Vision
ASSAf aspires to be the apex organisation for science and scholarship in South Africa, internationally respected and connected, its membership simultaneously the aspiration of the country’s most active scholars in all fields of scientific enquiry, and the collective resource making possible the professionally managed generation of evidence-based solutions to national problems.

Mission
Like democratic South Africa in general, ASSAf aspires to play both a national and an international role, particularly with respect to the African continent. We see the Academy as usefully at arms length from the government and other organised sections of the state, comprising an assembly of excellent scholars from many disciplines who are well networked both nationally and internationally, and have shown their interest in, and capacity for promoting the development of a prosperous and a fully enabled society. Membership of the Academy (by election) is both an honour and an obligation to work individually and collectively (as the Academy) to ensure that decision-making requiring scholarly scrutiny and analysis is based on the best and most integrated understandings and insights available to the country. The Academy thus represents an organised, independent, but responsive scholarly voice to help guide the development of the country and its people.