Dear Social Work Academics

My name is Yashna Gurcharan. I am currently registered for a PhD in Health Science at the Durban University of Technology.

You are being invited to consider participating in a study that involves advancing eco-social work through the transformation of practice and education in South Africa. The aim of the study is to understand how eco-social work is conceptualized, theorized and can be integrated within social work practice and education in South Africa.

This study will involve one-on-one semi-structured interview with academics staff either online (MS Teams) or face to face (You have the option to choose what suits you best).

Research participant criteria:

• Males and females of all race groups whose interest and expertise can be linked to eco-social work issues with publications on this topic.

If you are interested in being part of the study, please email me on:ygurcharan@gmail.com or 21325969@dut4life.ac.za

Please let me know when you are available and I will schedule the interview.

This study has been ethically reviewed and approved by the DUT Institutional Research Ethics Committee as per protocol reference number: IREC 272/22

Kindly find attached gatekeepers permission letter, ethical clearance letter, letter of information which outlines the details of this study.

We look forward to hearing from you and your participation will be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Yashna Gurcharan

Supervisor/s: Professor R Bhagwan (bhagwanr@dut.ac.za)