News
On Monday, 17 March 2025, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) will host a media briefing to release its annual report on power generation statistics in South Africa. The report analyses loadshedding statistics and the energy availability factor for the period 1 January to 31 December 2024.
Members of the media are invited to the briefing as follows:
Date: Monday, 17 March 2025
Time: 09:30 – 11:00
Venue: Meiring Naude Road, Brummeria, Pretoria. (building 9 Foundry)
The CSIR will be in the media, and you don’t want to miss out on the conversation. Join the conversations to discover an opportunity for collaboration.
More than 80 ocean climate scientists, engineers and technicians are now skilled in advanced robotics, modelling, satellite remote sensing, ocean chemistry and more, thanks to over a decade of investment in Southern Ocean climate research by the CSIR and the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI).
“We now have these very mature capabilities in South Africa to understand the Southern Ocean and how it impacts climate, and that understanding is then implemented into Earth systems models,” says Dr Sandy Thomalla. “With better Earth systems models, we can feed back into society by supporting policy and governance around adaptation and mitigation strategies.” Read more...
The CSIR has developed a sustainable bioprocess to manufacture a fungal-based protein product for a South African business called MycoSure.
Dr Ghaneshree Moonsamy, a fungal expert at the CSIR’s Biomanufacturing Industry Development Centre (BIDC), says protein production in a bioreactor offers many sustainability and cost advantages over livestock and crop protein production.
She says MycoSure will be leveraging this technology using fungal protein, for the first time in Africa, to help address global food security. Read more...
The Northern Cape province’s town of De Aar will become one of the very few in South Africa to drill and pump its boreholes strategically using scientific maps of underground aquifers. Harrison Pienaar, an aquifer expert at the CSIR, is calling on all South African waterboards, mayors, municipal managers and communities to conduct cost-effective groundwater surveys, ensuring compliance with the national directive to diversify municipal water supply.
Like the rest of the Northern Cape (NC), the parched and sunbaked town of De Aar in the Emthanjeni Local Municipality relies almost entirely on groundwater. Read more...
The announcement was made at the 2nd Vaccine and other Health Products Manufacturing Forum, which took place from 4 – 7 February 2025 in Cairo, Egypt.
These RCCNs will focus on biomanufacturing workforce training and development, which includes various programmes, ranging from hands-on training, scholarships, vocational training, internships, fellowships and funding for training infrastructure. The initiative aims to cultivate a new generation of skilled professionals equipped to make an impact
In a strategic move to advance the mining sector through innovation, the CSIR recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI), a Canada-based organisation dedicated to mining innovation and commercialisation.
Given South Africa’s limited capacity for LCA and the relatively small number of LCAs conducted to date, this policy requirement is expected to become a strong driver for the increased application and uptake of LCA. “The introduction of LCA as a legal requirement in South Africa has caught many industries off guard and is considered a bold move by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE),” says CSIR senior engineer, Dr Valentina Russo.
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) powered by hydrogen fuel cell technology was successfully demonstrated this month at the CSIR’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Laboratory. Code-named H2UAV, the system was developed by a team from the CSIR comprising aerospace systems engineers and carbon capture and utilisation technicians working with Hydrogen South Africa.