While many staff members received awards, the highlight of the night was Dr Yvonne Bongekile Charlotte Mvuyana. From now on, you can call Dr Mvuyana, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Public Administration and Economics, a serial winner. Dr Mvuyana won the Most Productive Female Researcher Award, and the Vice-Chancellor’s Award. This outstanding performance resulted in Dr Anette Mienie, the ‘Mother of MUT Research’, calling Dr Mvuyana “this girl is flying”, as Dr Mvuyana was coming to the stage to collect her second trophy.
Responding to this achievement, Dr Mvuyana thanked several people who assisted her in achieving these goals. “I would like to thank the Research Directorate for their support. Dr Mienie, our interim DVC: RIE, gave me everything I requested. Also, the faculty and the department made the environment conducive for us to do our work,” Dr Mvuyana said, pointing out that MUT “made me grow”. She added that she benefited from the training workshops that were provided by the Research Directorate.
Dr Mvuyana’s area of focus is the human settlement. “It is all about making sure that our research makes an impact on society. This is a way to give back to them. Researchers have an obligation to plough back into society.
Dr Mvuyana also said that as a Fulbright Scholar, she benefited a lot from the local and global networks, which address how challenges in the human settlement area can be resolved. She participates in global discussions.
The Community Engagement Gold winners were….
Dr Helen Mohleko Mapeka, a Lecturer in the Department of Agriculture
Dr Sibonelo Thanda Mbanjwa, a Lecturer in the Department of Nature Conservation
Bongile Ganyile, Sport Office: Department of Sport and Recreation