NRF and NWO Mid-Term Review Workshop on the WEF Nexus Research Programme

The NRF, through Dr Prudence Makhura and Teuns Phahlamohlaka, in partnership with the Dutch Research Council (Jacomijn Verbruggen-Zoutewelle, Monika Brasser, and Matthijs Kallenberg) co-hosted a successful mid-term review workshop for all the projects currently funded under the second Call of the NRF-NWO Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus Research Programme.

The workshop took place from 01 to 02 July 2024 in the Netherlands. It was attended by the research consortia project teams comprising of researchers, postdoctoral fellows and postgraduate students from both countries, including the Programme’s International Advisory Committee (IAC) members.

The objective of the workshop was to track progress and share learning. Accordingly, the review assessed the progress of the consortia research projects against the objectives (as formulated within the proposals) and the outputs, outcomes and impact (as specified in the Impact Pathway). In particular, emphasis was placed on the potential for societal and scientific breakthroughs/progress towards outcomes; relevance and quality of outputs, and the quality of the collaboration (i.e. productive interactions and capacity building within and between the consortia project team-users-stakeholders).

During the two days of this review, participants: 

• Learned from each other’s experiences, insights and (intermediate) outcomes;
• Exchanged views on and found pragmatic options for strengthening the funded consortia projects’ approach to other identified cross-cutting topics;
• Interrogated the successes and challenges in the execution of the consortia-funded projects; the collaboration between research team members, and how to use the lessons learnt to improve the effectiveness of the projects; and
• Identified pertinent gaps in the WEF nexus research to improve the design of the forthcoming research calls.

For more information about this research programme, please email Teuns Phahlamohlaka at: T.Phahlamohlaka@risa.nrf.ac.za.