Academic and research staff
Johann Mouton
Professor Johann Mouton is professor in, and director of the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST) and the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Scientometrics and Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (SciSTIP). His research interests are the philosophy and methodology of the social sciences, higher education knowledge production, sociology of science, scientometrics and science policy studies.
Jan Botha
Professor Jan Botha is a professor in the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST) at the University of Stellenbosch. His research interests include higher education policy and planning in South Africa, the positioning of universities, academic organization, postgraduate supervision, and the theory and practice of Institutional research.
Nelius Boshoff
Professor Nelius Boshoff is an NRF-rated researcher who specialises in studies of (1) research utilisation and the societal impact of research, (2) research collaboration and (3) bibliometrics with a focus on Africa. He has a PhD in Science and Technology Studies from Stellenbosch University, on the topic of knowledge utilisation in the South African wine industry.
Sara Grobbelaar
Professor Sara Grobbelaar is a part-time researcher in CREST and SciSTIP. Sara’s research interests are national and regional systems of innovation, STI policy, Technology Management and sustainable development. Sara has completed a wide range of consulting projects as a management consultant which includes the development of modelling studies, a regional economic road map for Gauteng Department of Economic Development, innovation strategies and sector development strategies.
Marina Joubert
Dr Marina Joubert is a senior science communication researcher at CREST. After working as a science communication manager and consultant for two decades, she joined Stellenbosch in 2015. In addition to coordinating and presenting an online science communication course with a focus on Africa, she teaches science communication within an MPhil programme on science and technology studies. In 2017, she completed her PhD, focused on the communication behaviour of publicly visible scientists in South Africa.
Agnes Lutomiah
Agnes Lutomiah is a doctoral candidate and junior researcher in science and technology studies at the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology Studies (CREST). Her PhD research focuses on analysing the state of science in Kenya. Agnes has a background in higher education studies.
Joseph Maziku
Joseph Maziku is a doctoral candidate in science and technology studies and a junior researcher on the Young Scientists in Africa project at CREST. He joined the team in January 2017. His PhD research focusses on a scientometric analysis of the science system in Tanzania.
Nozipho Ngwabi
Nozipho Ngwabi, a South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association (SAMEA) Board Member, is an emerging evaluator with 10 years’ work experience gained predominantly in social and health programmes in urban, rural and peri-urban communities of South Africa.
Similo Ngwenya
Similo Ngenya is a junior researcher and doctoral candidate in science and technology studies at CREST. Her PhD study explores research collaboration in Zimbabwe, with a focus on the types, drivers and effects of these collaborations.
Heidi Prozesky
Professor Heidi Prozesky holds a PhD in Sociology, on gender differences in the publication productivity of South African scientists, a research interest she has pursued since 2003. Her other research interests and teaching specialisations include social research methodology and ethics, as well as environmental sociology.
Mpho Sefatsa
Mpho Sefatsa is a junior researcher at CREST and a PhD candidate in science and technology studies. The main focus of her research centres around the scholarly and societal contribution of South African research in the social sciences.
Robert Tijssen
Professor Dr Robert Tijssen is professor at the Centre for Research on Evaluation Science and Technology at Stellenbosch University (South Africa) and board member of SciSTIP. He holds the Chair of Science and Innovation Studies at Leiden University, The Netherlands. He is a research fellow at the LDE Center for Frugal innovation in Africa (an inter-university research consortium of Leiden University, Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam), and one of the international research partners at the Centre for Global Higher Education (University College London, United Kingdom).
Milandré van Lill
Milandré van Lill is a researcher at CREST where she has been involved in a number of research projects since 2012. Her main research interests include human capacity for higher education and science and technology, the sociology of science and research methods and methodology.
Peter Weingart
Professor Dr Peter Weingart is professor emeritus of sociology and science policy at the University of Bielefeld, Germany and former director of the Institute for Science and Technology Studies (IWT 1993-2009) as well as of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) 1989 – 1994 at that university. He was a fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin (1983/84), and visiting fellow at Harvard University (1984/85) as well as the Getty Research Institute (2000).
Lauren Wildschut
Dr Lauren Wildschut is currently the academic coordinator of the Monitoring and Evaluation Programme at CREST, Stellenbosch University where she is responsible for the postgraduate diploma, Masters and PhD in Evaluation Studies. She is also the deputy director of the Evaluation Research Agency (ERA) which has conducted evaluation studies in several African countries since 2000 in the fields of education, higher education and health.
Research support staff
Marthie van Niekerk
Centre administrative manager
Marthie van Niekerk is the Centre Administrative Manager of CREST (including SciSTIP and SciCOM) and the executive assistant to Prof Johann Mouton. Until August 2014 her duties included the programme administration of the postgraduate programmes (Monitoring and Evaluation &Science and Technology Studies) until July 2014.
Bernia Drake
Postgraduate administrative co-ordinator
Bernia Drake joined the Centre in July 2016 as postgraduate administrative co-ordinator. Ms Drake previously worked as programme coordinator at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Tygerberg Campus (Stellenbosch University).
Kyle Ford
Database assistant
Kyle Ford joined the CREST team in March 2017 as a database assistant. He is responsible for assisting the team with database capturing and cleaning. He studied at the University of the Western Cape and completed his BA Honours in 2015. Kyle Previously worked at the City of Cape Town as a development information analysis intern.
Nigel Jansen
Technical officer
Nigel Jansen joined CREST in December 2011 as administrative assistant. He previously worked at the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology. Nigel is responsible for all technical administration at CREST.
Karien Joubert
Research intern
Karien Joubert joined CREST in February 2019 as a research intern. She completed her masters by research in History at the end of 2018 with a project focused on the lived experience of physically disabled students at Stellenbosch University (SU) between 1986 and 2007.
