Welcome

The mission of the Optentia Research Focus Area is to develop and organise knowledge for the optimal expression of individual, social and institutional potential, with specific interest in the African context. The research entity utilises the inputs from various disciplines, including Work, Educational, Clinical, Counselling and Research Psychology, Risk Management, Information Technology, Human Resource Management, Sociology, Educational Sciences, Employment Relations, and Social Work. These multidisciplinary inputs are used to study the optimisation of potential through an approach of moving “from precarity to capability”.

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Recent news

COVID-19 Corona Virus South African Resource Portal

For official information regarding COVID-19 and the Corona Virus please visit the COVID-19 Corona Virus South African Resource Portal. Visit Now.

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Towards a Curriculum for Coding and Robotics

Japie Greeff, leader of the programme “Technology, Capability and Functioning” in Optentia has been working with the Department of Basic Education to create a curriculum for coding and robotics for learners in Grade R ...Read article

Automation Taken to Court: A Case for Rising to the Challenge Over Delay

Technological advancements impact employment and wages through the displacement effect, in which tasks formerly done by workers are now completed by robots or other automation. At the same time, the positive productivity effect ma...Read article

The CAVE: Supporting Child Protection Social Workers in South Africa

“Very important workers, professionals, doing very important work in a very rough space and they’re just not cared for. Period.” This is how Dr Elmien Truter describes the reality of  Child Protection Social...Read article

Newsletter, December 2020