The three Fellows currently celebrating their achievement are Christine Noe of the University of Dar es Salaam, Richard Okoth of the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology, and Samuel Majalija of Makerere University.

USHEPiA was set up to promote collaboration among established African researchers in the generation and dissemination of knowledge, and to build institutional and human capacity in African universities.

UCT's partner universities are Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology, Makerere University, (Uganda), University of Botswana, University of Dar es Salaam, University of Nairobi, University of Zambia, and the University of Zimbabwe.

Since the programme's inception, 64 full degree Fellowships have been in operation. The three PhDs that will be awarded this week bring the number of successful Fellowships to 48.

Noe's PhD is titled Bioregional planning in Southeast Africa: The creation and consequences of the Selous-Niassa Transfrontier Conservation Area. Okoth's PhD is on the development of transgenic drought-tolerant maize, while Majalija's thesis investigates the impact assessment of antibiotic use in livestock on human health in the pastoralist farming systems of south-western Uganda.