The first full-time Director of the ARUA Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Energy, Dr Neill Goosen, started his term in January 2020. Dr Goosen says: “Stellenbosch University is part of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) launched in 2015. The ARUA network consists of 16 research intensive African Universities from sub-Saharan Africa, and the network is mobilising to increase the quality and quantity of research done on the continent.

“The ARUA CoE in Energy aims to be a multi- and interdisciplinary platform to foster collaboration at Stellenbosch University and with African partners around the theme of renewable energy, but also aims to link other Stellenbosch University (SU) researchers with possible collaborators in the ARUA network,” he added. “At the Centre we aim to investigate how to best integrate renewable energy into African food systems and value chains in order to address the large climate impact of agriculture, and to increase yields and reduce post-harvest losses of agricultural produce. The Centre will do collaborative research with various African partner universities (both ARUA and non-ARUA universities), and also act as a platform to bring together multidisciplinary teams to address some of the most difficult energy-related developmental problems in Africa.”

Participating countries include South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, Uganda an Ethiopia.

In order to facilitate research networks, ARUA identified thirteen research areas that are important for the future development of the continent, and awarded Centres of Excellence (CoE) in these fields to partner universities. In the Natural Sciences CoE’s are in Climate Change, Food Security, Non-Communicable Diseases, Materials Development and Nanotechnology, Water Conservation, Energy, and in the Humanities and Social Sciences the CoE’s are in Mobility and Migration, Poverty and Inequality, Unemployment and Skills Development, Notions of Identity, Good Governance, Post-Conflict Societies and Urbanisation and Habitable Cities.​ Continue reading...​