HERI makes it a priority to support South African women, especially black women, who want to pursue careers in human evolution and to grow a network of future leaders in the discipline.

Stop asking about the socio-economic benefits of science, says HERI’s Rivoningo Khosa. Instead, ask about the South African resources and role models contributing to the global knowledge pool.

HERI and Iziko Museums of South Africa are partners in advancing research capacity and nurturing a new future for African palaeoscientists working in African institutions.

HERI Co-director Prof Rebecca Ackermann, with colleagues from the University of Tübingen, analyzed how hybridization affected the skeleton to reveal human origins are more complex than previously thought.

HERI’s women’s field camps return over Women’s Day weekend 2022, aiming to give young South African women a safe, informative, and fun introduction to the field that supports their future careers in science.

UCT’s Professor Rebecca Ackermann and Dr Robyn Pickering will represent HERI leadership as it drives diversity, inclusivity, and excellence in palaeoscience.

Our latest #HERIspotlight shines on Georgina Luti. A doctoral student at UCT’s Department of Geological Sciences, she finds common ground for women in isotope geochemistry and research excellence at HERI.

Offering translations of research into six African languages, Decolonise Science aims to broaden the accessibility and impact of science, says Sibusiso Biyela.

New research of ostrich eggshell beads show social connections across eastern and southern African populations 50,000 years ago. HERI archaeologists Amy Hatton and Benjamin Collins reviewed these findings.

May Murungi is the focus of our latest #HERIspotlight. A HERI postdoc and Carnegie Foundation fellow, she studies Africa’s ancient plants to uncover how climate may have influenced evolution.

With his diverse research expertise, HERI’s Dr Yonatan Sahle is bringing a new, integrated approach to African archaeology at UCT that may help address some of the field’s major questions - and shift its problem with representation.

Isaiah Nengo was a visionary scientist from the Turkana Basin Institute (TBI) who advocated for diversity in human evolution studies. His passing follows that of TBI’s late founder, Richard Leakey, earlier this year.

Our latest #HERIspotlight shines on Stella Basinyi, a postdoctoral student and HERI Advancing Womxn fellow whose research examines the ownership of narratives in archaeology and heritage.

HERI’s Professor Rebecca Ackermann has been appointed to the editorial board of Philosophical Transactions. The world’s first and longest-running scientific journal, her position will help broaden the journal’s representation of academics based in the Global South.

University of Johannesburg geologist, Tebogo Makhubela, is the second author and only Black South African scientist on a paper suggesting recently discovered Homo naledi child skull fragments may have been deliberately deposited.

HERI’s #AdvancingWomxn PhD candidate Rivoningo Khosa joins Dr Dipuo Kgotleng, director of the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) Palaeo-Research Institute, share their unique and inspirational experiences as women in palaeoscience.

The seven seminar series includes a special Heritage Month event in partnership with the University of Johannesburg (UJ), held at 12pm on the first Tuesday of each month.

Linda Mbeki takes centre stage in our next #HERIspotlight. A chemist, historian and archaeologist, her postdoc research sheds light on lives lived during South Africa’s colonial period.

A nagging suspicion about the understudied interior of South Africa by HERI’s Dr Jayne Wilkins is now a Nature paper that flips the coastal narrative of human origins - and attempts to transform archaeology.

HERI's Dr Vuyiswa Lupuwana and Dr Yonatan Sahle join UCT’s Department of Archaeology to make it the first Faculty of Science department with a black staff majority. The researchers share what this means to them and more in this Q&A with Rebecca Ackermann.