Prof Frans Swanepoel concludes tenure as Future Africa Research Chair for Sustainable Food Systems

Future Africa bids farewell to Professor Frans Swanepoel, who concludes his tenure as Research Chair for Sustainable Food Systems at the end of December 2025. Since assuming the role in February 2023, initially in an interim capacity and formally from 1 November 2023, Prof Swanepoel has played a central role in strengthening the University of Pretoria’s (UP) contribution to sustainable food systems research, leadership development and multi-institutional collaboration.

During his tenure, Prof Swanepoel led a diverse portfolio of initiatives hosted at the Future Africa platform, including CLAB-Africa, which enhances science–policy engagement on climate, land, agriculture and biodiversity; the Qinisa Initiative, which strengthens regional collaboration on agricultural greenhouse gas management; and the UKUDLA doctoral training hub, part of the African-German Centre of Excellence for Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems and Applied Agricultural and Food Data Science, which supports the development of emerging researchers in sustainable and resilient food systems. He also contributed to the establishment of the emerging Africa–Asia Platform, which promotes STI-led entrepreneurship and interregional collaboration.

These initiatives reflect Prof Swanepoel’s broader commitment to building African research leadership, strengthening institutional networks , advancing transdisciplinary approaches to address Africa’s food systems challenges and deepening engagement between African scholars and global partners.

Prof Swanepoel will continue supporting selected initiatives through his role as a Research Fellow at the University of Pretoria’s Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship (CAS). His continued involvement will provide valuable continuity as these programmes progress into their next phases.

Future Africa expresses its appreciation to Prof Swanepoel for his leadership, strategic vision and sustained commitment to advancing African-led research on sustainable food systems. His contributions have laid a strong foundation for the next phase of work within the domain and have helped position Future Africa as UP’s convening research platform that supports long-term, high-impact collaboration in sustainable food systems.