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Ocean Country Partnership Programme
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
The Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP) supports countries to manage the marine environment more sustainably, including by strengthening marine science expertise, developing science-based policy and management tools and creating educational resources for coastal communities. The programme is funded through official development assistance (ODA) as part of the UK’s £500 million Blue Planet Fund. Through the OCPP, the UK government partners with ODA-eligible countries to deliver positive impacts for coastal communities that depend on healthy marine ecosystems. Bilateral partnerships under the OCPP are primarily delivered by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), agencies of the UK government that possess unique expertise in marine science and management. The OCPP also funds two international initiatives that align with its aims and help to develop global public goods, the Global Ocean Accounts Partnership (GOAP) and the Friends of Ocean Action (FOA). GOAP is a global, multi-stakeholder partnership established to enable countries and other stakeholders to effectively measure and manage progress towards sustainable ocean development. FOA is a platform hosted by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the World Resources Institute, which brings together ocean leaders from a wide range of sectors to encourage action and investment into sustainable ocean projects. GOAP and FOA are both strategic partners of the OCPP, and are funded by the Blue Planet Fund (BPF). They do however remain independent organisations from OCPP, BPF, and Defra. Their work, and its intended outcomes and impacts, are strategically aligned with the OCPP and complement its programming in bilateral partnerships. GOAP and FOA were originally developed as separate business cases under the BPF, then in 2022 introduced as integrated components under OCPP to provide a clearer overall BPF offer to recipient countries. The investment to GOAP supports ODA-eligible countries to develop 'ocean accounts' to more accurately and comprehensively capture data on the natural capital assets contained within their oceans. Using this data - and through further technical, advisory, and capacity building support - GOAP aims to ensure that biodiversity is valued and integrated into policy making, decision making, and infrastructure investments in these countries, resulting in the inclusive and sustainable use and management of the ocean. An initial investment of £1million was awarded to GOAP in FY 2021/2. Following good performance in year one, a further £6million of investment was awarded, split evenly over FY's 2022/3, 23/4, and 24/5; giving a total of £7million. From December 2023, following evidence of strong value for money, this investment has since been uplifted to a total of £14.2million, involving new and expanded scope for certain activities, as well as extending the strategic partnership into FY 2025/6. FOA is a multi-stakeholder platform hosted by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the World Resources Institute, which brings together ocean leaders from a wide range of sectors to encourage action and investment into sustainable ocean projects. FOA, working closely with the High Level Panel for Sustainable Ocean Economy, aims to mobilise ocean leaders to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water. Through OCPP the investment supports pillars of FOA's work that strategically align with OCPP's own outcomes. There was an initial investment of £1million to FOA in FY 2021/2. After FOA performed well against investment and performance criteria in year one, a further investment of £2million was awarded in both FY's 2022/3 and 2023/4; rounding total investment for FOA to £5million.
Darwin Initiative
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
The Darwin Initiative is the UK’s flagship international challenge fund for biodiversity conversation and poverty reduction, established at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. The Darwin Initiative is a grant scheme working on projects that aim to slow, halt, or reverse the rates of biodiversity loss and degradation, with associated reductions in multidimensional poverty. To date, the Darwin Initiative has awarded more than £195m to over 1,280 projects in 159 countries to enhance the capability and capacity of national and local stakeholders to deliver biodiversity conservation and multidimensional poverty reduction outcomes in low and middle-income countries. More information at https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/the-darwin-initiative. This page contains information about Rounds 27 onwards. For information about Rounds 1 to 26, please see the Darwin Initiative website -https://www.darwininitiative.org.uk/
Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a widespread and lucrative criminal activity causing major global environmental and social harm. The IWT has been estimated to be worth up to £17 billion a year. Nearly 6,000 different species of fauna and flora are impacted, with almost every country in the world playing a role in the illicit trade. The UK government is committed to tackling illegal trade of wildlife products and is a long-standing leader in efforts to eradicate the IWT. Defra manages the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, which is a competitive grants scheme with the objective of tackling IWT and, in doing so, contributing to sustainable development in developing countries. Projects funded under the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund address one, or more, of the following themes: • Developing sustainable livelihoods to benefit people directly affected by IWT, • Strengthening law enforcement, • Ensuring effective legal frameworks, • Reducing demand for IWT products. By 2023 over £51 million has been committed to 157 projects since the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund was established in 2013. This page contains information about Rounds 7 onwards. For information about Rounds 1 to 6, please see the IWTCF website -https://iwt.challengefund.org.uk/
ORRAA Programme
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
The Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA) is a multi-sector alliance that aims to drive investment into coastal natural capital through the development of innovative finance solutions. These products will reduce vulnerability and build resilience in the most exposed and vulnerable coastal regions and communities. The UK has committed £13.9 million into ORRAA, delivered in two phases. A successful Phase 1 in 2021-22 provided £1.9m in grant funding, followed by Phase 2 from 2022-2026 with £12m committed in grant funding. The UK’s investment will address 2 challenges faced by coastal communities and the ocean environment: 1) Tackling the impacts of anthropogenic climate change and biodiversity loss. 2) Overcoming barriers that prevent finance flowing into nature-based solutions. The grant awarded to ORRAA will support their aims to drive at least $500 million of investment into coastal and ocean natural capital, and produce at least 50 new, innovative finance products, by 2030. This would positively impact the resilience of 250 million climate vulnerable people in coastal areas worldwide.
Decentering ableism in gender based violence (GBV) research using co-creative arts-based approaches
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
This project will research GBV against PWD in KwaZulu Natal (KZN) in South Africa (SA) using survivor and disabilities-centred methods. SA was selected as it has one of the highest levels of GBV outside war zones, and KZN-province is where this violence is most endemic. GBV affecting PWD in SA is particularly acute due to racial injustice, deepened inequality, and marginalisation, all exacerbated by COVID-19.
Newton Fund South Africa programme delivery
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Newton Fund South Africa programme delivery to support the delivery of ODA activities in Newton Fund countries
Characterization of high-energy neutron beams at iThemba LABS for use in irradiation of electronics
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The project aims to characterize high-energy quasi-monoenergetic neutron beams at iThemba LABS for applications in irradiation testing of electronics. High-energy neutron facilities are crucial for testing the effects of atmospheric radiation, induced by cosmic rays, on electronics. The increasing need of reliable electronics is today coming from many growing sectors, like vehicle electrification, automation, and internet infrastructure. The project will evaluate neutron fluxes, spectra, and beam uniformity at energies from 50 to 200 MeV. A variety of neutron techniques, that have been developed and used at the ISIS neutron source of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, will be deployed to perform a complete characterization and a cross-calibration with the ChipIR beamline. Silicon and diamond detectors will be used for their well-known neutron energy response combined with fast signals that allow for time of flight measurements. Activation foils will measure neutron flux and energy distribution with direct reference to nuclear cross sections. SRAM-based detectors will monitor Single Event Upsets to measure neutron flux and beam profiles, aiding cross-calibration with existing facilities like ChipIR at ISIS. This comprehensive approach ensures robust testing and confidence for using these beams for microelectronics testing application. The research teams at ISIS and iThemba LABS have a proven track-record in neutron measurements and instrumentation development as well as operation of fast neutron user facilities. Each team is led by an internationally recognised expert. The total project budget of £ 211k consists of STFC staff time, equipment, calibration at a third reference facility and travel&subsistence. The equipment cost includes silicon and diamond detectors, activation foils, electronics and SRAM based monitors. South Africa is the country that will directly benefit from this Official Development Assistance (ODA) project. A desired outcome of this project is to expand the international user base of the quasi-monoenergetic neutron beams at iThemba LABS for applications in irradiation testing of electronics. On top of being an international centre of excellence, the particle accelerators operated by iThemba LABS can make a huge contribution towards improving the quality of the lives of South African citizens. As an example of direct societal and regional benefit, iThemba LABS uses accelerated proton beams to facilitate the production of radiopharmaceuticals. These radioisotopes are used amongst others for PET imaging of neuroendocrine tumours, prostate cancer and positron annihilation studies. iThemba LABS in general contributes towards developing a cohort of future researchers in nuclear measurements, instrumentation, and related applications.
