Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – Prof Sarah Mosoetsa

Prof. Sarah Mosoetsa is the Chief Executive Officer of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), South Africa’s statutory research agency dedicated to the social sciences and humanities. She assumed the position in February 2023, following almost a decade as Chief Executive Officer of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS). She was instrumental in establishing the NIHSS in 2013 and subsequently led the Institute from its inception, shaping its institutional development and contribution to the humanities and social sciences in South Africa.

Prof. Mosoetsa holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of the Witwatersrand (2005). Her scholarship focuses on labour, livelihoods, inequality and social policy, with a particular interest in the changing nature of work and its implications for households and communities. Her publications include Eating from One Pot: The Dynamics of Survival in Poor South African Households, as well as co-edited volumes and journal collections on labour, precarious work, poverty and inequality.

Prof. Mosoetsa has extensive experience in research leadership, higher education, public policy and institutional governance. She has served on numerous national boards, councils and advisory structures, including university councils and bodies concerned with human resource development, research, innovation and social and economic development. 

Divisional Head (EEE)- Prof Sharlene Swartz

Prof. Swartz is Divisional Executive: Equitable Education and Economies (EEE). She has been with the HSRC since 2008 and has held positions as acting Deputy CEO; Executive Director: Education and Skills Development, and Deputy Executive Director: Human and Social Development. A sociologist of education by training, she is currently Honorary Professor at the School of Education, University of Cape Town and a past Honorary Professor in Philosophy at the University of Fort Hare. She has been a visiting fellow at the Faculty of Education and Centre for Development Studies at the University of Cambridge, and at the Centre for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University.

Her research focuses on what she terms “navigational capacities for the just inclusion of youth in societies in the Global South.” She researches and writes extensively on transformative education, reimagining youth inclusion in economic development, and decolonising and emancipatory practices in research. Prof. Swartz holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK; a Master’s degree in Education from Harvard University, USA; and undergraduate degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand (Life Sciences) and the University of Zululand (Philosophy).

Prof. Swartz has authored six books (among them Ikasi: The moral ecology of South Africa’s township youth, Another country: Everyday social restitution and Teenage Tata: Voices of young fathers in South Africa), edited a further seven (including The Oxford Handbook of Global South Youth Studies, Transformative leadership in African contexts and Educational research practice in Southern contexts), and has completed over 75 journal articles and book chapters, produced 16 research reports, two ethnographic research documentaries, and presented more than 120 local and international invited lectures and conference papers, including several keynote addresses.

Prof. Swartz has been President (2018–2023) of the International Sociological Association Sociology of Youth Research Committee and is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Moral Education, Journal of Youth Studies, Youth and Globalisation, and Autonomie Locali e Servizi Sociali. She has been involved in multiple civil society organisations focussing on youth and justice, has held positions on committees of the South African Human Rights Commission, United Nations Development Report Steering Committee for South Africa, National Research Foundation, and is a Commissioner on the Lancet inquiry on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing. She is a B-rated researcher in South Africa.

Swartz is currently President (2018-2022) and an executive member of the International Sociological Association’s Sociology of Youth Research Committee, a past executive member of the Association for Moral Education, and is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Moral Education, Journal of Youth Studies, Youth and Globalisation and Autonomie Locali e Servizi Sociali. She has been involved in multiple civil society organisations, focusing on youth and justice, and has held positions on committees of the National Research Foundation, and has been a visiting fellow at the Faculty of Education and Centre for Development Studies at the University of Cambridge, and at the Centre for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University. She is a nationally rated researcher in South Africa.

Acting Divisional Executive (DCES) – Prof Charles Hongoro

Prof Charles Hongoro is Acting Divisional Executive, DCES, and Senior Director in the Office of the CEO (OCEO) at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). He brings over 33 years of experience in research, teaching, and policy engagement across high-, middle-, and low-income country contexts. He holds a PhD in Health Economics and Policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), University of London.

Before rejoining the HSRC in July 2013, Prof Hongoro was the Unit Director of the Health Systems Research Unit at the South African Medical Research Council. Within the HSRC, he has held several senior leadership roles, including Strategic Lead on Human Security, Acting Head of the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA), Deputy Executive Director of the former Research Impact Assessment division, and Research Director for Health Systems Financing. He has also served in the HSRC’s Policy Analysis Unit as a Research Director and as Acting Director of the Southern African HIV/AIDS Research Alliance (SAHARA).

