Wits’ 2024 in one successful nutshell
The university shares on what all it achieved in the past year as they look towards an even better one ahead.

A look back at Wits University in 2024 shows that in just 12 months, so much can be achieved if you have people who have one desired objective – to be the best, give their best and achieve something great together.
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Here is what the university accomplished in 2024:
Research that matters
Wits academics continued to conduct pioneering and innovative high-quality research and have it published in leading journals, particularly around the Sustainable Development Goals. Some of the research that attracted substantial attention included a search for a meteorite, the reimagining of a TB vaccine, and an affordable AI device to monitor air pollution hotspots in real time, among others. The Wits Rhisotope Project entered a new testing phase with the insertion of radioisotopes into 20 rhinoceroses to combat poaching.
A robot, a human and an animal walk into a hub…
The newly launched Machine Intelligence and Neural Discovery (MIND) Institute is a space where great minds will unleash the power of natural and artificial intelligence to build ethical, safe and inclusive AI in Africa, for the world.

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From idea to innovate to impact
In its second year of existence, the Wits Innovation Centre has grown from strength to strength, securing 13 patents for, among others, breakthroughs in neural tissue regeneration, solar energy optimisation, and treatments for cancer and ageing. Homegrown PecoPower, a trailblazer in sustainable energy solutions, delivered the first PowerBrick(s) to the Nomzamo Agricultural Village in Mpumalanga as it launched its new Rent-to-Own Electricity and Champion Model. Several innovation and entrepreneurship hubs launched this year, including the WBS’s Centre for Entrepreneurship, Wits Entrepreneurship Clinic, the Fintech Hub, and the E-Hub – the Student Entrepreneurship Hub.
More than a building, so much more…
Opening to the public this February 2025 is the new Wits Anglo American Digital Dome, a world-class multidisciplinary facility of infinite possibilities that will forever change how South Africans teach, research, and engage with science, technology, business, sport, the humanities and the arts.
At the centre of success is their people
Political theorist Professor Achille Mbembe was named the 2024 Holberg Prize Laureate. Their researchers won in six out of 15 categories at the NSTF-South 32 Research Awards. Several Witsies were honoured by the South African Medical Research Council, the South African Royal Society, the South African Chemical Institute, ASSAf, the NRF, the Geological Society of South Africa, and the 2024 NIHSS Awards, among others.
The university also celebrated Harry Saner, a Wits student who represented South Africa in fencing at the Olympics, and the Wits Rugby team who clinched the 2024 Castle Lager Pirates Grand Challenge title. Wits students excelled in the inaugural Innovathon Challenge with the EcoCane Innovation winning R200 000 in seed money to advance their eco-friendly bioplastic solution.
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