South Africa
Dr Mbulelo Ncango
Executive Director | The National Research Foundation (NRF)
“South Africa’s research performance is disproportionately good relative to the low level of investment in research and the country’s smaller research capacity.
We are clearly punching above our weight, and I’m quite optimistic about the future of South Africa.”
Key points:
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South Africa faces an urgent need to develop the next generation of researchers, with many senior professors approaching retirement age and a critical need for fresh perspectives in innovation and entrepreneurship.
- The NRF has made significant strides in transformation, increasing support for Black South African Postgraduate students from 73% to 86% and women from 53% to 61% between 2018-2023.
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Despite limited research funding compared to peer nations, South Africa is "punching above its weight" in research output and international collaboration.
- There's a pressing need to shift from viewing research as an expenditure to seeing it as an investment in South Africa's future.
The National Research Foundation (NRF) plays a crucial role in developing South Africa’s next generation of researchers and scientists. In this interview, Dr Mbulelo Ncango discusses how the NRF is transforming the research landscape while building an innovation-driven future for South African science.
Innovation Report: Could you introduce yourself and tell us about your role at the NRF?
Dr Mbulelo Ncango: I’m originally from a small mining town called Welkom in the Free State province. I completed my undergraduate studies through to PhD at the University of the Free State (UFS) in 2010, followed by a post-doctoral research fellowship at the same university. I then joined the Agricultural Research Council – Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Crops (ARC-ITSC) in Nelspruit Mpumalanga as Plant Pathologist and department head. In this role I was tasked with managing the Post Entry Quarantine (PEQ) of citrus as well as citrus gene bank collection (regarded as a national asset) with 530 different citrus varieties on behalf of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and fisheries (DAFF).
I joined the NRF in 2015 as director of postgraduate education, and this year I was appointed Executive Director responsible for Next Generation and Emerging Researcher Programs. This involves funding provision for honours, masters and PhD students, as well as post-doctoral fellows and emerging researchers. I previously also managed the infrastructure portfolio dealing with strategic research equipment (SRE) and national equipment programs (NEP).
Innovation Report: How would you describe the NRF’s approach to human resource development and next-generation researchers?
Dr Mbulelo Ncango: We have five strategic objectives. First, we want to create an enabling environment for developing individual research capabilities. Second, we aim to contribute to establishing a transformed, internationally competitive, and sustainable knowledge workforce. Third, we’re advancing equity and transformation through implementing the post-graduate student funding policy.
Fourth, we’re focused on enhancing transformation and equity in the emerging researcher cohort by increasing its size and composition, aligned with the Human Capital Development strategy for research innovation and scholarship. Finally, we’re creating platforms that increase international networking opportunities for exceptional doctoral students, post-doctoral fellows, and emerging researchers, working closely with South Africa’s 26 public universities and other research institutions.
Innovation Report: Why is developing the next generation of researchers crucial for South Africa’s future?
Dr Mbulelo Ncango: Looking at our rated researchers, the majority are senior professors nearing or past retirement age. The national system of innovation hasn’t yet built sufficient capacity for people to take over from them. There’s urgency for organizations like the NRF to mobilize resources around funding post-graduate students and emerging researchers.
Beyond capacity issues, young researchers bring fresh perspectives that seasoned researchers might not. For instance, they’re more open to integrating technology into research and embracing entrepreneurship. While senior researchers were trained along classical lines – focusing on publications, journal rankings, citations, and student graduations – younger researchers are more focused on commercialization, entrepreneurship, innovation, and impact.
Innovation Report: What motivated you to take up this role in developing the next generation?
Dr Mbulelo Ncango: My passion really stems from my love for human capacity development, and it’s quite personal. When I reflect on my own PhD supervision and post-doctoral fellowship experience – while nothing went wrong – it made me question certain systemic issues. I felt the only way I could bring about change was by joining organisations like the NRF, where we can think about human capacity development in ways that are impactful and make a real difference in people’s lives.
Innovation Report: Could you highlight some of the NRF’s recent achievements in human capacity development, particularly regarding transformation?
Dr Mbulelo Ncango: If we look at the 2018 academic year, the NRF was funding about 73% South African Black students and 53% South African women, with South African Black women at 44%. Fast forward to 2023, we’re now funding 86% South African Black students, 61% South African women, and South African Black women have increased to 54%. This shows the organisation’s intentionality in fostering transformation.
