Science diplomacy is fast emerging as a powerful tool for solving global and continental challenges, from climate change to food insecurity. But how can researchers, policymakers, and diplomats work more effectively together to ensure Africa’s interests are reflected in international science agendas? And what practical skills do emerging leaders need to drive regional cooperation and innovation through science?
This interactive session brings together a dynamic mix of researchers, innovation leaders, policy practitioners, and diplomats to explore the foundations of science diplomacy and its strategic use for regional integration and sustainable development. The programme will showcase examples from South Africa and beyond, including successful partnerships and policy innovations.
Speakers from the SDCfA, DSTI, DIRCO, HSRC, ASSAF and international science diplomacy networks will share experiences and practical insights to equip early-career professionals with tools to navigate and shape the global science-policy interface. Here’s a little more about each of the speakers taking in part in the event tomorrow, Tuesday, 26 August.
Dr Natisha Dukhi (PhD), Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and Co-Chair of the South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS)
Natisha Dukhi is a dynamic public health scientist whose interdisciplinary research bridges science, leadership, advocacy, and sustainable development. She holds a PhD in Public Health and brings over a decade of experience as a medical scientist, lecturer, and researcher with a strong record of addressing complex health challenges across Africa and globally. Her expertise spans child and adolescent health, nutrition, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), gender-based violence (GBV), and mobile health (mHealth) – critical areas for advancing health equity and resilience. As a Senior Research Specialist at the Human Sciences Research Council, she leads/contributes to several large-scale, multi-stakeholder projects. As a prolific scientist, mentor, and science diplomat, science diplomacy and advocacy are reflected in her roles as a Fellow of the Africa Science Leadership Programme, former Co-Chair of the South African Young Academy of Science, and Executive Committee member of the Global Young Academy. Natisha is a thought leader in public health, contributing actively to national and international platforms. She is committed to advancing inclusive, transformative, and sustainable science that strengthens health systems globally. With numerous peer-reviewed publications and the prestigious Gro Brundtland Award, her work continues to shape policy and empower the next generation of African scientists and beyond.
Dr Konosoang Sobane (PhD), Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)
Dr Konosoang Sobane is a science communication and health communication specialist at the Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa. She holds a PhD in Linguistics from Stellenbosch University, with a specialisation in Healthcare Communication, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Science Communication. Prior to the HSRC, she was a linguistics lecturer for 9 years at the National University of Lesotho, teaching courses in literacy development, as well as academic literacy. Her research interests are on the role of science in shaping people’s behaviours and attitudes and the science-policy interface. Her research niche is in the ways in which science, religion and culture interact in shaping or disrupting people’s processes of decision-making, and the role they play in society. Apart from research, Dr Sobane has worked in the interface of science and public policy, advising and training researchers on how to package research for policy processes and training policy actors on how to access and use research for policy-making processes. She has done a lot of capacity building workshops in this area and in the areas of project management, effective writing and communication skills.
Dr Deon Cloete (PhD), South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA)
Dr Deon Cloete is the Head of the Futures Programme at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), where he leads on strategic foresight, systemic innovation and anticipatory governance. His research interests span complexity-informed approaches to strategic foresight, systemic change, systems innovation and transformative futures by re-imagining complex systems change and the roles of cross-scale change agents. He is a transdisciplinary action researcher and an experienced facilitator of systemic change, innovation and strategic foresight interventions with a focus on ‘systems change co-creation for sustainability transitions and regenerative cultures. He researches and consults national, regional, continental, and global stakeholders in the education, technology, health, energy, mining, digital, and automobile sectors, but also a wide range of development agencies, organisations and national and local governments interested in anticipatory policy, planning decision support for leaders, decision-makers, policymakers, and multilateral institutions. Deon graduated from Stellenbosch Business School with a PhD in Complex Systems Change and Innovation. Deon is an Accredited Member of the Association for Professional Futurists (APF), a member of the Society for Decision Making Under Deep Uncertainty (DMDU), Member of the Systems Thinking Network, Member of the Sustainability Transitions Research Network, and a Research Fellow at the Centre for Sustainability Transitions at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
Dr. Bathabile Ramalapa (PhD), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
Dr. Bathabile Ramalapa is a healthcare innovation specialist and principal researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, committed to developing affordable, effective drug treatments tailored to African health needs. A key contributor to South Africa’s Vaccine Innovation Manufacturing Strategy (VIMS), she has played a vital role in strengthening regional health security. Her work spans science, policy, and leadership, exemplified by her role as Chairperson of the SA COVID-19 Vaccine Dialogue (HSRC) and as a Science Diplomacy Capital for Africa ambassador. Dr Ramalapa was named Rising Star in Biotechnology by Africa BIO in 2022. She has been a facilitator of the Africa BIO Dr Konji Sebati fellowship since 2023, a programme that promotes and supports the advancement of women into positions of influence and greater impact in Biotechnology fields. Beyond research leadership, Dr. Ramalapa is an Extraordinary Senior Lecturer at North-West University, an NRF and MRC grant reviewer, and Chairperson of the CSIR Employment Equity and Skills Development Committee. Her engaged research and advocacy efforts exemplify the power of science diplomacy in addressing Africa’s complex health and development challenges.
Prof Irvy (Igle) Gledhill, Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)
Prof Irvy (Igle) Gledhill is Honorary Adjunct Professor of Flow Physics in the School of Mechanical, Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering at Wits. Her PhD was at the University of Natal. Her post-doctoral work was at the University of California, Los Angeles, and at Stanford University on space shuttle physics. For 30 years, she specialised in computational fluid dynamics at the CSIR, South Africa. She also contributed through multidisciplinary collaborations including biotechnology and coal mine safety. She is a Vice-President of the Network of African Science Academies, and a Council member of the Academy of Science of South Africa. She is a Vice President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics and chaired their Working Group 5 on Women in Physics. She was awarded a D.Sc. (honoris causa) by Rhodes University in 2024, and received a National Science and Technology Forum award for science diplomacy in Africa.
Prof Nkem Khumbah, African Academy of Sciences (AAS)
Prof Nkem Khumbah is Head of STI Policy Systems, Governance and Partnerships (STI-PGA) at the African Academy of Science in Nairobi, Kenya; Chairman of the Africa Development Futures Group; faculty affiliate of the Science, Technology and Public Policy Program (STPP) at the University of Michigan, An Arbor, MI; and Senior Fellow with the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils (theGFCC.org).
He has worked extensively with the breath of African Science, Technology and Higher Education bodies, including serving in 2015 as Founding Executive Curator of the Next Einstein Forum (NEF): Africa’s Global Forum for Science, Policy and Society.
His articles have appeared in journals like the New York Times and the African Policy Review; he is frequent speaker at conferences and symposia in North America, Africa, Asia, and South America.
Mr Sven Botha, University of Pretoria (UP)
Sven Botha is a Lecturer of Political Science and International Relations in the Department of Political Sciences in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Additionally, Sven is a Guest Researcher at the Centre for African Studies at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as the outgoing Director of the Professors Without Borders Think Tank.
Prior appointments include Internationalisation Liaison in the Office of the Executive Dean in the Faculty of Humanities and Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Relations, both at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Sven holds a Bachelor of Social Science in Political and International Studies (Summa Cum Laude) from Monash University, a BA Honours (Politics and International Relations, Cum Laude) and a Master of Arts (Politics, Cum Laude), both from the University of Johannesburg (UJ). His PhD (Politics) has been submitted.
Throughout his career, Sven has taught courses encompassing the nexus between public international law and international relations, civic-military relations, international relations theory, international organisation(s), South African politics, public policy, political analysis, and gender and politics.
His research interests include: terrorism, counter-terrorism, gender, foreign policy, diplomacy, Africa-Nordic Relations, pedagogy, and early-career development. In June 2024, Sven (together with Prof Jo-Ansie van Wyk) published an edited collection titled ‘Key Issues in African Diplomacy: Developments and Achievements’ with Bristol University Press. He is currently working on multiple projects related to diplomatic practice, etiquette, and Europe/Nordic-Africa Relations. Sven supports the scholarship of other scholars in his capacity as the Co-Founder and Co-Series Editor of the ‘African Political Science and International Relations in Focus’ book series, a publication platform that amplifies African and Afro-centric voices on Political Science, International Relations, and related disciplines.
In addition to his teaching and scholarship, Sven is also involved in showcasing diplomatic practice by organising and facilitating several high-level events with diplomats and government officials from various states and international organisations, including, but not limited to: Chile, Denmark, the European Union, Finland, Sweden, among others.
Prof Charles Hongoro, Human Science Research Council (HSRC)
Prof Charles Hongoro is the deputy executive director of the HSRC’s Developmental, Capable and Ethical State research division where he leads the division’s Peace and Sustainable Security unit. He is also the acting coordinator of the HSRC’s Africa Institute for South Africa. He holds a PhD in health economics and policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), University of London. Before re-joining the HSRC in July 2013, Hongoro was the unit director of the Health Systems Research Unit at the South African Medical Research Council.
His experience at the HSRC includes positions as the deputy executive director of the former Research Impact Assessment division and as the research director for health systems financing in a research group that focused on population health, health systems and innovation group. He was also a research director in the HSRC’s former policy analysis unit. Hongoro has been a programme director of health economics and systems at the Aurum Institute for Health Research in Johannesburg and a lecturer in health economics and systems at the LSHTM. He was also a senior medical research officer and health economist for the Health Systems Research Unit of the National Institute of Health Research (formerly known as the Blair Research Institute) in Zimbabwe. Hongoro has been an extraordinary professor of research at Tshwane University of Technology (2008-2020) and an extraordinary professor of health economics and systems at the University of Pretoria since 2017. He serves on several local and international technical or advisory committees and has done local and international consulting work, largely focusing on health economics analyses, programme development, as well as monitoring and evaluation in the health sector.
His areas of research interest include sustainable development, poverty and inequality, health systems financing, the economics of non-communicable and communicable diseases including HIV/AIDS, health systems and policy-oriented research in general, as well as evaluation and impact studies. Hongoro’s publication record spans the authoring and co-authoring of several conference presentations, peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.
Register to attend the event here.
