Honorary Academic Advisor
Les Labuschagne, PhD
Past President, Chair, Director, Project Management South Africa (PMSA)
Executive Director of Research, Innovation, and Commercialisation
University of South Africa (UNISA)
Pretoria, Republic of South Africa
Lessing Labuschagne commenced his career as a scholar and researcher. In 2011, he was appointed Executive Director of Research, Innovation, and Commercialisation at the University of South Africa (UNISA). His professional trajectory underscores a steadfast dedication to the advancement of the global research and innovation agenda. Since 1998, Lessing has been affiliated with two South African universities, ascending through the academic ranks prior to transitioning into academic management. As a National Research Foundation (NRF)-rated researcher between 2000 and 2017, he has imparted knowledge at both graduate and postgraduate levels for several years.
In his capacity as Executive Director, Lessing is responsible for the Directorate Research Support, Directorate Innovation, Technology Transfer & Commercialisation, and the Researcher Development Academy. Beyond his official duties, he remains actively engaged in research, having supervised numerous postgraduate students to completion and co-published several papers in esteemed journals and peer-reviewed conference proceedings. His scholarly impact is evidenced by an overall Citation Score of 1770, an h-index of 18, and an i10-index of 29 on Google Scholar, and a Citation Score of 393 and an h-index of 6 on Scopus.
Lessing served as a non-executive director on the board of Project Management South Africa (PMSA) for a decade, from 2006 to 2016. Prior to this, he held the position of President from 2004 to 2006 and served as Vice President: Projects on the National Executive Committee from 2002 to 2004. His portfolio included the role of Conference Chair for the biennial PMSA conference in South Africa. In this capacity, he established a research stream for peer-reviewed papers published in conference proceedings, thereby stimulating research and providing a platform for researchers in the field of project management to present their scientific work. In 2010, he developed and implemented the PMSA Research Award to recognize excellence in research within the field. In recognition of his service, he was awarded life-long Professional Membership status and was invited back onto the board as a non-executive director in 2021 for another five-year term.
Additionally, he serves as an International Academic Advisor for the PMWorld Journal and has been a member of the founding editorial board of the Journal of Research Management and Administration (JoRMA) since 2019.
Lessing can be contacted at llabus@unisa.ac.za.
LinkedIn profile: www.linkedin.com/in/les-labuschagne-0b809723
Profile updated: May 2025