Welcome to the University of Cape Town News
Wamkelekile, Welkom
Wamkelekile, Welkom
Chronic pain linked to disability in South Africa – UCT study shows
A study out of the University of Cape Town (UCT) has found that chronic pain is both common and closely linked to disability, highlighting an urgent public health issue that has long lacked local data. The study, published in PAIN Reports , analysed more than 10 000 adults and provides the clearest picture to date of how ongoing pain affects daily life and functioning in the country.
26 Mar 2026
Media release
UCT to lead Africa's first higher education dedicated AI compute initiative
The University of Cape Town’s African Compute Initiative (ACI) will establish Africa's largest graphics processing unit (GPU)-intensive compute cluster dedicated to Artificial Intelligence (AI) research in a higher education institution. The initiative is part of the AI for Development (AI4D) programme , a £58 million co-funded partnership between the United Kingdom (UK) government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC). It will give African researchers and innovators access to the computing infrastructure needed to develop, train and test AI systems locally – an area where the continent has faced persistent and growing constraints.
26 Mar 2026
Media release
UCT study finds Uber and Airbnb centralise power, deepen inequality
A University of Cape Town (UCT) study on the workings of the platform economy – with companies like Uber, Airbnb and other digital platforms as part of a larger shift in capitalism itself – has found that these platforms don’t just connect buyers and sellers; they reshape how work is organised, how value is created and who holds power in the economy.
25 Mar 2026
Media release
UCT collaborates on Africa-wide biodiversity genomics initiative
The University of Cape Town (UCT) is playing a vital collaborative role in the African BioGenome Project (AfricaBP), a Pan-African initiative aligned with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). Through this partnership, UCT researchers are supporting large-scale genomic and bioinformatics efforts across the continent, helping to mitigate biodiversity loss while promoting equitable sharing of benefits derived from genetic resources.
23 Mar 2026
Media release
Early mental health support urgently needed among young adolescents in schools – UCT study
Research from the University of Cape Town (UCT) has found a concerning prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms among young adolescents in the Western Cape, highlighting the need for earlier mental health support in South African schools.
19 Mar 2026
Media release
UCT tax law expert to unpack landmark ruling shaping South Africa’s legal reasoning
A landmark court judgment that reshaped how South African law is interpreted will take centre stage when University of Cape Town (UCT) Professor Johann Hattingh delivers his inaugural lecture titled “An Integrated Framework for Legal Reasoning in South Africa’s Law of Taxation: The International and Comparative Dimensions”, on Tuesday, 24 March 2026 at 18:00 SAST at Kramer Moot Court, Level 5, Kramer Law Building, middle campus.
19 Mar 2026
Media release
UCT study pioneers microbiome-based treatment for bacterial vaginosis
A collaborative study by researchers from the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Department of Pathology and researchers from several institutions in South Africa and the United States has evaluated a novel microbiome-based approach for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis (BV) in women.
Central to this work was the isolation and characterisation of vaginal bacterial strains from South African women by collaborating research teams, including UCT researchers Dr Brian Kullin, Ms Anika Chicken, Dr Anna Happel, Prof Heather Jaspan and Professor Jo-Ann Passmore from UCT’s Department of Pathology. The UCT team contributed more than 20 potential Lactobacillus crispatus strains to develop two multi-strain live biotherapeutic candidates designed to restore a protective vaginal microbiome.
18 Mar 2026
Media release
African coastlines face unprecedented sea level surge crisis
A groundbreaking study led by researchers at the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Department of Oceanography has revealed that Africa’s coastlines are facing a rapidly accelerating crisis. It found that the 2023-2024 El Niño event triggered the most significant sea level surge ever recorded in the region, exceeding even the historically powerful 1997-1998 event and highlighting a dangerous new reality for the continent’s coastal nations.
18 Mar 2026
Media release
UCT-led project supports highly growing number of adolescent mothers
With Africa projected to have nearly one billion adolescents by 2050, the number of pregnant women and young mothers would likely double, and supporting them by designing services that fit their needs is crucial, said University of Cape Town (UCT) Centre for Social Science Research’s Associate Professor Elona Toska.
17 Mar 2026
Media release
UCT doctoral study unravels systemic drivers of corporate crime across South Africa and Germany
A new doctoral study at the University of Cape Town (UCT) offers a rigorous cross-jurisdictional analysis of how corporate crime emerges within listed companies, challenging conventional governance thinking, introducing new theories and proposing reforms to strengthen accountability in both emerging and developed markets.
17 Mar 2026
Media release
UCT and global partners uncover vast hidden supercluster behind the Milky Way
Astronomers from the University of Cape Town (UCT) – working with colleagues from Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (France), Swinburne University of Technology (Australia) and the INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari (Italy) – have uncovered the true scale of one of the largest hidden structures in the nearby Universe. Their findings reveal the immense extent of the Vela Supercluster, a colossal concentration of galaxies that had remained concealed behind the dense dust and stars of our own Milky Way galaxy.
12 Mar 2026
Media release
UCT lecture champions the unseen labour of care
Responding to the question of who bears responsibility for caring for the young, the old, the ill and the vulnerable – and why, Professor Elena Moore of the Department of Sociology at the University of Cape Town (UCT) delivered her inaugural lecture on Wednesday, 4 March 2026, titled: “Who Cares? The Directions of State–Family Relationships in Changing Times”.
10 Mar 2026
Media release
UCT palaeontologists challenge method used to estimate age of crocodiles and dinosaurs
Do the bones of Nile crocodiles have the same number of growth marks as their age? And can such growth rings be counted to accurately gauge the age of these reptiles? Is this also an accurate method to use when trying to “age” dinosaurs and other extinct and extant reptiles? No, not according to a Scientific Reports study by Professor Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan and Dr Maria-Eugenia Pereyra of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Cape Town (UCT).
10 Mar 2026
Media release
UCT-led study finds increase in plastic bottle pollution on Marion Island
A long-term study led by researchers from the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology found that when litter was first surveyed on Marion Island in 1984, more than half of all items came from the island’s research station. Since then, the amount of beached litter has increased substantially, but litter from the research station has decreased due to improvements in solid waste management, with local land-based litter currently accounting for less than 1% of all litter.
05 Mar 2026
Media release