Human Sciences Research Council Institutional Review, 2003 Free d own l oa d f rom www. h srcpu bli s h ers.ac.za HSRC Institutional Review, 2003 Published by Human Sciences Research Council Publishers Private Bag X9182, Cape Town, South Africa © Human Sciences Research Council 2003 First published 2003 ISBN 0 7969 2057 5 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers Production by comPress Distributed in South Africa by Blue Weaver Marketing and Distribution, PO Box 30370, Tokai, Cape Town, South Africa, 7966. Tel/Fax: (021) 701-7302, email: blueweav@mweb.co.za Free d own l oa d f rom www. h srcpu bli s h ers.ac.za Table of Contents Foreword by the Council of the HSRC vii Report of the Review Panel 1 Preface by the Chairperson of the Review Panel 3 Executive Summary of the Report of the Review Panel 6 1 Introduction 26 Terms of reference 26 Modus operandi 27 Members of the Review Panel 28 Acknowledgements 30 2 An overview of the current context 32 Political and social context 32 Constitutional stability 32 Social phenomena 32 Regional and international affairs 34 Public administration 35 Policy context 36 The Human Sciences Research Act, 1968 (Act 23 of 1968) 36 Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), 1999 (Act 1 of 1999) 37 White Paper on Science and Technology, 1996 37 Report of the 1997 HSRC Review Panel 37 South Africa’s National Research and Development (R&D) Strategy, August 2002 38 Free d own l oa d f rom www. h srcpu bli s h ers.ac.za Three phases of HSRC transformation 39 Early implementation (1997–2000) 40 Transition towards the COUPE strategy (2000–2002) 40 Implementation of the COUPE strategy (2002–present) 41 The HSRC’s peer group 42 3 Stakeholder views of the HSRC 45 Definition of stakeholder 45 External stakeholders 46 The HSRC and the higher education community 48 Some criticisms of research quality 50 The HSRC’s public role 51 Internal stakeholders 52 Conclusion 55 4 The HSRC today 56 The 1997 review: overall perspective 56 New model HSRC 57 The HSRC’s new programme model 58 Programme transformation: addressing national development priorities 60 Setting research priorities 60 A note on gender as a cross-cutting theme in programme design 61 The quality of research outputs 63 Improving research impact 65 Transformation in funding 67 The 1997 Review 67 The funding model and the positioning of the HSRC 71 Parliamentary funding in the longer term 72 Transformation of researchers and research organisation 73 Transformation of institutional culture 76 Free d own l oa d f rom www. h srcpu bli s h ers.ac.za HSRC mandate and governance structures 76 Executive leadership and strategic management 77 Bridging the researcher-administration divide 77 Internal capacity development 79 Transformation of the organisation 80 Equity: race and gender 80 Gender updated 82 Post-2002 corporate services reconstruction process 83 The staff union 85 Conclusion 86 5 Collaboration, linkages and networking 87 Science councils and higher education institutions 87 The practice of collaboration, linkages and networking 90 Key factors for successful linkages and pitfalls to avoid 94 6 The HSRC’s public purposes 96 Why the HSRC needs to formulate its public purposes 96 Five public purposes for the HSRC 97 Implications of the proposed public purposes 98 The policy-relevant research purpose 99 The policy information purpose 101 The research stimulator purpose 101 The support to disadvantaged people purpose 101 The data set management purpose 102 The self-image of the HSRC 104 The HSRC’s engagement with Africa 107 A new name and legislation for the HSRC 110 The HSRC’s access to public funding 113 7 Conclusions and major recommendations 115 Conclusions 115 Major recommendations 118 Free d own l oa d f rom www. h srcpu bli s h ers.ac.za Annexures A Terms of reference for the Review 120 B Final programme for the Review 126 C Review Panel support staff 130 D List of persons consulted 131 E National social science research institutions in other countries 135 Notes 141 Acronyms 143 Figures 1 Research Programmes and national priorities 59 2 Research autonomy related to funding sources 71 Tables 1 HSRC funding sources and research income per head, 1996/97–2002/03 (R’000) 68 2 Projects by size, 2002–03 69 3 Projects by funding source and relative average size, 2002–03 70 4 Implications for the HSRC of the five public purposes 114 Free d own l oa d f rom www. h srcpu bli s h ers.ac.za Foreword by the Council of the HSRC The Council of the HSRC expresses its appreciation to the members of the Panel whom it engaged to conduct the 2003 Review of the HSRC. In a limited time the Panel considered a wealth of material and presentations, and produced a substantial and thought-provoking final Report. It provides much food for thought regarding the HSRC's functioning, the extent of our transformation and future directions and challenges. We are gratified by the Reports’s overall recognition that "the HSRC of 2003 is a different and much better organisation in important respects than the HSRC of 1997. It has earned the respect given to it by the bulk of its collaborators and stakeholders by the breadth, quality and relevance of its contributions to the study and practice of social development in South Africa." The Report identifies important challenges and makes far-reaching recommendations. The Council readily accepts many of them: for example initiating networks with counterpart agencies,especially in the rest of Africa; enhancing stakeholder involvement in formulating our research agenda and designs;extending peer review of our outputs and monitoring their impact; improving the management of our relations with our research users; better co-ordinating our decentralised capacity-development efforts; heightening our attention to gender (and other discriminatory