Prof Hongoro’s earlier career includes serving as Programme Director for Health Economics and Systems at the Aurum Institute for Health Research in Johannesburg, as well as Fellow and Lecturer in Health Economics and Systems at LSHTM. He also worked as a Senior Medical Research Officer and Health Economist at the Health Systems Research Unit of the National Institute for Health Research (formerly the Blair Research Institute) in Zimbabwe.

He has held several academic appointments, including Extraordinary Professor of Research at Tshwane University of Technology (2008–2020), Extraordinary Professor of Health Economics and Systems at the University of Pretoria (since 2017), and Honorary Professor at Walter Sisulu University (since 2016).

Prof Hongoro serves on numerous local and international technical and advisory committees and has undertaken extensive consulting work in health economics, health systems financing, programme development, strategic planning, and monitoring and evaluation. His research interests span sustainable development, poverty and inequality, health systems strengthening, and the economics of communicable and non-communicable diseases, including HIV/AIDS and TB. He has authored and co-authored over 100 conference presentations, peer-reviewed journal articles, and book chapters.

Divisional Executive (PHSB) – Prof Khangelani Zuma

Professor Khangelani Zuma is the Divisional Executive in the Public Health, Societies and Belonging (PHSB) research division and head of biostatistics at the Human Sciences Research Council based in Pretoria. Zuma has over 12 years of experience as a statistician. He has been involved in large scale surveys and clinical trials as a statistician focusing on conceptualisation, design and implementation of these studies. His expertise and research interest span survey design, complex data analyses, linear and non-linear mixed models, hierarchical Bayesian models, (correlated) survival data analyses, epidemiology: modelling infectious diseases data, HIV incidence estimation and monitoring and evaluation of HIV intervention programmes.

Zuma has also taught statistics at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. His recent publications include authoring and co-authoring papers published in peer-reviewed journals in the areas of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, migration and biostatistics. He has presented papers at both local and international conferences. He is currently the chair of the ministerial Health Data Advisory and Co-ordinating Committee and a member of the Statistics Council of Statistics South Africa. He is an Honorary Associate Professor of Biostatistics at the Wits University School of Public Health.

Divisional Executive (Research Impact) – Dr Mzikazi Nduna

Dr Mzi Nduna (PhD) is the Divisional Executive: Research Impact Division at the HSRC. She is the former Dean of Health Sciences at the University of Fort Hare and a former Head of School at WITS University. Dr Nduna has 29 years of work experience is an author, educator, researcher, trainer, and a scholar with a strong ethic of community engagement with science. Dr Mzi’s work is underpinned by a philosophy to bridge the gap between science, policy and practice. Mzi’s research output includes 69 peer reviewed journal articles, 3 books, 4 special issue journals, 8 book chapters, and several research reports.

On Google Scholar, Mzi has 7720 citations and an H-index of 33. Mzi Nduna has research interests in sexual and reproductive health, gender and sexual identities, and father (dis)connections. She is a regular guest lecturer at various institutions nationally and globally and a Research Associate at the University of Stellenbosch.

Chief Operating Officer (COO) – Dr Lucky Ditaunyane

Dr Lucky Ditaunyane is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), where he provides strategic and operational leadership across key enabling functions, including People and Culture, Communication and Engagements, ICT, Legal and Compliance Services, e-Research Knowledge, Institutional Planning and Reporting, and broader administrative operations. With more than three decades of experience spanning basic education, higher education, communication, senior and executive leadership, Dr Ditaunyane has built a distinguished career dedicated to advancing institutional effectiveness, transformation, and stakeholder engagement.

Before his appointment as COO, he held several leadership roles at the HSRC, including Acting COO, Acting Group Executive for the Impact Centre, and Director of Communication and Engagements. His professional background also includes a decade at Umalusi as Director of Public Relations and Communication, senior academic and curriculum development roles in higher education, and leadership positions within the Free State Department of Education. He began his career as a language teacher and has authored and co-authored educational materials, textbooks, and peer-reviewed publications.

Dr Ditaunyane holds a PhD in Language Practice, an MPhil in Hypermedia and a Master’s degree in African Linguistics, among other qualifications. He has also completed specialised training in governance, communication, and leadership, including the Nyukela Public Service Senior Management Service Programme.

Throughout his career, he has been recognised for repositioning organisations through strategic communication, driving corporate transformation, and advancing equity and compliance agendas. He serves on several boards and advisory committees, reflecting his continued commitment to strengthening higher education, research, and innovation in South Africa.

Respected by colleagues as a collaborative and principled leader, he continues to champion excellence, integrity, and impact in advancing the HSRC’s mission of producing knowledge that contributes to development and social justice in South Africa and beyond.