CPUT Two esteemed researchers in running for Science Oscars
Two outstanding CPUT researchers have been selected as finalists in the NSTF-South32 Awards, known as the ‘Science Oscars’ of South Africa.
The awards celebrate the top South African minds in science, engineering and technology and winners will be announced at a gala dinner at Emperors Palace tonight (June 28).
The two finalists are Prof Tandi Matsha, who was recently awarded the National Research Foundation’s SARChI Research Chair in Cardiometabolic Health and Prof Jeanine Marnewick, who was recently appointed as Research Chair of the Institute of Biomedical and Microbial Biotechnology.
Matsha is the founder and lead researcher of CPUT’s Cardiometabolic Health Research Unit in the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences and was nominated in the category: TW Kambule-NSTF Awards: Researcher (contribution to research and its outputs over a period of up to 15 years as a researcher, predominantly in South Africa).
Her current research focuses on diabetes and cardiovascular risk in the coloured community of Bellville South.
Marnewick has made a concerted effort to get the word out about the research she is doing into how rooibos is useful as a way to reduce and protect against the impact of non-communicable diseases because of the tea’s antioxidant activity.
EXCELLENT: Prof Jeanine Marnewick
She heads up the Oxidative Stress Research Centre and was nominated in the category Communication for outreach and creating awareness of SET and innovation award.