1. Advancing Knowledge.
Transforming Lives.
Inspiring a Nation.
Presentation to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Science and Technology
04 October 2017

2. NRF Performance 2016/17

3. SUPPORTING AND PROMOTING RESEARCH
NRF Performance 2016/17
SUPPORTING AND PROMOTING RESEARCH
POSTGRADUATE SUPPORT
RESEARCHER SUPPORT
PRODUCTIVITY
EQUIPMENT GRANTS

4. NRF Performance 2016/17 NATIONAL RESEARCH FACILITIES
NRF OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCIES
NRF INVESTMENT IN SCIENCE ENGAGEMENT
NATIONAL RESEARCH FACILITIES

5. Financial Overview - Income
0.5%
Parliamentary Grant
increase in nominal terms
5.7%
decrease in real terms
25%
Ring fenced funding
18.4%
increase in real terms
6.7%
Designated funding
decrease in nominal terms
13.3%

6. Financial Overview - Expenditure
14%
(R627m)
Salaries
57%
(R2600m)
Grants
18%
(R784m)
Opex
11%
(R503m)
Capex

7. Investment in the Science System
R2.4 bn
Total investment in the human capacity development, research support, and the provision of research infrastructure, through the award of grants and bursaries

8. Percent of all enrolled postgraduates supported by the NRF
Postgraduate Student Support
9.2%
Percent of all enrolled postgraduates supported by the NRF
(14 173)

9. Progress Against the Ministerial Guidelines

10. Researcher Support
4 520
Total number of researchers supported
54 076
Total number of
research and instructional staff at Universities
12 612
Research and instructional staff with doctoral degrees
11 397
Research and instructional staff with masters degrees
35%
The approximate percentage of researchers (with doctoral degrees) funded by the NRF

11. Researcher Support – Ratings
3 663
Total number of rated researchers
70%
Increase in black rated researchers over 5 years
51%
Increase in female rated researchers over 5 years

12. Researcher Support – Productivity Analysis

13. Researcher Support – Globally Competitiveness
InCItes Data extracted 31 May 2017

14. Strategic Investments – CoEs and SARChI
199
Number of Research Chairs awarded 15
Number of Centres of Excellence (incl NiThEP)

15. Performance of Strategic Investments15

16. Performance of Strategic Investments16

17. Investment in the DST Grand Challenges (excl. Astronomy)

18. Investment in Astronomy (Cross-cutting Grand Challenge and Geographic Advantage Area)

19. Investment in Geographic Advantages (excl. Astronomy)

20. Science Engagement
Number learners reached through science education
activities
Number Public reached through science engagement activities
17 997
Number Educators reached through science education

21. Science Engagement
SAASTA in collaboration with Eskom Expo for Young Scientists, enabled two learners to participate in the 37th Beijing Young Scientists Conference
A total of 38 out of 52 (73%) district municipalities were reached through learner and educator development activities during the period under review.
School-Gold medal winner
Miss Mandisa Xaba
Sakhelwe High School
School-Silver medal winner
Miss Veeasha Pickirisami Kimberley Girls High

22. Science Engagement
R3 million (over two) years was raised from the private sector to support participation and performance of learners in Mathematics and Science.
The Komatsu Learner Camp at Hlanganani Secondary School was funded from these private investments.
To enhance learner performance, content specialists focused on curriculum topics in:
Physical Science,
Life Science, and
Mathematics

23. National Research Infrastructure Platforms

24. RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE RENEWAL AT iTHEMBA LABS
Acquisition of new research and relevant infrastructure supports a globally competitive research agenda.
The study of ‘exotic beams’ could invigorate basic and applied research
from innovative cancer treatment modalities to understanding
the origin and creation of chemical
elements in the universe.
The new Tandetron was commissioned in February 2017.
This replaces the 65 year old accelerator established by the Southern Universities Nuclear Institute (SUNI) in 1952.
The 6 MeV Van de Graaff Accelerator, accelerates light ions like protons, from 0,5MeV to 12MeV.
The accelerator has been refurbished and converted into the first Accelerator Mass Spectrometer (AMS) at iThemba LABS.
POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS SUPPORTED
WEB OF SCIENCE PUBLICATIONS