Digital Advances for Nuclear Science and Applications
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Radiation detection has a wide range of applications in fields such as medical, environmental monitoring and security. However, compact, high-performing commercial systems can be prohibitively expensive and often require specialised expertise and support to operate and maintain, making them inaccessible to many developing countries. A significant portion of the cost is attributed to the data acquisition and analysis components of these devices. For some commercially available software, specialised training workshops and long-term support is required, further escalating costs and limiting accessibility to these systems. To address these challenges, our project aims to develop a scalable, low-power, low-cost and lightweight, streaming digitiser. This digitiser will interface with detectors (both new and existing), digitise the input and stream it to low-power single-board computers. We will also develop pulse shape analysis software to extract information from the detector signals, provide real-time data monitoring and store data for subsequent analysis. When combined with small-volume scintillator detectors, this complete detection system will offer an affordable alternative to existing commercial products. The control and user interface will be deigned for access through WiFi or other lightweight and portable protocols. Due to its light weight and portable design, our system will be ideal for field applications, such as radiation mapping and source identification (for example, mapping of uranium mines). Its scalability and low cost also make it suitable for use in Compton cameras and ion therapy (for example, to monitor or identify the origin of observed γ rays in therapy or security scenarios).
Optical diagnostics system for ion sources
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) ISIS Neutron and Muon Source (UK) and iThemba LABS (South Africa) will collaborate on the development of optical diagnostics systems for ion sources. Optical diagnostics will be used to improve ion source availability for accelerators and their applications. The diagnostics system will guide decisions on adjustments of the ion source control parameters and provide information for the technological development of ion sources at iThemba LABS. The time-resolved optical diagnostics system will be first developed and tested in the UK using existing ion source test facilities at ISIS. The system will then be deployed in South Africa. The main features of the optical diagnostics system are good time-resolution, wavelength selectivity, capability for simultaneous monitoring of several emission bands and ease-of-use. The setup is based on bandpass filters providing selectivity and silicon photomultiplier detectors providing high-sensitivity and good temporal resolution. The proposed work builds on pioneering development of optical diagnostics at ISIS. The ISIS Low Energy Beams Group (LEBG) have used time-resolved optical diagnostics to study the plasmas of the ISIS Penning and prototype RF ion sources, and for the detection of beam-induced light emission to study the space charge compensation in the low energy beam transport. We will utilise the ion source and low energy beam transport test facilities at ISIS for further prototyping of the diagnostics tool developed for iThemba LABS, which makes the approach efficient and mitigates the risk related to the prototyping stage. The risk related to technology transfer is minimised by arranging a training period for iThemba LABS staff at ISIS where they are trained to use the prototype diagnostics device for monitoring a real ion source and to carry out the data analysis. The research teams at ISIS and iThemba LABS have a proven track-record in ion source and plasma diagnostics development as well as operation of ion sources at accelerator-based user facilities. Each team is led by an internationally recognised expert. The project budget consists of STFC staff time, equipment and travel & subsistence. The equipment cost includes vacuum components, optical fibres, optical components, spectrometers, silicon photomultiplier diodes, pre-amplifier components, power supplies, oscilloscopes and data acquisition computers. Several experimental campaigns attended by researchers from each laboratory will be conducted during the project. The country that will directly benefit from this Official Development Assistance (ODA) project is South Africa. The particle accelerators operated by iThemba LABS can make a huge contribution towards improving the quality of the lives of South African citizens. As an example of direct societal and regional benefit, iThemba LABS uses accelerated proton beams to facilitate the production of radiopharmaceuticals. These radioisotopes are used amongst others for PET imaging of neuroendocrine tumours, prostate cancer and positron annihilation studies. Some of these radioisotopes are used for cardiac and neurological applications and these are produced solely for local clients due to the half-life of the isotopes. iThemba LABS in general contributes towards developing a sufficiently trained cohort of future researchers. The charged particle beams of all these applications are delivered by the ion sources operated by iThemba LABS. The proposed technology transfer of the optical diagnostics system is foreseen to improve the usability and reliability of the ion sources, resulting in better utilisation of the accelerator facilities addressing these development goals and challenges.
