By Lebone Rodah Mosima
The National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa has announced funding for 10 transdisciplinary research projects, each led by researchers based at African institutions.
The NRF is an independent statutory body created to advance research and innovation in South Africa.
In a statement released this week, it said that in collaboration with the Belmont Forum, it invited climate change researchers across Africa to apply for CRA (Collaboration Research Funding) over a year ago.
“The Belmont Forum is a group of funding agencies from around the world that support transdisciplinary, globally representative research groups and coproduction/participatory methods to address various global environmental change topics,” the NRF said.
It said the initiative sought to address “knowledge gaps and priorities in addressing climate change vulnerability across the continent,” identified during scoping sessions with researchers.
The work, it added, was carried out in support of the African Union’s climate, environment, and sustainability goals and priority areas for Agenda 2063.
The CRA focused on three main themes: the water-energy-food-health nexus, pollution, and disaster preparedness, responsiveness, and recovery. The “green and blue economy” was identified as a cross-cutting issue, while education and awareness were encouraged as complementary activities.
According to the NRF, the funding call generated 172 pre-proposals, while 59 full proposals were submitted by researchers from across the world.
The 10 projects ultimately selected were “led by researchers based at African institutions … following a comprehensive review”.
The selected projects will each be funded for three years, and “represent diverse research efforts that address the complex challenges at the interface of climate, environment, and health in Africa,” the statement said.
“This is one of the most significant funding administration initiatives the NRF has undertaken in recent years,” said Dr Nare Prudence Makhura, Executive Director: International Grants and Partnerships.
“It reflects our strong commitment to supporting African-led, solutions-driven research that tackles the pressing challenges of climate change on the continent. Equally, it highlights the sophistication of our funding administration systems to effectively manage complex, multi-partner international collaborations.”
The NRF said €4.29 million (R86.7 million) had been committed over three years by 14 funders. The NRF will contribute €1 million to support the participation of South African researchers in the initiative”.
Across the 10 projects, there are a total of 126 team members. Ten are African consortium leads, 29 are co-principal investigators and 87 are project partners.
The participants include 87 natural scientists, 23 social scientists, and 16 societal partners.
“In terms of continental representation, 97 of the team members are from Africa, representing 16 countries: Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda; five are from Asia, represented by Turkey; 17 are from Europe represented by France, Germany, Spain and Switzerland; six are from North America, represented by the United States of America; and one is from South America, represented by Brazil,” said the statement.
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