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Pretoria – The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) has posted a 69% increase in research earnings over the previous financial year, from R61m to R103m at March 2004. The earnings are derived from competitive tenders, direct commissions, and grants from development agencies and foundations. The annual increases have been a conspicuous feature of the organisation’s transformation over the last four years, signifying a seventeen-fold growth from a base of R6m at March 2000.
The earnings now substantially exceed the HSRC's Parliamentary grant, which increased from R64 million to R70 million over the same period. At a function today to launch the HSRC's Annual Report for 2003/04, CEO Dr Mark Orkin noted that the increase in research earnings has enabled the organisation to recruit new researchers – with an emphasis on both senior and black staff "to undo the legacy of an historically white apartheid institution". The increased earnings have also allowed the HSRC to expand its services to users much faster than the Parliamentary grant would have allowed, he said. "They attest that our users, predominantly in the public sector, find our research outputs increasingly useful for tackling the transformation and development challenges of our nation and our continent.” Apart from the HSRC's own applications for funding to local and international foundations and its tender submissions, potential funders are increasingly approaching the HSRC with direct requests to submit research proposals. During 2003/04, 277 projects were completed. "The HSRC has developed a particular focus on large-scale, multi-year, multi-country projects" Dr Orkin noted. The fourteen largest projects contributed 60% of the total external research earnings for the year. "This mix of tenders, requests and grants has ensured the HSRC's growth and financial sustainability, and greatly enhanced its delivery on its mandate, of policy-relevant social research for public benefit", Orkin said. More than sixty percent of HSRC projects are undertaken in collaboration with outside researchers, spanning institutional or individual research partners in South Africa, SADC, and other African and industrialised countries. Nearly R30m was paid out by the HSRC for such research activities.
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