South Africa Biome Mapping with UAVs and Satellite Measurements
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
South Africa is a water-scarce country, which experiences highly variable rainfall as well as high evaporative rates resulting in an average of only 9% of rainfall being translated into streamflow. These characteristics have led to a system where water resources are strongly intertwined with the land cover and land use, and thereby the energy and carbon fluxes. The proposed study area is part of the Northern Drakensberg Strategic Water Source Area (SWSA) in the upper uThukela catchment. The study area, includes a vast tract of the protected, near pristine UNESCO World Heritage Ukhahlamba Drakensberg Park which falls under the management of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (EKZNW), contrasted with the heavily engineered Thukela-Vaal Pump storage scheme and impoverished communities with no access to water. The complex terrain and high levels of biodiversity endemism make the landscape sensitive to global change. There is a heavy dependence on the ecosystem services this landscape provides at national, regional and local scales with the livelihoods of the local population closely linked to the natural resources and ecosystem integrity. High soil-carbon stocks and the catchments' substantive contribution to the country's water resources, coupled with trends in land transformation impacting on these ecosystem functions provide a development context of national significance in which to understand global change impacts on ecosystem functioning along a river course from point and plot scale to cumulative downstream impacts. To optimally manage the landscape, as well as identify intervention and restoration activities, fine-scale observations over the relatively large area are required. Being in a developing country, as well as a rural area with complex topography means that fine-scale, field-based observation data are scarce, and is limited to a small research area in the headwater catchments in the protected grassland area (approximately 8 km2 out of a larger area of approx 5000 km2) and a new established site lower in the landscape in a conservation area. Land cover outside the protected areas varies from commercial agricultural cropping and rangelands, to heavily degraded rural village areas. Remotely sensed satellite based information is often inaccurate in areas of rugged, mountainous terrain such as this. The overarching objective of this project, would be to develop and validate fine scale datasets for the selected areas in the Northern Drakensberg for use in land and water management and modelling applications. These datasets are critical for upscaling ongoing in-situ observations across the broader landscape, in order to reduce spatio-temporal uncertainty around the influence of global change on ecosystem biodiversity and functional assets. This would be achieved through the joint expertise of STFC RAL Space in earth observation and SAEON in field based monitoring in combination with their local knowledge The aims and objectives are Design and build a drone-based HyperSpectral Imager (HSI) platform for use in the field in the Northern Drakensberg, South Africa. Perform fine-scale vegetation, land, evapotranspiration and soil water content mapping using drone technology and hyperspectral, thermal and LIDAR at a seasonal temporal resolution. Complement in-situ monitoring with land-based sensors and satellite imagery for tracking seasonal and longer-term shifts in vegetation phenology. Validate the fine-scale data products from the drone and satellite imagery using existing field-based data. Build capacity through knowledge exchange and sharing of procedures and best practice.
Target making skills transfer
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Thin film targets and foils are required for low-energy nuclear physics experiments in nuclear structure, nuclear reactions and nuclear astrophysics. In order to meet current demands of NP physicists engaged in experiments around the world, a large variety of targets are required from isotopes throughout the periodic table. Worldwide expertise in target preparation is becoming rare. In Europe, only a small number of target making laboratories remains. They produce targets for free to their own national users but usually charge the other users. In the USA, Argonne national laboratory has also a target making facility, but again mostly for local use. The target preparation laboratory (TPL) at Daresbury Laboratory provides this service to the UK NP community and it is the only facility of its kind available in the UK. The aim of the proposed work is to develop this expertise at the iThemba Laboratory (iTL) in South Africa and create a close UK-South Africa collaboration in this very niche expertise area. This will be achieved by a series of visits of the Daresbury TPL by staff from iTL, to learn the skills of target productions using various techniques: vacuum deposition, electron beam gun, sputtering, rolling and chemical fabrication techniques.
UK-SA partnership on Earth Observation for Atmospheric Composition Science (UK-SA EO4ACS)
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Climate change mitigation, and air quality (AQ) improvement are two inter-related pressing global challenges for which high quality, trustable Earth Observation (EO) data are essential. Particularly, quantitative knowledge of atmospheric composition is required to understand the gases and particulates emitted into the atmosphere (processes and quantities), their fate (transport and chemistry), and their impact on the Earth system and ultimately on the present and the future health of the biosphere (including people). To that end, both for the quantification of greenhouse gases (GHG) and pollutants, complex EO systems combining satellite-borne, airborne, and ground-based instrument networks, together with models and data analytics, have been and are being developed nationally and globally. EO data of the atmosphere’s composition obtained remotely from the satellite infrastructure are inherently global. However, the quality of the satellite data sets is dependent upon a network of ground-based instruments for validation, which are overwhelmingly located in the northern hemisphere, and operated by the most industrialized countries. For example, there is no such validation site anywhere in Africa as far as GHG data are concerned. This introduces some significant geographical biases, associated to the local specificity of the land (albedo) and gas transport, affecting the global dataset quality and therefore its use for accurate monitoring and understanding of GHG- and AQ-related atmospheric processes. This is particularly detrimental to the global effort to transparently reduce GHG emission and improve AQ. The aim of the project is to establish a UK/South Africa long term collaboration towards augmenting the global EO ground-based capabilities, essential to maintaining and validating the accuracy of GHG and AQ measurements made remotely from satellites and to relate local measurements to global datasets. By leveraging the expertise of STFC RAL Space and NRF South African Environmental Observation Network, the primary objective is to establish a first validation site in South Africa with ground-based remote sensing instrumentation relevant to GHG and AQ, collect a dataset over a season, analyse the data using advanced algorithms, and demonstrate their added value to the EO and atmospheric composition sciences. In addition, a novel, machine-learning approach to use satellite observations to extend surface network measurements of pollutants across South Africa will be demonstrated. Through this seminal project, the project team intends to produce evidence in support of the establishment of a permanent ground-based reference EO validation site in an under-sampled region of the world; ultimately to be integrated into the international satellite validation networks and to contribute to addressing global environmental issues. Such an ‘EO super-site’ is ideal for capacity building, strengthening UK/South Africa collaborative links, improving both infrastructure and skills, training the next generation of EO scientists and technologists, and growing knowledge and understanding in atmospheric composition, with a relation to land GHG emission and AQ that can inform policy and possible actions.
Bridging the Efficiency Gap of Metal vs Carbon back Electrode Perovskite Solar Cells to Support the Clean Energy Growth Transition in South Africa
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Affordable energy for all Africans is the immediate and absolute priority in the Sustainable Africa Scenario (SAS) 2030. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) Africa Energy Outlook 2022 report, solar energy-based mini-grids and stand-alone systems are the most viable solutions to electrify rural areas, where over 80% of the electricity-deprived people live [1]. Though Africa has 60% of the best solar resources globally, it has only 1% of installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity. Thus more investment and effective solar PV capacity building is required in the region to make electricity from clean energy sources as the backbone of Africa’s new energy systems. The existing silicon PV technology alone cannot meet this demand as it is an expensive mature technology, with global materials security issues, and enormous quantities of PV waste with poor recycling options [2]. Emerging PV technologies such as halide perovskite solar cells combine the unique properties of high power