From January 2025, the DAAD will fund projects that contribute to the further qualification of young scientists in agricultural and nutrition research in South Africa as part of the new “African-German Centre of Excellence for Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems and Applied Agricultural and Food Data Science”. The second important component of the programme is the promotion of the transfer of research results to the economy, politics and civil society in southern Africa. As part of the programme, two chairs will also be established at South African partner universities. The university partners in South Africa are the Universities of Western Cape, Pretoria and Mpumalanga as well as the University of Lilongwe (University of Agriculture and Natural Resources) in Malawi. The National Research Foundation is supporting the establishment of the centre on the South African side with funds from the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI).

Background

The new centre of excellence is a joint project of the DAAD and the three federal ministries involved. It stems from the Federal Government’s round table on the “Internationalisation of Education, Science and Research” with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. The AA finances the basic operation of the new centre of excellence, the BMBF funds a chair as well as German doctoral students and postdocs and the BMEL supports the doctoral programme for African doctoral students and postdocs. Funding for the second chair is provided by South Africa.