The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is proud to announce that Dr Carina Venter, from the Department of Music, has been awarded the highly prestigious Iso Lomso fellowship. Dr Venter, who held an Iso Lomso visiting scholar fellowship before, now has transitioned to a fully-funded three-year fellowship, reflecting her outstanding contributions to academia.
The fellowships, established in 2017, aims to bridge the gap between having completed one’s PhD studies and becoming an established scholar at a research institution or university. The programme seeks to nurture a new generation of African scholars, equipping them with the intellectual leadership skills necessary for the continent’s development.
During her residency as Iso Lomso visiting scholar, Dr Venter has demonstrated exceptional scholarly abilities. The Directorate and the Programme Committee of the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) agreed that she deserved being awarded a full fellowship.
The fellowship involves a combined residency period of nine months in total, spent between 2024 and 2026 at STIAS, as well as the possibility of residency at one of STIAS’s partner institutes for advanced studies or other prestigious scholarly environments. The residency period allows fellows to focus on developing and pursuing long-term research projects. STIAS provides an interdisciplinary space where fellows can think, write and receive valuable feedback on their research from fellow scholars in residence. Also, it offers an excellent opportunity to build relationships and networks with fellow residents from around the world. This international exposure will further enrich the research and contribute to intellectual growth.
The Faculty expresses its gratitude for this support for Dr Venter to embark on an exceptional academic adventure. The University is looking forward to witnessing her further growth and accomplishments as she contributes to intellectual leadership and development on the continent by means of her Iso Lomso fellowship.
“STIAS’s commitment to the development of early-career scholars through the Iso Lomso fellowships is exceptional. I owe a debt of gratitude to those mentors, friends and colleagues who have unstintingly supported my work and helped shape my thinking. I’m tremendously energised by this opportunity,” Dr Venter said.