conversion efficiency (>25 %), low-cost printability, and provision to adopt a circular economy to ensure a sustainable clean energy transition for the region [3,4]. Halide perovskite PV offers the lowest cost of solar PV to date (<32 $ per MW h) and it matches with the levelised cost of electricity by solar PV (18-49 $ per MWh) required in Africa in the Sustainable Africa Scenario, 2020-2030. However, the mainstream highly efficient halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) use thermally evaporated metals such as gold (Au), silver (Ag), copper (Cu) etc as the back electrode. These metals account for 98 % of the cost, 65 % of the carbon footprint and 45 % of the energetic cost of perovskite solar cells [5]. Replacing these metal electrodes with carbon electrodes enhances the stability, scalability and commercialisation aspect of PSCs along with further reduction in cost and carbon footprint. However, carbon back electrode-based PSCs (c-PSCs) have consistently lower power conversion efficiency (PCE) compared to metal electrode-based PSCs (m-PSCs) (20 % vs 26 % efficiency comparison for 0.1 cm2 area devices) limiting their commercialisation. The proposed project aims to bridge the gap in power conversion efficiency between the carbon-back vs metal electrode-based PSCs and demonstrate low-cost and highly efficient (>15 %) printable carbon electrode-based mini modules (10 x 10 cm2). This aim will be realised by combining the strengths of know-how in the fabrication and device physics of efficient halide perovskite solar cells of UK-based physicists with the defect analysis strengths of African physicists. To bridge this efficiency gap, the challenges to overcome are (i) reducing the interfacial losses and (ii) efficient photon management inside the perovskite active layer and the research objectives are identified accordingly. The proposed aims and objectives will formulate the foundations for achieving the vision for the proposed project: to provide accelerated growth in the scale-up of cheaper and cleaner energy sources in South Africa to achieve Sustainable Africa Scenario 2030 through capacity building in cost-effective and efficient PSCs in the partnering institution (University of Pretoria) in South Africa. References: IEA Africa Energy Outlook 2022 Charles et al Energy Environ. Sci., 2023, 16, 3711 Carneiro et al Energy Reports 2022, 8, 475 Faini et al MRS BULLETIN 2024, 49 Zouhair Sol. RRL 2024, 8, 2300929
Simulation-based inference for the Square Kilometre Array and Beyond
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is an international project with worldwide participation, to analyse radio signals from the Universe with two very large footprint telescope arrays across 9 African countries and Australia. The SKA will arguably be the largest fundamental science project ever undertaken and will open a new window on the Universe, shedding light on key unsolved problems in astronomy and cosmology. The huge volumes and sensitivity of the data from the SKA present a number of key challenges. One of the most pressing is the contaminating noise from radio-frequency interference (RFI) from the ever-growing number of cell phones, satellites, radio stations and television broadcasts. Efficiently dealing with this RFI at the multi-petabyte scale of the SKA requires rigorous new statistical and computation methods that bridge traditional statistics and cutting-edge machine learning and Artificial Intelligence. It represents a unique opportunity to build scientific capacity in Africa. The proposal is designed to contribute to this, through two main elements: the specialised training of two early-career SKA researchers, one in South Africa and one at Imperial College, focussed on recruiting from Africa; and the broader impact of training around 30-40 students from across Africa at the interface of statistics and artificial intelligence through a dedicated summer school and workshop. We aim to provide this training free to the students. The specialised research project has four main components: simulation, emulation, data compression, and statistical inference. Although this targets the SKA, the skills are broadly applicable to many areas where inference with complex simulations are important, including climate modelling, epidemiology and manufacturing. The proposers are leaders in all of the core method areas and have extensive experience in the training of junior researchers, and are ideally placed to impart this knowledge. In addition, the proposers have a proven track record of working effectively together.
