CERI: Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation

18/09/2026

15/09/2026

“To break through stone, the chisel must be willing, prepared and sharpened. If we want to achieve extraordinary things, we must be prepared to do the hard work.”  - Dr Juandré Klopper

This past weekend, Stellenbosch University Maties Alumni welcomed more than 3 000 alumni from four continents back to Stellenbosch for the 11th Annual Homecoming Weekend across 53 events. CERI hosted its inaugural Fellows and African STARS Reunion in Jonkershoek; 50+ fellows, friends and alumni gathered for a morning of networking, connection and conversation about the future of African science.

Prof Tulio de Oliveira reaffirmed CERI’s continued commitment to capacity building across the continent. Dr Richard Gordon reminded the room that staying connected, mobilising resources and opening doors for one another is not optional; it is how African science sustains itself. HOSEA Levi made the case for “scientific money”; commercialising the problems Africa is uniquely positioned to solve. And Dr Juandré Klopper recalled a poem about a chisel and a hammer that has stayed with him since his years as an SU student; a reminder that being shaped by training is not a burden. It is the point.

CERI turns five this year. 900+ fellows trained across the continent. If the fellowship is the hammer, our fellows are the chisels.

15/09/2026

“To break through stone, the chisel must be willing, prepared and sharpened. If we want to achieve extraordinary things, we must be prepared to do the hard work.”  - Dr Juandré Klopper Klopper

This past weekend, Stellenbosch University Maties Alumni welcomed more than 3 000 alumni from four continents back to Stellenbosch for the 11th Annual Homecoming Weekend across 53 events. CERI hosted its inaugural Fellows and African STARS Reunion in Jonkershoek; 50+ fellows, friends and alumni gathered for a morning of networking, connection and conversation about the future of African science.

Prof Tulio de Oliveira reaffirmed CERI’s continued commitment to capacity building across the continent. Dr Richard Gordon reminded the room that staying connected, mobilising resources and opening doors for one another is not optional; it is how African science sustains itself. HOSEA Levi made the case for “scientific money”; commercialising the problems Africa is uniquely positioned to solve. And Dr Juandré Klopper recalled a poem about a chisel and a hammer that has stayed with him since his years as an SU student; a reminder that being shaped by training is not a burden. It is the point.

CERI turns five this year. 900+ fellows trained across the continent. If the fellowship is the hammer, our fellows are the chisels.

14/09/2026

Building solutions to Africa’s biggest challenges takes more than expertise. It takes creativity, collaboration, and scientists working across and beyond academia.

That was the focus of last week’s African STARS Workshop on Creativity, Collaboration & Impact, which equips fellows with practical tools to collaborate across disciplines, engage diverse stakeholders, and tackle complex societal challenges.

Through hands-on activities and cross-disciplinary exchange, fellows explored how to design solutions that are relevant and built for meaningful impact.

Thank you to the team who made it possible.

13/09/2026

From Mpox moving along river systems in Cameroon to ancient viruses recovered from penguin mummies in Antarctica, the poster sessions covered a remarkable range of science.

Six researchers have been recognised for their work at the 29th International VEME Workshop in Stellenbosch, with winning research spanning SARS-CoV-2 evolution, chikungunya transmission, wastewater surveillance, and viral phylogeography across Africa and beyond.

This is what VEME is built for: giving early-career researchers a platform to present their work to specialists in the field, get real feedback, and connect with others asking similar questions across different contexts.

Congratulations to all six winners and to every participant who shared their research this week.

Read the full story: ceri.africa/news/

10/09/2026

Talent is not the barrier. Access often is.

In the latest issue of , we follow one African STARS fellow’s path from Eswatini to a DPhil at the University of Oxford, and what it took to get there: mentorship, a research grant that let her lead her own study for the first time, and a fellowship that helped her position her ideas and tell the story of her work.

Fezokuhle Khumalo Khumalo’s research will focus on how evidence-based maternal health interventions can be adapted into routine healthcare across African contexts, work she plans to continue developing alongside her ongoing ties to CERI.

This issue of the gem also covers an Ebola spillover risk model, a new approach to affordable multi-cancer screening, and how African STARS fellows are producing research reagents locally to reduce reliance on imports.

Read the full edition: ceri.africa/news/the-gem

10/08/2026

Africa faces some of its toughest challenges in infectious disease, health inequity, and youth unemployment. But the continent also holds the talent to solve them.
This week, we welcomed another cohort of the African STARS Fellowship.
We kicked off on Monday with a welcoming dinner, drumbeats, and the kind of energy that comes from 12 countries including : Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, Ethiopia, Botswana, Cameroon, Uganda, and South Africa.

Fellows also received a warm welcome at CERI and Stellenbosch University leadership, including Prof. Sibusiso Moyo, Prof Kanshukan Rajaratnam, Prof Tulio de Oliveira, Dr Richard Gordon, and Prof Lenine Liebenberg, each reminding them that the work ahead is bigger than any one of them but together we can do better and advance public health in Africa.

Once again, congratulations to these fellows; we can’t wait to see what they will achieve as they advance Africa. This fellowship is made possible in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation and in collaboration with Center for Africa’s Resilience to Epidemics (CARE), Institut Pasteur de Dakar.

10/08/2026

Africa faces some of its toughest challenges in infectious disease, health inequity, and youth unemployment. But the continent also holds the talent to solve them.
This week, we welcomed another cohort of the African STARS Fellowship.
We kicked off last Monday with a welcoming dinner, drumbeats, and the kind of energy that comes from 12 countries including : Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, Ethiopia, Botswana, Cameroon, Uganda, and South Africa.

Fellows also received a warm welcome at CERI and Stellenbosch University leadership, including Prof. Sibusiso Moyo, Prof Kanshukan Rajaratnam, Prof Tulio de Oliveira, Dr Richard Gordon, and Prof Lenine Liebenberg, each reminding them that the work ahead is bigger than any one of them but together we can do better and advance public health in Africa.

Once again, congratulations to these fellows; we can’t wait to see what they will achieve as they advance Africa. This fellowship is made possible in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation and in collaboration with Center for Africa’s Resilience to Epidemics (CARE), Institut Pasteur de Dakar.

06/07/2026

South African biotech compan building affordable, locally made recombinant enzymes for mRNA vaccines and diagnostics, positioned as a driver of African biotech innovation.  They focus on a heterologous protein production platform supplying local and international markets with proteins of interest,  with a broader mission of building Africa’s biotech independence through local, cost-effective production of high-value enzymes.

co-Founded by by and Anton Du Preez van Staden

01/07/2026

Genomic surveillance isn’t just for pandemics. It’s how we build the evidence base to fight diseases that carry a heavy burden across Africa and globally.

Yesterday , Derek Tshiabuila defended his PhD at , researching viral recombination and genomic surveillance in hepatitis B and C, linking clinical sequencing to global epidemiology.

Supervised by Prof. Tulio de Oliveira, co-supervised by Prof. Darren P. Martin and Dr San E. James.

Congratulations, Dr. Tshiabuila, we are so proud of you 👏🏽✨

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