Mr Francis Kombe

Francis Kombe is the current Chief Executive Officer, EthiXPERT, South Africa and a Public Health practitioner and bioethicist, with a passion in Research Integrity. He has a wealth of experience working in international health research institutions, where held various leadership positions. Kombe holds an MSocSc (research ethics) from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa; Master of Public Health (MPH) and Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health (PGDPH) from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine-UK (LSHTM) and is currently awaiting to graduate from a Wellcome Trust funded PhD at UKZN focusing on the implications of fieldworkers’ institutional support systems for research integrity practices in Africa.

He is a co-founder and chairperson of the African Research Integrity Network (ARIN), a member of the USA National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) and the Strategic Advisory Board for the EU’s AI ethics in human cognition and behaviour project. He served as a member of the programme planning committee during the 6th and 7th World Conference on Research Integrity held in Hong Kong and Cape Town respectively. He has published widely in the field of research ethics, community engagement, frontline staff and research integrity among others.