The countdown is almost over, and the opening game of the 2025 Varsity Netball tournament is set for this Sunday, 24 August at the Maties Coetzenburg Indoor Centrein University of Stellenbosch against Varsity College at 15:00.
The North-West University (NWU) team will be stepping onto the court with more than just ambition; they are bringing months of strategising and training into the competition.
Dr Petronella Lunda, a maternal and neonatal expert from the North-West University (NWU) Faculty of Health Sciences, was elected as president of the Society of Midwives of South Africa (SOMSA) North West. Dr Lunda was honoured with this prestigious position at the 19th SOMSA Congress held at the OR Tambo Premier Hotel in Kempton Park from 13 to 14 August.
Two places on the Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans list for 2025 have been filled by education academics associated with the North-West University (NWU).
They are Dr Makhura Benjamin Rapanyane, a senior lecturer in political studies and international relations at the NWU, and Dr Monicca Thulisile Bhuda, an NWU alumnus and lecturer at the University of Mpumalanga.
Both were recognised in the education category of the 200 Young South Africans list.
In a quiet laboratory on the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Mahikeng Campus, a group of postgraduate students huddle over microscopes and data sheets. At the centre of their work is not only the science they are uncovering, but also the mentor guiding them to think beyond experiments and toward the bigger questions of research and contributing to society.
Internationally renowned microbiologist Prof Olubukola Oluranti Babalola is in the spotlight again. The leader of the Microbial Biotechnology subject group at the North-West University (NWU) has been elected to two strategic committees of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), a global network of science, engineering and medical academies.
Prof Babalola has been elected to the IAP’s programme and development committees, as well as the policy advice committee. The appointment, published on the IAP website on 7 August 2025, is for a three-year term starting on 11 December 2025.
Master’s-degree student Sibongile Dlaba’s innovative research on healthcare incident reporting won her an award at the 5th African Nursing Conference.
“Being named the winner of the Best Oral Presentation award at a continental conference was an incredibly humbling and empowering experience,” says Dlaba, with her voice filled with emotion after her remarkable achievement.
In a world where innovation meets wellbeing, Chantel Muller is proving that the two can powerfully coexist. A published author and senior lecturer in marketing research and sports marketing at the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Vanderbijlpark Campus, Chantel is redefining how technology can transform health — and she’s doing it from right here at the NWU.
North-West University (NWU) academics Prof Kgaugelo Lekota from the School of Biological Sciences and Prof Lebo Gafane-Matemane from the Hypertension in Africa Research Team (HART) were recipients of Research Excellence Awards for Early Career/Emerging Researchers at the 2025 National Research Foundation (NRF) Awards.
By Gofaone Motsamai
From the village of Leshobo in Taung to the corridors of leadership in the Free State’s Department of Agriculture, Ntombana Dlanga’s life story is one of effort, purpose and the impact of education.
Born and raised in a household led by a single mother who worked as a nursing assistant, Ntombana’s dreams of higher education seemed out of reach after she matriculated in 1997. “There was just no money for university,” she recalls. “So, I went into what I knew – hustling.”
The STEM education specialist behind Renewable Rangers, a digital educational game designed for children aged 4 to 6, has been selected as one of South Africa’s Forty Under 40 leaders for 2025 in the Education category.
Dr Moleboheng Mokhele-Ramulumo is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education and a member of the Research Unit for Self-Directed Learning at the North-West University (NWU). The official Forty Under 40 awards ceremony will be held on 18 October 2025 at the Marriott Hotel in Johannesburg.