Several University of Johannesburg (UJ) staff members have been recognised for their outstanding work in the field of research and innovation, with six academics named among the 2025 National Research Foundation (NRF) award winners. The awards, hosted annually by the foundation, celebrate the hard work and excellence of individual researchers and benefit the awardees’ institutions by growing their status among their local and international peers. This year’s winners were announced at a ceremony that was held in Sandton on Thursday, 7 August 2025. The awards celebrate researchers across eight categories, namely:

• Research Excellence Award for Next Generation Researchers: outstanding academic performance by final-year doctoral students.
• Research Excellence Award for Early Career/Emerging Researchers: outstanding research performance by current early career/emerging researchers
• Focused Research Advancement Award: Recognises universities of technology and those historically disadvantaged that have shown most growth in research productivity and support, evaluated over a period of five years.
• P-Rated Researchers: A “P” rating is assigned to outstanding researchers (normally under 35 years of age) who have held a doctorate or equivalent qualification for less than five years at the time of application.
• Public Engagement with Research Award: outstanding contributions to public engagement with science and encourages academics to make their work, and science and technology in general, more accessible to the public.
• Champion of Research Capacity Development and Transformation: Individuals within the research community who contribute to the transformation, and thus diversity, of South Africa’s science cohort through the research students they supervise.
• A-Rated Researchers: unequivocally recognised by their peers as leading international scholars in their respective fields, for the high quality and impact of recent research outputs.
• Lifetime Achievement Award: for extraordinary contributions, of international standard and impact, to the development of science over an extended period of time.

UJ notched six winners in four categories, including two academics who received the prestigious A-rating. UJ Award winners are as follows:

• Research Excellence Award for Next Generation Researchers:

Dr Msizi Innocent Mhlongo (Biochemical Sciences), Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science

Dr Msizi Innocent Mhlongo is a distinguished South African biochemist, metabolomics expert, and academic leader, currently serving as Head of the Department of Biochemistry and Senior Lecturer at the University of Johannesburg. His research integrates 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies, including LC-MS/GC-MS metabolomics, network pharmacology, and machine learning, into diverse areas such as plant–microbe interactions, microbial communication, plant defence priming, and natural product drug discovery.

Dr Mhlongo holds a PhD in Biochemistry from UJ (2020) and has authored over 29 peer-reviewed publications, achieving a Scopus h-index of 16 and a Google Scholar h-index of 18. His work aligns strongly with and contributes directly to several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including Zero Hunger (SDG 2), Good Health and Well-Being (SDG 3), and Climate Action (SDG 13). By addressing these global challenges, his research supports the bioeconomy, particularly through sustainable agriculture, biotechnology innovation, and the development of plant-derived therapeutics.

• Research Excellence Award for Early Career/ Emerging Researchers:

Professor Musawenkosi Saurombe (Social Sciences), Department of Industrial Psychology and People Management, College of Business and Economics

Prof. Musawenkosi Donia Saurombe is an Associate Professor at the University of Johannesburg. She worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the North-West University from 2017, before becoming a Senior Lecturer at the University of the Free State in 2019. In 2021, she was appointed at UJ, also as a Senior Lecturer, before being promoted to Associate Professor in 2022.

Musa is known for her work as a public speaker and civic innovator, particularly concerning women and the youth. In 2017, she became the youngest female Ph.D. graduate in Africa, at age 23. In 2019, she was recognised by the Mail & Guardian as one of the 200 Young South Africans. She was also recognised as a finalist in the Education category of the Woman of Stature Awards in 2023 and received the Young Alumnus Award from the North-West University in 2023. She became an NRF-rated researcher in 2024.

