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The demographic profile of the Research Chairs indicates   lack of diversity at senior academic levels, including as-  and 58% were South African citizens and permanent resi-  velopment workshop series offered over 90 workshops, in
              that 78% of incumbents are at Professor level, 39% are   sociate professor and full professor, remains a challenge.    dents. A total of 132 (95%) were taken up as of 30 October   which 815 PGs and 399 employees participated.
              female  and  61%  male,  while  44%  are  from  the  African,   Plans are underway to increase the number of rated re-  2023,  and  of  these,  70%  were  Black,  37%  were  women
              Coloured and Indian population groupings and 56% are   searchers within the community of early and mid-career          and 58% South African citizens and permanent residents.   Patents and commercialisation of
              from the White population grouping.              researchers. Increasing the number of young, rated re-                The projected investment in postdoctoral and research   intellectual property
                                                               searchers will contribute towards diversifying the acade-             fellowships for the 2024 academic year is R30-million.
              To further support the expansion of our research chair   my at senior levels, which will also increase PG superviso-                                                    The University, through its subsidiary Innovolve, conclud-
              profile, discussions are underway with an industry part-  ry capacity at doctoral level. The outcomes for the rating   The University has been allocated a budget of over R86.5-   ed one of its most significant technology licensing agree-
              nership to increase the number of industry-funded re-  applications, including renewals, are still being processed     million by the DHET since the inception of the New Gen-  ments to date, enabling a South African small and medi-
              search chairs and to enter partnerships with other South   by the NRF.                                                 eration  of  Academics  Programme  (nGAP)  in  2016.  This   um-sized business to enter the renewable energy sector.
              African universities to leverage the establishment of ad-                                                              programme makes a valuable contribution to the devel-  Close communication with researchers helped to identify
              ditional joint research chairs.                                                                                        opment of young academic staff with doctoral qualifica-  and protect intellectual property arising from their work,
                                                                       Research-Related Outputs                                      tions. A highlight over the review period was that two   and to explore commercialisation opportunities through
                                                                                                                                     more academics obtained their doctoral degrees in April,   the formation of spinout companies and licensing of in-
                          Rated Researchers                                                                                          bringing the total number of nGAP doctoral graduates to   tellectual property generated.
                                                               Preliminary data shows that the number of publications                five. Active recruitment is underway to fill four nGAP va-
                                                               per FTE staff increased from 0.66 in 2022 to 0.67 in 2023,            cancies, which will increase the Mandela University cohort   Progress was made in technology transfer projects, which
              The number of NRF-rated researchers has not improved   a YoY variance of 1.5%. The APP target for 2023 is 0.80.        to 21. The cohort currently consists of 17 Black academ-  include the licensing of Active Pharmaceutical manufac-
              significantly over the past 5 years. In 2023, 91 researchers                                                           ics, of whom 11 are women.                       turing  intellectual  property  and  of  intellectual  property
              were rated. The demographic profile of these researchers   Publication units increased YoY from 556 in 2022 to 573                                                      related to the production of solar grade silicon.
              shows that 38% are female and 62% male, while only 23%   in 2023, which exceeds the target of 565 by 1.4 % (see        As previously indicated, the BAAP is another project
              being from the African, Coloured and Indian population   Table 24).                                                    which is being coordinated by the Research Capacity   Propella Business Incubator has provided vital support to
              groups and 77% from the White population group. The                                                                    Office to enhance the diversity of our academic profile.   start-ups founded by employees, student and Gqeber-
                                                                                                                                     The Black Academics Advancement Programme (BAAP)   ha-resident  entrepreneurs.  In  2023,  Propella  graduated
                                                                                                                                     currently  funds  five  academics,  two  of  whom  are  wom-  ten ventures focusing on technologies with an industrial
                                                                                                                                     en.  These  grant  holders  are  committed  to  PG  student   application such as prosthetic engineering technologies,
                                                                                                                                     training and augment supervisory capacity. The Thuthu-  innovative  dental  solutions,  and innovative  aquaculture
                                                                                                                                     ka Funding Instrument is a further key NRF intervention   systems.  This  was  after  completing  a  3-4-year  business
                                                                                                                                     aimed at supporting emerging researchers. In 2022, there   and technology development industrial incubation.
                                                                                                                                     were 15 active Thuthuka grant holders at Nelson Mandela
                                                                                                                                     University, of whom 93% were Black and 67% women.
                                                                                                                                                                                      Over the past three years, the National Intellectual Prop-
                                                                                                                                                                                      erty Management Office funded two positions in the of-
                                                                                                                                     As previously indicated, the BAAP is another project which   fice, contributed to operational costs and also support-
                                                                                                                                     is being coordinated by the Research Capacity Office to   ed the office through various funding initiatives. During
                                                                                                                                     enhance the diversity of our academic profile. Over the   2022/23,  the  Technology  Innovation  Agency  provided
                                                                                                                                     period under review, a combined investment of close to   funding of about R2-million for three new projects: green
                                                                                                                                     R1.5-million was awarded to 41 early-career researchers   hydrogen production, recovery of precious metals from
                                                                                                                                     towards research running costs, teaching relief and con-  waste and PV modules reuse.
                                                                                                                                     ference participation. In 2023, the research capacity de-



              Table 24: Institutional Key Performance Areas on Research Outputs for 2023 Relative to 2022 and 2021.


                       Research Management                           Enhancing Research Capacity



              Increasingly, research practice is strengthening within the   This section should be read in conjunction with the PG
              institution  and  researchers  are publishing  in top  open   Success Interventions on page 19.
              access journals. In 2023, the University increased income
              generation from external research grants, including inter-  Postdoctoral  and research fellows  at Nelson  Mandela
              national grants and industry research partnerships. More   University have a unique opportunity to demonstrate
              than  R63-million  was  mobilised,  mostly  from  NRF  Re-  originality, creativity and productivity that will serve them
              search Chairs and international research grants. Income   well in their research careers. A total of 139 postdoctoral
              generated from NRF grants for PG bursaries was more   and research fellowships were awarded over the review
              than R23-million and R6.8-million was allocated to emerg-  period, and of these, 67% were Black, 38% were women
              ing researchers.



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