22/10/2021

The Department of Construction Management at Nelson Mandela University has become home to a new biannual Journal, the 1st to be housed in the department in this the 50th year of presentation of the BSc Construction Management programme.
 
Prof Winston Shakantu has been the driver for the creation of the Journal and with the assistance of Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dr Ayo Adeniran, the 1st edition of the Journal was published earlier this year, with the 2nd to follow in a couple of months.
The reasons for the creation of this journal include the following: 
1. Providing a new and unique record of scholarly activity in Construction and Human Settlements Management while presenting an African perspective to the academic community; 
2. Scholarly recognition in a core research area for the University and by extension to the name of the Great world icon Nelson Mandela; 
3. Creation and sharing of new ideas and knowledge which will contribute to the economic and cultural development of the built environment in South Africa, Africa, and beyond; 
4. Supporting the goals of the University by giving national and international recognition to African research demonstrating the university’s ability to compete with other research agencies in the production of knowledge, while also forming the basis of new collaborations, between local, regional, or international researchers, research departments, and institutions. 
5. The publication will help to close the “knowledge gap” between the developed nations and the often-overlooked ideas, innovations, and discoveries from the African continent;   
6. The enrichment of knowledge in the research areas of construction and human settlements management; and,
7. The Journal will, through the sharing of local knowledge and perspectives, make local research more visible throughout Africa and to researchers, students, and scholars globally.
 
The Journal intends to bring together current research papers based on theoretical insights, empirical testing of ‘accepted’ theory, literature reviews, case studies and papers which present conceptually new and thoughtful arguments, whether theory or policy focused, in the sphere of Construction Management, Human Settlements and Built Environment in its broadest sense. Prof Shakantu and Dr Adeniran, co-editors of the journal, are on the lookout for unpublished papers, which are not under review in any other conference or journal. Please visit the Journal website: https://sbe.mandela.ac.za/Construction-and-Human-Settlements-Management-Jour for details and email: Journal-chsm@mandela.ac.za with your paper.