The Durban University of Technology (DUT) invites applications for the position of Director: Research Institute on a five (5) year contract for the Indigenous Food Research Institute (IFRi). This is a strategic academic appointment intended to provide strategic and operational leadership for a DUT Research Institute to ensure a coherent research agenda, sustainable funding, strong governance, effective delivery and measurable research impact. The role is accountable for institute performance, including research portfolio oversight, partnership development, resource management and people leadership aligned to DUT strategy and institutional research priorities.

The Indigenous Food Research Institute (IFRi) is envisaged as a strategic DUT research platform dedicated to advancing research, innovation, and knowledge generation in indigenous food systems. According to the business case, the institute will support research on sustainable and indigenous food systems, strengthen community engagement in indigenous food practices, promote collaboration with the food industry and traditional food markets, and develop laboratories and research facilities focused on indigenous food systems.

The business case further indicates that IFRi will conduct rigorous research to deepen understanding of the nutritional, medicinal, and cultural value of indigenous foods; promote the conservation and sustainable use of indigenous food resources; develop innovative ways to integrate indigenous foods into modern diets and food systems; and foster collaboration with communities, academic institutions, and industry partners. The institute is also expected to strengthen food security and sovereignty through the promotion of indigenous foods. Its key focus areas include nutritional analysis of indigenous foods, cultural preservation of traditional food knowledge and practices, sustainable cultivation, harvesting, and processing methods, food innovation through new products and recipes, and community engagement to revitalise indigenous food practices and traditions.

Minimum Requirements:

• A Doctoral degree (PhD) in a relevant discipline
• Appointment at Full Professor level (or demonstrable eligibility for appointment at Full Professor level in line with DUT academic criteria)
• At least 10 years’ post-PhD academic/research experience, including a sustained record of peer-reviewed outputs
• Demonstrated research leadership at senior academic level, with evidence of leading projects/teams and supervising postgraduate research

Ideal:

• NRF rating and/or equivalent recognised research standing
• Evidence of international research leadership (e.g., invited keynotes, editorial boards, international grants/consortia)
• Experience in institute or centre leadership, including governance, operational oversight, budget/resource management, and stakeholder engagement
• Experience leading multi-partner funded programmes

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide strategic and operational leadership to the Indigenous Food Research Institute (IFRi);
• Set and maintain the institute strategy and thematic research agenda aligned to DUT priorities;
• Oversee a coherent and high-quality research portfolio in indigenous food systems, including quality assurance, delivery discipline, and risk control;
• Build and manage a sustainable funding pipeline and partnership strategy to support institute growth;
• Lead and develop institute staff and researchers, including performance management, mentorship, and postgraduate supervision support;
• Oversee institute operations, budgets, infrastructure planning, procurement, and administrative systems;
• Drive publications, postgraduate completions, innovation outputs, knowledge translation, and measurable societal, economic, cultural, and policy impact; and
• Ensure ethical and compliant research practice, structured reporting, sound governance, and audit readiness.
• Establish and monitor a performance framework (annual priorities, outputs, funding targets and review cadence)
• Institutionalise portfolio governance and stage gates (intake, prioritisation, approvals, and stop or continue decisions) to ensure disciplined selection and sequencing of research programmes across the institute
• Maintain formal role separation between institute accountability and programme intellectual leadership to prevent duplication, ensuring programme leadership sits with Research Associates and programme leads while the Director retains institute performance accountability
• Establish institute-wide quality assurance architecture (minimum standards, internal peer review checkpoints, and documentation norms) and require programme leaders to evidence compliance without the Director assuming methodological leadership
• Oversee portfolio-level risk, dependency, and capacity management, ensuring that resourcing, ethics readiness, and delivery constraints are resolved through governance interventions
• Commission periodic independent or peer portfolio reviews (quality, relevance, delivery assurance) and ensure corrective actions are implemented and tracked
• Negotiate and manage partner and funder obligations across the project lifecycle, including deliverables and reporting
• Own the institute-level partnership architecture and reputational risk posture (partner selection criteria, escalation rules, and contract governance), ensuring programme collaborations remain aligned to institute strategy
• Ensure all partnership and funding agreements include fit-for-purpose governance, IP, data, ethics, reporting and exit provisions aligned to DUT policy, with exceptions formally approved
• Drive diversification of income streams (grants, contracts, commissioned research, philanthropy) with annual targets and pipeline accountability across programme leads
• Build an enabling research culture that supports collaboration, accountability and high performance.
• Promote and support IP protection, commercialisation and technology transfer where relevant.
• Oversee ethics approvals, amendments, data management and recordkeeping to ensure audit readiness
• Provide structured performance reporting to the DVC: RIE, governance structures and funders and implement corrective actions from reviews
• Establish institute compliance controls (ethics workflow, data governance standards, recordkeeping protocols, and corrective action tracking) and ensure consistent application across programmes
• Lead responses to audits, investigations and non-compliance issues, ensuring remediation actions are implemented, monitored and embedded into institute controls

Instructions to candidates: Please complete an official application for employment form obtainable from our website www.dut.ac.za and apply with a detailed cover letter, CV, and certified copies of qualifications.
1. Communication will be entered into with short-listed candidates
2. Only applications made on our application for employment form would be considered