Caregiver influences on child psychological adjustment following trauma; a longitudinal study of a high adversity South African population
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
"Children who experience very frightening or traumatic events (such as car accidents, assaults, serious injuries) are vulnerable to developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychological difficulties following their experiences. Such problems can be extremely distressing, and affect a significant proportion of trauma exposed children. One factor that has the potential to influence such outcomes is the informal support that children receive from their parents/caregivers posttrauma. In research we have conducted in the UK, we found that certain aspects of caregiver responses can have an impact upon children's psychological recovery following trauma. In particular, where caregivers encourage ways of coping in children that allow them to avoid being reminded of the trauma, and/or talk to children about what happened in a way that emphasizes high levels of threat associated with the trauma, children are more likely to experience persistent symptoms of PTSD. These caregiver responses may influence child symptoms as a consequence of children themselves then making more negative appraisals in relation to what happened, and by influencing child coping behaviours. We propose to extend our UK work to the study of a high adversity international population. To date, only a small proportion of PTSD research has been conducted in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs). This omission is important, as LMIC children may be particularly vulnerable to trauma exposure for a variety of reasons (e.g., poverty, crime, regional conflict). It is essential to establish whether psychological and social processes that have been linked to child PTSD in lower risk settings still apply in contexts where levels of ongoing threat and the likelihood of exposure to recurrent traumas are high. In particular, although we know that caregiver support is a key predictor of child psychological recovery following trauma in high income countries, our understanding of the elements of support that can help children from high adversity, lower income contexts is almost non-existent. This is important, as such children are almost certain to rely on such informal support following trauma exposure, due to limited access to formal psychological services. To address this critical gap in our knowledge, we plan to study the psychosocial factors that contribute to PTSD in a group of children (aged 8-16 years) from a deprived community in South Africa, in which rates of serious trauma exposure are extremely high. We will recruit 250 children who have experienced trauma within 2 weeks following the event. We measure how caregivers provide support, as well as children's initial levels of symptoms. We will then follow-up children and caregivers 3 months and 6 months later, measuring their PTSD symptoms. We will examine whether there are particular elements of caregiver support in the aftermath of trauma that are associated with higher or lower levels of symptoms in children further down the line. We we also will test whether caregiver influences operate via changing key psychological processes (trauma appraisals, coping) in the child, and will take account of caregivers' own trauma-related distress in our study. In addition to helping us to understand what kind of social support is best for children who experience trauma, our project will provide much needed information about the development of PTSD in children from high adversity, low income communities. This is important: at the moment we are lacking even basic information about risk of PTSD in the acute aftermath of trauma among such children, including the proportion who will initially develop this disorder following trauma, the window of time during which children may recover naturally following the event, and the proportion likely to experience persistent disorder and need intervention. This is a major barrier to developing screening and intervention programmes, which our study will be able to address. " COVID-19
British Academy - UK-South Africa Bilateral Research Chair -International Science Partnerships Fund
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
This Chair in Digital Humanities will play a key role in building capacity; creating networks; and creating intellectual agendas, a multivalent humanistic platform, grounded outreach, and new modes of material engagement and interpretative frameworks. National Research Foundation (NRF) and the British Academy will work together to design a joint call with a focus on digital humanities. Digital humanities (DH) is a relatively emergent academic discipline in South Africa, however, South Africa's Department for Science & Innovation has identified it as a discipline that has great potential for growth and impact. Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and National Research Foundation (NRF) therefore see an opportune moment for a catalytic intervention through this chair. The Chair will play an important role in supporting the development of an inclusive and active community of practice in Digital Humanities (DH) in South Africa, leveraging Digital Humanities (DH) champions in academia, building programmes for greater cross-disciplinary collaboration, establishing cross-disciplinary and multi-institutional training and development programmes, and creating a mentorship programme for newcomers to digital scholarship or for those who want to develop open educational resources for Digital Humanities. The focus for this chair could enable challenges to be tackled such as the integration of innovative technologies and interpretative methodologies such as big data and AI systems, 3D modelling, data mining, machine learning, AI and adding value to contemporary digital discussions of democracy. The Academy will work with National Research Foundation (NRF) to finalise a MoU and build to a joint call text with the expectation this will be launched in the new year with an award beginning in 2023-24. The award would be for 5 years in duration with the Academy's contribution being met in the first 2 years and National Research Foundation (NRF)'s contribution coming thereafter. The South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) was established in 2006 and is designed to be a strategic intervention to increase research leadership, to develop research capacity, and stimulate the generation of new knowledge whilst significantly expanding South Africa's research base in a way that results in the realisation of South Africa’s transformation into a knowledge economy in which the generation of knowledge translates into socio-economic benefits. They are a significant instrument in South Africa's 'Decadal Plan' which is aligned to the SDGs through which National Research Foundation (NRF) is actively aiming to engage with international partners.
Weather & Climate Service Partnership (WCSSP) South Africa - Met Office
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Collaborative project between meteorological services in South Africa and UK focusing on capacity building for improved weather and climate services, enabling mitigation of risk from extreme weather events. This includes development of modelling capability for enhanced early weather warnings and a capacity building training programme for severe weather forecasting.
