Experience

Dirk has considerable experience in applying for and managing research funding. This dates back to his term as Director of the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cape Town during the 1980s, when he managed to persuade the Ford Foundation to support cutting-edge, politically relevant criminological research during the South African State of Emergency and beyond.

Some Research Awards

Dirk has applied successfully for several research grants to support his own research over the years. These include an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship in 1886 and 1993, a Fulbright Senior African Fellowship in 1997 and a Max Planck Fellowship in 2015. He also received a Grant for Established Researchers from the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa in 1993. In the UK he has received research grants from the Arts and Humanities Research Council in 2007- 2008 and from the British Academy in 2011. From 2021 to 2023 held a Leverhulme Emeritus Research Fellowship.

Managing Research Funding

As Director of the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cape Town from 1982 -1989 and again in 1998-1999, Dirk was responsible for the research budget of all the scholars working at the Institute.

In 2014 Dirk became the project leader for a large Research Project Grant from the Leverhulme Trust to study Life imprisonment Worldwide. This Project, which employed six researchers, ran successfully until its completion in 2017.