Rasigan Maharajh

Rasigan Maharajh is concurrently Nodal Head of the Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation’ Centre of Excellence in Scientometrics and Science, Technology and Innovation Policy; the founding Chief Director of the Institute for Economic Research on Innovation at Tshwane University of Technology; Professor Extraordinary at the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology of Stellenbosch University; an Associate Research Fellow of the Tellus Institute in Boston; and the Chairperson of the Southern Africa Node of the Millennium Project.

Rasigan was previously: Visiting Professor at Rede de Pesquisa em Sistemas e Arranjos Produtivos e Inovativos Locais in the Instituto de Economia of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Visiting Research Scholar at the George Perkins Marsh Institute of Clark University, USA; Head of Policy at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research; and National Coordinator of the Science and Technology Policy Transition Project for South Africa’s first democratic government. Before these deployments, Rasigan was: Senior Researcher at the Education Policy Unit of the University of Natal; National Coordinator and Researcher at Operation Upgrade of Southern Africa; Research Assistant at the Macro-Education Policy Unit of the University of Durban-Westville; Research Assistant at the Labour and Community Project of the South African Council for Higher Education; and a Casual Labourer at Pick and Pay Supermarkets. During the struggle against the apartheid regime, Rasigan held elected leadership positions within the: United Democratic Front, Congress of South African Trade Unions, and the African National Congress.

Rasigan was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree by the Forskningspolitiska Institutet (Research Policy Institute), School of Economics and Management, Lund University, Sweden; and he is also an alumnus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal of South Africa and the Harvard Business School of the United States. Rasigan is a Ministerial Representative on the Council of Rhodes University and an elected Senator of Tshwane University of Technology. Since 2004, Rasigan has contributed to more than 65 publications, and has presented his research in over 38 countries.