Evaluating impact: symposium on the use of race in health sciences report now available
The Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) at the University of Cape Town (UCT) hosted a first-of-its-kind symposium on the use of race in health sciences on the 16th of February 2026. The purpose of this symposium was to foster dialogue and shared learning on the role of racial language in shaping health sciences education, research, and practice. The focus question for the day was “What are academic disciplines teaching about race, and do research practices in South Africa support the problematic use of racial and other human categorisations in science?”
The symposium was well attended, with over 105 participants, comprising students, academics, department heads, researchers, healthcare workers, and civil society from in and around Cape Town. The symposium provided a platform for both academic interrogation and personal reflection on race and racial experiences, particularly in the context of South Africa’s troubled past and the structural, political and material consequences of apartheid racial classifications.