Professor Michael Kahn is an independent adviser and evaluator of research and innovation and has served as Ministerial Advisor, government official, NGO director, academic and researcher, Executive Director of the Human Sciences Research Council, and as international consultant. He is a Research Fellow of the National Advisory Council on Innovation, Honorary Research Fellow of Stellenbosch University, and Visiting Professor of the University of Johannesburg.

His interests span arts and culture, education, ICT, and technological change. He has contributed to South Africa’s innovation policy, co-authoring the ANC Policy on Science and Technology, the 1996 White Paper on Science and Technology, leading and designing the National Research and Technology Foresight study. His other contributions include the 1996 White Paper on Arts and Culture, the Performance Measurement System for the Science Councils, studies on the mobility of the highly skilled, co-authorship of the 2012 Report of the Ministerial Review Committee on the STI Landscape, the 2017 Performance Analysis of the SA innovation System for the National Advisory Council on Innovation, and novel work on innovation in the TVET sector.  

Professor Kahn is an elected member of the Academy of Science of South Africa, was Vice Chairperson of the Board of the Agriculture Research Council, and serves on the advisory board of the journal Research Policy.