The Importance od Supporting Emerging Researchers: The NRF Perspective

1. The Importance od Supporting Emerging Researchers: The NRF Perspective Symposium on Developing the capacity of ECR 18 March 2019

2. A Framework for enabling Exceptionally Talented Black or Women SA Early Career Researchers to become Leading International Researchers Contents • The NRF Transformation Framework • Challenges related to developing LIR • Interventions in the system • NRF’s intent • NRF Researcher Study 2018 • Principles of the NRF’s proposed intervention • Criteria for admission • Proposal

3. The NRF Transformation Framework • Transforming equity profiles of postgraduate students and researchers • Transforming the knowledge enterprise • Transforming the nature of science & society relationships • Building a fully diverse & inclusive learning organisation (ONE NRF)

4. A Framework for enabling Exceptionally Talented Black or Women SA Early Career Researchers to become Leading International Researchers Challenges: • The demographic profile of academic staff has not mirrored the changed profile of students. • The leading international researchers are not representative of the demographics of South Africa and are ageing (SARChIs, A-Rated). • The average time taken for an early career researcher to achieve an A rating is 28 years (from Y to A) • There are no inter-connected interventions to enable an early career researcher to be a leading international researcher. • Younger researchers have a more complex challenge to surmount than those who are established. Specifically, they must succeed under greater fiscal constraints and uncertainty; a limited academic labour market and highly variable access to resources, such as functional research offices, unproductive and inactive research environments and absent mentors.

5. A Framework for enabling Exceptionally Talented Black or Women SA Early Career Researchers to become Leading International Researchers Interventions in the system for Early Career Researchers (ECR): • THUTHUKA GRANTS FOR ACADEMICS AND RESEARCHERS • PhD Track (max support 3+3+3 years) • Post PhD Track (max support 3+3 years) • Next generation of academics programme • PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME • Three year postdoctoral appointment at public research institutions • CAREER RESEARCH AWARDS • Five year appointment at public research institutions • NRF-FRF SABBATICAL FOR BLACK ACADEMICS • PhD Track (max 3 year sabbatical) • Post PhD Track (max 2 year sabbatical) Limitation is the absence of continued funding to progress from emerging to established to an internationally leading researcher

6. A Framework for enabling Exceptionally Talented Black or Women SA Early Career Researchers to become Leading International Researchers NRF’s intent: • Make a long-term investment in a cohort of exceptionally talented South African early career researchers; • Focus is on the entire pipeline from next generation, to early career and established researchers; • Advance research careers of exceptional individuals to become outstanding and internationally leading researchers; • Implement initiatives to enable the acceleration of research careers of these exceptional individuals; and • Continue to invest in the current initiatives for the rest of the researchers. This is not a new rating system neither is this about fixing the NRF Rating.

7. A Framework for enabling Exceptionally Talented Black or Women SA Early Career Researchers to become Leading International Researchers The NRF study revealed and confirmed the following: • There are specific and necessary conditions that enable and propel talented researchers to become leading international researchers. • There is significant variability in the extent and degree of support, resources and advocacy that exists at South African institutions that participated in this study. • Where early career researchers were led, managed and mentored by leading international researchers, they are effective, highly productive and driven. • There is need to provide early career researchers with appropriate long-term support to enable them to transition and accelerate their attainment of the status as an international researcher. • In institutions with enabling conditions, talented early career researchers are able to drive their own autonomous research programmes independent from their doctoral supervisors.

8. A Framework for enabling Exceptionally Talented Black or Women SA Early Career Researchers to become Leading International Researchers • All respondents in the study, regardless of discipline, age and rank, believe that “it takes the very best in the world of research to identify, enable, train and retain the very best young talent”. • Almost all respondents in the survey sample indicated that there are crucial components to enable a talented early career researcher to become a leading international researcher. These components can be clustered around four broad, closely linked dimensions: • Individual dimension - that determines the character and credentials of an exceptional early career researcher. • Institutional dimension - that determines the necessary environment for supporting, accelerating and enabling exceptional early career researchers to be leading international researchers. • Funder dimension - that determines the necessary mechanisms, programmes and instruments to promote the transitions between research career stages. • Government dimension - that determines the regulatory conditions and necessary policy instruments that contribute to enabling exceptional early career researchers to become leading researchers.

9. A Framework for enabling Exceptionally Talented Black or Women SA Early Career Researchers to become Leading International Researchers Principles of the proposed programme: • Commitment to Research Excellence • Research excellence will be a cornerstone of this programme both in terms of selection of beneficiaries and the development of their research careers. Excellence will be measured in terms of both individual achievements and the quality of the research project proposal of the researcher. • Advancing and Promoting Equity • In order to address under-representation of Black or women researchers in the current cohort of South Africa’s leading international researchers, the programme will promote and advance equity of opportunity by setting equity targets as suggested below: • 80% Blacks (African, Coloured, and Indians) • 55% Women. • Advancing and Promoting Professional Progression • Individuals accepted into the programme are expected to reach a milestone of a leading international researcher ideally by 50 years of age.

10. A Framework for enabling Exceptionally Talented Black or Women SA Early Career Researchers to become Leading International Researchers Below are the suggested criteria for possible admission to the programme: • South African Citizenship • High-quality doctoral degree within the past 5 years in any discipline • High quality novel research project.  • Research project feasibility assessment report. • Established local and international collaboration. • Minimum of 3  articles published in high-impact international journals, monograph or book chapters from the PhD dissertation. (Dependent on the area)

11. Transforming equity profiles of RESEARCHER COHORT (PROPOSAL) • Create an exclusive highly competitive programme to identify, provide uninterrupted and long-term funding support to extraordinarily talented, self-driven, highly intellectually independent young South African researchers (PhD holders) who conduct incredibly novel research, produce ‘game changing’ publication outputs and have the highest probability to influence and impact the international knowledge enterprise and have already created strong influential international networks. • Establish effective and efficient partnerships to enable, enhance capability and leveragesubstantive capacitate these researchers to thrive for a 15 year period

12. Enkosi, Thank you, Re a leboga, Siyabonga, Dankie