Dr Dorsamy (Gansen) Pillay is currently the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Research and Innovation Support and Advancement) of the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa. Research grant making to higher education institutions, Science Councils and National Research Facilities in South Africa falls under his purview. He has 28 years of academic and research experience in higher education and in the Executive Management of research.

His academic standing includes: leadership as Professor and Programme Head of the Department of Microbiology at the former University of Durban-Westville, his NRF rating as a researcher for over 16 years, scores of peer-reviewed publications, numerous higher degree students who graduated under his supervision, national and international collaborations and linkages, invitations to speak at international meetings and conferences, appointments as a Visiting Scientist at institutions in Israel, Scotland, Australia, UK and the USA, invitations to serve on various committees of the Department of Higher Education and Training, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF), and Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT). Internationally, he has served as the Regional Secretary of the Committee for Science and Technology in Developing Countries (Southern and East African region), has served on numerous committees of the International Council for Science (ICSU), and has been the SA delegate to the preparatory WSSD meetings in the USA and Indonesia. He is currently a Council member of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria. He was also invited to co-author the position paper for Sustainable Development with researchers from Harvard and the National Autonomous University of Mexico and wrote the position papers on “Capacity Building in Developing Countries” and “Meeting the MDGs: Challenges facing developing countries”.

Dr Pillay has an intimate knowledge of South Africa’s Higher Education and Training, and Science and Technology System and the challenges facing research and researchers in South Africa and internationally. He has served on the Audit Panels of the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) of the Council on Higher Education (CHE) of South Africa. He was responsible for the HEQC audit of the research component of Rhodes University and was the Chair of the HEQC Audit Panel for the Tshwane University of Technology of South Africa. Dr. Pillay also conducted Teaching and Learning and Research audits at the University of Stellenbosch. He was the former Chair of the SA National Board of the International Council for Science (ICSU) and has participated in, and contributed to, a number of international bodies and forums.

Through his active interfacing at the regional, national and international levels, he has a thorough knowledge of the National Academies / Research Agencies of South Africa and other countries, their research systems, the expectations and role of HEIs, and the critical importance of national and international partnerships.

His academic and research leadership also includes various portfolios he had occupied at institutional, regional, national and international levels. These include, inter alia, Director (Research), Chair (Department of Microbiology), Past President and Past Vice-President (SA Society for Microbiology), Chairman on numerous NRF committees, and Voting Delegate or alternate Voting Delegate for South Africa at five ICSU and two IUMS General Assemblies. He serves on the Editorial Board of the South African Journal of Science and is a reviewer for various international journals. He is a former Trustee and Board member of LifeLab (a Biotechnology Innovation Centre of the DST) as well as Chair of its Project Investment Committee. Dr. Pillay is an Honorary Research Professor at the University of KwaZulu Natal and the Durban University of Technology in South Africa.

Dr. Pillay has served on the International Steering Committee for developing the Principles for Global Merit/Peer Review, an initiative headed by the National Science Foundation in the USA.