AVReQ has established a new collaboration with the University of Fort Hare’s Goven Mbeki Research and Development Centre on their staff exchange programme for early career academics. The initiative is a research capacity development programme to support academic staff who are pursuing post-graduate studies across the university’s faculties. Professor Mzikazi Nduna, who recently joined Fort Hare as the dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, has identified Stellenbosch University and AVReQ as one of the sites for collaboration on this programme. She explained that through this programme for early career academics, Fort Hare will provide support for their young academic staff engaged in Masters’ and doctoral studies to visit a university of their choice for a mentorship and networking experience. AVReQ has a long-standing relationship with Professor Nduna, who has mentored our own post-graduate students in the past. We are pleased to announce the inauguration of this collaboration with the visit by Meyisi Hlabahlaba as our first Masters Fellow on this important programme. Mentorship, education and training of senior students is one of AVReQ’s central goals. We look forward to this inter-institutional collaboration with the University of Fort Hare and exploring with Professor Nduna how best to support the next generation of researchers.