NRF and Telkom Engage with Researchers at SATNAC 2025

The Southern Africa Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (SATNAC), hosted annually by Telkom, took place from 30 November to 03 December 2025 at Kogelberg Biosphere near Hermanus. This year’s theme, Africa’s Ascent: Towards a sustainable and resilient future enabled by secure next-generation infrastructure, digital technology and artificial intelligence, offered a thought-provoking backdrop for stimulating engagement and future-focussed discussions among industry experts, government representatives, researchers, and students.

Dr Patrick Nonjola, Dr Leana Meiring, Ms Kedishia Maphumulo and Dr Babedi Modieginyane, the operational leads of the NRF–Telkom Future Technologies (FutureTech) Programme, a partnership between the telecom company and the National Research Foundation (NRF), capitalised on the opportunity to host a researchers’ consultative session with all project team members present at the conference. A number of matters were discussed, including progress reporting, human capacity development, and best practices for managing these collaborative partnerships, as well as the rollout plan for the internship programme at Telkom facilities. Dr Nana Boaduo delivered a comprehensive presentation on the process of establishing a SARChI Research Chair through the partnership to address the gaps in research aligned to the Telkom Centres of Excellence and the ICT space more broadly.

FutureTech focuses on the development of new innovations and technologies to enhance South Africa’s information and communication technology (ICT) sector, while simultaneously building high-level skills through its human capacity development component. The partnership further aims to strengthen collaboration between the Telkom Centres of Excellence and reinforce linkages between universities and industry.

The FutureTech programme has already awarded three projects which commenced earlier this year. The first project includes a collaboration among the University of Zululand (UniZulu), the University of Cape Town (UCT), the University of Limpopo (UL), and the University of Fort Hare (UFH). This team is led by Prof Matthew Adigun from UniZulu as Principal Investigator (PI), Prof Melissa Densmore (UCT co-PI), Dr Thipe Modipa (UL co-PI), and Dr Caroline Gurajena (UFH co-PI). The second project is a collaboration between Noth-West University (NWU) and UCT, led by Prof Albert Helberg (NWU PI) and Prof Joyce Mwangama (UCT co-PI). The third project involves the University of Pretoria (UP), Vaal University of Technology (VUT), and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) led by Prof Herman Myburgh (UP PI), Dr Temidayo Otunniyi (VUT co-PI), and Prof Adnan Abu-Mahfouz (CSIR co-PI).

Some postgraduate students funded under FutureTech’s human capacity development component were also present at SATNAC 2025 which offered these emerging researchers an opportunity to showcase their work through poster and oral presentations, as well as to network with industry representatives.