25. National Zoological Gardens
RESEARCH IN ACTION
The NZG has successfully processed 92 wildlife forensics cases from 543 crime scene exhibit samples from the southern African region between 2015 and 2017.
During the reporting period, the NZG Biobank grew by 9.5% with a total of new individuals catalogued comprising various biomaterials.
POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS SUPPORTED
WEB OF SCIENCE PUBLICATIONS

26. South African Earth Observation Network
The BioEnergy Atlas for South Africa is a collaboration between academia, research institutions, and government.
The BioEnergy Atlas identifies specific areas of interest where future research and effort can be directed.
It was officially launched in March 2017
SAEON was awarded funding for 2 projects in line with the SARIR:
The Expanded Terrestrial Freshwater Environmental Observation Network (ETFEON); and
The Shallow Marine and Coastal Research Infrastructure (SMCRI).
Earth observation is the gathering of information about planet Earth’s physical, chemical and biological systems. It involves
monitoring and assessing the status of, and changes in, the natural and man-made environments.”

27. South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity
RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE FOR CONSERVATION
The research vessel Phakisa:
Is capable of accommodating and deploying a variety of specialised equipment;
Can stay out at sea over-night;
Is built to allow remotely operated underwater camera observation work which will create new opportunities to study South Africa’s eastern shelf edge.
The Agulhas Current transports nutrients and plays a significant role in determining climate conditions in the region. SAIAB will aim to unlock its secrets.
WEB OF SCIENCE PUBLICATIONS
POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS SUPPORTED

28. National Research Infrastructure Platforms

29. South African Astronomical Observatory
PRECISION ENGINEERING
The highly skilled engineering team at SAAO designs, develops and operates a complex suite of opto-mechanical instruments.
The SAAO Cape Town workshops and laboratories provide training and development to technicians and engineers in the fields of instrumentation engineering. 98
Web of Science Publications
The SALT Technical Operations training programme, trained previously disadvantaged individuals from Sutherland as fitters and turners.
This programme has also supported local students to pursue tertiary education. 33
Postgraduate students supervised

30. Hartebeesthoek Radio Observatory
HartRAO officially opened the new Russian satellite ranging system. Sazhen-TM+OWS is the second of the ROSCOSMOS network of stations of the Russian GLObal NAvigation Satellite System (GLONASS)
INSTRUMENTATION WITH GLOBAL APPLICATIONS
VGOS is a global network of very accurate and fast moving radio telescopes that observe the rotation rate of the Earth, and its orientation in space.
This information is required for:
Astronomy;
Satellite orbit maintenance;
Time keeping; and
Many applications on
Earth, and in space that
require accurate
positioning.
The radio telescope is
expected to be commissioned
by end of 2018
The system can:
Range to satellites with an orbital altitude of up to km;
Do continuous tracking of navigation signals of the GLONASS and GPS satellites;
Perform measurement of the current navigation parameters; and
Receive navigation messages transmitted from the satellites.
1 168 users of the facility were reported for 2016/17. The HartRAO definition of users includes recipients of VLBI data through the International Association of Geodesy

31. Square Kilometre Array Project
ARRAY RELEASE 1 – A GLOBAL SUCCESS
The MeerKAT telescope is the pathfinder to
the SKA. KAT-7 is the experimental demonstrator to MeerKAT and first light with KAT-7 attracted great interest internationally.
MeerKAT technology is cutting-edge and the project is creating a large group of young scientists and engineers with world-class expertise in support of the technologies that will be crucial in the next 10 – 20 years.
MeerKAT Array Release 1 consisted of the first 16 science-commissioned dishes which were successfully signed off on the 30 June 2016.
The first MeerKAT science image produced in late June 2016 drew positive feedback from the scientific community. The full 64 dish MeerKAT array is expected to be completed by the end of March 2018.
MeerKAT first science has resulted in more than 500 international astronomers (58 from Africa) submitting proposals to do research on the telescope.

32. National Research Facilities
The Normalised citation impact allows countries to compare the value and impact of their research outputs:
The global average is 1
South African researchers exceed the average in a number of baselines
Date exported from database
InCItes Data extracted at 31 May 2017: iThemba; SAEON; SAIAB; NZG; SAAO; HartRAO, SKA

33. Enkosi, Thank you, Re a leboga, Siyabonga, Dankie
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