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The executive director of the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac), Phillip Dexter, will be taking up a new position at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), it was announced today (Friday). Mr Dexter, a former general secretary of Nehawu who served as a Member of Parliament for the ANC, will be joining the HSRC’s Social Cohesion and Integration Research Programme headed by Professor Wilmot James. “We are delighted Phillip will be joining us,” Professor James said of the appointment. Mr Dexter will be taking part in a large, multi-year programme entitled the Social Fabric Project. The project aims to assess South African social networks and will examine their strengths and weaknesses. These networks include families and faith communities and have much to do with how South Africans cope with issues like poverty, HIV-Aids and violence. “The project looks at how we respond to crises and will inform social policy and state expenditure in this area,” according to Professor James. “Mr Dexter is a highly-qualified and competent person currently working toward his PhD at UCT who has considerable and diverse experience in policy making and in grassroots politics. He has a sharply honed ability to undertake research in the social fabric area,” said Professor James. JAMES TAKES US SABBATICAL Professor Wilmot James also announced yesterday that he will be taking a year long sabbatical at the invitation of Nobel Laureate and President of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) David Baltimore. James will take up an appointment as the Moore Visiting Professor at Caltech from September this year to May in 2004. He will be teaching courses in South African politics and in race and racism. He will also be completing courses in human biology. “The appointment will be a lovely opportunity for me to reflect from a distance on work I’ve been involved in here. It also allows me to do some intensive work in the area of the human genome,” Professor James said.
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