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UWC delegation attending the Newton Fund Research Chairs Symposia

South Africa and the United Kingdom will showcase the activities of a joint research chairs programme under the UK-South Africa Newton Fund during a symposium to be held in Pretoria on Wednesday, 2 October.

University of the Western Cape based Professor Stephen Devereux, who holds the SA-UK Bilateral Research Chair in Social Protection for Food Security in South Africa, will deliver a presentation on achievements of his SARChI over the past five years.

The UK-SA Research Chairs Programme was launched two years ago as part of an innovative bid to expand the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) through collaborative partnership. Sponsored through the National Research Foundation, the British Council and the British Academy, the programme is aimed at improving the extent, delivery and impact of research capacity and providing mentorship opportunities for young emerging researchers at South African universities.

Under the programme, lives are being improved through health research, young innovators are being supported to commercialise their ideas, and hundreds of early stage researchers are strengthening their work through international collaboration.

Three bilateral research chairs have been awarded in political theory, social protection for food security and ocean science & marine food security. While two trilateral chairs have been awarded in transformative innovation, the 4th industrial revolution and sustainable development, and mainstreaming gender for energy security in poor urban environments.

The symposium will give the chairs an opportunity to demonstrate, among others, how their work has contributed directly to national policy on food security and helped to drive regional collaboration.

The UK-South Africa Newton Fund is part of a broader Newton Fund programme, which has a total UK government investment of £735 million up until 2021, with matched resources from the partner countries. The UK-South Africa Newton Fund has already seen a co-investment of £30million since its launch in 2014.