NRF Women's Month 2026: Dr Nomthandazo Khanyile

Every research journey starts with a question. This Women’s Month, the NRF celebrates women driven by curiosity — researchers whose questions, ideas and determination are expanding our understanding of the world around us. From exploring the unknown to deepening our existing knowledge, curiosity remains at the heart of discovery. We thank all participants for sharing their stories with us.

Dr Nomthandazo Khanyile is a  Lecturer in the Department of Zoology and Entomology at the University of Pretoria (UP). She received NRF funding for her Master’s and Doctoral studies, and she’s currently supported by an NRF Thuthuka Grant. Her research aims to understand how microbes influence the lives of insects, especially those that damage crops and threaten food security.

How has your affiliation with the NRF impacted your studies/career?

This year, I was awarded the NRF Thuthuka Research Grant (Post-PhD), which is playing a critical role in establishing my research programme at the University of Pretoria. As an early-career researcher, securing independent research funding represents a significant milestone in my academic career.

The Thuthuka Grant has enabled me to transition from contributing to established research programmes to leading my own research agenda. It is supporting research on insect-microbiome interactions and their application to sustainable pest management, while allowing me to build research capacity through postgraduate student supervision, strengthen national and international collaborations, and generate knowledge that addresses challenges facing South African agriculture and food security.

Although I currently hold Thuthuka, my relationship with the NRF began much earlier. I was awarded an NRF Honours Scholarship in 2016, followed by an NRF Master’s Scholarship in 2017. At the time, I could not have imagined how profoundly those early investments would shape my career.

The scholarships provided more than financial support – it gave me the opportunity to immerse myself in research, develop as a scientist, and produce my first peer-reviewed publications from my Honours and Master’s research. These experiences laid the scientific foundation that enabled me to secure a fully funded doctoral position at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Germany, where I completed my PhD and received advanced training in insect-microbe interactions.

Looking back, I see a continuous thread running through my career: the NRF first invested in my potential as a young postgraduate student, and today it is investing in my ability to establish a research programme and develop the next generation of South African scientists, contributing to South Africa’s national research priorities.

What is your research focus or area of expertise?

Every organism carries an invisible community of microorganisms: its microbiome. Much like the bacteria living in our own digestive systems influence our health, these microbes can profoundly affect an insect’s survival, behaviour, nutrition, immunity, and ability to cope with environmental stress.

My research aims to understand these hidden partnerships and how they influence the lives of insects, especially those that damage crops and threaten food security.

Particularly, I am interested in how insect-associated microorganisms help agricultural pests survive challenges such as drought, poor nutrition, and exposure to insecticides. By understanding when these microbial partners benefit their hosts and when those relationships break down, we can identify new, more sustainable ways of managing pest species.

Instead of relying solely on increasing pesticide use, my research explores whether disrupting harmful microbial partnerships or harnessing beneficial ones can provide environmentally friendly alternatives for protecting crops.

To answer these questions, I combine fieldwork, laboratory experiments, molecular biology, microbiome sequencing, and data analysis to investigate the complex interactions between insects and the microorganisms they carry. Although these techniques seem specialised, the ultimate goal is simple: to better understand the natural biology of insects so that we can develop smarter, more sustainable approaches to agriculture.

More broadly, my research contributes to a growing scientific understanding that animals, including insects, are not solitary organisms but are deeply influenced by the microorganisms with which they have evolved. By uncovering these hidden relationships, I hope to generate knowledge that not only advances science but also contributes to sustainable food production, improved pest management, and greater resilience of agricultural systems in South Africa and beyond.

What sparked your curiosity about your field of research, and what continues to keep you curious?

I am fascinated by the invisible partnerships that shape the natural world and by how understanding these relationships can change the way we think about animals, ecology, and agriculture. There is an entire microbial world influencing the biology of insects, and I find it both exciting and important that we are only just beginning to understand it.

What continues to keep me curious is the knowledge that every scientific discovery has the potential to make a real difference. The questions I ask today about microorganisms living inside insects may seem specialised, but they could one day contribute to developing more sustainable ways of protecting crops, reducing our reliance on chemical pesticides, and improving food security.

History has shown us that many of the world’s most transformative scientific breakthroughs began with researchers simply trying to understand how nature works. I find that deeply inspiring. It reminds me that even the most fundamental scientific questions can have far-reaching consequences for society.

Perhaps that is what I enjoy most about my research: the endless possibility that every new discovery, no matter how small, has the potential to change the way we understand the world and, ultimately, improve people’s lives. I feel incredibly fortunate that my career allows me to contribute, in however small a way, to that collective pursuit of knowledge.

What is one thing you wish more people understood about your field of research?

We tend to think of insects only when they damage our crops, invade our homes, or carry disease. I wish that more people understood that insects are fundamental to healthy ecosystems through pollination, decomposition, nutrient cycling, and by serving as food for countless other organisms.

Even the species we consider pests are biologically fascinating. The more we learn about them, the more we discover that their lives are shaped by complex partnerships with microorganisms, making them even more remarkable. Understanding these invisible relationships not only changes the way we think about insects, but also opens new possibilities for managing them in more sustainable ways.

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