Lecturer – Community Engagement & Service‑Learning

About the role

The Community Engagement Department seeks a qualified academic to provide leadership across teaching, research and community engagement, focusing on Service‑Learning and social innovation.

Key responsibilities

• Collaborate with academics and departments to strengthen external engagement through Service‑Learning programmes, including designing and delivering short courses in Service‑Learning, engaged research, digital storytelling and social innovation.
• Teach on the Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education Community Engagement.
• Support monitoring and evaluation of Service‑Learning, including institutional reporting.
• Lead and promote transdisciplinary research focused on social innovation and local economic development, producing scholarly outputs such as peer‑reviewed articles, conference papers and public scholarship.
• Manage the Rhodes University Social Innovation Hub, delivering accredited short courses for academics, students and community partners.
• Participate in the RU Masakhe Economic Development Stakeholder Committee, providing administrative and strategic support for city‑wide initiatives.
• Promote integrated praxis of community engagement with academics and students.

Required profile

• Master’s degree in a relevant discipline, preferably Humanities or Social Science.
• Willingness to register for a PhD.
• Experience in community development and community engagement.
• Demonstrated ability to teach at postgraduate level.
• Proven track record of research and scholarly publication.

Required skills

• Service‑Learning programme design and delivery.
• Digital storytelling.
• Social innovation and enterprise development.
• Monitoring and evaluation of community‑engagement initiatives.