The Editor-in-Chief of the African Journal of Psychological Assessment, Professor Sumaya Laher, delivered her inaugural lecture, themed The 4I = R² framework: Advancing an agenda for psychological assessment in South Africa, at the University of the Witwatersrand on 29 October 2020.

The unprecedented rise in the use of technologies across all sectors during COVID-19 hastened South Africa’s participation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). However access and distributional challenges in South Africa remain core concerns amidst a volatile and complex global context.

Psychology and psychological assessment in particular require a rethinking within this time and space. This lecture will present a brief history of assessment internationally and locally to contextualize the need for a 4I=R² approach to assessment in South Africa. The 4I=R² approach affords an opportunity for the discipline to advance beyond traditional assessment practices where the 4I’s of Inclusion, Indigenisation, Innovation and Impact will be discussed as necessary components for a relevant and responsive discipline. In so doing the lecture will present evidence where traditional forms of assessment are evolving in line with social contexts and technological developments.

The extent to which this aid in addressing challenges in the South African assessment landscape with regards to theory, policy and practice will be discussed together with what still needs to be done to meet the 4I=R² vision.

Listen to a recording of the lecture here: https://bit.ly/3nbyE9f