Southern Africa is not only the cradle of humankind, but offers some of the world’s greatest geological, biological, climatic and oceanographic diversity.

ACCESS is a community of scientists and students working in a range of related science fields in our globally recognized natural laboratory. The focus is on the study of earth systems and their dynamics in an era of rapid change, major environmental challenges and opportunities.

ACCESS is a multidisciplinary programme– a partnership among southern African universities and research agencies. As an NRF Centre of Excellence, ACCESS aims to deliver a new scale of intervention in earth systems science within the scope of the Dept of Science and Technology’s Global Change Grand Challenge.

ACCESS supports a new generation of scientists to deliver outcomes of global significance and derive skills that contribute towards a knowledge economy. Access offers sub-programmes in:

• Earth Systems Modelling & Biochemical Cycles
• Seasonal/Inter-annual Climate Predictability
• Water Resources Dynamics
• Urban & Rural Land Cover & Use
• Ecosystem Services & Livelihoods
• Long-term Climate & Impacts
• Marine & Coastal, Estuarine Systems.

ACCESS facilitates education to:

• Students, from school to post-doctoral level
• Expand research capacity and supervision
• Increase graduation levels in global change study fields
• Strengthen global change knowledge, capacity and learning.

In addition to bursaries and scholarships offered to support earth systems science students, ACCESS facilitates the holistic development of students’ and young professionals’ research by working across institutions with a range of innovative activities designed to build an integrated earth systems science community. ACCESS has also developed relationships within the southern African region, as well as the rest of the African continent.

Through its partnerships, ACCESS can conduct research and create services that:

• Will deliver a platform of unprecedented scale for scientists and students to produce work of global significance
• Are applicable to agencies of government and civil society
• Will contribute to the sustainable development of southern Africa.

ACCESS’ approach to the above-mentioned portfolios is based on transformation by:

• Developing and expanding scientific fields in southern Africa
• Addressing the challenges and opportunities posed by global change environmental drivers
• Contributing to the transformation of southern Africa to a knowledge based economy
• Reaching and supporting a broader pool of undergraduates and researchers
• Actively engaging partners at historically disadvantaged institutions, augmenting existing or introducing new programmes and academic partnerships.

• Developing, expanding and transforming earth systems science in southern Africa and producing globally significant scientific outcomes
• Addressing the challenges and opportunities posed by global change environmental drivers
• Producing outputs that contribute to the goal of transforming southern Africa toward a more knowledge-based economy
• Changing the scale and scope of earth systems science in the region and doubling the current number of earth systems science graduates
• Inspiring a new generation of emerging African researchers; and Integrating southern Africa’s approach to the Global Change Grand Challenge.