhu during his month-long contact leave (up to Friday, 6 December 2019). Prof Matunhu holds a PhD in Development Studies from the University of Fort Hare. Currently, he is the Director of the Tugwi-Mukosi Multidisciplinary Research Institute at the Midlands State University (MSU), Zimbabwe. Prior to his current appointment, he served as the founding Chairperson of the Department of Development Studies at the same University.
Prof Matunhu is proud to have worked with the Africa Centre for Technology Studies and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) based in Nairobi, Kenya, in developing the Ecosystems-based Agriculture and Food Security Assembly (EBAFOSA). The African Union ratified the latter Assembly on 12 July 2015. Apart from this, Prof Matunhu has registered the following achievements in his academic and general professional life:
1. Current Secretary of the Advisory Board of Heifer International Zimbabwe;
2. Overall winner of the 2018 Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA) essay competition on “Application of the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy” in development work;
3. Member of the Zimbabwe delegation to Thailand under the TICA programme in 2017;
4. Member of the Zimbabwe delegation to South Korea for training in small to medium enterprises policies in 2015;
5. Notable scholarly accomplishments to date are:
(a) Published 38 peer-reviewed journal articles;
(b) Authored 2 books and 5 book chapters;
(c) Read or presented about 36 papers at international conferences over the past 10 years;
(d) Extensive experience in initiating development projects, including supervision of 136 Honours research projects, 67 Masters dissertations and 6 PhD theses; and
(e) Serving as external examiner for 8 universities, including UNIVEN.
During his stay, Prof Matunhu is exploring the possibility of concretising synergies, understudying community engagement programmes and identifying opportunities for establishing multi-disciplinary research. In this regard, he is available to discuss possible collaboration in the following areas: Water management, rural livelihoods, value addition, innovation, industrialisation of ideas, and climate smart agriculture. Prof Matunhu can be contacted at Office No. 46 in the Institute for Rural Development or via Ext. 9046 or 9045.
Prof Matunhu is scheduled to deliver a seminar on the topic: External Examiner’s Observations and Suggestions for Strengthening Quality of Postgraduate Research in South African Historically Disadvantaged and Advantaged Universities.
The seminar will take place at the Research Conference Centre on Monday, 25 November 2019 between 09:00 and 10:00 am.
The announcement was jointly prepared by the Directors of Institute for Rural Development and International Relations.
Issued by:
Department of Communications & Marketing
University of Venda
Tel: (015) 962 8525
19 November 2019
Issued by:
Department of Communications & Marketing
University of Venda
Tel: (015) 962 8525
19 November 2019
