NRF Youth Month 2026: Dr Khathutshelo Cathrine Hlongwane

The NRF is committed to growing South Africa’s next generation of researchers and science communicators. June is Youth Month, and this year the NRF celebrates the youth whose work contributes to meaningful change in South Africa and beyond. We thank all participants for sharing their stories with us.

Dr Khathutshelo Cathrine Hlongwane is an NRF Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Aquaculture Research Unit of the University of Limpopo. She also received funding from the NRF for her Doctoral studies.

Tell us about your academic journey

I am an aquatic scientist by training, and my training started in 2015 when I registered for a BSc Honours in Aquaculture at the University of Limpopo. I also completed my Master’s degree at the University of Limpopo, and my research focused on factors affecting tilapia production in the Capricorn and Vhembe districts of Limpopo. The study showed that tilapia farmers were mostly affected by feed and water quality management. This gave birth to my PhD study, where I looked at the potential use of periphyton as natural food source and nature-based water quality management in aquaculture.

Currently, my work sits at the intersection of aquatic ecology, aquaculture, water resource management, and climate adaptation. Because periphyton are regenerative, they reduce environmental impacts, improve water quality, and promote sustainable food systems (while reducing commercial feed inputs in aquaculture).

When I was in primary school, I was one of the learners whom the teacher would never ask where I was if I was absent from school. I was never on the list of learners most likely to make it in life because of my background. I was a nobody, but God turned and is still turning this nobody into someone, and the journey just started.

I remember saying I wanted to be a doctor when I was around seven or eight years old. But I was thinking of medical doctors; it never crossed my mind that someone could be a doctor without taking the medical route. I loved STEM subjects, so I pursued them when I went to high school. When I was in Grade 10, I wanted to be a cardiologist, but when I reached Grade 11, I fell in love with microbiology and was determined to specialise in it. However, I was not accepted at any university after completing Grade 12 and ended up coming to the University of Limpopo for late applications.

You should have seen my face when I discovered that they offered late applications for BSc, and the prospectus showed that microbiology was under the School of Molecular and Life Sciences.

I went for it but failed to secure a space to study for Honours after completing my undergraduate degree (majoring in Microbiology and Biochemistry). The day I gave up and decided to go back home because there was no hope for me on the waiting list for an Honours in Microbiology, I came across a classmate who told me that others are doing Honours using our degree. Funny enough, he didn’t know what they were doing, he just said “they are doing something to do with water”. I decided to check it out before going home. When I followed the directions given, I ended up at the Aquaculture Research Unit, and I registered for BSc Honours in Aquaculture.

After completing Honours, I did an internship and worked for a couple of years, then came back to the University of Limpopo for a Master’s degree. After completing my Master’s, something reminded me that I once said I wanted to be a doctor. At that moment, I was grateful to the Almighty God that He made it possible, and yes, in a way I never expected. Even at this point, some days I can’t believe that I am a PhD holder, a qualification that changes your title.

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

The NRF was an agent of change in my life. It helped turn a village girl whose life started on a farm into a Doctor of Philosophy. The NRF funded my PhD, and now it is continuing to pave the way for my academic career through the Postdoctoral Research Fellow grant.

What is your research focus or area of expertise?

My current research focuses on investigating periphyton dynamics in lotic and lentic ecosystems.

Periphyton is a complex community of bacteria, algae, fungi, small invertebrates, and organic and inorganic detritus attached to submerged substrates in water. Primarily, periphyton function as a natural food source for fish and other aquatic species, and as a living water treatment because it removes excess ammonia and carbon; stabilises pH; and increases oxygen and uptake of phosphate in natural habitats. It also improves immunity and reproduction in fish and other aquatic species.

My PhD thesis showed that the adaptation of periphyton in aquaculture can lead to the reduction of commercial feed input by 50 to 67 %. Even though my primary focus was not climate change mitigation, my PhD study showed that periphyton-based aquaculture relies less on commercial feed, thereby reducing commercial feed’s environmental footprint and improving resilience for aquaculture farmers, which contributes to climate change adaptation. Periphyton also positively contribute to climate change mitigation through the improvement of water quality in production systems.

Currently, the world is shifting, and scientists are improving research output by solving problems through virtual labs and Insilico. Likewise, I am learning how modelling and simulations can improve periphyton-based aquaculture.

What purpose drives your research/work, and how do you hope it will contribute to meaningful change?

The aquaculture sector is unprofitable for most farmers in Southern Africa due to the high cost of commercial feed and water quality management. Feed and water quality affect how fish grow, reproduce, and respond to diseases. Therefore, being one of the people willing to solve this challenge drives my research, and I hope that periphyton as a natural food and water quality management will one day contribute to aquaculture on an industrial scale.

Being a young researcher can be demanding. What keeps you motivated and grounded throughout your journey?

I want to see growth and change. Growth and change keep me motivated and grounded. I want to see my work grow and change people’s lives. If what I am doing is growing, then the impact should be touchable and measurable. It must not just end in publications but be implemented by the people on the ground to improve fish production.

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