Sustainability Transformations in Africa
Future Africa is actively involved in a number of activities to advance African research leadership in the domain of Sustainability Transformations, with a new Future Africa Research Chair to be appointed in 2024. In addition to developing new transformative research initiatives, the Chair will oversee Future Africa’s role in major international initiatives such as Future Earth, and the World Climate Research Programme, and secure synergies with the work of the University’s Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship on the UNESCO BRIDGES environmental humanities Coalition, as well as the Albert Luthuli Leadership Institute on the Sustainable Development Solutions Network. In addition, the Chair will contribute to a Sustainability PhD Global Collaborative Platform co-led by Future Africa (on behalf of the University of Pretoria) and the University of Montpellier in France.
Research Chair: Sustainability Transformations
Prof Maano Ramutsindela
Future Africa
The Tomato Paradox: When abundance meets shortage in Africa’s food systems
Marking World Food Day 2025, Dr Ololade Abdulrahman, a Research Fellow in the Future Africa Research Leadership Fellowship programme, examines Nigeria’s “Tomato Paradox” and calls for innovation to strengthen Africa’s agrifood systems.
Future Africa hosts symposium to welcome new FAR-LeaF cohort
A week-long symposium at Future Africa brought together 22 postdoctoral fellows from 10 African countries to launch the second cohort of the FAR-LeaF fellowship, fostering leadership, collaboration, and new research networks.
She Can Do More, Give Her Space: Women’s Contribution to Socio-Economic Development
In commemoration of Women’s Month, Future Africa’s Dr Clarietta Chagwiza reflects on women’s vital role in socio-economic development and calls for greater space to lead and thrive.
‘We need a people’s science’ – Future Africa dialogue urges shift to African-centred sustainability thinking
Sustainability science must shed inherited assumptions and embrace African-centred approaches grounded in justice, imagination, and relational thinking. This was the message from Future Africa’s recent transdisciplinary dialogue, where Prof Lesley Green and Prof Maano Ramutsindela called for a new language of science rooted in African thought.
The hidden violence of conservation and the case for socio-ecological reparations
Conservation is often viewed as a moral good, but speakers at a Future Africa panel revealed how its history in Africa is marked by dispossession, invisibility, and colonial violence. The discussion called for reparations that address intertwined ecological and human injustices.