SARChI: A national programme that has powered impactful and resonant research

In 2006 the Department of Science and Technology (DST), now the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), and the National Research Foundation (NRF) launched the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI). The University of Cape Town (UCT) is one of 23 public universities and nine science councils to partake in this endeavour. Of the 275 research chairs that have been awarded across the country, 49 have been based at UCT.

To date, 18 of these chairs and two Centres of Excellence (CoEs) have completed their 15 years of funding from the DSI/NRF. UCT also hosted a node of a third CoE. Their work, both innovative and impactful, spanned across a wide variety of fields.

The initiative’s goals as determined by the DSI and NRF aimed to:

• expand the scientific research and innovation capacity of South Africa
• improve South Africa’s international research and innovation competitiveness while responding to social and economic challenges of the country
• attract and retain excellent researchers and scientists
• increase the production of master’s and doctoral graduates
• create research career pathways for young and mid-career researchers, with a strong research, innovation and human capital development output trajectory.

While the university was committed to providing an enabling environment to ensure the success of each chair and centre, they, in turn, continue to bolster research expertise and leadership at UCT. It is no coincidence that the vast majority of these chairs and centres align with the research strategy and broad research focus areas in which UCT has expertise.

The 5 research focal areas of Vision 2030 are:

Building a healthy Africa with the subthemes:

• Infectious diseases
• Health equity
• Drug discovery
• Brain health
• Child and adolescent health
• Biotechnology
• Vaccine discovery and efficacy
• Non-communicable diseases

Resource efficiency and nature-based solutions for sustainable development with the subthemes:

• The biosphere and biodiversity (including human-wildlife conflict)
• Minerals and soils
• Atmosphere
• Energy
• Water quality, quantity and equity
• Food security

Advancing Africa with the subthemes

• Climate mitigation and adaptation
• Poverty and inequality
• Crime and violence
• Southern urbanism
• Cities in Africa
• Building economic complexity
• Health infrastructure
• Youth empowerment
• Infrastructure for development

Our southern location with the subthemes

• Southern skies
• Southern oceans
• Biodiversity, microbiomes and viromes
• Africa’s adolescence and youth

On being human with the subthemes

• Citizenship and democracy
• Heritage and identity
• Gender and sexuality studies
• Governance