News

  • RE.SEARCH 13: One Health

    Posted on November 21, 2025

    This edition is curated around the concept of One Health, in which the University of Pretoria plays a leading role globally, and is based on our research expertise in the various disciplines across healthcare for people, the environment and animals.

  • From ancient wisdom flows modern water solutions

    Posted on November 12, 2025

    Highly sophisticated water management techniques of ancient civilisations demonstrate the ingenuity of inhabitants who lived with limited water. It appears we need to look to the past to ensure a stable water supply in the future.

  • A leg up on hypertension: UP-Adelaide study reveals why giraffes have long legs

    Posted on November 03, 2025

    A new study by researchers at the University of Pretoria (UP) and the University of Adelaide in Australia has revealed the real function of the giraffe’s long legs ¬– to reduce blood pressure.

  • Food security starts with biodiversity

    Posted on October 16, 2025

    The world is five years away from the 2030 deadline to meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and we are no closer to ending hunger and food insecurity (SDG 2). Yet food security is just part of the battle – we also need to fight to keep indigenous biodiversity...

  • RE.SEARCH 12: Global

    Posted on August 25, 2025

    The theme of this edition, ‘Global’, illustrates how the University of Pretoria (UP) serves as a globally engaged, continental hub that is driving impactful research through innovation, creativity and sustainability. The research in this issue demonstrates how the research we do today...

  • Weasel watch: UP PhD candidate calls on public to share sightings of elusive African striped weasel

    Posted on August 12, 2025

    University of Pretoria (UP) doctoral candidate Kyle Smith is on a mission to find out all about one of Southern Africa’s most elusive small carnivores: the African striped weasel – and he needs your help. Smith is calling on members of the public and citizen scientists to help him by...

  • UP study first to document how deadly winds are driving deaths of endangered grey-headed albatross

    Posted on July 28, 2025

    University of Pretoria (UP) researchers have become the first to document a disturbing new threat to the endangered grey-headed albatross: wind-driven, land-based deaths. The team documented the phenomenon on remote Marion Island during the sub-Antarctic summer. The study, published in the...

  • RE.SEARCH 10: Make today matter

    Posted on November 22, 2024

    The articles in this edition showcase work from all nine of our faculties, and underscore our University’s slogan ‘Make today matter’. RE.SEARCH has been named South Africa's top corporate publication as the winner of the 2024 SA Publication's Forum Awards. It is a runner up and...

  • UP researcher discovers two new dung beetle species which don't roll balls or use dung

    Posted on November 13, 2024

    Over the past two decades, field trips in search of dung beetles have taken University of Pretoria (UP) doctoral student Christian Deschodt across Southern Africa. But it was a well-trodden walk to fetch his kids from school, a mere 1,5km from his home near Hartbeespoort, that saw him stumble...

  • RE.SEARCH 9: What if? 

    Posted on August 26, 2024

    RE.SEARCH 9 is our most novel edition yet. In it, we have featured research that encourages us to think afresh, and is doing so, we’ve highlighted new ways of looking at research. You can expect to read about research that has potential and promise for the future but which is still nascent...

  • Arid conditions stimulate plant trait diversity – UP part of worldwide study that offers hope for biodiversity conservation

    Posted on August 16, 2024

    The University of Pretoria (UP) has been part of a groundbreaking international study to understand how plants found in drylands have adapted to these extreme habitats. The results of this large-scale study, which involved 120 scientists from 27 countries, were recently published in scientific...

  • UP scientist issues urgent call for clean-up of toxic Krugersdorp mine dumps

    Posted on July 04, 2024

    Young children in Krugersdorp are breathing in uranium, arsenic and mercury fumes wafting over from abandoned legacy mines, while pollutants are seeping into the groundwater and nearby dams and lakes, cautions Dr Alseno Kagiso Mosai, a water remediation expert at the University of...

  • UP scientists lead Mpumalanga study of natural hydrogen gas discovered under Earth’s surface

    Posted on November 29, 2023

    Scientists at the University of Pretoria (UP) are leading a study of natural hydrogen gas discovered under the Earth’s surface in Mpumalanga – a source of renewable energy that could contribute to the national energy budget and help address the energy shortage in South Africa.

  • Research shows there are more warm-bodied sharks than previously thought

    Posted on November 15, 2023

    New research arising from a collaboration between scientists at the University of Pretoria (UP) and Trinity College Dublin has shown there are likely more warm-bodied sharks out there than previously thought.

  • UP researchers close in on the secret to aging

    Posted on October 23, 2023

    The quest for immortality has long fascinated humans, and inspired countless tales – now, in two new studies published in the journals Nature and Science, University of Pretoria (UP) researchers, along with a team of global experts known as the Mammalian Methylation Consortium, are a step...

  • UP-UKZN study investigates likelihood of farmers choosing compost made of human poop

    Posted on August 24, 2023

    University of Pretoria (UP) researchers lent their expertise to a recent study led by the University of KwaZulu-Natal and found that rural farmers in KwaZulu-Natal are open to buying and using compost made from human sewage as long as they can be sure that it is safe, affordable and works as well...

  • RE.SEARCH 6: Open

    Posted on July 26, 2023

    This issue features research from all of the University of Pretoria's nine faculties and our business school, the Gordan Institute of Business Science (GIBS) and shows how our research is opening a new world and a better future.

  • UP researchers decode genome of king protea

    Posted on May 24, 2023

    University of Pretoria (UP) researchers are at the forefront of a very special first for South African plant sciences. They have unravelled the precise genetic make-up of the country’s national flower, the king protea (Protea cynaroides). It is the first plant that’s unique to South...

  • Increasing Rainfall Extremes in SA

    Posted on May 16, 2023

    With climate change said to be affecting the intensity of rainfall, experts at the University of Pretoria (UP) have investigated if there are observable changes in the probability of significant to extreme daily rainfall across South Africa.

  • RE.SEARCH Issue 5: Impact

    Posted on April 17, 2023

    This issue of RE.SEARCH looks at the impact of the University of Pretoria's research from early childhood interventions and the use of traditional medicines for holistic nursing to the role of women in peacekeeping efforts. The issue also provides insight into the critical question of coal power...

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