CAPRISA (http://www.caprisa.org/Default) was created in 2001 and formally established in 2002 under the NIH-funded Comprehensive International Program of Research on AIDS (CIPRA) by five partner institutions: UKZN, the University of Cape Town, the University of the Western Cape, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases and Columbia University in New York. CAPRISA is a designated UNAIDS Collaborating Centre for HIV Research and Policy. The main goal of CAPRISA is to undertake globally relevant and locally responsive research that contributes to understanding HIV pathogenesis, prevention and epidemiology and the links between tuberculosis and AIDS care. CAPRISA has produced 709 scientific papers to date, appearing in leading journals such as JAMA, New England Journal of Medicine, Science, Nature and Lancet. The CAPRISA director, co-director and staff have received numerous prestigious international and national awards, the most recent being the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Institute of Human Virology. CAPRISA has developed a long-standing collaboration with SARETI since 2002, and generations of SARETI master’s students have visited CAPRISA research sites to see clinical trials in the field, in both urban and rural settings. The SARETI PI has co-published with several CAPRISA personnel, and CAPRISA co-hosted an NIH/SARETI symposium on the theme of pregnant adolescents’ participation in research – including Drs Christine Grady, Joseph Millum and Reidar Lie – in 2017. SARETI PhD fellows will visit CAPRISA early in their first days at UKZN to become more aware of real-world research ethics issues that arise in cutting-edge clinical trials in HIV and TB with vulnerable populations, including adolescents and children.

The UKZN HIV Pathogenesis Programme (HPP) is a research initiative established in 2002 in collaboration with Harvard Medical School. This collaborative programme was initially funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, but now attracts funding from other international and local funding agencies, including NIH. The HPP laboratory serves as both a facility for exploratory pathogenesis and translational research into HIV and TB, as well as a sample repository for all HPP study samples. The laboratory has capabilities to do diagnostics, polymerase chain reaction assays, processing of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), advanced flow cytometry, tissue culture, gene expression assays and recombinant DNA technology procedures. The laboratory has access to a Sanger sequencing facility. HPP has published over 250 papers to date, including papers in Lancet, Nature, Science, Immunity and PloS Medicine. SARETI PhD fellows will visit HPP early in their first days at UKZN to become more aware of real-world research ethics issues that arise in cutting-edge laboratory and field research in HIV and TB with vulnerable populations, including adolescents and children.

KRISP (http://www.krisp.org.za/index.php) collaborates with Stanford University and was established following an agreement between the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) and UKZN in South Africa. KRISP aims to produce and analyse genomics data at the speed and quality of leading global genomics centres. A critical function of KRISP is to enable and facilitate access to genomics, epigenetics and bioinformatics technology to a broader community of users who might not otherwise pursue these technologies or use alternative international resources. KRISP builds on UKZN strength in genomics, epidemiology and bioinformatics and uses existing facilities at the School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences in the College of Health Sciences to host it. KRISP has recently received much academic and general media attention, which has highlighted this as an important development in South Africa. KRISP findings have been published in Nature, Science, Lancet and other leading journals.

HAVEG (http://www.saavi.org.za/haveg/about.html) was established in 2000 and has collaborated with SARETI since 2002. HAVEG undertakes empirical and conceptual research into ethico-legal complexities in HIV vaccine trials in South Africa, and develops resources for stakeholders. HAVEG works with a range of role players to facilitate the ethical conduct of HIV vaccine trials in our setting. HAVEG has focused on key issues such as informed consent, ancillary care and standards of prevention, adolescent participation and other issues (e.g., compensation for research-related injury, payment for trial participation and stakeholder engagement), and has coordinated the development of ethical guidelines for HIV vaccine trials in South Africa, for the SAMRC. SARETI faculty members Drs Slack, Lindegger, Strode and Wassenaar are all key members of the HAVEG team. HAVEG was, until 2019, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative (CHVI) (THA-118570) to explore representations of key consent concepts and interpersonal strategies to build comprehension and trust of the informed consent process in HIV vaccine trials. HAVEG has received the NIH sub-award CHAMPS (Choices for Adolescent Methods of Prevention in South Africa) to explore and strengthen the ethical-legal framework for adolescent participation in trials of HIV prevention products. Past funders include Wellcome, EDCTP, PATH and SAAVI. HAVEG staff have supervised three SARETI fellows to graduation to date. HAVEG has published over 60 research ethics papers, including in Lancet, American Journal of Bioethics, Bioethics, JAIDS, Social Science and Medicine and Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics.

