A new era for African science: How the O.R. Tambo Africa Research Chairs are transforming institutions and futures

In 2020, the O.R. Tambo Africa Research Chairs Initiative (ORTARCHI) launched with a bold ambition: to strengthen Africa’s research leadership, retain top scientific talent and build resilient institutions capable of driving inclusive development. Five years in, a new external evaluation commissioned by IDRC sheds light on how the initiative is supporting high-quality research and demonstrating strategic alignment with national and regional priorities. It also highlights how strong institutional and systemic support can catalyze transformation across Africa’s science ecosystems.

Anchoring research in African priorities and systems

Discussions between the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation, South Africa’s  National Research Foundation (NRF) and IDRC began in 2018. The design of the initiative was built on previous collaboration between these organizations. It is grounded by a long-standing commitment in both South Africa and Canada to the research chairs model, which supports leading-edge research and attracts and retains world-class scientists.

ORTARCHI supports 10 research chairs across seven countries — Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia — each embedded in national universities and aligned with pressing development priorities. From climate change and food security to health and youth employment, the chairs are tackling challenges that matter deeply to African societies.

What sets ORTARCHI apart is its deliberate integration into institutional, national and regional science, technology and innovation (STI) agendas. Thematic areas were selected by host universities in close coordination with national Science Granting Councils (SGCs) or relevant ministries. This alignment has fostered legitimacy, visibility and policy relevance.

Training the next generation of African scientists

At the heart of ORTARCHI’s success is its commitment to human capital. By mid-2025, more than 250 postgraduate students had been trained or supported, including more than 140 fully funded under the initiative. Several chairs have hosted post-doctoral fellows at their institutions, and some, like the chairs based in the Copperbelt University in Zambia and the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology in Tanzania, are driving innovations in nanotechnology, environmental management and health diagnostics.

These achievements represent a growing pipeline of African researchers equipped to lead in their fields and contribute to national development.

From research to real-world impact

ORTARCHI is already influencing policy and practice. In Tanzania, genomic research from the viral epidemics chair has supported outbreak response efforts. In Mozambique, climate adaptation strategies developed by the chair at Eduardo Mondlane University are informing national planning. The chair at the University of Ghana is helping small businesses and street vendors improve public health outcomes with food safety innovations.

The initiative is also generating a portfolio of innovations with commercial potential, from biofertilizers and sustainable packaging to nano-formulated antimalarial drugs. These are early signs of a research ecosystem that is not only producing knowledge but translating it into solutions.

A legacy of unity and inclusion

Named after Oliver Reginald Tambo, a South African liberation leader and champion of education, the initiative embodies his vision of pan-African collaboration and intellectual leadership. Equity and inclusion are central to the initiative. Chairs have made deliberate efforts to recruit women and students from underrepresented regions. In Mozambique, for example, students from rural areas are conducting fieldwork in semi-arid communities, ensuring that research is grounded in local realities.

ORTARCHI’s chairs are building regional networks, promoting South-South partnerships and contributing to continental frameworks like the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2024 (STISA-2024). The recent evaluation said that the regional networks created under ORTARCHl can be utilized to ensure that the collaboration among the chairs is more impactful than individual efforts, thereby helping to sustain the initiative’s momentum. 

Building SGC leadership

Beyond the leadership of South Africa’s NRF in funding a large part of the initiative and managing it alongside its own South African Research Chairs Initiative, ORTARCHI builds on the foundations laid by the IDRC-supported Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI), leveraging its network and capacity-building efforts to strengthen national research systems. In countries like Burkina Faso, Mozambique and Zambia, SGCs have gone beyond fund disbursement to actively support chairs through conditional advances, policy engagement and strategic oversight. 

This model of co-leadership and shared ownership between funders, governments, universities and SGCs is central to ORTARCHI’s success. It presents a key opportunity to further the chairs’ visibility within national contexts and regional research ecosystems overall, which the evaluation identified as a key learning and suggested way forward. Integrating the chairs more deeply into these contexts will ensure that research is not only conducted but also effectively translated into policy and practice, thereby reinforcing the role of science in national development.

A model worth scaling

ORTARCHI’s success is deeply tied to its integration with SGCI, which has helped build national ownership and institutional capacity in Africa for over a decade. The recent signing of the Accra Communiqué signals the key role of SGCs in strengthening Africa’s STI systems through regional collaboration, digital innovation and inclusive research.

ORTARCHI is a model built on this vision, aligning with national priorities and embedding research in policy systems. It offers a blueprint on how to scale impact, deepen policy engagement and foster sustainable Africa-led science.