Dr Amelia Marutle is the Country Manager for the United Kingdom (UK)-South Africa Newton Fund and she is based at the British High Commission in Pretoria. Launched in September 2014, the UK-South Africa Newton Fund supports research and innovation partnerships between the UK and South Africa, to support economic development and social welfare, and to develop research and innovation capacity for long-term sustainable growth. The partnership has focused on building and strengthening research and capacity building collaborations on shared science and innovation priority areas in health research on non-communicable diseases, TB control, anti-microbial resistance, HIV and mental health; transformation in higher education; urban transformations; radioastronomy, big data sciences, renewable energy; food security; 4IR; weather & climate impact based forecasting, climate services and entrepreneurship.

Dr Marutle has had the privilege to study and work in several countries. She has a PhD from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and worked there for several years as a senior researcher in the field of Neuroscience and Regenerative medicine. In view of her passion for global health and socio-economic development on the African continent, she embarked on a career change pursuing postgraduate studies in Public Health and Health Economics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (UK) and International Business Economics & Management at KU Leuven (Belgium).