Career: Johann Mouton is Director of the Centre for Research on Science and Technology and professor in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at the University of Stellenbosch. He received his Doctorate in Philosophy at the Rand Afrikaans University in 1983 with a thesis in the philosophy of science. He has taught in Philosophy at Potchefstroom University (1976-1977) and Rand Afrikaans University (1978 – 1982), after which he joined the Human Sciences Research Council. Here he was appointed as Head of the Centre for Research Methodology (1983 – 1990), Director of the Group for Information Dynamics (1990 – 1993) and Executive Director of the Centre for Science Development (1993 – 1994). He joined the University of Stellenbosch in 1994.

Professional Experience: Johann Mouton has extensive research and research management experience. In the areas of research, he has been project manager over the past 18 years of more than 10 large scale surveys including the South African Values Survey, HSRC Information Update surveys and the Survey on Scholarship, Research and Development. He has also undertaken numerous programme evaluation studies including the national evaluation of the Thousand Schools Project of the Independent Development Trust, Technology 2005 and projects funded by the Desmond Tutu Educational Trust. He currently is involved in educational evaluation projects in the fields of service learning and multigrade schooling.

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In the area of research management, he was Director of the HSRC Investigation into Research Methodology (1983 – 1994). More recently, he has served as a member of the US Research Committee, the Research Ethics Committee and the Senate Committee on Academic Development. He is a past member of the South African Programme Committee of the South Africa Netherlands Research Programme. He was also Chairman of the Board of the South African Data Archive. He is member of a number of South African editorial Boards, as well as two international journals: Sociological Research Online and the International Journal of Research Methodology.

He is currently project leader for various research programmes in science and technology including a programme on knowledge utilisation funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a project on changing modes of knowledge production in the Higher Education Sector and funded by SANPAD; a study on the state of women in SET in South Africa commissioned by the Department of Science and Technology as well as a project on indigenous knowledge systems funded by the National Research Foundation. In addition, he is Course Director of the first specialized Masters programme in Social Science Methods which he started at US in 1996; and the Study of Science and Technology Studies in 1998. He is supervisor for more than 60 Masters and Doctoral students in these two programmes. He was awarded the Stals Prize for his contributions to trans- and interdisciplinary research in 2001. He is a member of the SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns, the Academy of Science of South Africa as well as the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology and several other national societies.

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He is currently member of the DST’s Reference Group on the bi-ennial R&D Survey, Vice-President for Research Management of the South African Research and Innovation Management Association and a member of the NRF’s Assessment Panel for the Social Sciences and its Panel for Indigenous Knowledge Systems.

Publications, report and conferences: Johann Mouton has authored or co-authored 8 books and edited or co-edited 7 books in the methodology of the social sciences. He has also contributed 26 chapters to anthologies and published 28 articles in accredited journals. He has produced more than 30 contract reports and presented 70 papers at international and local conferences. He was Series Editor of the HSRC Studies in Methodology which produced more than 40 titles. He has also organised more than 30 national workshops on research management and research methodology and 12 conferences in the areas of the philosophy and methodology of social research. Two of his recent books are: How to succeed in your Masters and Doctoral Studies (Van Schaik, 2000) and The practice of social research (Oxford UP, 2001).

Contact details
Tel: 021-808 2393/3708
Fax: 021-808 2023

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