The NRF and HSRC sign historic Memorandum of Agreement  

Pretoria, South Africa: The National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) concluded an historic Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) on Thursday, 13 October 2022 to support research and research support activities in the humanities and social sciences. The MoA will result in a number of research initiatives by the two organisations.

“The MoA provides an overarching framework within which specific activities will be conceptualised, agreed upon and implemented by respective business divisions of the HSRC and the NRF. Further, it improves the efficiencies in implementing the relationship between the NRF and the HSRC,” said Dr Fulufhelo Nelwamondo, the NRF’s Chief Executive Officer.

In the recent past, the HSRC and NRF have collaborated in the implementation of the Science Granting Councils Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa. In this collaboration, the HSRC leads the initiative’s technical interventions to support the integration of gender and inclusivity in research and research support activities of the participating Sub-Saharan Africa Science Granting Councils (SGCs).

Of significance, the HSRC led a seminal study to contribute a greater understanding of intersectionality as a framework that supports inclusive gender transformation, with a focus on the strategic role of SGCs in advancing equality. Adopting a mixed methods design, the project aimed to establish the extent and the way in which an intersectional framework is integrated throughout the grant-making, human capital development and research cycles. It produced critical recommendations for action by science granting councils.

The signing of the new MoA will allow for continued engagement between the NRF and HSRC to support the SGCs in implementing recommendations advanced by the study.

Two additional projects will be implemented in the immediate term. Firstly, the HSRC, through Prof Sharlene Swartz, will provide academic leadership to the NRF in the execution of a new global research programme on young people and relational well-being in 12 countries in the Global South, namely Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Romania, Senegal, Tanzania, South Africa, and Vietnam.

Secondly, the NRF and HSRC will collaborate on a project on engaged research that seeks to explore ways in which an agenda can be established, and these research principles and methods be strengthened, sustained, and leveraged for impact across the NSI.

“This MOA provides an opportunity for the NRF and HSRC to collaborate seamlessly in the immediate and long term in implementing projects that contribute to building the research enterprise in South Africa, on the continent and beyond”, said Prof Leickness Simbayi, Acting CEO: HSRC.