Igniting Ideas, Inspiring Impact: Inside Emeris’s First Research Celebration

Emeris marked a milestone on 5 November with its inaugural Research Celebration, a powerful demonstration of its commitment to purposeful scholarship. The event brought together the growing community of researchers and showcased a wide range of current research outputs from an expanding portfolio of Master’s and PhD programmes.

The Postgrad & Research Centre at Emeris is positioned to deliver meaningful and enriching postgraduate programmes.Our graduate candidates experience a vibrant and forward-looking knowledge and leadership culture as they partner with a faculty dedicated to help develop their networks and assist in disseminating their research contributions effectively.

Throughout the event, large scale poster executions displayed the research produced by graduates between 2020 and 2025. These executions ranged from the MBA, MCom, MA and PhD programmes in Commerce and Brand Leadership, to the MPhil programmes in Philosophy and Integrated Water Management. Three research presentations were showcased by the relevant candidates, each distinguished by transformational purpose and ideas that Emeris sees as integral to its identity in society, now and in the future. This year, the event also drew leading academics from other private and public institutions, further enriching the academic dialogue and strengthening collaborative ties.

Hlobisile Yende’s Master’s Research focused on how children are affected when a parent, often the breadwinner, is placed in detention. Her findings emphasise the need for more child-focused intervention and directed policy reform. Yende’s long term goal is to facilitate the building of centres where both young girls and boys can safely be accommodated when their parents are incarcerated.

Sabelo Mashwama’s Master’s research explored the barriers to the uptake and adoption of aquaponics farming in Acornhoek, a rural area of Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga Province. The research created a solid foundation for Sabelo to advance his work in aquaponics and rural farming. He has procured support and finances to establish aquaponics sites in Mpumalanga as well as in Randburg, comparing both rural and urban settings. He has also developed several support programmes for communities to maintain the long-term sustainability of the projects. Sabelo is currently completing his doctoral studies.

Doctoral candidate Michele O’Hara is investigating what the concept of brand respect means for expert brand building practitioners in Africa. The purpose of her research is to identify the relevant constituent parts contributing to brand respect with the intent to construct a framework with concrete guidelines for the operationalisation of purpose-driven brand building focused on achieving brand respect in a rapidly evolving brand-scape.

The research studies at Emeris address complex interdisciplinary challenges and the candidates and their supervisors are building research partnerships with a firm intent to make a meaningful difference.

The Postgrad & Research Centre looks forward to continuing this momentum and will host the next Research Celebration in 2027.