Research Fellowships
The Research Fellowships are open to scholars, creative writers and artists who are engaged on long-term research projects. Research Fellows either work on collaborative research projects or pursue their individual research projects. Participants in the Research Fellowship are resident at the JIAS campus at Westdene or pursue their research outside with occasional short-term visits to the campus.
DISTINGUISHED VISITING PROFESSOR
Chris Brink
Professor
Chris Brink
Professor Chris Brink served as Vice-Chancellor of Newcastle University in the UK from 2007 till 2016. He was a Board member of the Russell Group, as well as the N8, the partnership of eight research-intensive universities in the North of England, which he also chaired. Previously he had served as a Board member of Universities UK (where he chaired the Student Policy Network), the national Equality Challenge Unit (also as Co-Chair), the national Quality Assurance Agency, JISC (the national digital services provider), the Advisory Committee on Leadership, Governance and Management of HEFCE, the North East Local Enterprise Partnership, and various regional Boards. Currently he serves on the University Grants Committee in Hong Kong, where he chairs the implementation group for the 2020 Research Assessment Exercise.
SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS
Victoria J. Collis-Buthelezi
Doctor
Victoria J. Collis-Buthelezi
Dr. Victoria J. Collis-Buthelezi is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Johannesburg. She is a research associate of the Institute of Research in African American Studies (IRAAS) at Columbia University (New York) and a senior research fellow at the Johannesburg Institute of Advanced Study (JIAS) at the University of Johannesburg where she leads the Research Initiative in Understanding Race in South Africa. Dr. Collis-Buthelezi has held posts in English at the University of Cape Town and as a Senior Researcher at the Wits Institute of Social and Economic Research (WiSER) at the University of the Witwatersrand. Her research interests include black intellectual history as well as Caribbean, African, and African American literatures. She has published in Small Axe, Callaloo, and The Black Scholar, in which she co-edited a special issue on “Black Studies in South Africa”. Her current book project, Before Nation: Early 20th Century Black Globalism, excavates the print cultures of black migrants to Cape Town from the Caribbean, the US, West Africa and other parts of South Africa before the rise of anti-colonial nationalism
TV Maphai
Doctor
TV Maphai
Vincent Maphai is the chairman of Discovery Foundation and a non-executive Board member of the Discovery Holdings. Formerly he was Chairman of BHP Billiton, Southern Africa, and executive director of the South African Breweries.
Dr. Maphai joined the private sector in 1998 after an academic career spanning more than two decades. He taught locally at the Universities of Transkei, Witwatersrand, Western Cape, Cape Town and Pretoria. He holds degrees from the Universities of Natal, UNISA and the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. He also participated in the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School. The University of Pretoria awarded him a degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Honoris Causa in 2007. He has held various teaching and research fellowships at institutions abroad, including Oxford, Harvard, Princeton and Stanford. Among various public policy roles, he chaired the Council of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, was appointed Chairman of the Presidential Review Commission by President Mandela, and served as Chairman of the South African Broadcasting Corporation by President Mbeki.
Mcebisi Ndletyana
Professor
Mcebisi Ndletyana
Mcebisi Ndletyana holds a PhD in Political Studies from the University of the Witwatersrand. He’s Associate Professor of Politics at the Univ of Johannesburg. Before joining the Univ, Prof Ndletyana held research positions at several institutions, including the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA), Human Sciences Research Council and at the Centre for Policy Studies. Prof Ndletyana also taught at New York’s Marrymount Manhattan College and the City University of New York.
Prof. Ndletyana has published three books, several book chapters and journal articles. His recent book is titled, “Institutionalising Democracy: The Story of the Electoral Commission of South Africa, 1993 – 2014” (HSRC Press, 2015). Prof. Ndletyana is a prominent political analyst and writes regularly for newspapers
RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS
Mxolisi Dlamuka
Research Fellow
Mxolisi Dlamuka
Mxolisi Dlamuka is a trained historian with a MA in History from UKZN. He recently completed a PhD in History at the University of the Western Cape. His PhD dissertation, entitled ” Connectedness and Disconnectedness in Thembeyakhe Harry Gwala Biography, 1920- 1995: Rethinking Political Militancy, Mass Mobilisation and Grassroot Struggles in South Africa” reconstructed a life and politics of the “Lion of the Midlands”, Harry Gwala. Based on his PhD, he is in the process of writing a manuscript for a book to be published during the 2020/21 centenaries of Harry Gwala and the Communist Party of South Africa respectively. He is currently a Research Fellow at the Johannesburg Institute of Advanced Study, University of Johannesburg.
Mxolisi R. Mchunu
Deputy Chairperson
Mxolisi R. Mchunu
I have a Ph.D. in History completed in 2014 from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. My research interests lie on the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. I am the Deputy Chairperson of the Luthuli Museum Council, was a member of Natalia Journal Editorial Committee and a Research Associate by the University of Cape Town (Archives and Public Culture Research Initiative). I have worked for the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Voortrekker Museum and currently employed by the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature.
Buntu Siwisa
Doctor
Buntu Siwisa
Dr Buntu Siwisa grew up in Port Elizabeth and Alice in the Eastern Cape. He obtained his D. Phil. in Politics from the University of Oxford, St. Peter’s College (2006), on a Rhodes Scholarship. His thesis examined the oeuvres of protests of anti-neoliberal social movements in the context of public-private partnerships of water delivery in Hammarsdale, Durban, 1998 – 2005. Prior that, he graduated for his M.A. (Economic History and Development Studies); B.A. (Hons), (Economic History) and B.A. (Economic History & Legal Studies) from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban.
Brown Bavusile Maaba
Doctor
Brown Bavusile Maaba
Dr Brown Bavusile Maaba was educated at the University of Fort Hare and the University of Cape Town. He was, until August 2016, a speech writer for the former Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, Cllr Parks Tau. Prior to that he was the speech writer for the Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande. Maaba has also worked as a Research Co-coordinator/Manager at the Govan Mbeki Research and Development Centre (University of Fort Hare), Freedom Park Trust and the Ifa Lethu Foundation (with blessings from the former Minister of Arts and Culture, Pallo Jordan).