Professional engagement
I am involved in various professional societies, most prominently at the Economic History Society of Southern Africa (EHSSA). In 2021, I was elected to serve as President of EHSSA and previously served as its Vice-President and a board member. The main duties are to ensure the continuation of the Society’s functions, like the publishing of the journal and to expand membership. The journal published by EHSSA is the Economic History of Developing Regions. Further, I assist Prof James Fenske in organising monthly online seminars.
I am also a member of the Economic History Society in the United Kingdom and the Economic History Association in the United States. For my research on the French Huguenots, I joined the Huguenot Society based in the United Kingdom.
Community engagement
Community engagement involves taking academic research and making this available to the general public. To achieve this, I have published various articles on The Conversation website that aims to achieve this outreach. I list these articles below.
Yu, Derek and Christie Swanepoel (2021). Granular understanding of joblessness in South Africa can help pinpoint policies. The Conversation Article. Available here.
Swanepoel, Christie, Derek Yu and Rochelle Beukes (2021). Why students don’t attend lectures: what we found at a South African university. The Conversation Article. Available here.
I have also been a participant in a UWC Corporate Webinar. The webinar was hosted by Bruce Whitfield on 5 November 2020 and discussed the role of Universities in the Post COVID-19 Economic recovery.
As mentioned in Curriculum design and development, I would like to take my ECO740 students to archives once in-person teaching resumes fully. This will make them aware of data that is available in the archives and make them aware of the importance of document preservation. I have approached Ms Erika Le Roux at the Western Cape Archives and Repository services in Cape Town for such a field trip, but other options are UWC's own Robben Island archive and the National Library in Cape Town.