Research

Original research. Honest inquiry. Real impact.

Our work spans six interconnected domains — AI, health, governance, African finance, climate, and geopolitics. Every output is grounded in primary analysis, built for decision-makers, and designed to reach beyond academia.

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Publications

The SAFE Labs library

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Research Agenda

What we're working on

Six interconnected research tracks, each backed by original data collection and primary analysis.

R-01
Generative AI & Synthetic Data Policy

Regulatory landscape, risk frameworks, and institutional readiness for synthetic data adoption in financial services, healthcare, and public administration across Africa and MENA.

R-02
Digital Asset Regulation in Emerging Markets

Comparative analysis of tokenisation frameworks, crypto policy, and CBDC development across Africa, the UAE, and Southeast Asia — with IFRS-aligned valuation modelling.

R-03
Climate Risk & ESG in African Finance

Quantitative scenario modelling of climate transition risks on African sovereign debt, banking systems, and infrastructure portfolios. Methodology aligned with TCFD and NGFS frameworks.

R-04
Supply Chain Intelligence & Trade Finance

Data-driven research on blockchain-enabled traceability, import/export financing structures, and the economic impact of logistics digitalisation across FMCG and agricultural corridors in the MENA region.

R-05
Health Systems & Humanitarian Access in Sub-Saharan Africa

Mapping structural gaps in primary healthcare delivery, funding flows, and crisis response capacity across 12 African nations. With a focus on the intersection of governance failure and health system fragility.

R-06
Governance Failure & Institutional Resource Curse

Investigating how developed state infrastructure becomes a vehicle for elite capture rather than public good — with South Africa as the primary case study and cross-country comparative analysis.

Commission research or partner
Reading List

External papers we're engaging with

A curated selection of external work informing our current research agenda. Updated periodically.

Hassan, Mlambo & Mongwe · Risks 2026, 14(5), 100

Peer-reviewed. Introduces NF-GARCH — a modular framework replacing parametric GARCH innovations with normalising flows, achieving statistically significant forecast improvements on 13 daily FX and equity series. DOI: 10.3390/risks14050100

Acemoglu & Robinson, 2012

The foundational text on inclusive versus extractive institutions — directly applicable to state capture analysis in South Africa and across the continent.

Zondo Commission, 2022

The primary evidentiary basis for R-06. Six volumes of documented findings on the mechanisms of executive and SOE capture in South Africa, 2010–2018.

Bengio et al. · Science 2024

Sets the frontier for our AI governance research agenda — examining catastrophic risk frameworks, regulatory gaps, and the case for international coordination at the frontier model level.

African Development Bank, 2024

Key macroeconomic baseline for our African Finance and Climate research — financing gaps, sovereign debt trajectories, and green transition readiness across 54 African economies.

WHO, 2023

Benchmark framework for our R-05 health systems research — measuring progress, financing shortfalls, and structural gaps in health access across low- and middle-income African states.

IPCC, 2023

The definitive scientific baseline for our climate research domain — adaptation finance gaps, regional risk concentrations, and the emissions trajectories relevant to Sub-Saharan Africa.