SAMRC-run UK South Africa call on Co-Infections with Non-Communicable Diseases
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Three research projects have been supported focusing on the interaction of infectious diseases such as HIV and Tuberculosis with noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and respiratory diseases. Projects will seek to understand how diseases interact and will develop new insights into the patterns and determinants of multimorbidity in South Africa. This activity is led and delivered by SAMRC, who will issue research grants that are led by South African investigators with UK-based co-investigators and the opportunity to involve coinvestigators across Africa. Working in this way will promote equitable partnerships within the projects and ensure that the research funding delivers on the priorities of the primary beneficiary country involved (South Africa) as well as the possibility to deliver on the priorities of other beneficiary countries across Africa.
Weather & Climate Service Partnership (WCSSP) South Africa - Calls - tender
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Collaborative project between meteorological services in South Africa and UK focusing on capacity building for improved weather and climate services, enabling mitigation of risk from extreme weather events. This includes development of modelling capability for enhanced early weather warnings and a capacity building training programme for severe weather forecasting.
SAPPHIRE : Supra-African Physics Partnership for Health Innovation and Radiotherapy Expansion
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Vision: SAPPHIRE is a UK-African research and training partnership which will build capacity in Africa to obtain better fault information of M-LINACs and to feed into an M-LINAC tailored to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Importance: Our previous STFC funded ITAR project surveyed 28 African countries, revealing two major challenges: 1) many African M-LINACs suffer from considerable down-time down due to frequent breakdowns of specific components; and 2) a shortfall exists in radiotherapy workforce, especially trained physicists. Team: We will bring together M-LINAC facilities in Accra and Kumasi (Ghana) and Pretoria (South Africa), two STFC accelerator centres in Oxford & Lancaster, and medical physics expertise from Cambridge in partnership with CERN and ICEC. Our global team has decades of experience in accelerator and M-LINAC research and has engaged in collaboration with African partners since 2010. Areas of Focus: Specific focus will be given to post-acceleration beam-shaping systems that match radiation beam to tumour target (i.e. multi-leaf collimator devices). MLCs are prone to frequent breakdowns. Project SAPPHIRE has 3 key objectives: Objective 1: To identify junior physicists in Africa to train in electronic data collection and analysis of usage and fault data from M-LINAC stock in their own centres. Objective 2: To use gathered data to assess the effect of faults and to define MLC tolerances, studying different candidate leaf designs for an improved and robust MLC unit. Objective 3: To compare the performance of candidate designs with current-generation commercial M-LINAC devices for treatment planning using real-world clinical data. We will achieve these objectives through four key Physics Education And Research Linkage work packages (PEARLs): PEARL-1 Data Capture. We will create a solution for electronic data capture (EDC) of M-LINAC fault and usage data, enhanced with key environmental factors (e.g. operating temperature, voltage stability, humidity and atmospheric particulate levels). Hasford, Addison and Nethwadzi will supervise training of junior physicists for EDC work in Ghana and South Africa. PEARL-2 MLC Improvements. Dosanjh, Burt, Addison, Hasford and Nethwadzi will develop an understanding of the causes of MLC faults, analyse the implications on the radiation patterns using Geant4 and develop improvements of the MLC design. This will allow researchers throughout our collaboration to investigate the relationship between reported fault and environmental data and the design constraints of the MLC. PEARL-3 Training workshops. Burt, Dosanjh, Jena, Ayette, Addison, Grover, Hasford, and Nethwadzi will establish two physics schools in Africa, first one in Ghana focussing on LINACs, their sub-components and faults/maintenance of those system and the second in Pretoria focussing on radiation physics simulations and imaging and treatment planning. PEARL-4 Treatment planning. Jena, Dosanjh, Ayette and Grover, will compare the performance of candidate hardware designs with current-generation commercial M-LINAC devices in a suite of treatment planning tasks typical of today’s clinical demands. Pathway to success: 1) We have a rich and capable multi-professional team and a long track record of successful collaboration. 2) We will make lasting impact through successful upskilling of junior physics staff in Africa, to perform better research and development in M-LINAC component design and operational robustness. 3) Data from SAPPHIRE will be used by our global consortium (ICEC) to design and deploy a novel fault tolerant M-LINAC design for LMICs by 2030.