FAMCRU (https://actgnetwork.org/site/family-clinical-research-unit-fam-cru-crs) is an AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) site, established in 1987 to broaden the scope of the AIDS research effort of the National Institute of NIAID. The ACTG established and supports the largest network of expert clinical and translational investigators and therapeutic clinical trial units in the world, including sites in resource-limited countries. These investigators and units serve as a major resource for HIV/AIDS research, treatment, care and training/education in their communities. The work of the ACTG has had a profound impact on the well-being of persons infected with HIV-1. Clinical trials and laboratory studies conducted by ACTG have made major contributions to optimising antiretroviral therapy (ART), managing drug resistance, preventing and treating co-infections, evaluating acute and long-term toxicities, and demonstrating the importance of pharmacogenomics in predicting drug toxicities. These studies have helped establish the paradigm for the management of HIV disease and form the basis of current treatment guidelines. This progress in the treatment of HIV-1-infected individuals has resulted in dramatic reductions in AIDS mortality in the US and other countries of the developed world. The mission of ACTG is to cure HIV infection and reduce the burden of disease due to HIV infection and its complications, including tuberculosis and viral hepatitis.

The Desmond Tutu Tuberculosis Centre (http://www0.sun.ac.za/dttc/) was created in 2003 as the Centre for Tuberculosis Research and Education. In 2004, Nobel laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu (who suffered from tuberculosis as a child) became the patron; the centre was thus renamed the Desmond Tutu Tuberculosis Centre (DTTC). South Africa has the fourth highest TB rate in the world, while the Western Cape province has the highest number of new TB cases in the country. DTTC adopts an outward and holistic approach towards understanding and combating this TB pandemic. The goals of the centre are built on basic and applied research and the training of students and communities in all aspects of TB. The centre is an important asset for research and for interaction with communities. DTTC operates from the premise that grassroots research – which includes communities and investigations of the everyday problems experienced by sufferers of TB and HIV/AIDS – and reporting results to appropriate health services, are essential in linking research and public health practice. Our endeavours are proof that successful treatments in clinics, in health centres and even in people’s homes are interdependent with research. Central to the centre’s work is the feeding back of information into the communities where the research is conducted. DTTC has been funded by NIH and has published many papers, including in Lancet, Trials and PLOS One.

An award-winning multimedia company, Jive Media Africa (http://www.jivemedia.co.za/) produces media strategies and products that challenge and inform, with special expertise in science and technology, biodiversity conservation, health and human rights. Jive Media Africa has produced SARETI newsletters (2010–2019),  and NIH-funded UKZN DRILL media releases, and has trained NIH DRILL fellows in appropriate public communication skills and strategies. Jive has expertise in identifying and overcoming barriers posed by education, language, literacy and income. Jive specialises in multi-platform communication, using television, print, web, social media, mobile and other electronic communications. Jive Media Africa has won the National Science and Technology Forum Award in the category “Science Communicator for Public Awareness” for “contribution to the development of the discipline of science communication through innovative and exciting media”. Jive has delivered on a competitive award from Wellcome to promote public engagement with health science among deprived school children. Jive Media will involve SARETI students in producing an annual SARETI newsletter, and engage with SARETI PhD fellows to train them to practise and teach appropriate media engagement on scientific issues, especially on how to convey science and ethics issues to the lay public, which is an essential but neglected component of science leadership.