Ranked as one of the leading research institutions in South Africa, the University of the Free State (UFS) is recognised for its strength in several research areas. According to Prof Vasu Reddy, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Studies at the UFS, what makes the institution unique is, “our ability to move research from community knowledge, through rigorous science, to products that change lives. Our research doesn’t sit on shelves; it responds to Africa’s most pressing challenges – from disease burdens to job creation”. In fact, one of the institution’s dominant research areas is traditional medicines and indigenous knowledge systems (IKS), spearheaded by the African Medicines Innovations and Technologies Development Platform (AMITD) within the Department of Pharmacology at the UFS.
A unique research offering
According to Prof Motlalepula Matsabisa, Professor of Pharmacology at the UFS, the platform is involved in “continuous, peer-reviewed, cutting-edge pharmacology research to understand how indigenous medical knowledge and the massive biodiversity can be leveraged to add quality value to society, contribute to formal economies, and provide measurable improvement in the daily quality of life of ordinary people”. Therefore, some of the research initiatives undertaken by the platform include using traditional knowledge and medicinal plants to create new health solutions and products to fight national priority diseases such as cancer, pain and inflammation, Alzheimer’s, hypertension, and diabetes. In addition, the platform is involved in developing immune-modulating products to aid in the fight against infectious diseases such as pulmonary tuberculosis, and to contribute towards the fight and development of new and better-acting drugs for malaria in the region, among other projects.
A culture of collaboration
Prof Reddy also explained that what distinguishes the UFS is its culture of collaboration in as far as innovation and research are concerned.
Prof Melanie Walker, who hold the National Research Foundation (NRF)
SARChI Research Chair in Higher Education and Human Development at the UFS, echoed these sentiments, indicating that “our research group includes participants from across sub-Saharan Africa”. This ensures that completed doctoral work and research projects are making a substantial and significant contribution to African scholarship, as well as to the institution’s impact in the global arena. With this in mind, Prof Walker explained that the Higher Education and Human Development Research group is currently engaged in critical research. This includes climate and nature emergency, exploring indigenous cosmologies in conversation with capabilities to develop and understand what ecological education in universities could do, and how we think relationally about human and nonhuman lives. Consequently, Prof Reddy stated that it is through platforms such as these that the UFS produces research that ultimately influences policy and improves lives.