We teach judgement, not shortcuts.
The Draft Clinic was founded by Dr Kalonji, a molecular and computational biologist with a PhD in Molecular and Computational Biology. He has spent close to ten years mentoring, lecturing and tutoring students from first year to PhD, and still publishes regularly in international peer-reviewed journals. During his PhD he was twice named Best PhD Student, and he presented his research in Singapore to an audience that included Nobel Prize laureates.
We started because students were being told two contradictory things: that AI would do their work for them, and that using it at all was cheating. Neither is true. Used well, AI is a research and revision partner. Used badly, it produces the fluent, empty writing markers now recognise at a glance.
What we believe
- Your thinking stays yours. We never write, ghost-write or submit work on anyone’s behalf.
- Rules matter. We work within your institution’s AI policy, not around it.
- Evidence over fluency. Every claim should survive a source check.
- Context matters. Our examples come from South African and African academic settings.
Who we work with
Grade 12 learners preparing for university, undergraduates, honours, master’s and doctoral candidates, supervisors and lecturers, and working professionals who write reports and proposals. Sessions run online, so we work across South Africa and the region.