Dr Phethiwe Matutu is the Group Executive: Strategy, Planning and Partnerships of the NRF. She has a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Cape Town (UCT) and spent 16 years in academia at various institutions including Rhodes University, Stellenbosch University and UCT. She worked at the Department of Science and Technology for nine years, where she was as Chief Director: Human Capital and Science Promotion (HC&SP), overseeing human capital development (HCD) related entities, the drafting of legislation, guiding documents and the implementation of HCD & SP programmes. At the National Research Foundation Dr Matutu has led the development of key Planning documents for the organisation including: the NRF Vision 2030 and its five year implementation plan, Strategy 2025, and Strategic Partnerships Strategy. She is leading the development of the ‘NRF Framework to Advance the Societal and Knowledge Impact of Research’. Under her leadership the NRF she has seen the online register of grants integrated in the business intelligence (BI) systems, leading to the soaring of the numbers of the NRF BI systems users.

Dr Matutu has served as a member of the Human Resource Development Council of South Africa (HRDC-SA);  was a Ministerial appointee in the Council of Walter Sisulu University, Ministerial Task Team responsible for drafting the Implementation Plan of the White Paper on Post-School Education and Training; is a member of the Department of Higher Education and Training Creative Outputs Reviews Panel, and Advisory Board of National Graduate Academy of Mathematics and Statistics.