Scientific Advisory Committee

All DSI-NRF Centres of Excellence are required to establish Scientific Advisory Committee’s to support the work of the Steering Committee and Management Committee in the execution of their key performance areas. The main functions of the SciSTIP Scientific Advisory Committee are to:

Provide general advice and specific recommendations – upon request or ad hoc – to the CoE Steering Committee on scientific content, priorities, including methodology, ethics and interpretation aligned to the CoE’s research objectives and priorities as captured in the research programme of the CoE;
Identify current developments, international trends, opportunities and challenges linked to the core research functions of the CoE;
Function as an advocate for the CoE, and promote the CoE among colleagues and peers, through their networks;
Identify leading individuals or research groups within the fields of interest of the CoE and communicate these to the Chair.

The members – listed below – of the SciSTIP Scientific Advisory Committee are all highly renowned scholars with proven expertise and experience in the areas of research that form part of the core research lines and projects of SciSTIP.

Prof. Cassidy Sugimoto (Scientific Advisory Committee chair elect)

Dr. Cassidy R. Sugimoto is Professor and Tom and Marie Patton School Chair in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research examines the formal and informal ways in which knowledge is produced, disseminated, consumed, and supported, with an emphasis on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Sugimoto was a professor of Informatics in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University Bloomington from 2010-2021 and served as the Program Director for the Science of Science and Innovation Policy program at the National Science Foundation from 2018-2020. She has received the Indiana University Trustees Teaching award (2014), a national service award from the Association for Information Science and Technology (2009), and a Bicentennial Award for service from Indiana University (2020). She holds a bachelor’s in Music Performance, a master’s in Library Science, and a doctoral degree in Information and Library Science all from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr Mlungisi Cele

Dr Mlungisi Cele studied, worked in, and developed a passion, interest and networks in science, technology and innovation, and higher education policy studies. He holds a PhD in Higher Education Studies and an MPhil in Science and Technology Studies. Dr Cele worked as a researcher at the former University of Durban-Westville (now part of the University of KwaZulu Natal) and University of the Western Cape. Academic outputs include edited book entitled innovation policy at the intersection: global and local experiences” (2020). Also presented at local and international academic conferences.

Dr Cele is serving as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI), which is a statutory advisory body to the South African government on STI issues. He have made substantial contributions in the development of the 2023 New Strategic Management Model for STI; Decadal Plan for Science Technology, the 2030 National Foresight Exercise on STI; 2020 Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for the National System of Innovation (NSI) and reviews of the National Research and Development Strategy and Ten-Year Innovation Plan and the 1996 White Paper on Science and Technology.

He is the representative of South Africa in various STI multilateral forums (such as G20 Scientific Advisors, OECD, BRICS).

Dr Cele is also a member of the Ministerial High-Level Panel on Higher Education Science and Innovation and WITS Council and Senate.

Prof. Vincent Larivière

Vincent Larivière holds the Canada Research Chair on the Transformations of Scholarly Communication at the Université de Montréal, where he is professor of information science and associate vice-president (planning and communications). He is also scientific director of the Érudit journal platform, associate scientific director of the Observatoire des sciences et des technologies (OST) and regular member of the Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur la science et la technologie (CIRST). He holds a B.A. in Science, Technology and Society (UQAM), an M.A. in history of science (UQAM) and a Ph.D. in information science (McGill), and has performed postdoctoral work at Indiana University’s Department of Information and Library Science.

Dr Wilhelmina Quaye

Dr (Mrs) Wilhelmina Quaye obtained her PhD in Rural Sociology from Wageningen University in the Netherlands in 2012. She obtained an MPhil (2002) and BSc (1993) in Agricultural Economics from the University of Ghana, Legon. She has a certificate in Gender Mainstreaming from Institute of Capacity Development in South Africa and a certificate in Monitoring and Evaluation of Development Projects from Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). She is an African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) fellow and Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist for Sustainable Development and Relief Associates (SUDRA). Her areas of specialization includes gender, policy and socio-economic research. Currently, Dr (Mrs) Wilhelmina Quaye is the Director of CSIR-Science and Technology Policy Research Institute in Ghana.

Prof. Nick Vonortas

Nick Vonortas is Professor of Economics and International Affairs at The George Washington University in Washington D.C. He is a faculty member of the Department of Economics, of the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy, and of the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration. He is currently the Director of the IISTP and the Director of PhD candidacy in Economics. Professor Vonortas holds a ‘São Paulo Excellence Chair’ in Technology and Innovation Policy at the University of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. He is also a Leading Research Fellow at the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation. Professor Vonortas is editor of the peer-reviewed journal Science and Public Policy. Professor Vonortas’ teaching and research interests are in industrial organization, in the economics of technological change, and in technology and innovation policy and strategy. He specializes on innovation networks, investment under uncertainty, technology transfer, knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship, and R&D program evaluation. He has published widely on these issues. Professor Vonortas has held visiting appointments at several universities including the Tsinghua University (China), University of Lund (Sweden), Fundação Getulio Vargas (Brazil), University of Campinas (Brazil), Korea University (Republic of Korea), National Research University Higher School of Economics (Russian Federation), the University of Maastricht (Netherlands), Luigi Bocconi University (Italy), and the Athens University of Economics and Business and the National Technical University of Athens (Greece). He has served as a consultant to many government agencies in the United States, the European Union and member states, Latin America, East Asia as well as to several international organizations such as the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the United Nations. Professor Vonortas holds a Ph.D. and M.Phil. in Economics from New York University (USA), a MA in Economic Development from Leicester University (UK), and a BA in Economics from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece).

Prof. Cassidy Sugimoto (Scientific Advisory Committee chair elect)

Dr Mlungisi Cele

Prof. Vincent Larivière

Dr Wilhelmina Quaye

Prof. Nick Vonortas

About SciSTIP

Contact us

COVID-19