Page 123 - SAMRC AnnualReport 2025-26

P E R FOR M A NC E I N FOR M A T I ON

Prof George led the Gender Transformation for Economic Evaluation – and co-developed the 2024
Africa (GT4A) Collaborative, comprising 14 partners doctoral course on Global Sexual and Reproductive
across seven countries, to advance research on Health, convened globally through the Academic
sexual and maternal health through peer learning Network for Sexual and Reproductive Health and
and collaboration. This work culminated in a 2025 Rights Policy.
journal supplement and included a South African
case study examining how male peer educators Through the Learning Partnerships for Gender
engage adolescent boys and young men in gender- Transformation project, NGO staff members and
transformative programming.
community facilitators participated in an ongoing
In 2025, Prof George was awarded a prestigious five- reflective learning process exploring gender-
year National Institute for Health and Care Research transformative approaches within their programmes.
(NIHR) grant for the Imarisha Research Consortium, Some NGO staff members co-authored academic
anchored in South Africa (Khayelitsha), Tanzania papers arising from the project and presented
and Burkina Faso, to address gendered workplace lessons learned at conferences. The project also
violence within the primary healthcare workforce.
facilitated the participatory development of a
Prof George and colleagues also co-convened glossary of gender-related terms in Afrikaans,
a global consultation that informed the call isiXhosa and English, which has since been adopted
for submissions for a journal supplement on as a resource by university departments working
Queering Health Systems, published by Sexual and with youth.
Reproductive Health Matters.

Building Capacity Through AI in Medical and Health Research
Training, Mentorship, and Support The SALAD research project is developing
accessible multimedia outputs, including videos
The Unit currently supervises postdoctoral fellows, and podcasts, by leveraging artificial intelligence
PhD candidates and Master of Public Health (MPH) (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini to translate
students. In addition, two pre-doctoral students complex research findings into engaging content
are expected to enter the PhD programme in 2026. for diverse audiences.
As part of its broader capacity development efforts, AI is also being applied within the Imarisha project
the Unit hosted PhD students from across Africa to support data interpretation and was previously
for a writing retreat in Cape Town during 2025. used to develop social media messaging for the
The retreat was designed to strengthen in-person Global Financing Facility initiative.
supervision and foster peer learning, collaboration
and academic support. In addition, the UWC School of Public Health
has adopted a developmental approach to AI,
Profs George and Tabana convene the research recognising it as an essential emerging digital
domain at the School of Public Health (SOPH), literacy. AI is being integrated into teaching and
University of the Western Cape (UWC), which learning, curriculum development, innovative
meets bi-monthly to promote research culture
through activities such as journal writing support, assessment approaches and the transformation
proposal development for ethics review, and the of written materials into multimedia resources
dissemination of calls for papers and conferences. that support diverse learning styles. Students are
also guided to use these technologies ethically
Prof Tabana convenes two MPH modules – and responsibly through the School’s dedicated
Measuring Health and Disease and Health frameworks for assignments and mini-theses.

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