Catalytic Research Programme is intended to dynamise the fields of research and teaching in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) in South Africa through a range of catalytic projects. These are research-based projects, which aim to catalyse and open up new avenues of HSS scholarship and assist in the establishment of a network of researchers across universities in South Africa and the Global South. A ‘catalyst’ in this regard has to produce benefits to the research project for the higher education system and indeed for society as a whole, by:

• dynamising the fields of research, disciplines and interdisciplinary work,
• increasing the capacity to research further and theorise better, and
• contributing to the raising of our status in the global academic commons.