Act No. 17, 2008 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. HUMAN SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL ACT. 2008 Transfer of certain assets to Council Intellectual property rights Funds of Council Delegations Regulations Repeal of laws Amendment of law Transitional provisions and savings Short title and commencement Definitions 1. In this Act, unless the context indicates otherwise— "Board" means the Board referred to in section 5; "chief executive officer" means the person appointed as chief executive officer of the Council in terms of section 10(1); "Council" means the Human Sciences Research Council referred to in section 2: "Department" means the Department of Science and Technology; "human sciences" means the investigation of human life and society through systematic, rational and verifiable methods that recognise the validity of both objective and subjective data; "Minister" means the Minister of Science and Technology; "prescribe" means prescribe by regulation; "Promotion of Administrative Justice Act" means the Promotion of Adminis­ trative Justice Act, 2000 (Act No. 3 of 2000) "Public Finance Management Act" means the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999); "research" means the generation, preservation, augmentation and improvement of knowledge by means of scientific investigations and methods in the field of the human sciences; "regulation" means a regulation made in terms of section 17; "this Act" includes regulations. Continued existence of Human Sciences Research Council 2. (1) The Human Sciences Research Council established by section 2 of the Human Sciences Research Act, 1968 (Act No. 23 of 1968). continues to exist as ajuristic person notwithstanding the repeal of that Act by section 18 of this Act. (2) The Public Finance Management Act applies to the Council. Objects of Council 3. The objects of the Council are to— (a) initiate, undertake and foster strategic basic research and applied research in human sciences, and to gather, analyse and publish data relevant to developmental challenges in the Republic, elsewhere in Africa and in the rest of the world, especially by means of projects linked to public sector oriented collaborative programmes; (b) inform the effective formulation and monitoring of policy and to evaluate the implementation of policy; (c) stimulate public debate through the effective dissemination of fact-based results of research; Id) help build research capacity and infrastructure for the human sciences in the Republic and elsewhere in Africa; (e) foster and support research collaboration, networks and institutional linkages within the human sciences research community: