Welcome to the Afromontane Research Unit:
A continental leader in African mountain research

Despite the challenges of 2020 relating to COVID-19, the Afromontane Research Unit (ARU), University of the Free State (UFS), has possibly had its best year since it was founded in 2015 – confirming its role as the flagship research group of the Qwaqwa Campus (UFS-QQ), as a strategic research hub at the UFS, and as a continental leader in African mountain research … Read more

ARU-related news articles:

• Magic in the mountains: The world of plant-animal interactions
• Drakensberg documentary featuring UFS ARU climbs to global success with an international award
• How birdsong reveals the secrets of wetland health
• Not everyone wants a desk job: Studying mountains where they rise
• A decade of discovery: The ARU’s journey of innovation and impact (Dumela 2: 2025, p 16 and 17)

 

•  How birdsong reveals the secrets of wetland health (Bult 2025: p 18 and 19)

 

• UFS reaches new heights with Southern Africa’s highest weather station
• Art historian takes media philosophy to the mountain at SAMC 2025 (Dumela page 8)

• New research bites back at rodent problem in townships (Dumela p9)

• UFS Qwaqwa student lands prestigious scholarship for PhD programme at ETH Zurich
• New research bites back at rodent problem in townships
• UFS Qwaqwa Campus forges partnership with Ethiopia's Debark University for ‘mountain-to-mountain’ research
• Empowering future scientists: Research collaboration drives professional development
• UFS celebrates research excellence with new NRF ratings
• Endangered and vulnerable mammals at risk of becoming roadkill
• Women are key players in biodiversity conservation in mountainous regions
• Royal Mountain Indaba forges path for sustainable Drakensberg future
• Small-scale farming is destroying Africa’s mountains
  
• Second Southern African Mountain Conference kicks off with a resounding start in Drakensberg
• UFS launches state-of-the-art analytical lab, pioneering research and collaboration
• UFS professors warn about threat of Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone
• Recognising the achievements of Qwaqwa Campus's Assistant Deans
• UFS geographers working with French research institution to unlock secrets of Southern Hemisphere's climate history
• Maloti-Drakensberg conservation film highlights large area of ARU focus
• Unveiling Madagascar’s mountains: a reconnaissance for invasive species monitoring (2024 bult)

• UFS researchers at the forefront of global mountain biodiversity efforts
  
• UFS researcher uncovers treasures in Mozambique's mountain forests
• Mosiuoa Bereng explores Maloti Drakensberg on horseback, compiling botanical survey of the area (Dumela 1, 2024)

• Invasive grass slowly suffocating local livelihoods (Dumela 1, 2024)

• Profs Aliza le Roux and Peter Taylor’s path to academic innovation (Dumela 1, 2024)

• PhD candidates explore the impact of climate change at international conference
• A visual journey of the UFS ARU doorstep
• Second Southern African Mountain Conference announced
• Nine UFS researchers nominated for the ‘Science Oscars’
• UFS ARU-affiliated researcher contributes to paper on Africa’s endangered ecoregion
• Tracking flora up a Madagascan massif
• Award recognises Alexandra Howard's work on the value of bats on apple farms
• Exploring vulnerable African alpine ecosystems for continued conservation (bult news magazine #1 2023, inside cover)

• Award recognises Alexandra Howard's work on the value of bats on apple farms
• ARU's publication in a prestigious journal 
• From dream to reality: Indigenous university botanical garden for UFS Qwaqwa Campus
• Informing the Future for a Sustainable African Mountain City
• National Global Change Conference features ARU in top-three oral presentations
• Swiss Ambassador visits Qwaqwa Campus to boost mountain research
• Landscape change studies bring better understanding of climate change
• ARU collaborations a game changer for mountain research in Southern Africa (bult news magazine 2022 #1 - page 38 & 39)
  

• Solutions for ongoing water problem (bult news magazine 2022 #1 - page 28)
  

• Helicopter tender takes ARU to the skies for mountain research
• Trans-local collaboration enriching the lives of social entrepreneurs in rural communities
• From Cathedral Peak to your tap: the role of mountains in providing water
• When illegal wildlife trade meets muthi, vultures teeter on the brink of extinction – conservationists
• Bult magazine: ARU joins forces with other institutions for Maloti-Drakensberg alpine research. 

• Researchers find new grass species in Maloti-Drakensberg area
• Planting trees will not solve the climate crisis
• Vulture restaurants created in bid to save endangered species
• Crucial Milestone for Ecosystems Research in South Africa
• Is it a bird? Is it a bee? No, it's a lizard pollinating South Africa's 'hidden flower’
• U.S. State Department Grant Funds Mountain-to-Mountain Collaboration Between Appalachian State University in North Carolina and South Africa’s University of the Free State
• Sub-Saharan Africa is set to experience a human demographic explosion around mountains at a time when water and grass are under climate change pressure
• People flock to mountains, research shows
• Prof Moffett’s latest offering collates hundreds of mountain research material into one accessible reference book
• UFS biologists discover new tiny, white-thumbed bat species from Eswatini
• Two-year ground-breaking partnership for Southern African mountain regions
• ARU launches SA component of global project towards understanding the future of alpine systems
• ARU pioneering mountain range-expanding project
  
• Research to fight water pollution in the eastern Free State 
  
• ARU extends mountain research across Africa
• ARU strengthens ties with Japanese universities
• ARU collaborates with Zimbabwe on trans-boundary African mountains research
• ARU researcher Ntebohiseng Sekhele guest edits journal on montane rangelands
• Afromontane pioneering sustainable mountain research

Information documents/reports/newsletters

• MIREN Newsletter 2025
• Maloti Drakensberg: Safeguarding and Preservation of the Dragon Heritage Workshop
• Maloti Drakensberg: Safeguarding and Preservation of the Dragon Heritage Workshop (Video)

ARU events

• The International Mountain Conference (IMC) series in Innsbruck, Austria, with its associated student4student summer school (S4SSS)