Turning ideas into impact: Q&A with award-winner Ngonidzashe Ngwarai
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From rural field sites to global recognition, Ngonidzashe Ngwarai reflects on research management’s impact and why lasting change needs local capability.
Ngonidzashe Ngwarai, assistant director of systems and operations at the SAMRC/Wits-Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit, received the Professional Excellence in Research Management Award from the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA).
Increasingly, research management is being recognised as a profession and a coveted career path. We sit down with Ngoni for a Q&A session.
1. What does receiving SARIMA’s Professional Excellence in Research Management Award mean to you personally and professionally?
NN: It’s profoundly affirming. Personally, it recognises years of quiet, behind-the-scenes work to make research possible in a rural setting—often with complex logistics and tight compliance. Professionally, it validates research management as a discipline in its own right: strategic, technical, people-centred, and mission-critical. The award reflects the collective excellence of the MRC/Wits-Agincourt team, our community partners, and funders who trust us to deliver ethical, efficient, high-impact science.
2. Many people don’t know what a research operations manager actually does. How would you explain your role to someone outside academia?
NN: I’m the person who turns great scientific ideas into real-world projects that run on time and on budget. Think of it as combining COO, project manager, compliance officer, and community liaison—under one roof.
3. The Agincourt HDSS has run for decades. What are some of the unique challenges of keeping such a large, long-term project operational?
NN: Sustained community trust. Managing funding cycles. Logistics in rural settings. High levels of unemployment.
4. Beyond day-to-day management of the unit, can you explain why you decided to pursue various career initiatives and elaborate on a few career highlights:
NN:
- First author on a paper published in Nature Communications
- Leading a R3.5 million BANKSETA-funded entrepreneurship programme
- Presenting at SARIMA 2024 on community investments and spillovers
- Establishing partnerships with agencies such as SEDFA
- Being recognised as a Research Management Professional by the International Professional Recognition Council
- Mentoring professionals across Africa
- Creating training modules for Coursera
The endeavour guides me to convert excellent research into durable community and economic value.
5. You have put a lot of emphasis on capacity building. Why is it so important in African research environments?
NN: Sustainability depends on local capability, not a one-off project. In rural areas, it’s also a question of dignity as people should help shape and lead the research that affects their lives.
6. Research management is often invisible compared to scientific breakthroughs. What would you want funders and policymakers to understand about the value of your field?
NN: Research management is the force multiplier of science. Strong research operations, among other things, help with the following: de-risking of investment through compliance, and audit readiness; protection of participants, and an increase in returns through delivering projects on time.
7. Looking ahead, what is your vision for research operations and capacity strengthening in Africa over the next ten years?
NN: I envision an Africa where research operations are powered by a professionalised, accredited Research Management workforce; interoperable digital backbones linking grants, ethics, finance, and data; regional practice-based training hubs; and standardised community value contracts that turn research spend into local jobs and enterprises.