Prof P Mthumzi-Kufa

Other

Prof Patience Mthunzi-Kufa (OMB) holds a PhD (2010) in Physics (Biophotonics) from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, UK. She is the first known person in South Africa to qualify for a PhD in this field of study. She is currently employed by the Council for Scientifics and Industrial Research (CSIR), Photonics Centre (PC) as a Research Group Head for Biophotonics, specializing in advancing Point-of-Care Diagnostics and is part of PC’s Management Team. Her work is varied, involving strategic leadership of her research group, project management, stakeholder engagement, securing funding, editing, and reviewing for international journals, external moderator, and member of the postgraduate committee at local universities, chairing grant review panels at the National Research Foundation, giving keynote addresses at international and local conferences, organizing local and international conferences and student supervision among other things. She has published several popular science papers, peer reviewed journal and conference articles (some invited), filed patents and secured technology demonstrators and graduated many postgraduate students. In 2010, she received two Best PhD Student Awards from CSIR and PC respectively. During September 2011, she was selected among hundreds of applicants, to attend and participate in the IAP/World Economic Forum's "Summer Davos" conference in Dalian, China. Only four outstanding Young Scientists got selected by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAF) to represent South Africa for this global meeting. In April 2012, she was bestowed the Order of Mapungubwe in Bronze for her contribution in Biochemistry and Biophotonics both locally and internationally by President J. G. Zuma making her the youngest recipient of such an honour. During October 2012 she became an inductee of the South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS) which is a merit based and prestigious appointment for leading researchers under the age of 40. Following serving as an executive committee member, in 2014 she was elected to serve as a co-chair of SAYAS. At the beginning of November 2012, she was selected as a repertoire by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) to represent South Africa’s (SA) young scientist and give recommendations to the director general on issues surrounding SA – Europe (EU) Science and Technology cooperation discussed in the SA-EU Workshop organized by the DSI. In December 2012, she was listed as one of the “20 Youngest Power Women in Africa 2012” in the Alexander Forbes Magazine and received the Centre Director’s Award to most deserving individual from CSIR’s NLC. During 2013 she was named as one of the 100 “World Class South Africans” in the City Press News Paper and was awarded SA’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government Award by CEO Communications. In 2014 she was inducted into the Global Young Academy which is a voice of young scientist around the world and received the TechWomen Award from the government of United States of America. During 2015 she became a TED Fellow, an international group of specialists sharing their novel ideas in Technology, Entertainment and Design. In May 2016 the Department of Basic Education named the Block of Science within the Zojazem School of Specialization after her in recognition of her contribution to the Sowetan community. Further, in October 2016 she received three PC Excellence Awards, the Management Excellence: Leadership and Human Capital Development awards. In 2017 she received the Center Director’s award from CSIR’s PC, followed by three awards in 2022 (Human Capital Development Award at divisional level, plus another one CSIR wide and the Established Researcher Award) and in September 2023, the DSI SAWiSA Award under the category Distinguished Women Researchers, Harnessing Technological Change, and Innovation. This was followed by her appointment as Professor Extraordinarius at the University of South Africa (UNISA). In May 2024, she became a finalist on three separate categories for the 2023/2024 NSTF-South32 Awards which   recognise and celebrate an outstanding contribution to science, engineering, technology (SET) and innovation. In July 2024 she was awarded the TW Kambule - NSTF Award: Researcher, a prestigious accolade that recognizes outstanding contributions to research and its outputs by individuals. Currently, she serves on the following international steering committees: BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Photonics Working Group as the Nodal point, Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE – Committee Member and Student Chapter Advisor), member oof the SPIE Membership and Communities Committee, L’Oréal Women in Science Awards, (Jury Member), and is the Chair for the IEEE Photonics Diversity Overseeing Committee.

Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patience_Mthunzi-Kufa