SAYAS in 2026 is organised around three programme commitments: building excellent young scientists, shaping policy and partnerships, and translating science for society.
Programme architecture
The live site still carries older project buckets. The 2026 programme should instead be organised around the working groups from the current planning material, with public dates and evidence layered into each pillar.
Training, mentoring, conferences, commercialisation and career development for early-career researchers.
Policy skills, science diplomacy, science forums, global networks and partnerships that connect young scientists to decision-making.
Workshops, blogging, podcast pathways, outreach, National Science Month and science communication for public life.
Right now
As of 7 July 2026, the Programmes page should show July’s live context, archive completed May-June activities, and avoid pretending that unverified workshop dates are confirmed.
National Science Month runs from 1-31 July 2026. The SAYAS slide plan also points to an August Women in Science activity stream, which should be treated as pending final SAYAS confirmation.
Programme streams
Cards below separate confirmed public activities from planned working-group streams. This keeps the page current without turning provisional internal planning into public facts.
The strongest 2026 programme evidence sits here: AYSC, commercialisation, mentoring, and research-career development.
At Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha Campus, focused on sustainable water availability and safe sanitation systems for Agenda 2063.
A capacity-building stream that helps young researchers move from research insight to value creation and enterprise pathways.
Commercialisation, entrepreneurship, and youth economic participation are the consistent themes across planning and partner posts.
Ethics, the African context, internationalisation and AI entrepreneurship. The series opens with a webinar, How to deploy AI models you can trust, with Leen Remmelzwaal of FirstStep.ai, on Wednesday 30 September at 13:00 SAST.
Funding, scholarships, postdoctoral opportunities, grant writing, and collaboration pathways for early-career researchers.
A continuous mentorship stream that fits the membership and leadership-development logic of the academy.
This pillar should be explicit about policy, science diplomacy and partnerships, but only dated where evidence exists.
A regional young-academy collaboration with ASSAf, LAST, LesYAS, SAYAS and DSTI on sustainable development in Southern Africa.
The plan names timely evidence inputs and policy skills for young scientists as a core action area.
AMASA, innovation for future industries, and science communication with journalism appear as forum directions.
These appear in the ASSAf 2026/27 plan, but should only appear as SAYAS-facing public activities after SAYAS confirms ownership.
The public-facing stream should connect workshops, National Science Month, blogging, podcasting, outreach and researcher wellbeing.
A practical workshop for postgraduate students, postdoctoral researchers, early-career researchers and SAYAS members.
South Africa’s July 2026 public science month gives this page its current public-engagement context.
The plan keeps blogging, science communication and public-facing digital channels as continuous streams.
A quarterly stream focused on responsible scientific writing in an AI-shaped research environment.
A wellbeing-focused activity for early-career researchers, listed in the science communication working-group plan.
The Dr Moreosele High School activity is a useful outreach example, but the exact event date should be confirmed before publication.
The 2026 programme rail
Gold marks the live moment, green marks completed items, and neutral cards mark planned or upcoming work. The point is not to make everything look open; it is to make the programme trustworthy.
Scroll the rail to move through the programme year ->
Evidence status
This is the part that keeps the page up-to-date. Confirmed public sources go live; working-group plans become programme streams; unresolved items stay visibly marked for confirmation.
AYSC 2026, membership nomination archive, National Science Month, the May/June webinars, and the Science Communication Workshop are supported by public sources.
Research commercialisation, mentoring, blogging, AI in writing, and personal development streams can appear as programmes without fake session dates.
Youth Indaba final details, AI Workshop Series dates, Women in Science activation, and some ASSAf APP items need SAYAS confirmation first.
Next page decision
Once this structure is approved, the Opportunities page can pull from it without duplicating old calls or inventing open deadlines.
