Dr Tim Hart is a chief research specialist in the HSRC?s Democratic, Capable and Ethical State research division. He holds an MPhil in social science methods (2004) and a PhD in social anthropology (2020), both from Stellenbosch University (SU). He specialises in research methodology, policy and cultural diversity in community development, with a focus on developing urban areas and rural development. Hart has strong interests in the sociology of science, land reform, inclusive methodologies and the roles of different actors and actants in development implementation networks, as well as innovation, indigenous knowledge, gender in development and food and nutrition security and food systems.
Since 2014, he has also worked in the field of disability studies, providing disability service organisations and disabled people's organisations in South Africa with research guidance and inputs while learning about the challenges encountered by persons with disabilities. Hart has reviewed government- and internationally funded reports on disability in South Africa for the Ministry of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities. Since April 2020, he has been coordinating a small team of HSRC researchers, primarily focusing on the human rights of persons with disabilities and working on the research needs of disability-support organisations. Since joining the HSRC in 2004, Hart has managed numerous research projects on indigenous knowledge systems, agricultural development, land reform and innovation in rural districts. He was co-manager with the Institute of Development Studies (UK) of a project funded by UK Research and Innovation on the experiences and perceptions of persons with disabilities in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic and national lockdown. He is currently co-manager with the University of Newcastle (UK) on a project looking at the significance of traditional fruit and vegetables in rapidly urbanising environments, with a focus on the City of Johannesburg./p>
Hart is a research fellow at the Stellenbosch University Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology and has published 34 scientific peer-reviewed articles in local and international academic journals, 47 research reports and 25 book chapters and policy briefs. He has co-authored and co-edited 7 books. Hart has presented papers and posters at local and international conferences and done research in Uganda, the Philippines and Ethiopia and study visits to Italy, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. He is also a regular reviewer for numerous local and international scientific journals
