18 RESEARCH & INNOVATION For the 2025 reporting year, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) approved 37.2 publication units from the faculty’s 2023 submission. In addition, 12 creative research units were awarded from the 2024 submission. The reduction in accredited publication units reflects a cyclical effect inherent to the DHET reporting system, where outputs are confirmed two to three years after production. The 2025 figures therefore correspond to research activity undertaken during the 2022 period. During this time the faculty also placed increased emphasis on practice-based and creative research, which typically has longer accreditation lead times and less predictable approval outcomes than conventional textual publications. As a result, while scholarly activity remained active, the mix of outputs temporarily affected the number of confirmed publication units. The faculty has since strengthened its research pipeline, with particular focus on advancing from preparation to publication stage while maintaining support for creative practice research. Unaudited internal tracking indicates that 2025 output is projected to reach approximately 73 units, including 19 creative outputs submitted to the DHET for accreditation. This suggests a recovery of research productivity as the revised pipeline matures. FADA Postdoctoral Research Fellows Over the past four years the Faculty has consolidated and expanded its Postdoctoral Research Fellow (PDRF) programme, stabilising the number of fellows at eight per year while progressively integrating them into the academic core of the faculty. Initially concentrated within research centres, the programme has evolved into a distributed model in which PDRFs are increasingly hosted within academic departments. While research centres hosted the majority of fellows between 2021 and 2023, by 2025 departmental placements had increased significantly. This shift reflects a deliberate strategy to embed research activity directly within teaching environments, strengthening postgraduate supervision capacity, supporting honours and master’s curricula, and contributing to publication outputs. The total number of fellows has remained stable at eight annually since 2023, providing sustained support for research production, postgraduate mentoring, and the development of emerging research areas. 2025 Cumulus presentation
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