Daan Tu Toit

Biography

Daan du Toit has worked in the South African Department of Science and Technology since 2002. As part of this role, he has been involved in South Africa’s international scientific and technological (S&T) cooperation. Prior to this, he worked in the South African Department of Foreign Affairs. He has also managed strategic S&T bilateral cooperation partnerships, notably establishing an innovation systems cooperation programme between South Africa and Finland. In October 2006, he was appointed as the South African Department of Science and Technology’s Senior Science and Technology Representative to the European Union, a position based at the South African Mission to the European Union in Brussels where he held the position of Minister Councellor. In this capacity, in addition to overseeing South Africa and Europe, he currently represents South Africa on the Joint Expert Group of the Africa-EU Science, Information Society and Space Partnership and in the Bureau of the Africa-EU High-Level Policy Dialogue on Science, Technology and Innovation. He is also intimately involved in South Africa’s participation in the global Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project, to construct the world’s largest radio telescope. In April 2021, he was appointed as Deputy Director-General for International Cooperation and Resources in the South African Department of Science and Technology, responsible for all aspects of South Africa’s international science, technology and innovation partnerships.