EN - Educational (Strategic Plan) - Flipbook - Page 9
Driven by the increased
urgency created by
COVID-19, the last
year at UCT has seen
several seminal events
informed by and feeding
into our
forward thinking.
commercial vaccine
facilities in South Africa,
and academics.
A resulting take-home
message focused on the
imperative of integrating
manufacturing
capacity with vaccine
discovery, vaccine
process development,
epidemiology studies
and clinical studies to build preparedness
for the epidemics of the future – with a
clear Africa focus.
See recordings of the key speakers here.
a manner that balances
an Africa focus with our
position in a global world.
Some 1 650 delegates
from 85 countries – 40
in Africa – registered
and contributed to a rich
fabric of outcomes.
Find out more at the
Summit website here,
and view some highlights here. A report
from the summit will be available soon –
keep an eye on the site dedicated to the
SDGs at UCT here.
Vaccines for Africa from Africa
On being human – past and future
As it did for universities the world
over, the pandemic brought enormous
challenges and opportunities to the
research endeavour at UCT. In Research
& Innovation 2019/20, we covered the
impressive way in which our researchers
pivoted to address a range of issues around
COVID-19. This has continued, and you will
see some accounts of that work in this
publication.
The pandemic has brought home
starkly the impact of being a follower in
the technology agenda, and highlighted
the importance of discovery science and
its translation into impact, economy and
quality of life. In this live event, held on
26 October, we both celebrated the reach,
diversity and excellence of UCT’s research
focused on vaccines in Africa from Africa,
and brought into crystal-clear focus the
challenges and opportunities associated
with developing vaccine manufacturing
capability on the continent – the latter
through the keynote address of Patrick
Soon Shiong of NantWorks, and the panel
discussion bringing together leaders in
Africa’s vaccine initiatives, leaders of
Increasingly we recognise that embedding
our understanding of being human impacts
every aspect of our development, across
all spheres. We highlight events focused on
our history and our future. The Khoi and San
Centre at UCT was launched in September,
through a summer school webinar:
‘Knowing on the wind – #oabo #ans’.
The centre focuses on African
philosophies and epistemologies, through
socially engaged research partnerships in
San and Khoi studies and on foregrounding
endangered indigenous languages. Read
more in the article here.
The Institute for Humanities in Africa
(HUMA) launched its ‘future hospitals’
programme, bringing together the role of
artificial intelligence (AI) and the fourth
industrial revolution (4IR) with the ethics
of healthcare in Africa. The introductory
workshop in March 2021 has been followed
by webinars and discussions, building a
Carnegie-funded programme across Africa.
Professor Sue Harrison,
DEPUTY VICE-CHANCELLOR FOR
RESEARCH AND INTERNATIONALISATION
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