Professor Leickness Simbayi is the Interim Chief Executive Officer of the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa.  He holds a Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil.) degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom.  He is an Honorary Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town and a member of Academy of Science of South Africa. During the past twenty years at the HSRC, he has mostly conducted his research in social aspects of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections. His research has focused on second-generation HIV surveillance especially using biobehavoural surveys, HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination, orphans and vulnerable children, determinants of HIV infection and theory-based HIV social and behavioural risk reduction interventions including positive prevention which targets people living with HIV/AIDS who are aware of their status. Since the onset of COVID-19, he has been undertaking biobehavioural survey research on national seroprevalence of COVID-19 antibodies. Prof Simbayi has published a total of over 150 scientific articles in mostly international peer-reviewed academic journals, 26 research reports, 15 abstracts, and 12 book chapters. He co-edited a book entitled HIV/AIDS in South Africa 25 Years on: Psychosocial Perspectives which was published by Springer of New York in 2009. He presented more than 300 papers and posters at both local and international conferences.