media releases - Unisa academics appointed to NIPMO Advisory Board

Two academics from Unisa, Professors Stephens Madue and Tana Pistorius were recently appointed by the Minister of Science and Technology to serve on the advisory board of the National Intellectual Property Management Office (NIPMO). The appointments are effective until July 2014.

NIPMO is a statutory body established in 2011 in terms of the Publicly Financed Research and Development Act of 2008 to promote and manage the objects of the Act. Its functions include, amongst others; the identification, disclosure and statutory protection, management and commercialisation of the IP referred to it by a recipient of public R&D funds.

Prof Steve Mpedi Madue is a Professor of Public Administration and Management in the College of Economic and Management Sciences (CEMS) of the University of South Africa. He is the Chairperson of the Departmental Higher Degrees Committee. He holds a Doctor of Administration degree, with specialisation in Public Administration (University of South Africa) and a Masters in Education Management, Law and Policy (University of Pretoria).  Prof Madue has extensive experience in the teaching and practice of Public Administration. Prior to rejoining the University of South Africa in July 2012, he was the Research Manager in the Parliamentary Business Directorate of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature from September 2009.

As an active researcher, Prof Madue has published articles in accredited journals, co-authored a book on Intergovernmental Relations in South Africa (published in 2011) and delivered papers at national and international conferences. He is serving on Editorial Boards of several national and international academic journals. His research areas include Higher Education Management, Research Output and Innovation, Public Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Oversight role of parliaments. Prof Madue is also a reviewer for the National Research Foundation’s (NRF) applications for rating and funding. He has also been requested by the NRF to chair panels that assess applications and continuations of the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI).

Professor Tana Pistorius is a research professor in the Department of Mercantile Law, College of Law. For the past year she was the acting director of the newly established Directorate Innovation and Technology Transfer. She holds a doctorate in intellectual property law. She is an attorney and a notary; and offers a course on IP Management for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Worldwide Academy. She has participated in various national and international research projects. The Minister of Trade and Industry appointed her as a member of the South African Review Commission on Collection and Distribution of Royalties to IP Rights Owners (2011).

She is an NRF-rated researcher and a research fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law. She has published widely and has co-authored six books on IP law. She received a Research Leadership Award from Unisa’s Women in Research programme (September 2010); and has twice received an APEX award from Unisa.

Unisa also recently announced the establishment of a Chair in IP Management, which resides within the university’s Department of Mercantile Law. It is led by Professor Joseph Strauss of the Max Planck Institute in Germany and will be funded for a three-year period by a grant from NIPMO.

The chair is responsible, amongst others; for developing and teaching an LLM module and a postgraduate diploma in IP management as well as organising workshops and other relevant platforms on the subject. Furthermore, it will also advance Unisa’s social responsibility programme by mentoring a candidate from a historically disadvantaged background to succeed the current chair at the end of his tenure.      

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