differentia); clarifying the disposition of our Parliamentary grant; providing upgraded corporate services and VII Free d own l oa d f rom www. h srcpu bli s h ers.ac.za VIII HSRC Institutional Review, 2003 systems to support research across our multiple centres; and develop- ing and implementing a systematic communications strategy. In some instances,however, the Council differs on the emphasis or the substance of the conclusions drawn or proposals made by the Panel. In others,further research or consultation will be required.However, even in these instances the Review process has generated constructive debate. Our considered views in these respects are as follows. HSRC functions, relationships and programmes An important issue during the Review was the balance between two key functions in the HSRC's mandate, namely undertaking policy-relevant social-scientific research of public benefit, and managing collaborative networks among research institutions to undertake such research. The Council appreciates the Panel’s endorsement of the numerous powerful collaborative research networks that the HSRC already has underway. While we agree that this mode of operation can be extended, and replicated in other areas, we affirm that this networking is not separable from, nor should it outweigh, the HSRC's continuing responsibly to undertake policy-relevant social science in the public interest. A related issue is the interaction between the HSRC and higher education institutions (HEIs).The Panel usefully stresses the importance of maximising collaboration rather than competition, in both the pursuit of research opportunities and the deployment of the country's scarce supply of skilled researchers.The successful transformation of the HSRC into a respected and responsive participant in the research arena has understandably caused tension in some of these relationships, which was referred to by some of the Panel's interviewees.However, the Council feels that positive engagements that have been achieved with HEIs in many respects should not be underestimated. Thus,a majority of HSRC research projects are now undertaken jointly with other institutions, mainly HEIs, both in South Africa and abroad, with sharing of the research income generated; senior HSRC staff members are encouraged to set up part-time academic appointments, especially involving graduate teaching and supervision; some HSRC staff members and all the research interns are registered for Free d own l oa d f rom www. h srcpu bli s h ers.ac.za postgraduate degrees at universities;and there are a significant number of joint publications. At the same time, we look forward to extending and institutionalising these areas of engagement with the HEIs, and considering innovative ways of co-operating.The same applies to HSRC collaborations with the research functions of non-governmental and community-based organisations, government departments, and other science councils, and in particular the Africa Institute. In responding to user needs,a related balance to be struck is between smaller, discrete projects, which are often undertaken to tight deadlines by the HSRC itself; and larger projects, linked into coherent, multi-year research programmes concerned with national development challenges, which are usually undertaken in collaboration with other institutions. The Council notes that much of the HSRC's work is already focussed on the latter, and welcomes the recommendation that this emphasis should be even further increased. But it does not share the Panel's anxiety about the HSRC also undertaking smaller projects, and notes that most of these are responses to the urgent requests or tenders of public-sector users, for which the HSRC's flexible and dedicated research-capacity and national coverage are well suited. Legislation and policy One of the important challenges facing the new Council of the HSRC during its term of office will be the drafting of a new HSRC Act. The Panel proposes five "public purposes" for the HSRC, as the basis for justifying partial funding by Parliamentary grant, to be considered for inclusion in the legislation. The Council accepts the substance of the first four of these: in essence, to conduct and foster development- oriented policy-relevant social science; to advance the policy relevance of its research through dissemination; to foster capacity-building and collaborations in the science system; and to meet the social-scientific research needs of disadvantaged communities. But the Council would be reluctant to accept the fifth recommen- dation without considerable further investigation.This proposes for the HSRC the role of making data sets public, with due regard for Foreword by the Council of the HSRC ix Free d own l oa d f rom www. h srcpu bli s h ers.ac.za intellectual property, and the maintaining of archives. Our belief is that this function is already served by the SA Data Archive (SADA) of the NRF, which is funded and equipped to deal with intensive support to users, issues of anonymity, agencies that need to pursue cost-recovery, etc. Apart from the technicalities of making data public, the management of the HSRC's intellectual property is proving to be a complex matter, both within the organisation and regarding its present and possible collaborations. There are diverging viewpoints, only some of which were taken into account in the Report. The HSRC supports the principle of openness in regard to information and would welcome a policy applicable across all research-producing entities for optimising access to data that have been produced with public funds. This general commit- ment would need to be balanced with relevant considerations such as the need to protect the intellectual property of a research institution engaged in cost recovery, or in work funded for specific purposes by