The Africa Research Management Capacity Strengthening Programme seeks to create awareness, engagement, and continuity of support for strengthening research management functions in institutions, across generations of leadership and senior academic staff.  As the International Network of Research Management Societies (INORMS) convenes its biennial Congress this year, the SFA Foundation, through the Programme, is one of the Gold sponsors of the event.

The INORMS 2023 Congress taking place in Durban, South Africa, from 30 May to 2 June 2023 is hosted by the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA) at the Southern Sun Elangeni Hotel. The event will bring together research management societies and associations from across the globe. Its purpose is to enable interactions, share good practices, and coordinate activities between member societies to benefit their individual members. This year, the convening is themed “Towards a Utopia in Research and Innovation Management.”

SFA Foundation’s Africa Research Management Capacity Strengthening Programme is sponsoring 32 delegates drawn from partners and collaborators from Africa and the UK.

^{Africa Research Management Capacity Strengthening Programme staff pictured here after a meeting on 29 May 2023 with a section of the Programme's Steering Committee members. From left - Vincent Nkundimana (SFA Foundation), John Kirkland (Steering Committee Member), Yolande Harley (Steering Committee Member), Exnevia Gomo (Steering Committee Member), Allen Mukhwana (SFA Foundation) and Garry Aslanyan (Steering Committee Member).}

Apart from actively participating in the Congress programme, the SFA Foundation is hosting three key sessions which we urge all interested Congress delegates to attend.

• A networking cocktail on the evening of 29 May (Monday) will bring together several programme stakeholders including funders, senior research managers, and programme steering committee members. The event will be held in Maharani - Congella Room from 6:00pm - 08:00pm 
• A 40-minute breakfast workshop on 1st June (Thursday ) under the theme “SFA Foundation - New Funder for Science in Africa.” This session will highlight how we are catalysing and strengthening Africa's science and innovation ecosystems to respond to sustainable development challenges and to positively impact lives. The event will be held from 7:30am - 8:20am SAST
• A 40-minute breakfast workshop on 31st May (Wednesday ) in conjunction with F1000. This session will focus on the partnership between the SFA Foundation and F1000 to develop an open research publishing platform, Open Research Africa. Our speakers will discuss how the platform supports the reach, sharing, and potential impact of African research to the world, and examine the considerations, challenges, opportunities, and learnings in applying open research methodologies. The event will be held from 7:20am - 8:10am SAST

We hope to see you at the INORMS 2023 Congress in Durban!