Dr. Moses Mefika Sithole is a Research Director in the Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators (CeSTII) of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). He holds a BSc. in Mathematics and Chemistry at the University of Swaziland, a post-graduate Diploma and an MSc., both in Mathematics (majoring in Statistics) at Curtin University of Technology in Australia, and obtained a PhD. in Statistics from Curtin University of Technology in Australia in July 1998.
Before joining the HSRC in November 2009, he was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Management at the University of Swaziland (Luyengo). Between 2003 and 2004 he held the position of visiting research fellow at the Department of Applied Statistics at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom under the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Programme. Working under the University of Swaziland Consultancy and Training Centre, he has participated in a substantial number of consultancies for United Nations Organisations (e.g. UNECA) and other international organisations (e.g. Family Health International (FHI)), regional organisations (e.g. SADC), the Government of Swaziland, and the private sector and non-governmental Organisations in Swaziland, SADC region and beyond.
His areas of research interest include: Policy relevant research in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) and the development and assessment of new statistical methodologies and applied statistics, such as study design, statistical modelling and analysis in the following application areas: science, technology and innovation, agriculture, health (e.g. HIV and AIDS), food security, livelihoods and poverty, consumer science, open distance learning, governance and service delivery.
Dr. Sithole's publication record spans the authoring and co-authoring of 20 conference presentations, 7 chapters in monographs/electronic books, 11 journal articles, 2 policy briefs and 3 HSRC Review articles. His most recent article entitled: ?Factors influencing the use of alternative land cultivation technologies in Swaziland: Implications for smallholder farming on customary Swazi Nation Land?, published in the Land Use Policy Journal, received a ?Best Publication Award? from the Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA) in October 2013. He was also one of the editors of the book: ?State of the Nation 2014: South Africa 1994 -2014: A Twenty-Year Review?. He served as Acting Head of CeSTII for a total period of four months during 2014. He also served in the School Governing Body of Sans Souci Girls High School in Cape Town for three and a half years from April 2011, as an ordinary member during the first year and as Deputy Chairperson for the remainder of his term, including as Acting Chairperson for most of final year. He is also a member of the South African Statistical Association (SASA) and the HSRC Research Ethics Committee (REC).
