Page 104 - University of Pretoria RESEARCH REVIEW 2018

New research platforms Future Africa
Bernard Slippers, founding Director: Future Africa, and Director: The Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute
When the Future Africa initiative was launched in November 2013, it signaled the University of Pretoria’s deliberate emphasis on its place in Africa and pursuing research that would make a difference.
Future Africa is anchored by the commitment of the UP community to the African continent, to the belief that knowledge generation will be the foundation of the continent’s development, and the acknowledgement that this cannot be done in isolation. To have a substantive impact on the pressing issues facing society globally, Africa needs to take its rightful place as an equal partner with other world regions as knowledge generator.
The global conversation on the role of science is increasingly focused on developing a globally connected, interdisciplinary and socially responsive science system. Given the norms of disciplinary training and research, traditional universities often struggle to respond to these objectives. Being early in a phase of rapid development, there are exciting opportunities in Africa to ensure that universities of the future are at the forefront of global trends to align excellence in research and training with social and environmental needs.
This is the reason for the existence of Future Africa; it was developed to serve as an incubator of research initiatives focused on societal issues, a hub for local and global research networks to align behind these priorities and initiatives, and as a point of connection with sectors of society involved or affected by our research that lie outside our academic institutions. It will have to do so with focus, persistence and patience for decades to come to
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