The NIHSS BRICS project

This is a collaborative initiative of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) grant that involves the SARChI Teacher Education at CPUT, the Centre of Excellence in Teacher Education at Tata University of Science and Technology, Mumbai and the SARChI Teaching and Learning at UJ. It is a seminar series which runs four scholarly engagements with the outcome of peer reviewed publications.

This project is framed around crises and disruptions, driven largely by the Covid-19 pandemic in India and South Africa and how these countries sought to mitigate the effects of the crises and disruptions. A key objective of the project is to work collectively and collaboratively with

researchers, academics and postgraduate students through discussion and debate by developing and implementing a rigorous and high-level symposium module that tackles issues as well as re- imagining research, teaching and learning during crises and disruptions in education. To achieve this, four hybrid symposia were planned. Three have taken place in South Africa and one in India, with the fourth taking place in India in January 2023. Two publication outputs are in process; these include a Special Issue and a monograph by PHD students and PDRFs.

Team members: Shireen Motala, Yusuf Sayed, Padma Sarangapani, Rekha Pappu, Meera Chandran, Marcina Singh and Otilia Chiramba.

One student, Emelda Tantoh, continues her doctoral studies in this area.