Top honours for Mandela University Physics students #R2bP
Four Nelson Mandela University's Physics students scooped awards at this year's 69th South African Institute of Physics (SAIP) conference, recently hosted at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Mandela University Physics representatives from left, Elizabeth Hagemann, Lilian Mutia, Matthew Sivewright, Assane Talla, Andi Isni Pujirana, Zola Urgessa, Magdeline Saebi, Arnold Mutubuki and Sandi Bangani
Andi Isni Pujirana was awarded the Frank Nabarro Award for Best PhD Oral Presentation, Condensed Matter, and Arnold Mutubuki, the Best PhD Poster Presentation, Condensed Matter.
The Best MSc Oral Presentation, Applied Science, went to Matthew Sivewright, and the Best MSc Oral Presentation, Physics Education, to Elizabeth Hagemann.
Four awards for Mandela University MSc student in Physics #R2bP
Madeleine Badenhorst has won four awards since December 2024, with her research contributing to solutions for the world’s energy crisis, searching for more clean, reliable energy, and looking beyond coal to options, such as nuclear power.
Madeleine has just returned from the Microscience Microscopy Congress (MMC) 2025 in Manchester in the United Kingdom, where she won the “Best Student Flash Talk Award”.
Winning the Most Promising Microscopist award, sponsored by JEOL/Angstrom Scientific, at the Microscopy Society of Southern Africa (MSSA) conference in 2024, supported her to attend the congress in Manchester. She was also awarded the Best Student Oral Presentation at this conference.
Dr Nehemiah Latolla shines in M&G’s 200 Young South Africans for 2025 #R2bP
Postdoctoral research fellow in human physiology at Mandela University Dr Nehemiah Latolla has been lauded in the Health and Wellness category as one of the Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans for 2025.
Dr Latolla, 32, also won the FameLab International competition in 2022, was recognised by the Federation of Commonwealth Chemical Sciences Societies, and was selected as one of 25 emerging higher education leaders globally for the UNILEAD Programme in Germany.
From his national Diploma in Analytical Chemistry to his PhD in Chemistry, Dr Latolla has spent his educational journey at Mandela University.
Nehemiah pioneers the integration of traditional and modern medicine. Raised in the Eastern Cape by missionary parents, his early exposure to community service, education, and indigenous knowledge deeply influenced his path.