Dr Aldo Stroebel

Dr Aldo Stroebel is the Acting Group Executive Strategy, Planning and Partnerships, and Executive Director Strategic Partnerships. He serves as South Africa’s National Contact Point for the European Research Council, as Board Member of the Water Research Commission, as the co-chairperson of the Executive Support Group of the Global Research Council, and as Council Member of IIASA. He is a Foreign Fellow of the Ugandan National Academy of Science, a Senior Fellow of the Pan-African Scientific Council, and a founding member of the SA Young Academy of Science (SAYAS). Education credentials: University of Pretoria (BSc- and Hons-degrees); University of Ghent, Belgium (Masters in International Agricultural Development); University of the Free State and Cornell University, USA (PhD); Postdoctoral research at Wageningen University, The Netherlands.

Prior to his role at the NRF, he was an Associate Professor in Sustainable Agriculture at the University of the Free State (UFS), Founding Director of International Affairs, and subsequently seconded to the Office of the Vice-Chancellor as Advisor and Director Strategic Programmes. At UFS and at the University of Pretoria (UP), he was involved in the designing and implementation of numerous policy, organisational and development systems and strategies for the management and mentoring of multicultural teams, and establishing and guiding multi-sectoral partnerships and networks in support of research and innovation. At UP, he coordinated the multi-country regional Integrated Rural Development Programme, funded by the WK Kellogg Foundation.

He is a former Board Member of the Agricultural Research Council, and has recently led its Institutional Review. Specialist engagements include consultations for the IUCN, World Bank, and LuxAid; expert input to the German BMBF; and he has served as the President of the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA) as President and Vice-President.

He has been a participant and often key driver of very prominent initiatives, confirming his commitment to the transformative power of higher education, reflected for example in his involvement with the African Union Commission (AUC) in its Committee of Ten (Co10) Heads of State appointed to champion the role of science, technology and innovation in Africa.

He is currently leading and directing significant initiatives including the African Open Science Platform (AOSP), the recent award of the Future Earth Global Africa Hub to the NRF, and the Science Granting Councils Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa. He has established extensive international professional networks which span the global higher education research, policy and funding spheres.

He is the 2022 recipient of the SARIMA Research Management Excellence Award.