But it’s not just about numbers funded – we need to look at throughput rates. For South African Black students, graduation rates have increased from 76% in 2018 to 82% in 2023. For South African women, graduation rates have risen from 56% to 62%.
Importantly, students funded by the NRF complete their studies much quicker than those with other funding sources. This success comes from our upfront requirements: applicants must identify their institution, supervisor or mentor, and research project before receiving funding. Other funders don’t require these elements at the application stage, which can lead to delays given the lack of supervisor capacity and admission at universities.
Innovation Report: Is increased commercialization of research vital for South Africa to achieve its goals and move towards being an innovation economy?
Dr Mbulelo Ncango: Absolutely. Looking at the government’s three key challenges – unemployment, inequality, and poverty – there’s consensus that we need innovation, research commercialization, and startups. However, some historic and systemic issues in our research landscape need addressing. For instance, the Department of Higher Education and Training’s subsidy system incentivizes graduating students and other research outputs but not innovations or commercialization of research.
The research landscape has been built in silos, though we’re now seeing more public-private sector partnerships emerging, with researchers collaborating with organisations like CSIR, and ARC to increase research uptake. To drive development in South Africa and the broader African continent, innovation, impact, and engaged research are critical.
We need researchers and supervisors to co-create research problems with communities that will ultimately use the research, and with private sector partners who can implement it. While South Africa is moving away from pure blue-sky research toward applied research, we need to maintain a balance – fundamental breakthroughs often come from blue-sky research.
Innovation Report: Are there any particular flagship projects you’d like to highlight that are moving South Africa towards this innovation future?
Dr Mbulelo Ncango: One significant initiative is the Thuthuka developmental grant program, which specifically capacitates South African Black emerging researchers and women researchers. This funding is dedicated to born South African Black and women researchers across all disciplines, from STEM to social sciences and humanities.
We also have about 17 Centers of Excellence (CoEs) and approximately 270 South African Research Chair initiatives, where big consortia receive funding of about 5 million rand annually. These flagships have really pushed South Africa’s research transformation landscape.
Innovation Report: Why should the average South African care about the NRF’s work and investment in developing the next generation of researchers?
Dr Mbulelo Ncango: The NRF’s mandate focuses on three things: advancing knowledge, transforming lives, and being impactful. Our four key pillars center on human capacity development, developing and maintaining national research facilities that anyone can access, promoting public awareness and engagement with science, and supporting the national science system aligned with government priorities.
We saw during COVID-19 how important it was for people to understand the science behind the virus amid all the misinformation. The NRF’s work spans all fields – science, technology, humanities, social sciences, and indigenous knowledge systems – and aims to address society’s needs through research funding and infrastructure.
Innovation Report: What aspects of the NRF’s work tend to surprise people?
Dr Mbulelo Ncango: People are often unaware of our dual mandate – we’re both a funding agency based in Pretoria and an organisation that conducts research through our national facilities like the Square Kilometre Array, NRF-SAAO and NRF-iThemba Labs in Cape Town, NRF-SAIAB in Makhanda, and NRF-SAEON across South Africa.
Many are also surprised by our ability to facilitate short-term mobility for researchers, funding overseas research excursions or equipment training for periods of 3 to 18 months.
Innovation Report: Looking ahead, what excites you most about South Africa’s research potential?
Dr Mbulelo Ncango: South Africa is clearly punching above its weight given our low level of investment in research and small researcher capacity. Compared to similar countries like Argentina, Chile, Greece, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, and Turkey, we’re performing exceptionally well in terms of research outputs, international collaborations, and citation impact.
We’re still attracting top researchers from around the world – in fact, studies show that many researchers in Africa prefer coming to South Africa over the UK, Europe, or Asia. However, we need to shift from viewing research as an expenditure to seeing it as an investment. The NRF receives just under 5 billion rand in funding, but we get around 14,000 postgraduate applications annually and can only fund about 5,000. There’s similar unmet demand for post-doctoral fellowships, researcher funding, and research infrastructure.
Despite these challenges, I’m quite optimistic about South Africa’s future. We’re positioned as a premier destination for researchers worldwide, and with the right investment and support, we can build on our existing strengths to create an innovation-led future.
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