The University of Pretoria (UP) is a research-intensive institution in Africa, recognised internationally for its quality, relevance and impact, and also for developing people, creating knowledge and making a difference locally and globally.

 

The Forensic Anthropology Research Centre (FARC), established in 2008 as part of the Department of Anatomy, conducts both research and forensic anthropology laboratory work. The lab is equipped with facilities and staff to supervise and advise postgraduates for BSc Honours, MSc, PhD and postdoctoral levels, but also educates law enforcement and the private sector.

 

Our research expertise is focused on the application of the biological profile in forensic anthropology, with particular emphasis on non-metric and metric methods for estimating sex and ancestry, age at death in juveniles, the use of dentition in forensic applications, bone trauma analysis and facial approximation. We provide yearly workshops on advanced statistical analysis using R in biological anthropology and bone trauma analysis. We focus on experienced-based postgraduate education which creates excellent researchers who can continue to advance the discipline in their own countries. Postgraduate students at our facilities are involved in research, working with a human rights team in Zimbabwe (Ukuthula Trust), conducting forensic case analysis for the South African Police Service (SAPS) and forensic pathologists, as well as teaching and learning. 

The Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU) was established on the 16th of May 2014 when the Medunsa Campus demerged from the University of Limpopo. SMU is inspired by the legacy of Sefako Makgatho, a courageous leader, educator and 2nd president of the African National Congress. SMU is one of three newly established post-apartheid universities embodying all the ideals of an inclusive, non-racial, non-sexist, transformed and democratic South Africa. It is the only university in South Africa with an exclusive focus on health sciences education implying a special responsibility towards the country to produce highly qualified health personnel with competencies to meet the health care needs of South Africans in the most effective way. Since its establishment, significant investments were made to render SMU a fully autonomous institution with its own identity and ambitious strategic intent.

 

Academic activities take place in five Schools: School of Medicine, School of Health Care Sciences, School of Oral Health Sciences, School of Science And Technology and School of Pharmacy. The Department of Anatomy, by its intimate involvement in the teaching of students at all levels, is uniquely connected to three of the five Schools, which promotes interdisciplinary research. This department was involved in the Erasmus Mundus grant: “AESOP” mobilising four staff members and enabling the acquisition of an adequate computer for the manipulation of high resolution images.

 

SMU receives funding from the National Research Foundation (promotes and support research utilising various instruments), the South African Medical Research Council (promotes the improvement of the health and the quality of life of the population of our country through research, development and technology transfer) and the Department of Higher Education and Training Research Development Grant (encourages academic staff, through qualification improvement, to develop research capabilities).

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Stellenbosch University (SU) is amongst South Africa's leading tertiary institutions based on research output, student pass rates and rated scientists, and is recognised internationally as an academic institution of excellence. It has the highest weighted research output per full-time academic staff member of all South African universities and the second-highest number of scientists in South Africa who have been rated by the National Research Foundation (NRF) with 18 research chairs under the NRF (National Research Foundation) South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChi). It also has the highest student success rate in the country.

 

SU has ten faculties: eight faculties are on the main campus, with the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences situated on Tygerberg campus adjacent to the Tygerberg academic hospital. Apart from offering undergraduate courses for professional degrees, the Division of Clinical Anatomy also facilitates BSc, BSc Honours, MSc and PhD students in various research disciplines. Research groups include: Comparative Anatomy and Biological- and Forensic Anthropology. The basis of many of these studies is the Kirsten Skeletal Collection housing modern osteological material of at least 680 complete individuals and some incomplete skeletons, as well as a Lodox statscan (a South African designed low dose scanning technique to identify for instance pathology or bullets) collection with in excess of 400 images.

Necsa, located in the Pelindaba area, west from Pretoria, is a state-owned scientific research institute that undertakes radiation science research using penetrating radiation.  Apart from its state obligations, Necsa also provides services to National and International Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) through post-graduate and applied research projects using the infrastructure at Necsa to contribute to the National System of Innovation.

 

Necsa is a national centre in the field of nuclear studies contributes to education in readiation and related sciences. This promotes the dissemination of applied radiation based knowledge and an understanding of what nuclear research can offer in the wider public sphere. Necsa’s scientists are actively involved in university training programs related to radiation and/or nuclear science:

• Masters in Radiation Science and Technology (MARST) at North West University, Potchefstroom. Four associate professorships are filled by Necsa personnel from Radiochemistry, Radiation Science and Nuclear Waste Research departments. In addition, two other Necsa personnel members are official lecturers for this course.

• Masters in Science and Organisation of Nuclear Energy (MZONE) at the University of Johannesburg. Here four Necsa scientists present course work on the Necsa site. For both these postgraduate courses, Necsa offers and supervises second year MSc projects.

 

One of Necsa’s main activities in the Research and Development Division is promoting and understanding nuclear related scientific research, particularly in the field of the material sciences. Necsa also supports research in other sciences and specifically Cultural Heritage studies that include research on the human bone collections of the University of Pretoria (Pretoria-Pelindaba-Skull collection program) and fossil collections from the DITSONG Museum for Natural History utilising penetrating radiation.

 

The Radiography and Tomography (RADTOM) Section, within the Radiation Science Department (R&D Division of Necsa) develops and uses techniques to optimize utilization of neutron and X-ray radiation, as non-destructive probes to investigate objects and materials for pure and applied research. RADTOM hosts several radiation beam line instrumentations including a Micro-focus X-ray tomography facility. The direct and indirect (through users) research output is mostly in the form of research publications, Honours theses, MSc theses, PhD theses and research reports. The group renders expert instrument scientists support to researchers and students using the equipment and undertake new technique development to support users and to enlarge the application scope. Contract research and non-destructive analytical services are offered to industrial clients on a commercial basis.

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The University of Bordeaux (UB) is a leading university in France for internationalization. Indeed, UB collaborates with partners in more than 80 different countries and four different continents. Conventions have been signed with over 500 institutions, representing approximately a thousand cooperation conventions (approximately 106 bilateral student exchange conventions and 30 double or joint degrees). Our goal is to encourage and accompany the development of our international collaboration with these privileged partners in education, research and innovation.

 

Research is a driving force at UB. The excellence of its competencies in all scientific fields was recognised in July 2011 when the university was awarded the "Initiative of Excellence" label and established world-class clusters of excellence in several scientific fields including Archaeology.

 

PACEA - From Prehistory to the Present: Culture, Environment and Anthropology is a mixed research unit hosting scientists employed either by UB, the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), the Ministry of Culture and Communication, or EPHE (École Pratique des Hautes Études). The lab’s research activity comprises three multi-disciplinary themes: (1) From biological diversity to bioarchaeology; (2) Archaeology of death, rites, and symbols; (3) Environments, populations, and life ways. Multiple methodological axes and analytical techniques are developed thanks to the availability of the latest high-end technical facilites, particularly in multi-dimensional imaging.

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The University of Coimbra (UC) is a Portuguese public HEI with more than 700 years of experience in education, training and research. The Faculty of Sciences and Technology (FCTUC), to which the Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology belongs, is the largest by number of professors and students, awards the highest number of academic degrees, and manages more classrooms and research units than any other in the UC. The UC’s strategic plan includes "the internationalization is the definition and integration process of an international and intercultural dimension in teaching, research and community relations as a means of developing the quality and relevance of the mission and Institutional vision.” The advanced training of professionals and offering of courses in the field of Forensic Anthropology, which are highly attractive for international students.

 

UC is a leader in higher education and is a research and development (R&D) institution which pursues a policy of continuous improvement, ensuring high standards of teaching and research/technology, as well as being an active participant in the development of the economic and social fabric of the country.

 

The Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology (LFA) remodelled in 2014, belongs to the Centre for Functional Ecology, located in the Department of Life Sciences. LFA has 24 members that develop researches related to the biological profile (ancestry, sex, age, and stature), taphonomy, post-mortem interval, trauma, research in burned and non-burned human skeletal remains. LFA hosts the XXIst Century Identified Skeletal Collection (CEI/XXI), an important resource for teaching and research with over 300 individuals. We have been also developing a collection of human partially burned remains comprising till now of 40 individuals. LFA laboratory is also equipped with a NextEngine 3D Scanner, a SCANIFY Handheld 3D Scanner, a MicroScribe 3D digitizer, a Stereoscopic Microscope with CMOS (3.0 Megapixel Camera), a DSLR camera and handheld X-ray device.

The laboratory collaborates with LABANOF (Milano, Italy), Université Aix-Marseille (France), Universidad de Granada (Spain), USP - Universidade de São Paulo (Brazil), UNIFESP - Universidade Federal do Estado de São Paulo (Brazil).

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Situated in Belgium, in the heart of Western Europe, KU Leuven has been a centre of learning for nearly six centuries. Today, it is Belgium's largest university and, founded in 1425, one of the oldest and most renowned universities in Europe. As a leading European research university and co-founder of the League of European Research Universities (LERU), KU Leuven offers a wide variety of international Master’s programmes, all supported by high-quality, innovative, interdisciplinary research. KU Leuven has Erasmus contracts with over 400 European universities and international contracts all over the world: the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Latvia, France, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, South Africa, Morocco, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia. KU Leuven also holds over 50 international projects in development cooperation and educational interuniversity cooperation.

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The Processing Speech and Images (PSI) Centre is a division of the department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT) and is located in the Arenberg Campus of KUL and in the University Hospital Gasthuisberg. PSI performs research in the field of image and audio processing, belonging to the domains of computational science and machine learning. During the previous decades computers became more powerful and the amount of sensorial data increased. Modeling and exploiting this large amount of data (data science) is one of the current challenges and opportunities.

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