Dr. Palesa Sekhejane is the Interim Executive Head of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), where she leads the Africa-focused research division, the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA). She also serves as the Director for Strategic Partnerships, focusing on African relations to advance continental strategies.
Dr. Sekhejane is the Chairperson of the Science for Africa Foundation’s Africa Fellowship Program for POSSIBLE-AFRICA (Preparing Outstanding Social Science Investigators to Benefit Lives and Environments in Africa). Previously, she was a Research Specialist at the Africa Institute of South Africa within HSRC, where her work focused on health sciences, innovation, biomedical technology development, and policy-relevant research across various African countries.
She holds a doctoral degree in Biomedical Technology with a specialization in Biophotonics, complemented by advanced training from the University of Illinois, USA. Dr. Sekhejane is actively involved in ethics oversight, serving on research ethics committees with a focus on biomedical studies. She is also the Chairperson of Gauteng’s Technical Committee War Room on Crime and Law Enforcement and was recently appointed to UNESCO’s Natural Sciences Committee. Additionally, she is a Research Associate in the Applied Sciences Research Unit at the University of Johannesburg, Faculty of Sciences, and a former member of ECOSOCC.
The page was updated in May 2024.
