Zodwa Mbuyazi is a seasoned grant management professional currently serving as a professional officer in the International Grants and Partnerships Directorate at the National Research Foundation (NRF). With expertise in stakeholder engagement and grant administration, she oversees the implementation of philanthropic and industry-funded research programmes, providing critical support to both researchers and funding partners.

Her career expertise includes managing priority research programmes and multi-stakeholder initiatives at the NRF, specialising in end-to-end grant management and research support systems and leading strategic partnerships between academia, the government and private sector funders.

Prior to joining the NRF, Zodwa served as a project coordinator at the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Indigenous Knowledge Documentation Centre, where she implemented programmes for the Department of Science and Innovation.

Zodwa holds a master's degree in Policy Development from the University of Pretoria, which is complemented by a BSc honours in Biochemistry. Her scholarly contributions include co-authoring an article on enhancing stakeholder harmonisation and policy development processes in national innovation systems.