Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – Prof Sarah Mosoetsa

Sarah Mosoetsa joined the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in February 2023. She chairs the South African BRICS Working Group on Social Sciences and Humanities Research. She previously served as the founding Chief Executive Officer of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS), chaired the South African BRICS Think Tank, and was a member of the BRICS Think Tank Council.

She holds a Doctorate in Sociology from the University of the Witwatersrand. Her academic work focuses on labour studies, poverty, unemployment, and inequality, as well as urban livelihoods and social policy. She has authored and co-edited local and international books, scholarly papers, and research reports and has contributed to policy development through commissioned research and advisory engagements.

Sarah Mosoetsa has held positions at several institutions and has served, and continues to serve, on several public sector boards, councils, and national commissions. She is currently affiliated with the University of the Witwatersrand, where she was appointed Associate Professor, Sociology.

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.

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.