Transcript Presentation

The status of social sciences
and humanities research in
South Africa
Dr. Olive Shisana
President and CEO
Human Sciences Research Council
Presented at the
Social sciences and humanities in Europe:
New challenges, new opportunities
13 December 2005
Current state of social science
and humanities in South Africa
• Prior to 1994 social sciences research in South Africa largely
excluded the majority of the population
• It was largely qualitative in nature;
• Post-1994, there has been an explosion of quantitative social
science research: national household surveys done by
STATSsa, HSRC, CASE
• 1st national household survey was carried out in 1993 when the
ANC requested data for decision-making on poverty and
income inequality
• Findings used by the post-apartheid government
Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP)
• Household survey data has now transformed the way social
science research is being done… more quantitative, more
policy-focused
• Research carried out in universities, science councils, NGOs,
research organizations, private research organizations, policy
research institutes (individually or at times collaboratively)
Knowledge-production by sector,
South Africa
Key Areas of Social Science
Research in South Africa
• Poverty and income inequality surveys (crosssectional and longitudinal)
• Political opinion surveys -voting behaviour
• Crime surveys: perpetrators and victims
• Demographic Health Surveys
• HIV/AIDS national surveys
• Labour Force Surveys
• Birth-to-20 longitudinal surveys
• International maths and science study
• Education Surveys
• General Houshold Surveys
Quality of social science and humanities
research, research infrastructure and
human resources
• Overall all scientific output: About 55% of South Africans
scientific production appears in ISI indexed-journals.” The SA
Knowledgebase currently contains information on more than
99 000 articles produced by South African authors between
1990 and 2004. “
• Universities are given incentives for publishing peer-reviewed
articles; science councils use peer-reviewed articles as a key
performance indicator.
• Plethora of journals, most with enough researchers to support
them
• South Africa has a large pool of researchers, but is aging
• Social science research is partly funded by the state in
universities and science councils, and largely by private and
donor funding
• Donor funding seldom pays for core costs: salaries,
accommodation, library, etc.
• Endowment is a rarity
Future direction of social science
and humanities in South Africa
• More impact assessment research
• More intervention oriented research, in addition to crosssectional research
• More panel studies aiming to produce knew knowledge
• More multi-disciplinary research that combines social
sciences with non-social sciences, leading to more
comprehensive research agenda
• More international multi-site, multi-country studies that
permit comparative analysisin Africa, Europe, et al.
• Increase in regional and continental research in Africa
• Increase in humanities- using lens of history, culture,
language to understand societies
• Better co-ordinated research
• Creation of implementation networks to increase impact
of research
The role of social sciences and
humanities in addressing key challenges
and opportunities South Africa is facing
• South Africa is facing key development
challenges: poverty, inadequate service delivery,
high unemployment, poor quality of education,
HIV/AIDS and land reform.
• Social scientists regularly respond to
government tenders and seek donor funding to
conduct research that addresses these
challenges.
Funding of Social Sciences and
Humanities in South Africa
• OECD investment in R&D average across public and private
sectors is 2.15% of GDP. For South Africa, it is 0.81%.
• Higher Education research is conducted within the natural
sciences (38.3%): life sciences, agriculture, information and
computing, and physical sciences.
• The social sciences (incl. economic sciences) and humanities
(32.4%),
• Health and medical research (20.9%) and
• Engineering (8.4%).
• The data shows that the largest single group of researchers
(35.8%) indicated that their research is conducted for the
purpose of making a contribution to economic development.
Research to support the health sector (17.3%) and research in
the pursuit of new discoveries or new understanding/s (17.7%)
constituted the other main categories.
National agenda which corresponds to
global issues and the relative priority
accorded to these
National and Global priorities
• Poverty alleviation (including
service delivery: access to water,
sanitation, health, education)
• Unemployment and economic
growth
• HIV/AIDS prevention, care and
impact mitigation
• Quality of education
• Human rights ( include gender)
Human Sciences Research Council
HSRC COUNCIL
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PRESIDENT AND CEO
Dr Olive Shisana
GENDER & DEVELOPMENT
Prof. Cheryl Potgieter
International Liaison
Business Development
Corporate Communications
Council Secretariat
Internal Audit
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Mr Mike de Klerk
SAHARA
Dr Gail Andrews
PUBLICATIONS
Mr Garry Rosenberg
CROSS
CUTTERS
FINANCE
Mr Martin Fox
KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS
Prof. Michael Kahn
POLICY UNIT
Vacant
IT
Mr Gerald O’Sullivan
EMPLOYMENT,
GROWTH & DEV.
Dr Miriam Altman
HR
Ms Vicky Tlhabanelo
IS
Ms Faye Reagon
EDUCATION
QUALITY
Dr Anil Kanjee
SOCIAL ASPECTS
OF HIV/AIDS
& HEALTH
Vacant
DEMOCRACY &
GOVERNANCE
Prof. Adam Habib
EDUCATION,
SCIENCES & SKILLS
DEVELOPMENT
Dr Andre Kraak
SUPPORT
SERVICES
CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT
Dr Romilla Maharaj
OPS
Ms Adeola Adesanya
URBAN, RURAL &
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
Dr Udesh Pillay
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES
SOCIETY,
CULTURE &
IDENTITY
Dr Xolela Mangcu
CHILD, YOUTH &
FAMILY
DEVELOPMENT
Prof. Linda Richter
COUPE indicators Mar.‘01-'05
COUPE
Definition
%
Target
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 05/06
Contracts/
grants
Research earnings as a
percentage of total research
income
21
Outreach
Percentage of projects with
external participation
22
Users
Percentage of competitive
tenders that are successful
24 43
Performanc
e:
Equity
Performanc
e:
Efficiency
Excellence:
Publication
s
Excellence:
Qualificatio
64
51
Percentage of black
researchers (excluding
interns)
55
33
40
*
51
30
Percentage of researchers in
total staff
Refereed journal articles, per
researcher head, as %,
unadjusted
62
23
Percentage of researchers
with Masters or Doctorate
* 58% including interns
55
53
60
79
75
64
92
90
Perception and assessment of needs and
opportunities for international cooperation
• Global issues- poverty, unemployment and economic
growth, quality of education, HIV/AIDS
• Supporting the build-up of international research
communities: -capacity building in quantitative research
and multi-disciplinary research
• Providing infrastructure for internationally comparative
research- multi-country research studies
• Establishment of research teams across the borders;
joint proposal writing, sharing experiences in translation
of research to policy options, facilitating implementation
of science-based recommendations
• Research fellowship programme
Common research areas between
Europe and South Africa
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Growth, employment and competitiveness
Sustainable livelihoods
Poverty
Migration
Identity, diversity, culture and social cohesion
Contribution of cultural production to economic
performance
• HIV/AIDS
• Impact of research on policy