The National Research Foundation (NRF) has highlighted that it celebrated its creation 25 years ago, this week. The NRF is the statutory body that supports and promotes research through the provision of research facilities, funding and human resource development.

“The NRF stands proud as one of South Africa’s statutory bodies that has made significant impact to society,” pointed out NRF CEO Dr Fulufhelo Nelwamondo. “We continue to fulfil our mandate of ensuring that South Africa has the necessary human capital for careers in research, and the NRF supports the advancement of knowledge creation and innovation for national benefit and for humanity in general.”

The NRF started operating on April 1, 1999. It was created by the merger of two pre-existing research funding agencies, the Foundation for Research Development and the Centre for Science Development.

“Our twenty-fifth anniversary is a key milestone for the national science system. Ours is an institution that holds the hopes of so many across our public science and research institutions,” he affirmed. “From students to researchers, everyone looks forward to a stable and impactful NRF. We do not come short of meeting these expectations, and for that we are proud of our diligent employees and the Department of Science and Innovation for their unwavering support.”

In terms of human resource development, to date the NRF has created 275 research Chairs (professorships) at 23 South African universities and nine science councils, and funded 15 200 researchers. It has also supported 99 700 postgraduate students. The proportion of African, coloured and Indian researchers supported went from 17% in 1999 to 58% in 2022, while that of women researchers supported rose from 17% in 1999 to 50% in 2022. The proportion of African, coloured and Indian students supported increased from 48% in 1999 to 84% in 2022. The proportion of women students supported rose from 44% to 59% over the same period.

The NRF is a partner, along with other local and international organisations, in the OR Tambo Africa Research Chairs Initiative, to strengthen research and innovation in Africa. So far, ten such research chairs have been created, in seven countries – Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Regarding research facilities, the NRF has funded or helped fund the Southern African Large Telescope, the MeerKAT radio telescope array (and its KAT-7 prototype) and the mid-frequency instrument of the international Square Kilometre Array radio telescope (now under construction). Other research facilities supported by the NRF include the iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator Based Sciences and the South African Isotopes Facility.

Individual research programmes wholly or partly funded by the NRF are too many to enumerate.

“The NRF will continue to play its part in the national drive to transform the science sector,” concluded Dr Nelwamondo. “As part of the NRF’s Vision 2030, we are implementing programmes designed to contribute directly to the National Development Plan to increase the percentage of Doctoral qualified staff in the higher education sector to over 75% by 2030 through directed programmes such as the Black Academics Advancement Programme, Thuthuka, and the New Generation of Academics Programme.”