This special issue of the International Journal of Climatology mainly arose from a Young African Scientist's Day that was organised by the CLIVAR Variability in the African Climate System (VACS) panel as part of the 28 th session of the Joint Scientific Committee of the World Climate Research Programme held during 26-30 March 2007 in Zanzibar, East Africa. The JSC meeting was hosted by the Tanzania Meteorological Agency. The purpose of this event was to showcase research done by young African scientists to the JSC and to enable these early career researchers to network with senior international scientists. Due to limited resources, researchers from mainly southern and eastern African institutions were able to attend and only some of the presentations were able to be written up for publication.
The papers included in this issue range from analyses of precipitation variability over specific regions of Africa, to circulation models applied to regional problems, to applications of climate information to African health issues, and provide a small sample of the breadth of climate research currently being carried out throughout the continent.