NRF Youth Month 2026: Noxolo Felicia Vilakazi

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.

Ms Noxolo Felicia Vilakazi is a Master’s student in Physics at the University of Pécs, Hungary; founder and Executive Director of the Uzukhanye STEM Academy; and the national coordinator at the Africa Quantum Consortium. She is a former NRF-SAASTA intern.

Tell us about your academic journey

I grew up in Lindelani Township in Durban. I am the first in my family to go to university. I had no blueprint. There was no physicist I could look at and say, that could be me.

I began at the University of Zululand, where I completed a BSc in Hydrology and Physics, then a BSc Honours in Physics. My Honours thesis on hydrogen storage materials was my first real experience of physics as something that solves problems in the real world, not just explains them.

From there, the Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship took me to the University of Pécs in Hungary. Leaving my family and everything I knew was the hardest decision I have ever made. It was also the best. I am graduating in July 2026 with an MSc in Quantum Physics, specialising in single-photon sources. My thesis is titled Spatially Multiplexed Single Photon Sources Based on Binary Tree Multiplexers with Optimised Structure.

I was selected as one of only 16 students worldwide for the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) PhD Scholarship in Applied Quantum Technology at Heriot-Watt University in the United Kingdom.

I have been accepted to present my Master’s research at the South African Institute of Physics (SAIP) 2026 conference. In 2025, I attended the Quantum Education Summit in Barcelona, where I engaged with researchers from around the world on quantum curriculum development and training.

Beyond my formal degrees, I have completed more than 30 certificates in data science, programming, leadership, and quantum computing. I have taken part in several hackathons, including the Qilimanjaro Quantum Hackathon in Barcelona, where I simulated the CHSH test and achieved the quantum Tsirelson bound. Those experiences taught me to work under pressure, across disciplines, and with people I had never met before.

My long-term goal is to return to South Africa and build a quantum research group that brings in students from under-resourced communities. The skills I will gain at Heriot-Watt in detection systems, fieldwork, and optical engineering are exactly what South Africa needs as its quantum sector grows. Everything I am building, from township STEM classes to Doctoral research, is with that future in mind.

I will start this PhD in October 2026. I intend to bring everything I learn back home.

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

My connection to the NRF came through the NRF-SAASTA programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal Science Centre, where I worked as a Science Centre intern. That role shaped who I am as a communicator and a leader. Standing in front of learners, explaining science to young people who had never been told they belonged in a laboratory, that experience planted the seed for Uzukhanye STEM Academy, the non-profit I later founded to deliver free online STEM classes to under-resourced learners across South Africa.

NRF-SAASTA did not fund my degree; it funded my sense of purpose. It showed me that a scientist’s job is not only to discover but to bring others along.

What is your research focus or area of expertise?

I work on single-photon sources, which are devices that generate individual photons on demand. A single photon is the smallest possible unit of light, and these particles are the building blocks of quantum communication, quantum computing, and quantum sensing. The challenge is to produce them reliably, efficiently, and at scale.

To understand where this field is going globally, I used deep learning tools, specifically BERTopic and Sentence-BERT, to analyse trends in single-photon source research. One paper from this work has been published, with me as the corresponding author, in AgriEngineering. A second paper has been submitted with me as the first author.

Outside of my research, I run Uzukhanye STEM Academy to provide free science classes to learners who would otherwise not have access. I also serve as National Coordinator of the Africa Quantum Consortium, working to grow quantum education across the continent. I recently completed a Laser Safety Training Certificate with the CSIR, all thanks to Prof Tjaart Krüger, which prepares me directly for the experimental side of my quantum optics work.

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

Two things drive me: my family and my country.

My MSc thesis developed an improved method for designing multiplexed single-photon sources. That work is the foundation of my PhD, which will focus on underwater single-photon imaging technology—systems that can see through murky water where ordinary cameras cannot.

This matters practically. South Africa’s major ports in Durban, Cape Town, and Richards Bay all operate in water with low visibility. Inspecting underwater infrastructure currently means sending in divers or shutting down operations. Single-photon imaging is a way around that.

Under Dr Aurora Maccarone at Heriot-Watt’s Single Photon Group, I will work on single-photon detection, optical system design, GPU programming, and field trials. Her team has already built the first fully submerged prototype that images through turbid water, tested at 325 metres in daylight and up to one kilometre.

South Africa needs scientists who do not just use quantum technology but build it. I want to be part of the generation that does that, as an engineer, a teacher, and someone who opens the door for others.

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

My grandmother. When I want to give up, I think of her. When I feel far from home, and Hungary is very far from Lindelani, I call her. She is the reason I keep going.

My faith keeps me grounded. I have prayed in study rooms at 2 a.m. I have cried at my keyboard. I have wanted to quit more times than I can count. But I have never believed that struggle is the end. I believe it is the setup.

My community keeps me going. My friends, my family, my supervisors, and the learners in my STEM Academy remind me that I am not studying for myself alone. Every paper I write, every class I teach, every door I push open is for the person who comes after me.

I have not done this alone. I have had mentors who believed in me before I believed in myself. I have had funding from DHET and the Hungarian government that made this possible. That is why I am still here, and why I want to do the same for someone else one day.

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