Champion of Research Capacity Development and Transformation at South African Higher Education Institutions Award 2022

Professor Azwihangwisi Mavhandu-Mudzusi’s research focuses on HIV/AIDS management and the LGBTQI+ community. She is currently a Professor at UNISA and Head of the Office of Graduate Studies and Research in its College of Human Sciences.

She instils a respect for research excellence in her students and identifies exceptional talent, nurturing it particularly among her Black students, especially Black females, acting as mentor and encouraging them to continue their studies to PhD level and beyond. She places value in collaborative networks to help her students produce impactful research.

Her passion for education and mentoring ensures that her students complete their Master’s and PhD studies in record time, helping to bring more research talent into the mainstream and growing the country’s science cohort. To date, Prof Mavhandu-Mudzusi has graduated 27 Master’s students and 18 PhD candidates and is currently supervising four Master’s and five PhDs. She won the Chancellor’s Calabash Award for Outstanding Educator, the Women’s Award for Leadership in Research, the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research and the DSI’s Women in
Science Award.