The North-West University (NWU) of South Africa has called for stronger research collaboration across Africa, urging governments, academic institutions and the media to support African researchers and promote home-grown solutions to the continent's development challenges.
The university made the call in a media statement issued on Monday, November 2, 2026, highlighting the need for increased investment in research, greater opportunities for women researchers and stronger partnerships among African institutions.
According to the NWU, sub-Saharan Africa had only 88 full-time-equivalent researchers per million people in 2023, compared with 4,358 in Europe and Northern America, citing UNESCO data.
The university also noted that only 29 of the 990 Nobel Prize and economics prize laureates were born in Africa by the end of 2025, describing the figures as an indication of the need to strengthen the continent's research capacity and give African scholarship greater global recognition.
It stressed that Africa has enormous research potential but requires sustained support to enable its researchers to contribute meaningfully to global knowledge and address pressing societal challenges.
The university highlighted its commitment to cross-border research collaboration in the latest edition of its Research\@NWU publication, which features studies examining loan data from Kenya and Mauritius, dust exposure in a Zambian copper mine, and the potential contributions of microorganisms to addressing broader challenges.
It said the research demonstrates how knowledge, evidence and expertise can be shared across national boundaries to investigate issues affecting communities throughout the continent.
The NWU further emphasised the importance of promoting gender inclusion in research, noting that women accounted for 33.4 per cent of researchers in sub-Saharan Africa in 2022, according to UNESCO data.
It called for expanded opportunities for women to lead research initiatives and contribute to the continent's growing scientific and academic community.
The university also urged African media organisations to strengthen their partnerships with academic institutions by promoting credible research, sharing expertise and amplifying African perspectives on issues affecting the continent.
It identified inequality, unemployment, food insecurity, climate change, and gaps in education and healthcare as some of the major challenges that require collective African responses.
The NWU said stronger cooperation among African countries and institutions would help build a more connected research community capable of developing solutions to shared challenges.
The university invited African media practitioners and other stakeholders to collaborate with its researchers, exchange ideas and promote research-driven stories that can contribute to the continent's development.
The latest edition of Research\@NWU is available at [https://bit.ly/4yUFYKW](https://bit.ly/4yUFYKW).