Dr Bonginkosi Allen Thango (Electrical Engineering), Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technology, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment

Dr Bonginkosi Allen Thango is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), where his teaching, research, and strategic initiatives are all tightly aligned to the UJ Strategic Plan 2035 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Dr Thango holds a Doctor of Engineering, a Master of Engineering (Cum Laude), a Bachelor of Technology  and National Diploma in Electrical Engineering. In parallel, Dr Thango is a 2025 graduate of the Johannesburg Business School’s MBA programme (Cum Laude) and is currently pursuing a PhD in Business Science at the University of the Witwatersrand, focusing on the developing a decision support framework for Solar PV System selection in SMMEs using a Multi-Objective Optimization Approach — a clear demonstration of his dual fluency in engineering,  development economics and policy. Since 2020 he has published 37 conference papers and 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals.

• Public Engagement with Research Award

Professor Leila Patel (Social Sciences), Centre for Social Development in Africa (CSDA), Faculty of Humanities

Leila Patel is distinguished professor of social development studies at the Centre for Social Development in Africa at the University of Johannesburg where she is based.  Her research interests cover a broad spectrum of social issues including social welfare policy, social protection, socio-economic rights and democracy, gender, care, the social services and children, youth and families. Her work has been influential in the development of social welfare policy in South Africa, particularly regarding marginalised and vulnerable groups and in driving systemic change and in empowering communities.

Not only is she committed to producing quality, relevant, innovative, applied and strategic research to solve pressing societal problems, she places great emphasis on producing high quality communication and in the dissemination of scientific evidence to improve people’s lives.  Careful attention is paid to distilling key messages from the research findings and communicating these in accessible formats for different target groups.

• A-Rated Researchers

Professor Matthias Bickelhaupt (Chemical Sciences), Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Science

Prof. Friedrich Bickelhaupt is a leading theoretical and computational chemist specializing in the development of chemical theories and methods for the rational design of molecules, nanostructures, materials, and chemical processes. He studied chemistry at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, earning his PhD in mass spectrometry from the University of Amsterdam in 1993. After postdoctoral work with renowned chemists in Germany, Canada, the USA, and the Netherlands, he progressed through academic ranks to become a full professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2009.

He currently serves as Head of the Department of Chemistry & Pharmaceutical Sciences at VU Amsterdam and holds an extraordinary professorship at Radboud University. He is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg. His research focuses on Kohn-Sham density functional theory, molecular recognition, elementary chemical reactions (notably the Activation Strain model), and fragment-based catalyst design. Bickelhaupt is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Chemistry Europe, with a strong record of interdisciplinary collaboration and leadership in computational chemistry.

Professor Philip Hallinger (Social Sciences), Department of Education Leadership and Management, Faculty of Education

Philip Hallinger is Professor of Educational Management at Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok Thailand) and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Education in the University of Johannesburg (South Africa). He has worked as a school teacher and administrator and conducted training with more than 15,000 school principals across North and South America, Asia, Europe and Africa. In 2014 he received the Excellence in Research on Educational Leadership Award from the American Educational Research Association and the Roald F. Campbell Award for Distinguished Lifetime Achievement from the University Council for Educational Administration. His research focuses on principal instructional leadership, problem-based learning, leadership development, and international studies in educational leadership and management. His scholarly articles, which have achieved more than 16,000 citations, are the most highly-cited articles in four different education journals. Professor Hallinger is Chief Co-Editor of the Journal of Educational Administration.

UJ’s Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Letlhokwa Mpedi, congratulated all the winners. “UJ’s performance in these prestigious awards reflects the quality of our research and innovation for societal impact in ensuring the sustainability of our communities and the broader society, as underpinned by our Strategic Plan 2035. Working together, we will continue to transform our students’ lives through quality education and apply our knowledge to developing new generations of influential people while also contributing towards efforts to solve complex problems for a better and more sustainable world. I congratulate all the winners for flying the UJ flag higher, well done colleagues!”

Joining in the congratulations, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation, Professor Refilwe Phaswana-Mafuya added: “The award winners are a testament to the hard work and dedication by UJ academics and researchers. As a University, we are immensely proud of their achievements and of the work they have produced and its impact for societal change and sustainability. Congratulations to our winners!”