The latest issue of the University of Pretoria’s award-winning RE.SEARCH magazine is available now and reflects a shift towards both a fresher design and outlook. This edition is curated under the theme ‘Digital’, and offers a glimpse into some of the fascinating research we’re doing at UP to drive digital leadership and innovation.
This award-winning publication was named South Africa’s Top Corporate Publication and Publication of the Year in 2024 by the South African Publications Forum. RE.SEARCH magazine offers a glimpse of the University’s latest research and innovation efforts.
In this issue, each story features a different avenue of digital technology that’s being employed, whether it’s making research on ticks more accessible, or protecting people from ransomware or the legal implications of generative artificial intelligence (AI).
With more than a century of academic excellence behind us, UP is suitably poised to look towards the future through cutting-edge, relevant research that seeks African solutions to global problems. As the world grows ever more digitally focused, it is increasingly important that we remain globally relevant while protecting ourselves from a digital crisis.
In this edition, we demonstrate the various ways in which UP is driving digital leadership and making today matter. You can look forward to the following features in Issue 11:
Enjoy reading this edition of RE.SEARCH and learning about the fascinating work being done across UP.
People, society and humanity are at the heart of what we do. We are inspired by making a difference to lives, and as much as digital advances allow us to automate, replicate and compute, it is people who drive the technology. In this regard, we place people at the helm to ensure that technology serves us as an equaliser to achieve equity and justice, and does not replicate inequality. We seek to advocate for greater creativity and critical thinking from humans in order to make AI technologies more transparent.
As you leaf through these pages, you will see how the research we do today will have an impact on our future. We make today matter by ensuring that we pre-empt tomorrow’s challenges with the research we do today.
Click on the cover below to read more.
April 17, 2025
Story
Researchers at the University of Pretoria (UP) may have identified the gene that is responsible for diet-related obesity. By exploring the role of the novel gene Slc7a8, they have made a potential breakthrough in current knowledge about the cellular mechanisms that drive fat accumulation. This understanding is crucial in developing effective treatments.
Infographic
The prevalence of obesity is a significant concern, with recent global statistics showing that one in eight people worldwide are living with obesity. In Africa, the situation is more dire, with one in five adults affected; in South Africa, the figure is even higher, with one in four adults living with obesity.
Story
Enabled by supercomputing, University of Pretoria (UP) researchers have led an international team of astronomers that has provided deeper insight into the entire life cycle (birth, growth and death) of giant radio galaxies, which resemble “cosmic fountains” – jets of superheated gas that are ejected into near-empty space from their spinning supermassive black holes.
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