Postgraduate & Research Centre
Before you commit, here’s something you should know:
We’re motivated by the impact you’ll make—locally and globally. At Emeris, postgraduate study is about more than qualifications; it’s about vibrant support, real-world relevance, and academic excellence.
Our programmes, led by experienced academics and researchers, are designed to foster leadership, innovation, and timely completion. We actively showcase candidate work and pursue publication in respected journals.
We look forward to helping you find—and thrive in—your ideal postgraduate path.
Purpose Statement: The Water & Environment Hub seeks to understand the nexus between water, people and the environment in a southern African context. It has a specific focus on advancing research and innovation and building capacity in the field of water resources management, environmental conservation, and sustainable development guided by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Our work adopts an integrated social–ecological systems approach, recognising the interconnections between people and ecosystems, and the built environment. By embracing citizen science and partnering with communities, policymakers, and industry, we seek to build resilience and propose solutions that are both scientifically robust and contextually relevant for South Africa and the wider region.
Purpose Statement: Vega Brand and Design Research fosters enduring collaboration between academia and industry. At the heart of our work lies research in teaching and learning, particularly in cultivating creative strategic thinking and advancing the production of strategic creative work. Beyond this, we explore the challenges and opportunities that shape brand and design strategy, management, communication and leadership.
Proudly rooted in the African continent, we are committed to generating value for both academia and industry, ensuring that our research and practice remain relevant, impactful, and future-focused.
Purpose Statement: To engage and explore research in various areas associated with social transformation and justice; to collaborate across disciplines; and to contribute to the knowledge, development, experience and practices in these areas.
Purpose Statement: The Engineering Hub is dedicated to research with civic and societal impact, addressing real-world challenges in Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, and Electronic Engineering. Our work drives innovation in renewable energy, infrastructure, and engineering practice, with a strong emphasis on sustainable and socially responsive solutions.
By integrating enquiry-based learning with cutting-edge research, the Hub enables students, academics, and industry partners to collaborate on projects that deliver meaningful impact, advancing both community wellbeing and technological progress.
Purpose Statement: The knowledge nexus: Our purpose is to inspire and motivate academics by fostering a research-driven environment in support of quality research in the field of teacher education.
We aim to cultivate a collaborative space where diverse ideas, innovation, and interdisciplinary learning converge.
Purpose Statement: To explore various phenomena related to physical and mental health; service learning; psychological inquiry and sociological perspectives.
We aim to understand the landscapes of health and humanities through interdisciplinary research across our networks.
Purpose Statement: To explore diverse phenomena within commerce, finance, and accounting, including areas such as corporate governance, entrepreneurship, financial reporting, auditing, taxation, economics, marketing, business management and leadership. We aim to advance responsible and innovative practices that address contemporary challenges and opportunities. In doing so, we align our research with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), embedding sustainability as a guiding principle while engaging with students, scholars, industry, government, and broader societal stakeholders.
Purpose Statement: The ICT4D Lab (ICT for Development) is a research space where we explore how technology can be leveraged to address social inequalities and improve lives. Central to our approach is community-based co-design, working respectfully with affected communities and stakeholders to co-create solutions that are not only innovative, but also contextually relevant and sustainable within the environments and communities where they are implemented.
Alongside this, the School of Computer Science hosts the Design Loop, our Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) Lab. While it extends beyond ICT4D to broader HCI challenges, its research remains firmly grounded in the South African context, with a strong focus on designing technologies and interactions that are inclusive, impactful, and responsive to the lived realities of local users and communities.
Together, these research spaces reflect our commitment to advancing knowledge and innovation that is both globally informed and locally meaningful.
An educational brand of The Independent Institute of Education
Formed by the strategic evolution of The IIE's Varsity College, IIE MSA, Vega and
the School of Hospitality and Service Management, uniting under the Emeris name.
Emeris is an educational brand of The Independent Institute of Education (Pty) Ltd which is registered with the Department of Higher Education and Training as a private higher education institution under the Higher Education Act, 1997 (reg. no. 2007/HE07/002). Company registration number: 1987/004754/07. View certificate here.
