Associate Professor

Job Overview

University of the Western Cape ->
Community & Health Sciences ->
Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Children, Families and Society (CISCFS)

Type of Position:
Permanent - Full Time

Closing Date: 13/2/2026

The University of the Western Cape (UWC) enjoys national and international acclaim for its ongoing contributions to democratic change in South Africa and for making quality education accessible to all South Africans, while developing centres of excellence of national importance. The successful candidate will join a dynamic and supportive Faculty dedicated to teaching, research, and overall student development. The ideal candidate will be highly motivated and willing to make a significant contribution to the development of the Faculty.

The post requires the incumbent to develop, grow, and drive the field of family science at UWC, which is nationally and internationally recognised. The CISCFS is UWC’s interdisciplinary hub advancing the science and practice of family wellbeing. The CISCFS offers a Postgraduate Diploma, a Masters by full‑thesis and a PhD, all in Child and Family Studies, drawing from multiple disciplines (social work, psychology, law, education) with approximately 100 students across programmes.

Our graduate success is evidenced in 100+ Masters graduates since 2008, 25 PhD graduates since 2016, demonstrating consistent throughput. The staff in the CISCFS have partnerships locally, nationally and internationally.

• Learning and Teaching:
  Facilitate learning and teaching at postgraduate levels in the CISCFS; undertake curriculum development, innovation and assessment; contribute to cross‑faculty teaching; design short courses/professional training in family research and practice.
• Research leadership:
  Set the research intention for CISCFS; conduct research and publish in the field of family studies; provide mentorship and guidance in the delivery of research methods in families in diverse contexts; responsible for securing funding or third‑stream income; build winning proposals; run the projects on time, on budget, to spec; supervise Honours/Master’s/PhD to completion; mentor postdocs and early‑career academics.
• Community Engagement:
  Undertake community engagement and outreach.
• Centre leadership and stewardship:
  Strategic planning, people management, budgets, compliance, M&E, and reporting.
• Stakeholder & policy engagement:
  Translate evidence into action: policy briefs, round tables, implementation guidance, media.
• Knowledge translation:
  Open science practices, data governance, and impactful dissemination.

• PhD in Family Studies/Child & Family Studies, Psychology, Social Work, Sociology, Public Health, or closely related field.
• Demonstrable expertise in the study of the family or aspects of the family.
• Track record of quality peer‑reviewed publications in family research.
• Successful postgraduate supervision to completion.
• Grant success (PI/Co‑I on externally funded projects).
• 5+ years in a higher education institution or research institute.
• Evidence of national standing and emerging international networks.
• Evidence of community engagement.

• NRF rating.
• Leadership of a centre/programme or large consortium.
• Policy advisory experience.
• Strengths in impact evaluation, causal inference, implementation science, or advanced qualitative approaches.
• African regional collaborations.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
• Presentation and facilitation skills.
• Adaptability and the ability to operate in a diverse environment.
• Student‑focused approach.
• High‑quality supervision skills.
• Coaching and mentoring skills.
• Planning and organising skills.
• Computer literacy.
• Technical professional knowledge and skills in the discipline and in the core strategic areas, namely learning and teaching, research and scholarship, community engagement as well as professional leadership.
• Data‑literate, open‑science friendly, and tech‑savvy.

In your application, you are encouraged to highlight your strengths and include anything else you deem exceptional and outstanding to be considered by the selection panel. In…