Building on the strong relationship established through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) back in 2021, STFC and the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF) have continued to foster collaboration through a recent visit to Daresbury and Harwell campuses.
A key objective of this visit was to facilitate knowledge exchange on topics including:
- campus models
- infrastructure financing
- business and innovation alongside research
- large-scale data management and its use in infrastructure
- HR challenges related to research infrastructures such as staff retention and skills pipelines
Talks on both sites, with colleagues from our Business and Innovation Directorate, allowed rich discussions and sharing of insights and expertise to pave the way for mutual growth. Facility tours included the Hartree Centre and SuRF Lab at Daresbury and RAL Space, Diamond Light Source and ISIS Neutron and Muon Source amongst others at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.
A long term commitment
STFC is committed to a long-term, collaborative, and equal partnership with NRF. This is, in part, being cemented through STFC’s two successful funding bids into the International Science Partnership Fund (ISPF).
These are the Research Infrastructures Partnership Programme (RIPP) and the Africa UK Physics Partnership (AUPP, in partnership with IOP), which are now delivering on the initial aims of the MoU. Both programmes have funding until March 2027.
In addition, colleagues are exploring additional areas for future collaboration and seeking to renew the MoU with a clearer understanding of mutual interests to be explored from both NRF and STFC.
This article was originally written by and posted on STFC's LinkedIn page.
