Research is not just an academic exercise. The findings from these pivotal studies often shape the policies that govern our societies, strengthen initiatives aimed at bringing about meaningful change, drive advancements in technology and health care, and influence the education of future generations.
Indeed, the value of research lies both in knowledge creation and in translation to action.
In SA, this is particularly important: we live in a society marked by profound inequalities, legacies of exclusion, high burdens of disease, socioeconomic vulnerability and the imperative of development.
Research that does not speak to these realities’ risks being disconnected, academically elegant but socially irrelevant.
Researchers can play their part. However, if politicians are not willing to implement research findings particularly around issues of the socioeconomic balance, such as land rights, land restitution and land restoration, then their work gets weakened and becomes irrelevant.
A key shift in research thinking is the move from traditional, sometimes extractive research (where researchers come into a community, gather data, depart, publish) toward what is often called engaged research (ER).
This means research is done with communities, not only on them.
It means agenda-setting includes community voices; methodologies are sensitive to context; data collection and interpretation consider local meaning; findings are returned and operationalised for real-world change.
The HSRC provides meaningful examples of how this shift is taking root.
For instance, its Centre for Community-Based Research (CCBR) in Sweetwaters (a rural valley outside Pietermaritzburg) works directly with community stakeholders, trains residents as fieldworkers and partners with community organisations to ensure research into HIV, maternal health and other critical issues is aligned with community needs.
This example shows how research that matters is not an abstract — it responds to specific populations, addresses marginalised groups and seeks to generate data that translates into interventions and policies.
Let me highlight some of the domains in which research that matters is most needed in SA. While many could be named, I highlight several inter-related ones:
a) Health and epidemiology: Given the burden of disease and the challenges in health systems delivery, research that helps adapt, innovate and scale health solutions is vital;
b) Inequality, poverty, social justice and inclusion: SA’s history of apartheid and its ongoing legacies mean that research on inequality, social exclusion, tenure security, land rights, social mobility and rural development remains urgent;
c) Innovation, technology and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR): To lift SA’s developmental trajectory, research that supports the adoption of new technologies, digitalisation, automation, data science and the integration of innovation into local industry is critical.
But innovation must not simply replicate global models — it must be relevant to local contexts, appropriate to local communities and inclusive;
d) Environment, sustainability, climate change: Research that helps local communities adapt, that links environmental science with social science, that works through differences (a principle of engaged research) and that addresses spatiality (urban/rural, global/local) becomes central; and
e) Education, capacity building and transformation: Research that matters also addresses the pipeline: the development of researchers from previously disadvantaged groups; the inclusion of women; building institutions in historically under-resourced universities; strengthening research infrastructure; bridging the gap between universities and communities; and ensuring that research capacity is spread and sustainable.
f) Governance and the interface of evidence and policy: Research that matters is so because it addresses not just the “what” but the “how” — how evidence is translated into policy, how stakeholders engage, how power dynamics play out, how systems change.
In reflecting on research that matters, it is important to appraise the national research system: what are the enablers, what are the constraints?
SA has a vibrant research output: the NRF review shows the country produces a significant number of Web of Science-indexed papers, with a respectable citation impact compared to peers on the continent.
Dr Arikana Chihombori favours this model on the basis that the South should surrender its research output to the North for peer review; East should do as such to West for African Peer Review Scholarship.
Institutions such as the HSRC, NRF and leading universities are explicitly embracing engaged research, capacity building, ethical frameworks, community partnerships and science communication.
Transformation metrics are improving, for example, the increase in black and female researchers acknowledged by the NRF.
However, there are challenges too. Research spending as a proportion of GDP remains low: according to the NRF and the STI Indicators Report, current spending is only 0.61% of GDP, far short of the target of 1.5%.
Underrepresentation of certain fields in engaged research: for example, the HSRC notes that STEM areas such as chemistry and mathematics are under-represented in engaged research practice.
Taken together, these challenges underscore the fact that making research matter is not simply a technical adjustment but requires systemic change — of funding, governance, capacity, culture and practice.
In synthesising the above, I propose a set of principles that includes co-creation and participation, relevance, inclusivity and equity, translation to action, sustainability and capacity, context sensitivity, interdisciplinarity and systems thinking, as well as accountability and impact measurement.
On practices I proffer, among other things:
- Establish partnerships early with communities, NGOs, government and industry;
- Train and include community researchers;
- Use mixed methods, participatory action research, co-design of interventions rather than purely observational research;
- Disseminate to multiple audiences; and
- Develop research capacity in historically disadvantaged universities and technical institutions.
I make the following recommendations
- Increase investment in research and development;
- Expand engaged research across all disciplines; and
- Promote multisectoral collaboration between academia, government, civil society, industry and communities;
Let us therefore commit on doing research that matters to uplift our socioeconomic condition. Somewhere, something incredibly new is waiting to be known.
Edited version of a speech delivered by Mphumzi Mdekazi, CEO of the Walter & Albertina Sisulu Foundation for Social Justice, at Vaal University of Technology on October 23.
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