University of Cape Town and CISPA Partner on Cybersecurity and AI Research

The University of Cape Town has entered a research partnership with the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security to advance cybersecurity and artificial intelligence research in Africa. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed on 18 September 2025 in Saarbrücken, Germany.

The agreement establishes a framework for joint research projects, student exchanges, and the co-development of secure and trustworthy AI technologies. It aims to strengthen academic collaboration between Africa and Europe while addressing the cybersecurity capacity gap in the region.

The partnership will enable cross-institutional exchanges between researchers and students, facilitate mutual visits, and support collaborative research in cybersecurity and AI. It also builds on CISPA’s earlier commitment to engage with African institutions through its signing of the Africa Charter.

The signing took place during a three-day Knowledge Exchange Workshop hosted at CISPA, supported by the European Union’s Horizon Europe SEADE Twinning Programme. The workshop brought together researchers from both institutions to discuss advances in cybersecurity, machine learning, and trustworthy AI. One of the first outcomes of the collaboration includes a co-supervised master’s thesis by a UCT student working with CISPA researchers.