The Security Institute for Governance and Leadership in Africa (SIGLA) stems from the HOPE Project of the late Professor Russel Botman, a previous Rector and VC of Stellenbosch University. SIGLA envisages to position itself as one of the leading African leadership institutions and strives to build leadership capacity and generate knowledge resources in the areas of security for sustainable development. SIGLA recognises that without governance and leadership neither security nor development may be sustained. SIGLA's research activities relating to leadership and governance on the African continent focus upon landward, cyber security and maritime governance matters.
Our goal is to offer a neutral academic space within a top African university. To this end, Stellenbosch University serves as a credible knowledge partner that appeals to researchers from across Africa to work with international associates towards quality outputs on leadership, landward, maritime and cyber security governance.
SIGLA's research capacity is largely virtual in kind. Stellenbosch University appoints researchers as Research Fellows and Extraordinary Professors or -Lecturers to work within research fields for set periods of time and according to a programme coordinated by SIGLA. To this end we house an international team of researchers on leadership and security governance with a dedicated Africa focus.
We cooperate with like-minded partners from Africa and beyond on leadership, landward and maritime security governance. Our activities include co-organising workshops and conferences, lecturing/briefing series on agreed-upon themes, co-designing and offering of short course programmes accredited with Stellenbosch University, and research projects.