With presentations from Prof. Jacqui Akhurst, Prof. Lisa Saville Young with Juliette van Besouw (who did her Honours project on the work); and postgraduates Jabulile Mavuso and Ryan du Toit representing CSSR, the psychology department was well represented at the first ever Community Engaged Learning symposium arranged by Rhodes University Community Engagement (RUCE) office 4-6 May, 2015: see https://www.ru.ac.za/communityengagement/ceweek/
The presentation topics from Psychology were:
‘Community-based learning in psychology: developments and comparisons between South Africa and the UK’ - Prof. Jacqui Akhurst
‘GASP: Let’s Talk about Sex and Gender’ - Jabulile Mavuso and Ryan du Toit
‘“If we had a really good session you feel good… if you have a bad session you kinda leave and you’re like.. is it worth it, are we helping?” A Psychosocial analysis of student volunteers experiences of a home visiting community engagement programme’ – Prof. Lisa Saville Young with Juliette van Besouw
These are some examples of the breadth of community-based work being done in the department. The symposium was an exciting opportunity to hear about work in 26 presentations from across the Rhodes campus, and also to hear from representatives of seven other SA universities. The centralised co-ordinating role played by RUCE, and in particular their training and support of student volunteers, enable hundreds of students each year to be involved in 'giving something back' and developing cv-enhancing skills.
Sent from my iPad