From 7 to 9 October 2026, Prof. Cobus Visagie attended the 15th Oppenheimer Research Conference (ORC) at the Randjesfontein Cricket Ground in Midrand. Hosted by Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation (OGRC), the conference showcases African-led research in the environmental and natural sciences, and this year’s theme was Connecting People, Places and Planet. Prof Visagie presented a talk titled “MUFASA: Mapping Unseen Fungi Across South Africa”, the project funded by the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust’s 2026 New Frontiers Research Award. Using Penicillium as a case study, he showed how a modern taxonomic framework, curated DNA reference databases and genome resources provide the foundation for species-level ecological studies and discussed the promise and limitations of metabarcoding. MUFASA is a five-year, R7.5-million programme that will sample soils systematically across South Africa’s national and provincial parks, covering all nine biomes, and combine culture-based methods with metabarcoding. The end goal is a lasting national resource: expanded culture collections, DNA reference sequences, whole genomes and ecological datasets that together give the first coherent picture of South Africa’s fungal diversity and make future discovery faster, with potential benefits for agriculture, health and the bioeconomy. The project also has a strong public engagement component, with school visits in which learners collect soil samples from their own neighbourhoods. Prof. Visagie thanks the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust and the organisers for the opportunity to share MUFASA with such a diverse audience.