Dr Linda Mtwisha was appointed executive director from 1 October 2020.

Dr Mtwisha has joined UCT from the University of Johannesburg, where she was the senior director of strategic initiatives and administration.

She has a strong background and extensive experience in the research sector. She began her career as a post-doctoral fellow at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. In this position she assisted in setting up a new proteomics research platform. After a year she was promoted to senior scientist. In both positions, she was one of the major players in providing strategic and operational guidance in the establishment and capacitating of a fully-fledged state-of-the-art research platform, while also involved in research activities.

Dr Mtwisha’s qualifications include a PhD in biochemistry from UCT and a master’s degree in business leadership from the University of South Africa. She graduated with a BSc in biochemistry and microbiology from the University of the Western Cape.

She was also a programme director at the National Research Foundation (NRF), managing the South African Research Chairs Initiative. The initiative is the Department of Science and Technology’s strategic intervention intended to strengthen and improve research and innovation capacity of public universities for producing high quality postgraduate students, research, and innovation outputs.