Almost 200 HFSP awardees, alumni, committee members, local dignitaries, and students participated in the 22nd HFSP Awardees Meeting at the Cape Town International Convention Center, in Cape Town, South Africa.
35 talks and three poster sessions, with almost 20 posters from South African researchers, composed a three-day program that conveyed the best basic life science research topics and trends. With the 22nd HFSP Awardees Meeting, HFSP wanted to honor South Africa as its new member country, allowing the HFSP community to connect with scientists from South Africa and other African countries.
One of the highlights of the meeting was the keynote lecture, "Unlocking the Leadership Greatness of Scientific Research" by Thokozile Lewanika. This South African life sciences researcher and learning consultant focused her talk on the global impact of basic life sciences in society.
Another highlight of the meeting was the HFSP Nakasone Award Keynote Lecture "Beyond CRISPR: The immune system of bacteria" by Rotem Sorek, the 2023 Nakasone Laureate. Unfortunately, due to constraints related to the Israel-Palestinian war, Sorek was unable to join the HFSP community in person but delivered an outstanding virtual lecture about the relationship between bacteria and viruses in infection-fighting.
During the conference, HFSP delivered an engagement session where participants, particularly the African research community, could get to know the HFSP Fellowship and Research Grant Programs; it also offered a workshop on how to write a successful HFSP proposal.
The three-day meeting at Cape Town was completed with an intense social programme, that provided different opportunities for HFSP awardees and African research community to exchange and inspire. The kicking-off started on Tuesday evening with a welcome cocktail at the Sky on Long, where participants enjoyed fine dining and stunning views of Cape Town. The day after, the researchers had the opportunity to network at the Roof Terrace of the CTICC at the Ice Breaker event. The social program ended on the event's last day with the conference dinner, where all the participants were immersed in the South African culture with a live interactive performance of traditional music and dance show.
HFSPO is grateful to the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and the National Research Foundation (NRF) for their generous assistance and support in co-organizing this event.
For more info, consult the following links: