This project aims to create a comprehensive digital imaging database in which the scanned skeletal material of South African individuals will be curated. The server for the database of non-living individuals will be stored at the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa), while for living individuals in the respective hospital archival systems. Standard operating procedures and quality assurance guidelines will be created in order to manage access and ethical use of the digital database. The applicable data will be uploaded online for dissemination not only to partner Universities but also other national and international research groups following adequate ethical approval of research and author permission. Mobilities between South Africa and Europe and interdisciplinary research are envisaged to enhance research expertise and improve outcomes as well as expand material for more representative research findings.A digital collection of images is vital for improving education and expanding research in skeletal anatomy and human variation. The research will aid in medico-legal investigations for deceased individuals and medical research, either by creating new methodologies, or validating those already in use. Research will also be done by postgraduate students, and thereby increase the capacity of universities to train professionals. In some cases, scans will be used in undergraduate teaching, in order to create learning environments that are true to real life scenarios. The availability of skeletal collections of modern individuals, representative of the heterogeneous South African population, along with the advanced technology to create and curate 3D digital scans on skeletal material as well as on living persons, puts South Africa in the ideal position to successfully implement this project. The resulting database will be beneficial to training and research in higher education in South Africa and will establish partnerships with European countries.

South Africa and Namibia need to transform their approach to education in the health sciences within HEIs for staff and students, so as to improve graduate employability and to improve healthcare in southern Africa. With high unemployment rates in both countries, constraints on national funding and visibly poor performance of first year students at HEIs, a need exists for us to collaborate to ensure transformation in our education practice that is both aligned with our strategic goals and is sustainable. The Dirisana + project aims to provide culturally-responsive quality health and science education based on evidence and directed at enabling students to address the health needs of the individual, the family, the community and the population, despite resource constraints in our environment. The project focuses on developing our staff through training programmes and studies; to align our education strategies around issues affecting student pass rates, and work readiness in the health care sector (clinical relevance); to use teaching methods that will be conducive of quality education in a resource constraint environment; to acknowledge and support student’s needs; to collaborate with teaching and learning practices; and to provide constructive advice for alignment of the curriculum with the real world of work in southern Africa.