Scotland and Malawi signed a landmark agreement in February 2026 to promote and strengthen cooperation between researchers across a diverse field of disciplines. It is the first agreement between TAS and any other nation. It is also the first agreement between the RSE and any African nation. TAS was inaugurated in 2021.

Photo: Trevor Nyondo

The Joint LLM is founded on the shared commitment of Dundee Law School and Faculty of Law UNILAG to making a truly equitable partnership based on co-creation, parity of esteem and accessibility. Find out more.

RAFIKI is a consortium of drug discovery experts across Europe and Africa with a shared mission: to bring opportunities and strengthen capacities for African drug discovery researchers. Find out more.

BA funded 2025-6: ‘Evidence cultures in Post-apartheid policy making’. Prof Phil Harrison, Wits University leads this project, focusing on policy shaping former homelands in South Africa.

Image: rapid urbanisation in Mpumalanga (Paula Meth, 2024).

At Explorathon 2025, researchers from the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, supported by the Africa Working Group of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, engaged the public on decoloniality through an exhibition as part of the Healing Histories Initiative.

The exhibition explored core decolonial concepts, highlighted African contributions to modern medicine, and showcased decoloniality efforts across Scottish universities. The overwhelmingly positive feedback demonstrated keen public interest and the need for decoloniality efforts to shift from being predominantly academic to more community-focused conversations.

Partnership working between Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, University of Glasgow, and Malawi's Ministry of Health, has established Malawi’s first dental degree programme and a National Oral Health Policy.

Photo: Malawi’s first home-trained dentists, pictured after graduation with some staff members

A collaborative project between the James Hutton Institute, University of St Andrews and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture has led to the release of two new varieties of potato, Glen and Malaika, that combine resistance to a devastating introduced pathogen with traits required by smallholder farmers in the region. Read more.

Photo: Harvest of the first field generation of seed tubers at Kisima Farms in Kenya

Managing fire well in high-biodiversity landscapes such as Madagascar is a major conservation challenge, particularly when fire is a central livelihood and land-management tool for local communities. Past fire management approaches have often failed because they relied on punitive measures, including fines and arrests.

Responding to a need to understand why people use fire, the Fitantanana Maharitra Holovain-jafy project—a partnership between Malagasy and UK institutions including the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh —identified the socio-economic drivers behind community fire use, providing evidence to support fire management strategies that incorporate community needs in ways that are more effective, equitable and sustainable.

A long-standing collaboration, stemming from several related research projects, between 15 Nairobi-based community organisations and RGU researchers Dr Natascha Mueller-Hirth, Prof Stephen Vertigans and Dr Imaobong James resulted in capacity building and train-the-trainer workshops.  Held in January 2026, the workshops were co-created by Kenyan and RGU contributors to strengthen organisational development and micro-entrepreneurship. The project is also developing a toolkit showcasing the organisations’ work and best practice, a range of training materials to be delivered by Kenyan CBOs/NGOs and a film.

This British Council-funded project, led by Dr Poh Yen Ng, benefited more than 250 women in South Africa. The hands-on workshops have been held in Johannesburg and various townships, including Mamelodi, Limpopo, Kimberley and Pietermaritzburg, inspiring women in underprivileged communities and fostering inclusive innovation. Read more

St Andrews and Stellenbosch have enhanced their longstanding link through the development of a new undergraduate exchange programme. Read more.

Prof Sean Semple led Air Quality Monitoring training at Kenya's ATS-PATS MECOR course, empowering 50+ early career researchers to address respiratory health challenges across sub-Saharan Africa.

This 4-year NIHR funded project between University of Strathclyde and Malawian partners is examining the impact, and codesigning solutions for adverse childhood experiences, sexual and reproductive health, water, sanitation and hygiene and wellbeing with early adolescents. Read more.

The European Research Council has awarded a Synergy Grant worth €9.69 million to a team, led by Robert Mattes at the University of Strathclyde (and including academics from Bristol, Reading and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology) to study political parties across 25 African countries. Read more.

Dr Elita Chamdimba, member of RSE’s Africa Working Group, recently joined Malawi-Scotland Partnership’s (MSaP) Board. This leadership role offers her a new platform to advance equitable, collaborative Scotland–Africa partnerships.

The Centre for African Research on Enterprise and Economic Development (CAREED) published their third book edited by Emeritus Professor John Struthers and Dr Adebisi Adewole, CAREED Director. The book is titled "Structural Transformation and Economic Development in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges”, the edited volume contains 15 chapters on a range of topics will be out to the public in hard copies in February 2026.

The Ethiopian Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the Northern Irelands, Biruk Mekonnen Demissie recently paid a visit to CAREED. The University's Vice Principal for Internationalisation, Stephanie Piticas, conversed with the Ambassador on a range interests and potential opportunities between UWS and Ethiopian institutions. Areas of focus included deepening teaching and learning quality, applied research with impacts, and graduate employability.