Young Scientists Award 2024

CALL FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA YOUNG SCIENTISTS AWARD

(YSA) - 2024

Overview

In spite of the progress made before the 2014-2018 period, food and nutrition insecurity remains of great concern. Globally, 795 million people still suffer from hunger, out of which 256 million (32.2%) are in the Africa region. This corresponds to nearly one third of the world’s hungry people that are found in Africa, a continent holding 60% of the world arable land and which can feed the world.

Science, technologies and Innovations have the potential to boost food production, build agricultural value chains to increase income for farming communities. Research and Innovations can contribute to enhancing sustainable and inclusive economic growth and job generation, thereby reducing poverty and inequalities.

Cognizant of the potential of Science, Technology and Innovation to transform Africa, President Kwame Nkrumah, during his first speech at the foundation summit of the Organization of African Unity in Addis Ababa, 24 May 1963  said “We shall accumulate machinery and establish steel works, iron foundries and factories; we shall link the various states of our continent with communications; we shall astound the world with our hydroelectric power; we shall drain marshes and swamps, clear infested areas, feed the undernourished, and rid our people of parasites and disease. It is within the possibility of science and technology to make even the Sahara bloom into a vast field with verdant vegetation for agricultural and industrial developments”.

The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) is a pan African network of public and private universities, operating in 40 of Africa’s 54 countries and all its five geographic regions, with a membership of 170 universities that is still growing (for details see www.ruforum.org).

Deadline: 31^st  May 2024 at 00:00 South African Time

Download the full call   ||   Download the Application Form ||