The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Linda Mtwisha as the new Senior Director: Strategic Initiatives and Administration, with effect from 1st October 2015.

Dr Mtwisha has over ten years of experience in the research sector. She has worked as a senior scientist at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa and a Programme Director at the National Research Foundation (NRF) managing the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI). Currently, she is an Acting Executive Director for the Institutional Engagment and Partnership Development Directorate. A newly established Directorate of the NRF that seeks to enhance institutional research capacity as a means to improve research productivity, through establishing strategic partnerships with Higher Education institutions; and providing customised interventions through individualised institutional engagements.

Her career experience extends from scientific research, the establishment of research platforms, to strategic leadership and management of strategic national research programmes. In all positions, Dr Mtwisha demonstrated her innovative thinking capacities, and her faculty for initiating and following through on programmes.

Dr Mtwisha has amongst her achievements successfully taken the NRF Programme from being an administrative programme to a well-managed programmed with appropriate processes; some of which were adopted within the organisation and in some universities. The successes in the programme resulted in international recognition, which resulted in the collaboration with the Swiss State secretariat for education Research and Innovation; the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute; the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, to establish international bilateral Research Chairs.

Dr Mtwisha’s qualifications include a Doctorate in Biochemistry from the University of Cape Town. She also holds a Masters degree in Business Leadership from the Cape Town. She also holds a Masters degree in Business Leadership from the University of South Africa. Her passion lies in human capacity development, in enabling young people to reach their full potential.

We wish Dr Mtwisha well in her new appointment and trust that she will enjoy a fulfilling career as she takes up her position at UJ.