Scholarship has many dimensions, such as the scholarship of research/discovery; the scholarship of integration, application, and teaching; and the scholarship of public and democratic engagement where knowledge is co-constructed. These broader notions of scholarship challenge the traditional understanding of a university and position scholars and researchers in a broader socio-economic, historical, and cultural context. Design as a field developed and widened as a result of new challenges and opportunities – for example the fourth industrial revolution – and changes in the discipline. In addition to these shifts, South African design researchers are challenged by the need and capacity that drive the different dimensions of scholarship in the pursuit of locally relevant, African knowledge. Modes 1 to 3 of the Knowledge Development Model is used as a broad theoretical framework.

The purpose of this study is to explore local research capacity in the communication design field in the context of 4IR, African Scholarship and shifts in the domain. The paper starts with a theoretical exploration of the multi-dimensional nature of scholarship, research, and research capacity. This is followed by an analysis of research activities in the widening field of communication design. Insights are based on desk research such as accredited research output and government research reports. The desk research comprised a discussion on purposively selected research projects on communication design and examples of collaborations and was supplemented by explanations from the research leads and participants.

The last part of the paper discusses the indicators, shortcomings, challenges, and opportunities, as identified during the research. The paper contributes to the discourse on the development of research capacity in the pursuit of African scholarship in design, which is relevant to the fourth industrial revolution.