About Us
Our Story
The continent of Afrika is in dire need of targeted interventions to create the next generation of cutting edge knowledge producers. When the continent called, APGRON answered that call.
The Afrikan Peer Growth Network (APGRON) is a registered not-for-profit company headquartered in South Africa, Johannesburg. The organisation is woman-led and brings together a vibrant team of Afrikan researchers from diverse disciplines, including law, business and aviation.
APGRON aims to improve research capacity in Afrika and increase Afrika’s contribution to global research outputs.
APGRON also aims to increase research in areas that have a direct impact on the lives of Afrikans, in other words, to promote solutions-oriented research.
To that end, APGRON identifies research challenges faced by different Afrikan researchers in different countries across Afrika; and thereafter provides research support services. The end game is to create an enabling environment for young and emerging researchers, scholars, academics, practitioners, and professionals to grow in their research careers and to positively contribute to Afrika’s growth. In all this, APGRON’s approach is to leverage the cumulative experiences, skills and expertise of senior or established researchers by creating a network and an enabling space for them to impart their skills to a younger and emergent cohort of researchers.
Our Mentor-Mentee relationships are research focused and driven by the mutual interest of both parties, as well as the needs of the mentee and the mentor’s expertise.
Our Mentors are volunteers with vast experience in their fields. In line with APGRON’s envisioned inter-, multi-, trans-disciplinary research, our Mentors are drawn from diverse disciplines.
Our Mentees also come from diverse backgrounds and disciplines. In line with our transformation agenda, our Mentees are mainly students, young and emerging researchers, scholars, practitioners and professionals
The driving force behind APGRON’s mentorship programme is Ubuntu. We are focused on paying it forward, buoyed by the understanding that every established scholar, researcher or professional once had someone hold their hand and show them the path to greatness. Ubuntu demands of us that we become the change we want to see. We therefore seek to empower, to encourage and to humanise the process of career progression within the research space.
OUR FOUNDERS
The idea behind APGRON had been in incubation for several years before it was implemented in 2021. Although its manifestation took various forms over the years, one fundamental characteristic remained firm – to create a collegial space for junior or emerging researchers, scholars, academics, professionals etc to grow and develop. It all began as an idea to capacitate LLB students in research, writing and publication through a dedicated LLB Research Retreat organised by Prof Angelo Dube during his tenure at the University of the Western Cape. The project’s aim was to pique the interest of undergraduate students in academe, and it later morphed into a capacity building project for early career academics called the ‘Non-Professorial Cohort’. This Cohort also sought to champion the interests of junior academics and create space for learning and shared experiences.
These ideas were revived when Prof Dube joined the University of South Africa. With the contribution of Dr Lindelwa Mhlongo, the idea of creating a continent-wide research focused mentorship platform was born. The driving force was to provide a space where mentorship and mentor-mentee relationships would be created, nurtured and assisted to grow organically. The organisation was legally incorporated in 2021 and held its inaugural symposium that very same year in Cape Town. The following year, 2022, a fully fledged conference was held in Pretoria, South Africa, funded by the University of South Africa.
At the core of the founders’ belief system is the understanding that Afrika’s success and failure lie in the roles that different Afrikans at different levels of career development decide to play. If Afrikans remain true to foundational Afrikan values such as Ubuntu, and commit to contributing towards an improved Afrikan society, then there is hope for the continent and its inhabitants.
OUR INTERVENTIONS
We train our mentees on various aspects of research and publication. Our teams of mentors have years of research experience, excellent publication records, and vast mentorship experience behind them. To increase the research capacity of all APGroN members, especially our mentees, we assist them with regards to the following key research areas:
Research design
Proposal development
Demarcating the parameters of research questions
How to choose a good research topic
How to narrow down a research topic
Identifying topics that are relevant for society’s needs
How to identify relevant sources for your research
Search techniques for compiling a literature review
Methodology: choosing a suitable methodology
Designing a chapter breakdown
Data collection and analysis
Editing techniques
Peer reviewing a document
Referencing: what it is, why it matters, how to do it, how to use various referencing tools
Sourcing funding for research (how to compile funding proposals)
Seminars for young and emerging researchers
Public speaking and conference presentation