Funding research for impact can transform lives, says NRF executive director
Funding research is not only about handing out money. It is an investment that can extend far beyond the actual qualification it might provide for.
This distinction was emphasised in Dr Mbulelo Ncango’s presentation at the recent Universities South Africa’s (USAf’s) 3rd Higher Education Conference in Pretoria. At one point he began speaking of “funding”, paused for a second, before continuing with “or rather, investing in research for impact” – a substitution of words that underlined the power of what he was referring to.
Dr Ncango (right) is Senior Manager: Next Generation and Emerging Researchers at the National Research Foundation (NRF). He spoke under the banner of Funding University Research for Impact: Funding Opportunities, which formed part of the conference session, The University as an Impactful Societal Resource.
The directorate that Dr Ncango heads supports next-generation, early career/emerging researchers and institutional research capabilities. He prefaced his snapshot of the NRF by explaining its mandate, which centres on:
- advancing knowledge with the focus on supporting research, provisioning research infrastructure and equipment;
- transforming lives through support of postgraduate students and emerging researchers and the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) at universities;
- inspiring the nation with the focus on science engagement through education, awareness, communication; and thus
- strengthening and supporting the system of innovation.
“We’re looking at building of partnerships, synergies and providing system-wide information,” he said.
Funding is about human development
Dr Ncango said under the NRF’s strategic Vision 2030: Reimagining the Future, they were changing the way they think about funding postgraduate students. It’s no longer about thinking of them only as students but rather perceiving them as possible emerging researchers or even SARChI chairs.
“So, we are now conceptualising our funding programmes so that we are able to fund this pipeline,” he said.
The NRF also facilities placement of these students internationally for periods of three to 18 months.
NRF facts and figures
He presented the numbers of students and researchers the NRF– as a government-mandated research and science development agency– is supporting via its Research, Innovation, Impact Support and Advancement (RIISA) multi-disciplinary funding division:
- 4 591 rated researchers comprising 134 A-rated, 797 B-rated, 2 815 C-rated, 825 Y-rated and 20 P-rated scholars
- 16 active Centres of Excellence at universities and 275 SARChI chairs at universities
- 5 931 funded students comprising 2 109 honours, 2 032 master’s and 1 790 doctoral students; and
- a total of 2 571 researchers of whom 1 265 are emerging researchers.
He said the numbers have changed over the years and not always in the direction one would expect.
For instance, in 2018 the agency supported 12 782 students, of whom 73% were black South Africans, 53% were SA women, and 44% were black SA women.
By 2022, they were supporting 6 697 students, of whom 84% were black South Africans, 59% were SA women, and 52% were black SA women.
“We’ve been seeing quite a significant decline in the number of the funded postgraduate students. This is largely due to the fact that in 2021 the NRF introduced the postgraduate student funding policy, where provision increased from R60,000 to about R180 000 per student but there was no injection of new money,” he said. However, plans were now underway to provide additional resources.
Aim of NRF funding
“To what end does the NRF want to fund?” asked Dr Ncango. “To be productive, to transform the system, to be impactful, innovative and sustainable but above all, it’s about ‘Research for a better society’,” he said, ending with the NRF tagline.
Gillian Anstey is a contract writer for Universities South Africa.
