Stellenbosch University Academics Conclude Women’s Month on a High Note
For two young scientists at Stellenbosch University (SU) August has been extra special when they found out that they had been nominated as finalists for the 2023 South African Women in Science Awards (SAWiSA).
In celebration of Women’s Month, the national Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) recently announced the finalists for SAWiSA, an annual countrywide celebration of women in science and technology. These two exceptional SU academics have been included in the list of 26 finalists.
Leanne Nortjé is a DeepMind scholar and a PhD student in electrical and electronic engineering. Her thesis investigates the usage of vision as a form of transcribing speech in a low-resource language. The inspiration behind her models is how efficiently children learn language from very few examples. If systems can learn as rapidly, it could benefit the development of less data-dependent systems.
Learning about her nomination was an exhilarating and humbling experience, Nortjé says.
“The news came as a delightful surprise which I immediately shared with my significant other, Pieter and my supervisor, Prof Herman Kamper. It’s a validation of the dedication I’ve poured into my research and a reminder of the impact women can make in science.
“I’m excited to continue pushing boundaries and inspiring others in this journey,” she says.
Nyeleti Precious Mabaso is a speech-language pathologist who is working towards her master’s at SU. Recently named one of the Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans, Mabaso has changed lives with her groundbreaking research and community involvement.
Her research is focused on the translation of the Multilingual Instrument of Narratives (an instrument for assessing narrative skills in children who acquire one or more languages from birth or from early age) to Tshivenḓa. The aim is to ensure that the instrument is linguistically and culturally equivalent to the original English version and fit for assessment within the Vhavenḓa nation.
Mabaso says she was completely overwhelmed when she received the email informing her of the SAWiSA nomination. “I called my mother to review the email with me.
“After it sunk in that it was real, I followed our Vhavenḓa royal protocol of informing a senior traditional leader (the paramount chief in the nation) first. Thus, I informed His Majesty, Thovhele Ratshibvumo II Rambuḓa of this great news, and he received it on behalf of the nation with great jubilation. Thereafter, I shared the news with my research project supervisors Prof Daleen Klop and Monique Visser. Overall, it still feels surreal.”
The DSI has been hosting SAWiSA since 2003 but the awards took a three-year break due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This year’s awards ceremony will take place at the Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani hotel in Durban from 8 to 9 September.
SAWiSA profiles female scientists and researchers who serve as role models for younger women and encourage and reward younger women who are starting their careers as researchers and scientists. SAWiSA also rewards registered master’s and PhD students.
This year, a category has been renamed to DSI-Ndoni Mcunu Fellowships to honour a brilliant scientist who tragically died last year.
Mcunu was one of South Africa’s leading young scientists in climate change, a social entrepreneur, and the founder of Black Women in Science (BWIS). BWIS has provided developmental training to over 400 postgraduate fellows in business, entrepreneurship and research skills, scientific writing, project leadership, science communication skills and research career preparation.
Mcunu achieved numerous accolades, including being named a 2017 Mandela Washington Fellow, receiving an honorary award from the KZN Young Achievers in the Science Research and Entrepreneurship category and winning the Gagasi FM Shero Award in the Science and Technology category.