Dr Leah Matsinha, a postdoctoral research fellow at UJ’s Department of Chemical Sciences, was UJ’s only recipient of a 2020 Future Leaders – African Independent Research (FLAIR) Fellowship, awarded by the African Academy of Sciences and Royal Society. She was selected from a competitive pool of more than 400 applicants and only 30 fellowships were awarded.

Dr Matsinha was selected based on her research being focused on the needs of the African continent. As part of the fellowship, she will receive up to £300 000 to conduct research over a two–year period. The FLAIR fellowships help early career researchers to develop independent research careers in African institutions and empower them to ultimately lead their own research groups. Read more on

In 2019, Dr Leah Matsinha’s Manuscript won the 2018 Arthur E. Martell Early Career Researcher Prize.