2022-till present: Origins: Investigation on the First Indigenous Peoples Built Environment and Dwellings in the Eastern Cape 
 
Principal Investigator: Dr. Magda Minguzzi.  
 
Co-researchers: Gaos Margaret Coetzee, Inqua (team leader); with Gaob Thomas Augustus, Gamtobaqua Ghonaqua; Daantjie Japhta, Inqua Camdeboo; Gaob Brato Malgras, Inqua; Chief Xam ≠ Gaob Maleiba, Damasonqua; Paramount Chief Gert Cornelius Steenkamp, Oeswana; Chief Wallace Williams, Oeswana; Gaos Anne William, Gamtouers/Gamktwa tribe (Thornhill/Loerie area). 
 
Collaborators: Nelson Mandela University Staff members: Arch. Lucy Vosloo, Arch Hansie Vosloo, Dr Yolanda Navarro (Post Doc Fellow). 
 
Students of my course of History 3. 
 
With this community engagement project our working group (First Indigenous Peoples-Nelson Mandela University) would like to document, study, and move awareness on the First Indigenous Peoples of South Africa tangible and intangible heritage related to settlements and dwellings (self-built with local materials) located in a remote area of the Eastern Cape, and never studied before.  
 
Those contemporary vernacular dwellings represent a unique case in the country where it seems clear that the Indigenous building knowledge, typology, technique and materials (Indigenous Knowledge System) have been handed down from generation to generation, from pre-colonial times till the present, orally. 
 
Funds: Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, ENGAGEMENT ADVANCEMENT FUND (EAF) and VAG-Vernacular Architecture Group (UK) 
 
Research outputs produced:  
 
Documentary:  
 
2022-2023. A 35 min documentary entitled "Indigenous Architecture of Baviaanskloof" (NMU-VAG). The documentary contains also a practical demonstration of how to build a dwelling with the indigenous technique. It was realized in coordination with Gaos/Chief Margaret Coetzee, Inqua People (team leader of the Khoekhoena), and is one of the milestones of our current research. 
 
Documentary trailer: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_li6bb_qNLyElnwpoqobqcuxbTM8cQMg  
 
Peer review conference proceeding: 
 
2022. Minguzzi M., Navarro Y., Vosloo L.; (2021), “Traditional dwelling and techniques of the First Indigenous Peoples of South Africa in the Eastern Cape”; conference proceeding, “HERITAGE2022. International conference on Vernacular Heritage: Culture, People and sustainability”, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Spain).  http://ocs.editorial.upv.es/index.php/HERITAGE/HERITAGE2022/paper/viewFile/15942/7148 
 
Conference: 
 
2022. Invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Italy as Keynote speaker at the Italian Design Day 2022, for the Italian Embassy in Zambia. Title of the conference “Indigenous Knowledge System (Iks): The Lesson from the First Indigenous Peoples for a sustainable built environment”. 23 March. 
 
2022. SBE2022 (Sustainable Built environments) 28-29-30 March 2022, South Africa (https://sustainablebuiltenvironments.co.za). Title of the conference “South African built environment and Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS): the lesson from the First Indigenous Peoples” with L. Vosloo, Dr Y. Navarro. 
 
2022. International Conference on Vernacular Heritage: Culture, People and Sustainability, 15-17 of September 2022, Valencia - SPAIN15 "https: //heritage2022.blogs.upv.es/. title “Traditional dwelling and techniques of the First Indigenous Peoples of South Africa in the Eastern Cape”, with L. Vosloo, Dr Y. Navarro. (NRF-KIC funds for presenting) 
 
Conference organized: 
 
2022. “Vernacular architecture and Indigenous Knowledge System of the built environment: case studies and lessons for a regenerative future”, 1 and 2 September, Nelson Mandela University School of Architecture. (category 1-CPD points)