Ms Nicole van Rheede is a chief researcher in the HSRC’s Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators. She holds a master’s degree in development studies from Nelson Mandela University (2018). van Rheede specialises in organization studies, social innovation and informal business innovation, as well as science, technology and innovation policy for inclusive development and transformative innovation policy.

van Rheede was formerly an assistant director for partnership support in HSRC’s former Business Development and Internal Liaison unit from 2015-2018, after which she joined HSRC’s Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators, as a senior researcher, a position which she held from 2018 until May 2022. She played a key role in strategic partnership management for interorganizational collaboration, following which she played a key project management role in measuring informal business innovation. Before joining the HSRC, van Rheede spent five years in Gqeberha working in the fields of prospect research and development economics. She is currently completing a doctoral degree in business administration.