Dr Eshchar Mizrachi,  Research Fellow at the University of Pretoria’s (UP’s)  soon-to-be-launched Future Africa campus –  a meeting place for discussions on trans-disciplinary research adjacent to UP’s Experimental Farm in Hillcrest –  says Africa has and faces challenges that can appear overwhelmingly complex and immutable.

He says Future Africa began its journey by co-creating solutions for the important challenges that impact Africans. The solutions will be “led by Africans and will have an impact with a global reach, which involves identifying specific problems worth solving in a broad African and global landscape”.

Recently, academics, post-doctoral fellows and PhD students from all of UP’s faculties worked in small groups to try to pinpoint the most important themes that need research in this context.

Climate change, poverty, gender issues, artificial intelligence and several other themes were unpacked and dissected, and then integrated into ideas that forged new perspectives, such as learning from Africans living off the grid to construct a more sustainable society. More than a hundred big ideas were captured.

Dr Mizrachi says: “Future Africa will continue this joint exploration with many stakeholders, including politicians, policymakers, industry role players and entrepreneurs, artists and intellectuals, NGOs, and of course, local communities. In the end, what will emerge will be themes built by all stakeholders that are guaranteed to interest and impact most. Research excellence in Africa, for Africa and the world.”

The launch will be live-streamed from 15:00 on Friday, 29 March 2019: 

Should you be interested in joining Future Africa, please go to: https://www.futureafrica.science