Dr Andiswa Mfengu

Room 6.02, Level 6, The Chancellor Oppenheimer Library/Hlanganani

Andiswa joined DKIS as a lecturer at the beginning of 2019, having previously worked in UCT Libraries as a librarian and distinguished herself through her academic work and commitment to engaged scholarship in library practice. Her PhD study focused on the Developing a Holistic Framework for Assessing Research Impact in South African Higher Education Institutions. It enquired into research impact assessment practices, challenges and best practice for assessing research impact across disciplinary spaces and engaged socially just and transformative approaches to assessing research impact that go beyond the academy and into the realms of African society, economy, public policy, services, the environment, etc. Andiswa is an emerging scholar in research impact assessment, and her research work focusses on holistic framework development for research impact assessment relevant to transformative and decolonizing contexts. She was awarded the National Research Foundation funded Black Academics Advancement Programme fellowship for 2021-2023.

Andiswa is a convener of the LIS Leadership & Management (LIS5032F) course in the MLIS programme as well as convenes Resource Planning & Use (LIS4052W) in the PGDip LIS programme. She has an interest in growing the culture of research in the Department, she co-convenes the DKIS Research Seminar Series and supervises at both the PGDIP and masters level.

She holds a BSc, a PGDipLIS, an MLIS, and a PhD all from UCT.

Her research interests include: Bibliometrics; Altmetrics; Impact Assessment; User Experience; Open Access; Open Access Publishing; Leadership and Management.

Research Publications

Mfengu, A. & Raju, J. 2024. Challenges with measures used for assessing research impact in higher education institutions. South African Journal of Science. 120(7/8): 1-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2024/14934

Mfengu, A. 2024. South African universities need to rethink how they evaluate research: social impact counts too. The Conversation - Africa. 16 September. Available: https://theconversation.com/south-african-universities-need-to-rethink-how-they-evaluate-research-social-impact-counts-too-237251 [2024, September 17].

Raju, J., Mfengu, A., Kahn, M. & Raju, R. 2019. The transition to open: a metrics analysis of discoverability and accessibility of LIS scholarship. South African Journal of Science, 115(7/8). doi: https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2019/5867.