Image: Top National Science Week Debating teams visits CSIR

The NRF-SAASTA continues to inspire young minds to pursue careers in science, engineering and technology (SET) through its outreach initiatives. As part of this effort, NRF-SAASTA organised an educational visit on 03 October 2025 to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria for the top learners from the 2025 National Science Week (NSW) debate competition.

The debate competition, hosted by NRF-SAASTA on 26 July 2025, brought together 18 schools from across the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. After several rounds of engaging debates on science-related topics, Ekangala Engineering School of Specialisation and Pretoria Technical High School emerged as the top two teams. Each team comprised four learners who were rewarded with an exclusive visit to the CSIR, one of South Africa’s leading scientific research institutions.

The visit, coordinated by NRF-SAASTA, was designed to expose learners to cutting-edge scientific research environments and showcase career opportunities in the SET fields. Learners were welcomed by the CSIR Stakeholders and Partnerships team, and received a detailed overview of the organisation’s operations from the Technical Learning and Development team.

During the tour, the learners explored three key facilities: the Biomanufacturing Industry Development Centre, the Information and Cybersecurity Centre, and the Learning Factory. At the Biomanufacturing Centre, they learned about bio-farming and biocatalyst research that drives sustainable bioprocessing. At the Information and Cybersecurity Centre, learners discovered how the Virtual Security Operations Centre monitors and protects digital infrastructure. The tour concluded at the Learning Factory, where the integration of coding and robotics in modern production lines was demonstrated.

Through initiatives like the NSW debate and educational visits, NRF-SAASTA continues to bridge the gap between the classroom and the science industry, encouraging learners to see themselves as future innovators and researchers who can contribute to South Africa’s development through science and technology.