Rolene Langford
Short course and events co-ordinator
Rolene Langford joined CREST in January 2015. She handles the SciSTIP, SciCOM and CREST financial administration, and also coordinates all the short courses and events within CREST. Before joining CREST, she coordinated a wide range of programme-related activities within the Division of Community Health at Stellenbosch University’s Tygerberg Campus.
Lynn Lorenzen
Information officer
Lynn Lorenzen joined the Centre staff in the beginning of July 2002 as the centre information officer. She holds a Bachelor in Arts and Higher Education Diploma from the University of Stellenbosch. She handles all administration, cataloguing and queries /searches with regard to the content of the Documentation Centre.
Lenny Poole
Technical assistant
Lenny Poole joined the CREST in October 2014. He manages the facilities and is responsible for all venue bookings at CREST.
Herman Redelinghuys
Database specialist
Herman Redelinghuys joined the Centre in January 2015 as part of the Knowledge Management team. He worked as an independent ITC consultant for 11 years and is experienced in IT systems management and support. Herman completed a B.Tech degree in Electrical Engineering through UNISA.
Johann Spies
Database manager
Johann Spies joined the CREST Knowledge Management team in September 2010. At CREST he is responsible for the development and management of the data portal. Previously he was a prison warder (1969–1973), church minister (1979–2000) in various congregations of the Dutch Reformed Church and System Administrator (2001–2010) working for Information Technology, University of Stellenbosch.
Annemarie Visagie
Senior research assistant
Annemarie Visagie joined the Centre in May 2003 to form part of the research assistant team working on SA Knowledgebase. She studied at the University of Stellenbosch and completed her Honours (Psychology) degree in 2000. She is also a psychometrist, registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa.
Reinhold Treptow
Researcher
Reinhold Treptow is a researcher at CREST, where he has been involved with a wide range of research projects since 2009. His research interests include higher education knowledge production; the use of knowledge resources by researchers; and the evaluation of science, technology, and innovation (STI) policies.
Extraordinary professors
Nico Cloete
Professor Nico Cloete is the director of the Centre for Higher Education Trust (CHET) and coordinator of the Higher Education Research and Advocacy Network in Africa (HERANA). He is also a guest professor at the University of Oslo, an extraordinary professor at the Institute for Post-School Studies at the University of the Western Cape, and extraordinary professor at SciSTIP.
Rodrigo Costas
Professor Rodrigo Costas is a senior researcher at the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University (the Netherlands), as well as an extraordinary associate professor at the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST) of Stellenbosch University (South Africa).
Michael Kahn
Professor Michael Kahn is a policy analyst and evaluator in the fields of research and innovation. He has been advisor to the Ministers of Education, and Science and Technology, a chief director in the Gauteng Provincial Government, analyst in the Centre for Education Policy Development, professor of science education in Botswana and South Africa and executive director of the Human Sciences Research Council.
Peter Maassen
Professor Peter Maassen is extraordinary professor in the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Scientometrics and Science, Technology and Innovation Policy at Stellenbosch University. He is also Professor in Higher Education Studies at the Faculty of Education at the University of Oslo. He is also the deputy head for the department.
Rasigan Maharajh
Professor Rasigan Maharajh is the nodal head of SciSTIP; the founding chief director of the Institute for Economic Research on Innovation at Tshwane University of Technology; professor extraordinary at CREST; an associate research fellow of the Tellus Institute in Boston; and the chairperson of the Southern Africa node of the Millennium Project.
Johan Muller
Professor Johan Muller is emeritus professor of education and senior research scholar at the University of Cape Town; visiting professor at University College London; and extraordinary professor at CREST. He currently co-supervises the doctoral study of Francois van Schalkwyk.
Mario Scerri
Professor Mario Scerri is a senior research fellow at IERI and a professor of economics in the Faculty of Economics and Finance at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). He was the Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Finance at the Tshwane University of Technology from 2004 to 2007.
Postdoctoral fellows
Isabel Basson
Isabel Basson was awarded the degree PhD (science and technology studies) in 2018 by Stellenbosch University. Her doctoral studies focussed on investigating the open access citation advantage by using multiple measures. Her current research interests are bibliometrics and scientometrics with a focus on open access.
Jaco Blanckenberg
Dr Jaco Blanckenberg is a postdoctoral fellow at CREST and SciSTIP. He has a background in nuclear and theoretical particle physics with a strong focus on numerical calculations and numerical modelling. He obtained his PhD in physics at Stellenbosch University. His post graduate work focused on Monte Carlo simulations and numerical modelling.
Bankole Falade
Bankole Falade is a scientist, journalist and social psychologist with teaching and research interests in science (and health) communication; science, religion and public life; media and communications studies, text mining and survey research.
Corlia Meyer
Corlia Meyer joined CREST in 2016 as a doctoral student and research assistant in science communication. Her doctoral research focussed on the public’s perception of environmental problems in the Western Cape, South Africa. During his period she also supported a research project at the South African Research Chair in Science Communication on how rural communities in South Africa perceive science and technology.
Francois van Schalkwyk
Francois is a postdoctoral research fellow at CREST. His main areas of interest include higher education studies, critical data studies and science communication.
Extraordinary senior lecturer
Lars Guenther
Dr Lars Guenther is Senior Research Associate in the Cluster of Excellence on “Climate, Climatic Change, and Society“ (CliCCS) at University of Hamburg, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), and Extraordinary Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST) at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.
About CREST
CREST covers the broad fields of bibliometrics and scientometrics, research on higher education knowledge production, human resources in science and technology, research evaluation and impact assessment studies and studies on the communication patterns of scientists.
