The University of Namibia (UNAM) has received research grants to enhance research on food and water security, health, and climate change adaptation from the National Commission on Research, Science, and Technology (NCRST).

The grant is for research projects including climate-smart agricultural technologies, energy security, waste management, AI-based medical imaging, and remote agricultural monitoring to improve food security.

The research fields identified are to address key challenges facing Namibia, such as promoting sustainable agriculture through biofertilizers, improving waste management, and ensuring energy security.

Additionally, AI-based segmentation will enhance the accuracy of medical imaging, while remote agricultural monitoring will support food security efforts.

UNAM Vice-Chancellor Kenneth Matengu stated that these projects align with the university's long-term vision and address critical national challenges.

"The theme for this year is Driving Impactful Transformation. And as you can see from these projects, each of them is driving a specific interest, a specific interest, a specific sector, and all of them have a potential for great impact and for spin-offs. And secondly, they also speak to an engaged university, where we are very considerate about the importance of relevance and responsiveness for the challenges that we face. And as we can see, each of these grants is responding to a specific challenge in a relevant way. And how we are going to do that is to make sure that the industry and the communities are part of the discussions and are part of the people that we engage to collect data from and also feedback. But not just for its own sake, but in a way that is empowering, in a way that transforms the philosophies of how these communities think, how they conceptualise development, and what is their part in development."

The Chief Executive Officer of NCRST, Anicia Peters, emphasised that the funding was made possible through collaboration with various stakeholders.

"We had a very steep decline in government funding for research, going from 46% in 2013–2014 to a mere 3.3%. That's extremely low. But despite this, because of the international funding sources, Namibia had achieved a 0.73% R&D expenditure as part of our GDP."

The five research projects will be funded to the tune of N$4.5 million.