Faatimah Mansoor.
Masters degree: Grace Ngubeni
Grace Ngubeni is currently working towards an MSc in physical chemistry at Rhodes University. Her research is on the synthesis and characterisation of novel binuclear metallophthalocyanine molecules for electrocatalysis. These compounds will be used to fabricate an electrochemical sensor for the detection of chlorophenols (pollutants) and tests will be done to see if the compounds can be used as photosensitisers in organic photovoltaic cells.
Ngubeni and her colleagues hope that this research will help to eliminate toxins in industry and agriculture and contribute to producing energy in a manner less harmful to the environment. Ngubeni’s research has already been presented at the National Convention of the South African Chemical Institute at Walter Sisulu University in 2013 and the Eighth International Conference on Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines held in Istanbul, Turkey, from June 22 to 27 2014.
In 2010, Ngubeni received a Golden Key International Honour Society award. In 2011, she received a Trojan Academic Initiative award for her work as student mentor in the science faculty.
In 2013, Ngubeni received funding for her honours degree studies from the National Research Foundation and the Professional Provident Society.
Faatimah Mansoor
Faatimah Mansoor is currently doing a master’s degree in Plant Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand. Her research is on the in vitro propagation and storage of avocado (Persea americana) genetic material.
The most common ex situ method of conserving plant species is through seed storage in seed banks.
Avocado is a sub-tropical fruit species, producing short-lived (“recalcitrant”) seeds that are sensitive to both cold and drying, and therefore cannot be stored in conventional seed banks. Alternative methods therefore need to be considered for the long-term conservation of avocado, to ensure that humans can still obtain benefit from this species in the future.
Mansoor’s project is focused on developing a protocol for the long-term storage of in vitro avocado genetic material through the process of cryopreservation (the storage of biological materials at sub-zero temperatures).
Mansoor received the Rebecca Lurie Brown Award in 2012 and 2013, the Isaac Greenberg Award in 2012, the Wits Postgraduate Merit Award in 2013 and 2014, and a National Research Foundation Scarce Skills Master’s Scholarship (2014).
Mansoor has been a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society since 2014.
Anna Hlabe
Anna Hlabe is currently doing a master’s degree in the School of Social Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Her research work interrogates community perceptions, especially among women, towards the use of traditional and conventional medicine in Coligny, North West.
The Coligny community is a predominantly rural community, which, owing to limited modern health and medical care services, is heavily dependent on traditional medicine and healing systems.
The strengths and limitations of traditional medical and health care systems need to be empirically investigated to inform policy and be improved through interface with other health and medical care systems.
Maletsabisa Tšabi Molapo
Maletsabisa Molapo is a PhD candidate at the University of Cape Town. Her research is on information and communication technology (ICT) for development. In 2011, Molapo was awarded the Mandela Rhodes scholarship to read for a master’s degree in Computer Science, which she obtained with distinction in 2013.
During her master’s studies, she received the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship in recognition of her demonstrated leadership, academic excellence, and passion for Computer Science. Molapo is passionate about exploring the ways in which ICT can be used to empower communities, especially women and young people. She was one of the founders of the Her Chance to Be Foundation, a non-profit organisation that is committed to improving the lives of women and girls in Lesotho, focusing on education, health, livelihood and access to technology.
Molapo also co-founded Women in Technology Lesotho, a community of women in computing in Lesotho. Molapo’s commitment to improving the lives of women and girls has been recognised in her receipt of a Moremi Initiative for Women’s Leadership in Africa Fellowship, a Margaret McNamara Memorial Fund Grant, and a Vital Voices Fellowship.
Doctoral degree: Beverly Mmakatane Mampholo
Beverly Mampholo is currently registered for a DTech in Agriculture at Tshwane University of Technology, researching the effect of nitrogen application on the postharvest quality of fresh-cut lettuce. Lettuce is well known for accumulating nitrate in high quantities, which poses a threat to human health. Mampholo is looking into the effect of nitrogen fertilisation on food safety and nutritional and overall quality linked to browning-related enzymes in selected fresh-cut lettuce cultivars during postharvest storage.
Furthermore, minimising postharvest losses in perishable products such as lettuce is an important part of the sustainable agricultural development efforts to increase food availability. Mampholo has been trained in the aroma profiling of volatile compounds from fresh produce using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. In 2012, Mampholo was selected as a leader for the postgraduate research programme and appointed as the laboratory manager to train new postgraduate students on good laboratory practices and safety matters.
Mampholo has published two peer-reviewed articles, in Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture and Journal of Food Quality. She has presented her work at two international conferences.
Fortunate Nonhlanhla Yende-Zuma
Nonhlanhla Yende-Zuma is currently doing a PhD in biostatistics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Her research focuses on the statistical methods of estimating the causal effect of treatment in randomised controlled trials using an instrumental variable.
This topic is among the prime research areas of current interest in biostatistics, because it draws conclusions about the causal effect of TB and HIV treatment as opposed to inference about association.
Tuberculosis is the most common opportunistic disease and the most common cause of death in patients with HIV infection in developing countries. The aim of Yende-Zuma’s research is to determine the effect of integrated TB treatment and antiretrovirals on patients co-infected with TB and HIV using causal inference methodology for survival analysis.
Yende-Zuma also provides assistance and statistical guidance to numerous doctoral and postdoctoral fellows at the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) who are working on studies involving HIV and TB. She was also one of the team members for the CAPRISA 004 tenofovir gel trial and performed statistical analysis to help fellow researchers to publish their findings. Yende-Zuma has been a member of the South African Statistical Association since 2013.