Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – Prof Sarah Mosoetsa

Prof. Mosoetsa is the former CEO of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS), a position that she vacated on 31 January 2023 to take up the position of CEO at the HSRC. She was instrumental in establishing and setting up the NIHSS in 2013 and held the position of CEO at the Institute from 2014 to 2023. She is the chairperson of the South African BRICS Think Tank (SABTT) and a member of the BRICS Think Tank Council (BTCC).

Prof. Mosoetsa holds a Doctorate in Sociology from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). She was appointed an associate Professor of Sociology at the same University and the author of several publications, including, amongst others, Eating from One Pot: The dynamics of survival in poor South African households (Wits Press) and co-editor of Labour in the Global South: Challenges and alternatives for workers (ILO), and co-editor of Precarious Labor in Global Perspective (Cambridge University Press). She has worked for various organisations, including the Society, Work and Politics Institute (SWOP), the HSRC, and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). Prof. Mosoetsa sits on various Boards and Councils, including the Human Resource Development Council of South Africa (HRDC), the Board of Governors for the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA) and the University of Venda Council.

Divisional Head (EEE)- Prof Sharlene Swartz

Professor Sharlene Swartz is the Divisional Executive in the Equitable Education and Economies (EEE) research division. She has been with the HSRC since 2008 and has held positions as the Executive Director in the Education and Skills Development programme and as a Research Director in the then Human and Social Development unit. A sociologist by training, she has been an adjunct Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Cape Town (2012-2019) and is currently an adjunct Professor in Philosophy at the University of Fort Hare, South Africa (2019 to date).

Her research focuses on what she has termed ‘navigational capacities’ for the just inclusion of youth in societies in the Global South. She researches and writes extensively on transformative education, reimagined inclusive economic development, and decolonising and emancipatory practices in research. Swartz holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK, a Master’s degree in Education from Harvard University, US, and undergraduate degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand (Life Sciences) and the University of Zululand (Philosophy), both in South Africa. Her doctoral thesis, in the sociology of education, considered how young people who live in poverty, understand, represent and enact morality.

Swartz is the Principal Investigator of a longitudinal research study The Imprint of Education, funded by the Mastercard Foundation, that investigates the ways in which higher education impacts the lives of first generation students, and how they in turn affect their worlds. Previous studies included young fathers, race and education, the role of education on alleviating poverty, and peer education. Before embarking on her graduate studies, she spent 12 years at a youth NGO where she pioneered peer-led social justice and life skills education programmes. Swartz has authored six books, edited a further five, has completed nearly seventy journal articles and book chapters, produced fourteen research reports, an ethnographic documentary and presented more than one hundred and twenty local and international invited lectures and conference papers, including a number of keynote addresses.

Authored books include Studying while black: Race, education and emancipation in South African universities (2018, HSRC Press with Mahali, Moletsane et al); Moral eyes: Youth and justice in Cameroon, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and South Africa (2018, HSRC Press with Nyamnjoh et al); Another country: Everyday social restitution (2016, Best Red); Old enough to know: Consulting children about sex and AIDS education in Africa (2012, HSRC Press with McLaughlin et al); Ikasi: The moral ecology of South Africa?s township youth (2009, Palgrave Macmillan; 2010, Wits University Press); and Teenage tata: Voices of young fathers in South Africa (2009, HSRC Press with Bhana). Edited books include The Oxford Handbook of Global South Youth Studies (2020, Oxford University Press with Cooper, Batan and Kropff Causa); A history of the human sciences research council of South Africa (2020, HSRC Press with Soudien and Houston); Youth and the intergenerational transmission of poverty (2015, UCT Children’s Institute edited with DeLannoy et al); Youth citizenship and the politics of belonging (2013, Routledge with Arnot); and Moral education in sub-Saharan Africa: culture, economics, conflict and AIDS (2011, Routledge with Taylor).

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.

Divisional Executive (DCES) – Prof Narnia Bohler-Muller

Professor Narnia Bohler-Muller is the Divisional Executive in the HSRC’s Developmental, Capable and Ethical State research division. She holds a Doctor of Laws (LLD) from the University of Pretoria and specialises in participatory democracy and social justice as well as gender equality and the fulfilment of socioeconomic rights.

Bohler-Muller was formerly a professor at Nelson Mandela University (then known as Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University) before she joined the Africa Institute of South Africa in 2011 as a research director. In 2012, she became the deputy executive director of the HSRC’s former Democracy, Governance and Service Delivery research division. Bohler-Muller was an adjunct professor of law, University of Fort Hare (2015-2020) and is currently a research associate with the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies, University of Free State. At the HSRC, she has led numerous large projects for the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, the Department of Monitoring, Planning and Evaluation in the Presidency, the European Union Commission in South Africa, and the UK Commonwealth and Foreign Office. Bohler-Muller has also led a collaboration with the University of Johannesburg on the COVID-19 democracy survey, with five rounds of the survey conducted from April 2020 to November 2021. Before joining the HSRC, Bohler-Muller spent sixteen years as an academic, during which time she taught numerous courses in law and legal philosophy, beginning her career at the Port Elizabeth campus of Vista University. During the past decade, she has mostly conducted research in the area of human rights and social justice within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as gender equality and socio-economic rights.

Bohler-Muller has published 49 scientific articles in local and international peer-reviewed academic journals, 6 books, 15 book chapters and 30 research reports. She has also presented more than 100 papers at local and international conferences, many of them as an invited keynote speaker. She is on the editorial board of one national and two international accredited journals, regularly conducts peer reviews for journals and writes book reviews. She is often called upon to assist with the National Research Foundation’s researcher ratings. Bohler-Muller has officially represented South Africa at international forums, including BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa economies), IBSA (India Brazil and South Africa dialogue), the W20 (Women20) and IORA (the Indian Ocean Rim Association). She has completed visiting research fellowships at Birkbeck University (London), Griffith University (Brisbane) and the BRICS Research Centre (Rio de Janeiro).

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.