DSTI Director-General calls for intensified collaboration between entities to address funding challenges

DSTI Director-General calls for intensified collaboration between entities to address funding challenges

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At the heart of KwaZulu-Natal, where community-based research meets national policy, the Director-General of the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), Dr Mlungisi Cele, called for deeper partnerships and smarter coordination across South Africa's science landscape. His visit to the Human Sciences Research Council's (HSRC) Centre for Community-Based Research (CCBR) in Sweetwaters highlighted both the challenges and the untapped potential within the country's research ecosystem.

At the centre, researchers conduct applied research with a focus on public health. This includes implementation science, decentralised service delivery models, behavioural change strategies, and digital health interventions, ensuring the research is both scientifically rigorous and community relevant.

The Director-General met with the executive management of the HSRC and the management of Sweetwaters CCBR. In her remarks, HSRC CEO, Prof. Sarah Mosoetsa, contextualised the organisation's current challenges. She described Dr Cele's visit as timely, noting that the HSRC has been compelled to rethink aspects of its operating model in response to global funding shifts.

"The Sweetwaters initiative is one of HSRC's flagship projects and has historically been 99% donor-funded from the USA. The global funding crisis has had an adverse impact locally, particularly in projects nearing completion," said Prof. Mosoetsa.

Despite the financial constraints, she reaffirmed that the HSRC's mandate remains firm. "Health and health research remain the cornerstone of what we will be delivering at HSRC," she said. She emphasised that funding pressures do not signal a retreat from health research priorities and that the crisis brought critical reflection on the foundations of community-based research.

Prof. Mosoetsa added that the model historically implemented in Sweetwaters has changed radically and should continue to do so. "In line with the HSRC's five-year strategic plan, the organisation intends to adopt more communities across KwaZulu-Natal and beyond. Moreover, the research agenda will broaden to question systemic issues extending beyond health, including inequality, climate change and infrastructure," she said.

She also addressed HSRC's capacity constraints in clinical trials, expressing hope that Dr Cele's engagement would advance discussions around strengthening health and community-based research partnerships.

Dr Cele underscored governance as a central pillar of the National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI), an institution that advises the Minister on issues related to innovation in science and technology. Its primary goal is to ensure that South Africa's policies and strategies are aligned with national priorities and are effectively implemented to promote sustainable economic growth through technological innovation.

Dr Cele indicated that the migration of the Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators (CESTII) is a priority, alongside broader institutional reviews and engagements aimed at enhancing coherence within the national system. CESTII is a division of the HSRC that conducts research and development and innovation surveys on behalf of the DSTI, producing national indicators and analyses to inform policymaking and provide a basis for international comparisons.

Referencing the objectives of the National Development Plan, Dr Cele emphasised the imperative of building an effective, efficient, well-coordinated and responsive national system of innovation.

"This requires a critical examination to identify duplications within the system and adopt a programme-based notion that promotes complementarity and reduce competition," said Dr Cele.

Addressing the staff, Dr Cele said that he was there to observe their good work and to meet the people behind the statistics. He said that he wants to learn from them to inform broader DSTI initiatives. The said that they represent the Department's guiding mantra of "Placing science, technology and innovation at the centre of government, education, industry and society", because they are serving South African society.

The Director-General proposed a model that would integrate universities and research institutions into cohesive programmes, leveraging strengths of each partner. In this model, institutions like the HSRC would be strategically positioned to address complex societal questions with methodological depth and credibility.

Dr Cele also confronted the fiscal realities facing the state, acknowledging that constrained public investment presents systemic challenges. He raised difficult but necessary questions, asking whether institutions such as the HSRC and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) should be pushed to generate greater income independently, or efforts should focus on advocating for increased allocations from National Treasury.

He called on the HSRC to collaborate in developing a systematic framework to determine what programmes should be discontinued and why.

"Institutions must discipline themselves to think seven to 10 years ahead, anticipating the questions that will define South Africa's future and aligning research investments accordingly. Impact, in this sense, would be measured not merely by immediate outputs but by long-term societal relevance," he said.

Dr Cele further called for intensified collaboration between institutes, referencing the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa, which successfully reconfigured its funding model following the withdrawal of US foreign aid and, within three months, secured renewed funding flows. He encouraged direct cooperation among entities such as the Technology Innovation Agency, the CSIR, and others to mobilise resources and partnerships outside of lengthy DSTI processes.

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