Flanders and South Africa enjoy a longstanding partnership in the field of research. In the framework of the bilateral research cooperation between the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Flemish Research Fund (Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek - Vlaanderen (FWO)), joint research projects between South African and Flemish researchers are funded.

The 4th call for joint research proposals that was launched earlier this year, was again highly successful. The difficult task of selecting six research projects to be implemented from January 2020 fell to a joint NRF-FWO evaluation panel that met on 4 and 5 November in Pretoria. Members of this evaluation panel were hosted by the General Representation of the Government of Flanders at a networking reception on 5 November, along with government officials and representatives of a number of academic institutions.