Programme Director; Dr Mgwebi;
Dr Albert van Jaarsveld, Chief Executive Officer of the National Research Foundation (NRF);
Dr Gansen Pillay, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the NRF;
NRF executives present;
Researchers and Research heads from higher education institutions;
Ladies and gentlemen.
I would like to start by extending a heartfelt thank-you to Dr Albert van Jaarsveld, for extending an invitation to me to deliver the keynote address at this very important Forum. I must say that it feels like only yesterday that I was privileged enough to be part of the launch of this Forum, even though that memorable occasion was way back in 2009. I am delighted to once again be part of the National Postdoctoral Forum, held in this lovely setting here in Somerset West.
I was very pleased to hear that this Forum has grown, as far as both quantity and quality are concerned. I would like to congratulate the NRF and staff from my Department for their efforts in putting the development of the postdoctoral research culture onto the national agenda. As you may well know, the Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme is a prime example of the Department of Science and Technology’s Human Capital Development initiatives. One of the advantages of this fellowship programme, is that it provides outstanding doctoral graduates with an opportunity to gain experience in research and innovation at higher institutions of learning, at science councils and of course at national research facilities.
It is important for all of us to understand that postdoctoral research fellowship is the foundation of all endeavours towards becoming a knowledge driven economy. Postdoctoral fellows are indispensable in any science system, all over the world.
While I fully acknowledge and support the objectives of this Forum, Albert Einstein’s quotation on the gathering of intellectual workers resonates very well with me as a politician. Here is what the great Einstein once said:
“I consider it important, indeed urgently necessary, for intellectual workers to get together, both to protect their own economic status and also, generally speaking, to secure their influence in the political field”.
So, your gathering here as postdoctoral fellows should go beyond just forming research networks. It should also ensure that your voices are heard beyond your laboratories and university corridors.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is an overwhelming amount of evidence that research is a driver of the knowledge economy and global competitiveness. This makes universities and all research performing institutions important elements in the achievement of economic growth and wealth creation. As such, postdoctoral fellows and researchers in general can no longer sit idly on the sidelines while the country’s economic future is being discussed.
For universities and research performing institutions to play any meaningful role in wealth creation, professionalisation of a research career is inevitable. This has to begin with providing globally competitive research opportunities, support structures and an environment in which researchers in training can thrive.
I would like to briefly touch on the recommendations of a symposium held in Ireland a few years ago. This symposium was themed “Building Research Careers: The Postdoctoral Experience”.
I find that the recommendations emanating from that symposium, are every bit as pertinent to us today as they were to the Irish about five years ago.
I already alluded to at least one of these recommendations earlier when I spoke about the need to develop clear career structures for postdoctoral fellows into academia, into university-based research, into industry and into government.
The other recommendations talk to the need for the development of formal university postdoctoral policies, the need for clear training and supervision structures, annual career reviews involving discussions on career prospects, risks involved and career alternatives and internationalisation of the research system.
For us to be globally competitive we need to have and to promote globally competitive postdoctoral programmes. Looking at the programme for this year’s Forum, makes me confident that indeed we are on the right track.
In all fairness, our research enterprise is fairly healthy in a global sense relative to its size. Our international ranking of 29th in the Global Competitive Index speaks volumes for our research enterprise. However, we dare not rest on our laurels; there is no room for complacency if we are to be globally competitive.
We still need to work hard to improve our General Expenditure on Research and Development as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product. We need to drastically improve our 0.5% contribution to the global Research and Development output.
We know what we have to do to improve the performance of our research enterprise. The PhD Study conducted by the Academy of Sciences of South Africa, published in 2010, makes numerous recommendations on what needs to be done if we are to improve the quantity and quality of PhD graduates in our country. I am very pleased that the DST together with the NRF is working hard to ensure that the recommendations of the PhD Study are implemented.
One of the initiatives the Department is working on with the NRF is the development of the 2011 to 2020 Funding Framework, which will outline and guide Research and Development up-scaling and associated funding required to achieve the desired levels of global competitiveness.
The fact that the Department and the NRF have adopted a pipeline approach in their own human capital development initiatives indicates the extent to which the Department and the NRF would want to derive maximum benefits from our investments. The pipeline approach involves progressive interventions targeting established researchers, the next generation of researchers in terms of bursaries, scholarships and fellowships, and those researchers who are younger than 40 and have PhDs.
I am particularly thrilled that the move is towards increased investments in the next generation of researchers’ programmes.
Lastly, I hope you have all benefited from the sessions you have had since Wednesday. I wish you all the best as you go back to your places of work, and encourage you to make good use of the postdoctoral fellowship opportunity.
But just before I let you go, allow me to remind you of something the late great American scientist and astronomer Carl Sagan once said: “For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”
So ladies and gentlemen, I urge you to grasp the Universe as it really is, and to keep embracing the wondrous joys of science.
Thank you.
Keynote address by Derek Hanekom, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, at the Third NRF Post-Doctoral Research Forum, Somerset West
