U21 Global Research and Senior Leaders’ Meeting 2025
5 - 7 November 2025
Universities as Global Anchors: Trust, Value, and Equitable Progress
The U21 Global Research and Senior Leaders’ Meeting 2025 will explore the crucial role of universities as global anchors in a rapidly evolving world. This three-fold theme is relevant across the U21 network. For some of our members, it addresses challenges faced in regaining social license, societal appreciation and rebuilding public trust. For others, it is an opportunity to share best practice and reflect on how we need to prepare for and adapt to the manifestly changing world of higher education, and the wider context within which universities are situated.
This gathering brings together members of the following U21 groups; Research Leaders, Deans and Directors of Graduate Studies (DDoGS), Research Collaboration Group (RCG), and Senior Leaders.
In an era marked by geopolitical fragmentation, misinformation, and growing societal scepticism toward institutions, we will explore our experience and capacity to demonstrate relevance and impact, and our ability to convey our mission, responsibilities, and the value of equitable and inclusive research, in today’s globally tense world.
The programme will feature keynote addresses, plenary panels, interactive parallel sessions, and U21 collaborative group meetings designed to foster connectivity across the network.
About the University of Johannesburg
Vibrant, multicultural and dynamic, the University of Johannesburg (UJ) shares the pace and energy of cosmopolitan Johannesburg, the city whose name it carries. UJ is proudly South African and pan-African and well-prepared for its role in actualising the potential that higher education holds for the continent’s development. UJ is an inclusive, transformational and collegial institution, with a student population of over 50 000, of which 4200 are international students from 90 countries. This makes UJ one of the largest contact universities in South Africa from the 26 public universities that make up the higher education system.
The vision of the UJ is to be “an international University of choice, anchored in Africa and the global south, dynamically shaping a sustainable future inspiring its community to transform and serve humanity through innovation and the collaborative pursuit of knowledge”. This mission is underpinned by four core values, namely: impact, innovation, inclusivity and integrity.
Recognised as the country’s second strongest brand, UJ offers world-class, internationally recognised academic programmes based on curricula informed by cutting-edge developments in both undergraduate and postgraduate education that are designed to prepare students for the world of work and for global citizenship. Our curriculum is increasingly reflective of previously marginalised scholarship that talks to a transformation and decolonisation agenda, with Africa and the global South at its core.
How to register:
Registration information has been sent to relevant member contacts. If you would like further information please contact [email protected]