The Centre for Advanced Training and Innovative Research (CATIR) — a joint initiative between United States-based biotechnology company Thermo Fisher Scientific, the South African Medical Research Council and the department of science, innovation and technology was unveiled on 16 July. (@ma_mohapeloa/X)
A-first-of-its-kind medical and science research facility has opened in Pretoria to equip students from poor communities with real-world practical laboratory training.
The Centre for Advanced Training and Innovative Research (CATIR) — a joint initiative between United States-based biotechnology company Thermo Fisher Scientific, the South African Medical Research Council and the department of science, innovation and technology — aims to close the science-skills gap in South Africa.
It plans to fund and train an initial cohort of 20 students by the end of 2025, with ambitions to scale up to 160 students annually.
These students have been recruited from the University of Venda, the University of Limpopo and Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, all of which focus on providing education for underserved communities. They will undergo five weeks of training at the facility to apply academic theory into practical assessments. The hands-on approach is a mechanism to help them gain specialised skills for real-world scenarios.
“Hand-on experience was the key principle that drove curriculum development, ensuring that every student that departs the CATIR facility is proficient in relevant technologies and skills that are high in demand across research, clinical and biotech industries, not just theoretical understanding,” the council’s spokesperson Tendani Tsedu said.
“In doing so, we hope that they will go on to contribute to science locally and abroad.”
The unemployment rate across most tertiary study fields has steadily increased from 2015 to 2023, with graduates in administration, arts and social sciences, agriculture and science struggling to find jobs, according to a 2024 study by Labour Market Intelligence on graduate unemployment in South Africa.
A separate study by the South African Journal of Human Resource Management in 2024 showed that in the science field there is a “potential gap between conventional academic education and the practical skills often required in professional environments”.
It recommended educational institutions and science councils should act as hubs or incubators to address these problems.
“By designing relevant curricula and creating job opportunities (such as internships), they can ensure graduates are more valuable to the labour market. Securing employment for South African unemployed graduates is challenging because of a lack of relevant work experience, limited information on effective job searches and low social capital.”
The facility will train graduates in advanced molecular science and laboratory management using advanced technology and instruments provided by Thermo Fisher, which also has a long-standing presence in South Africa.
“We want to equip them with the core skills in working in a laboratory, because working in a laboratory is not only operating the instrumentation, but understanding the processes in the lab, understanding how to manage a team, how to influence a team, how to manage finances [and] how to develop the laboratory to the next level,” said Marcin Kouri, Thermo Fisher’s senior director for Africa and the Middle East.
The focus on molecular science was also driven by the need to localise scientific and medical research, support future pandemic preparedness and build health system resilience.
“After Covid-19, we have learned a lot about the self-sustainability and sustainability of the African continent with vaccine manufacturing and pharmaceuticals, and we see many countries endeavouring to localise manufacturing in the different areas of the continent. South Africa is one of them,” Kouri said.
“We believe that the graduates will be a good talent to have in those new vaccine manufacturing sites or pharmaceutical-established new manufacturing entities.”
He added that molecular science is a gateway into many other disciplines — research and development, healthcare, vaccine development, pharmacy or vaccine and pharmaceutical trials — so students have an opportunity to transfer their skills and pioneer new scientific innovations and solutions that are tailored for South Africa’s needs.
“The world is about entrepreneurship. Innovation is about putting ideas into execution and practice,” said Kouri.
“Imagine you are a student with an idea, but you have no way to access those instruments or facilities to try. Hopefully this centre will give that opportunity for innovators as well to come and join their ideas and potentially innovate in the country.”
Tsedu said students who are trained in DNA sequencing technologies can apply those skills in forensic analysis, oncology testing, agriculture, wastewater monitoring and pandemic surveillance.
The joint initiative partners hope to replicate this concept in other parts of Africa.