Picture from left to right:
Prof Rune Nilsen (Keynote speaker), Prof Tjama Tjivikua (Vice Chancellor, NUST, Namibia), Prof Irene Moutlana (Vice Chancellor, Vaal University of Technology), and Prof John Saka (Chairperson of SANORD & Vice Chancellor, University of Malawi).

SANORD is proud to announce that the next SANORD conference will take place September 7th-9th 2016 in Uppsala, Sweden.The deadline for the abstracts has been extended until March 15th. Read more: 

Malmö University (MAH) invites all SANORD members to a Partner Day on September 6th prior to the SANORD Uppsala Conference. Participants can book their tickets to fly into Copenhagen and then continue to Arlanda/Stockholm/Uppsala via train on or flight. The event will begin will a small gathering in the evening of September 5th and end after lunch on September 6th to allow time to travel to Uppsala. 

SANORD is proud to announce their newest publication, "Knowledge for a sustainable world: A Southern-African-Nordic contribution", edited by Tor Halvorsen, Hilde Ibsen and Vyvienne RP M'kumbuzi, announced at the 2015 SANORD Conference in Windhoek, Namibia. The publication covers a variety of subject areas and offers fresh insight about chronically under-researched parts of the world. Read more: 

SANORD Central Office welcomes Henna Heinäjärvi as the new student intern, who joined us on 15th February until 15th July 2016. She is majoring in Futures Studies at the University of Turku, Finland, and is professionally interested in the future of higher education and international co-operation. She will be mainly involved with the publishing of the Newsletter and the Social Media including management of communication and Research activities. Her goal for the internship is to gain valuable experience in the field of international co-operation, working in an international environment as well as helping to improve SANORD’s communication. She is certain that her experience at the office and in South Africa will be an invaluable asset in her future.

SANORD welcomes University of West (UW) as a new member. UW is located in Trollhättan, Sweden, and has about 12,000 students and 600 employees. The university aims to further enhance international research linkages and in this development process membership in SANORD is an important component. Read more: 

Hedmark University College is now called Hedmark University of Applied Sciences (HUAS) after the Norwegian Ministry of Education and research gave their approval. The approval is based on an evaluation of HUAS's research activity and PhD programs in Teacher Education and Applied Ecology. 

Polytechnic of Namibia is now called Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) after the Namibian National Assembly passed the Bill creating Namibia's newest university. Read more: 

TREFFAfrica II scholarship, targeting African scholars to engage in study opportunities at a consortioum of 7 partner universities on the continent, is open for applications. TRECCAfrica addresses one of the world’s greatest environmental challenges: food security in the face of climate change, resource depletion and loss of forests, wildlife and environmental services. Deadline for applications March 26th. Read more: 

The scientific journal Nature has chosen the ten best Science pictures of the year 2015, one of which was a 3D image of a giant virus created using x-ray laser created by Tomas Ekeberg at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology in the University of Uppsala, Sweden. Read more:

Freedom Park and the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) will partake in a collaboration project as a part of South African-Swedish agreement to strengthen the cultural relations of the two countries. The project will entail facilitating the collection of names of all Swedish people that participated in the liberation struggle. Read more:

Two North-West University (NWU) Scientists, Prof. Jan Smit and Prof. Alta Schutte, received global recognition for role in education and were honoured for their contribution to the development of scientific educational learning material and the training of postgraduate students in the Science Forum of the Regional Office of Sub-Saharan Africa (TWAS-ROSSA) in Pretoria, South Africa. Read more: 

The University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa, has become the first African university to join the prestigious International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), a network of eleven international research-intensive universities from nine countries across the globe. Read more:

Four of UEF's researchers were included in the Thomson Reuter's list of Highly Cited Researchers whose publications are the most cited by other researchers in their fields: Professors Markku Laakso and Johanna Kuusisto in Molecular Biology and Genetics, Docent Riitta Törrönen in Agricultural Sciences, and Professor Ari Laaksonen in Geosciences. Read more:

University of Bergen (UiB) establishes an UNESCO Chair with Sustainable Heritage and Environmental Management, Nature and Culture as its central themes. The professorship will be part of UNESCO's international network UNITWIN through which higher education and research institutions address pressing challenges and contribute to the development of their societies. Read more: 

The University of Gothenburg (GU) is hiring a refugee coordinator and offers 80 trainee positions to Syrian refugees. The university is also looking into the possibility of providing education to students in the refugee camps in cooperation with Sida. Read more: 

The Faculty of Natural Resources and Spatial Sciences held NUST (NAM) first Research Day of 2016 under the theme "Research Collaboration with External Stakeholders as Driver of Sustainable Innovation" as part of the 2016 theme 'Sustainable Development'. The event was attended by more than 70 internal and external professionals. Read more:

MAH Choir and Orchestra will be touring South Africa June 17th-27th 2016. The tour starts in Johannesburg and ends in Cape Town. The University Choir is looking for partners and suitable venues for the project. Concerts will be performed free of charge but assistance with logistics is highly appreciated. In addition to collaboration around concerts, the Choir is looking for partners interested in workshops and masterclasses for students. Please contact Conductor Daniel Hansson for information: daniel.hansson@mah.se

UCT welcomed 13 Parlamentarians and the Ambassador of Norway to South Africa on a visit to learn more about the strengths of South Africa's research and innovation sectors. The visit celebrated the close collaborations between the UCT and a number of institutions in Norway. Read more:

NUST renewed its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Dutch University of Twente that initially focused primarily on education and training in Land Management to support the Namibian government's land reform programme. Focal areas have been reviewed to focus on knowledge creation and deployment through reserearch and innovation to meet the ever-changing needs of communities in Namibia, in particular, and the SADC region in general. Read more: 

UTU welcomed two exchange students from Southern Africa in the autumn semester of 2015. Daniel Ndongo from the University of Namibia and Emmanuel Makwaiba from the University of Western Cape, South Africa, attended the university for a 4-month exhange period funded by the Brian O'Connell Scholarship Programme. Read more: 

Robyn Nicolay from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) attended the Hedmark University of Applied Sciences (HUAS) autumn semester of 2015 with the Brian O'Connell Scholarship Programme. She writes about her experience on the SANORD webpage: "Norway exceeded every expectation and gave me priceless experiences and memories one can only feel humbled to have been given the opportunity to experience." Read more: 

Researchers at the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) are combiling data on how organised violence affected the world in 2015. With the large amount of casualties in 2015, it is clear that the trend is continuing from 2014. The greatest challenge in 2016 will be to manage the situation in the Middle East, partially but not fully a result of the expansion of the IS. Read more: