Welcome to SASUF+ Beyond Borders Matchmaking Platform

We are pleased to welcome you to the SASUF+ Beyond Borders matchmaking platform, a space designed to connect researchers, academics, and innovators across South Africa, Sweden, and institutions in 19 other African countries (Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe). Read more about SASUF+ here: SASUF+ website

This platform serves as a dedicated environment for networking and collaboration, enabling you to identify and engage with potential counterparts who share your research interests and thematic focus areas.

Through this matchmaking space, you can build meaningful connections that may lead to joint research initiatives and long-term collaborative partnerships.

A key opportunity linked to this platform is the upcoming SASUF–NRF Seed Grants for Intra-African Collaboration (5 August – 3 November 2026). We strongly encourage you to make use of this platform to identify suitable collaborators and form competitive, interdisciplinary project teams in preparation for this call.

By engaging actively, you will not only connect with South African and Swedish counterparts, but also with researchers from 19 other African countries participating in the SASUF+ network. This creates a unique opportunity to foster trilateral and intra-African collaboration, expanding your academic network and strengthening research impact across regions.

Whether you are looking to initiate new collaborations, explore shared research interests, or prepare for upcoming funding opportunities, this platform is here to support you.

We encourage you to complete your profile, browse participants, and start connecting.

Join the network, find your collaborators, and shape the future of SASUF+ partnerships.

From Connection to Collaboration to Funding

The platform and matchmaking focuses on collaboration within SASUF’s four overarching research themes:

• Sustainable Health
• Green Transition
• Migration and Urbanisation
• Democracy, Social Justice, and Indigenous Knowledge Systems.

The initiative connects three elements:

Matchmaking platform (July–September): This structured online space where researchers present their expertise, identify potential counterparts, and start building collaborations.

Virtual matchmaking event (30 Sept – 1 Oct): A focused, interactive session where participants move from initial contact to concrete project ideas in small groups.

Seed funding call (5 August - 3 November): A clear next step, providing funding for collaborative projects developed through the platform and event.

Together, these form a pipeline: connection → collaboration → funding

Maximise Your Matchmaking Potential

To get the most out of this platform, we strongly encourage you to complete your profile as fully as possible. The quality of your matches depends directly on the information you provide.

Information sessions:

Information Sessions on the optimal use of this platform will be held on: 21 July, 11:30 - 12:30 (SAST), 28 July, 11:30 - 12:30, 31 August, 11:30 - 12:30 and 2 September, 11:30 - 12:30 

This platform uses AI-supported matchmaking tools to connect you with the most relevant partners.

By detailing your:

…the system can generate high-quality, tailored matches aligned with your expertise and collaboration goals.

A well-completed profile will:

Taking a few extra minutes to provide detailed and thoughtful information can significantly improve your ability to connect with the right collaborators — not only from South Africa and Sweden, but also from across the broader African partner network.

The more you share, the better your matches — and the stronger your potential collaborations.