NRF CEO Challenges Researchers to Move from Extraction to Co-Creation

Dr Fulufhelo Nelwamondo, CEO of the National Research Foundation (NRF), delivered a keynote address at the official opening of the HSRC/NRF Engaged Research Conference, which took place from 22 to 24 October 2025 at the Birchwood Hotel & OR Tambo Conference Centre in Gauteng.

The conference brought together researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and community stakeholders to explore how engaged research can help us find innovative solutions to South Africa’s and the world’s societal challenges. Organised by the HSRC and the NRF under the theme “Engaged Research as a Pathway to Bridging Knowledge and Society”, the conference provided a dynamic platform for knowledge exchange, collaboration, and impactful discussions on research that makes a difference.

Dr Nelwamondo delivered his address in the opening session that featured Prof Blade Nzimande, Minister of the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI); Dr Cassius Lubisi, Chairperson of the HSRC Board, Prof Sarah Mosoetsa, CEO of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). The opening programme also included two plenary sessions.

In a speech entitled “Engaged Research in the Global South in the 21st Century,” Dr Nelwamondo emphasised that engaged research calls for an urgent rethinking of how research is conducted in societies characterised by both immense potential and enduring inequality. “In our context, which is a context of deep talent and deep inequality; a context of extraordinary scientific promise and persistent structural constraints, how we do research matters as much as what research we do. In the Global South, the question is no longer whether science matters, but how it matters, to whom, and with what change. I want to say today, engaged research is our answer,” he said.

Added Dr Nelwamondo, “The NRF defines engaged research as research that integrates considered approaches to engage communities and society across the full research cycle so that communities are primarily stakeholders. They become active contributors and beneficiaries of the work. In other words, we must move from research on people to research with the people, and ultimately research for the people by the people.”

To deliver on this vision, Dr Nelwamondo outlined three non-negotiable shifts that must shape the future of research practice in the Global South.

• From Extraction to Co-Creation

Communities, he argued, must be at the heart of the research process — shaping questions, methods, data, and outcomes. “Co-creation and participatory approaches are no longer nice to have; they are the difference between clean consultation and shared ownership,” he said.

He added that genuine engagement must be reflected in practical commitments: “No engagement plan without an engaged budget, no data collection without data stewardship, and no authorship without authorship justice. This is the world we need to face.”

• From Outputs to Outcomes

Dr Nelwamondo challenged the traditional academic focus on publications as the primary measure of success. “Excellence does not end at the publication. I know as academics we’ve focused on publications,” he said. “It includes policy influence, practice change, and capability built in communities — and that requires knowledge brokering and research translation, policy briefs that are timely, toolkits that are usable, fellows that are embedded in the departments and in the municipalities, and feedback loops that reach classrooms, clinics and councils. That is what we require.”

• From Open by Default to Open and Ethical by Design

This entailed acknowledging that “the digital age expands research, but it also risks harm”, said Dr Nelwamondo. “We must pair FAIR data with dignity, in particular privacy, consent, data sovereignty, among others”, he said.

“When we use the low bandwidth, we need to be careful of access. We need to look into the multilingual tools; we need to adopt federated or systemic datasets and apply CARE principals for indigenous and local data. Digital should widen participation; it should not widen the divides as we have seen in the past,” added Dr Nelwamondo.

Echoing Dr Nelwamondo’s message, Prof Nzimande, said engaged research must go beyond knowledge production. “… What we understand to be engaged research must not just be concerned with shaping critical public policy and stimulating innovation and meaningful socio-economic transformations. Engaged research must also concern itself with designing a new set of human and social relations whose ultimate goal is the realisation of a more just and humane world,” said the Minister.