private users; and the importance of avoiding the misuse of data out of context or protecting identifiable respondents. The Council accordingly agrees with the Panel that the matter requires the careful research of options and precedents, in concert with the Department of Science and Technology, other science councils and HEIs, followed by detailed policy. Sustainable organisational development The Report expresses concern about the sustainability of the present model of the HSRC, notably the need extensively to supplement the Parliamentary grant with research earnings. The Panel expressed concern about the pressures this places on HSRC staff, with consequences including researcher stress and turnover. Whilst the Council does take seriously the recommendation to hear and attend to such staff issues, and has recently undertaken a special investigation in this regard, we believe that the phenomena reported by the Panel need to be set in the current South African context, namely a powerful expectation of public sector transformation despite the constraint of limited extra resources for the science system. The Council welcomes what the Panel describes as "a vibrant environment for creativity and production" under the strong leadership of the CEO and Executive HSRC Institutional Review, 2003 x Free d own l oa d f rom www. h srcpu bli s h ers.ac.za [...]... is governed by its Council under the Human Sciences Research Act, 1968 It is a national public entity in terms of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999, and one of the science councils responsible to the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology The main policy texts under which it operates are the White Paper on Science and Technology (1996) and South Africa’s National Research and Development... Strategy (2001) Both emphasise the role of applied social science research in the national system of innovation, especially in connection with the eradication of poverty The System-wide Review of science councils in 1998 recommended that the HSRC’s mandate be more sharply defined in terms of research excellence and leadership in the human sciences, research co-ordination and capacity-building Since 1997 the... more staff This in turn will place a pressure on research components to earn more, itself a matter of considerable concern to the Panel The Council thus welcomes the Panel’s strong support for the HSRC's application for enhanced funding, and for annual increases comparable to those accorded to other science councils The Council has mandated the CEO and his research and administrative teams to produce plans... addressed by 30 January 2004 to the Council Secretary (at council@ hsrc.ac.za or by fax to 012 302 2828) Professor G.J Gerwel Chair: HSRC Council 27 November 2003 xi Free download from www.hsrcpublishers.ac.za Free download from www.hsrcpublishers.ac.za Human Sciences Research Council Report of the Review Panel Free download from www.hsrcpublishers.ac.za Free download from www.hsrcpublishers.ac.za Preface... outsiders in setting research priorities for each Research Programme, particularly where these are financed through the Parliamentary grant • In respect of the HSRC’s collaborative work the Review Panel believes there is considerable merit in involving partner research councils and HEIs at the earliest stages of programme design • Although the Panel encountered projects in several Research Programmes... prepares itself to engage from a well-researched basis in the formulation of the national Intellectual Property (IP) policy, if it is not already so engaged, and formulates its own policy on data set management and the publication of research results within that framework in consultation with the research councils and HEIs in Committee of Heads of Organisations of Research and Technology (COHORT) The... towards its dominant research function Since 2000 the changes have been driven by the new Council and CEO’s COUPE strategy: Contracts, Outreach, User needs, Performance and Equity Ten multidisciplinary Research Programmes have been created, each led by an Executive Director (ED) with substantial delegated authority The revenue structure of the HSRC has been fundamentally altered External research revenue... plans will be passed on to the incoming Council when it takes office in 2004, for it to take up, implement and monitor Progress will be reported to the Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology In the meantime, comments for the present Council to take into consideration when it receives the plans may be addressed by 30 January 2004 to the Council Secretary (at council@ hsrc.ac.za or by fax to 012... discrimination and socio-economic injustices poses an important research challenge to the HSRC, especially in connection with its policyrelated work Using gender analysis HSRC researchers could uncover hidden assumptions about roles, relationships and power It is a tool that should influence the ways in which the HSRC identifies its research areas, conducts research and disseminates its findings • In addition... organisation’s research capacity The responsibility of individual researchers to contribute to earnings appears to be a vexed question Whatever the formal position, young researchers in good faith believe that they must meet individual targets and this is a problem for them We believe the risks of overload and attrition are real and need to be seriously examined The Panel is concerned about the potential . Review, 2003 Published by Human Sciences Research Council Publishers Private Bag X9182, Cape Town, South Africa © Human Sciences Research Council 2003 First published. science councils in 1998 recommended that the HSRC’s mandate be more sharply defined in terms of research excellence and leadership in the human sciences, research co-ordination