??Two talented female researchers at Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票 (SU) reaped the fruits of their hard work when they were honoured with the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)'s coveted South African Women in Science Awards (SAWiSA). Prof Lieketseng Ned, Head of the Division: Disability & Rehabilitation Studies, and Mienke Knipe, a doctoral student in Transport Economics, received their awards at a gala event in Mbombela, Mpumalanga on Thursday 15 August 2024.
Ned won the Distinguished Young Women Researchers Award in the Human and Social Sciences and Knipe a DSI-Esther Mahlangu Fellowship for doctoral studies.
The annual Women in Science Awards celebrates women excelling in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), profiles women scientists and researchers who serve as role models for younger women and encourages those who are starting their careers as researchers and scientists to continue in STEM-related careers. Registered master's and PhD students stand to win fellowships to support their studies in areas ranging from indigenous knowledge systems to astronomy.
Lieketseng Ned?
Ned was honoured for her work on disability inclusive health systems, community-based rehabilitation, critical disability studies, decolonial health and education and indigenous methodologies. As an occupational therapist and disability research scientist, Ned advances disability studies in the global South by sharing a fresh and critical lens through which to “read" disability.
She has sustained ongoing engagements with disability sector representatives in her teaching and research. This includes collaborating with the disability sector as co-investigators in research. Ned co-established the Disability Research Hub at SU as co-founding director in 2022. She is also the incoming chairperson of the African Network of Evidence to Action on Disability – a regional network which focuses on the translation of evidence to action, and which founded the African Journal of Disability. She has received numerous national and international awards and has published extensively on disability and health.
Commenting on her latest achievement, Ned said: “This award affirms and cements the existing foundation of disability evidence we have generated with my team. It is also about encouraging more young women to actively participate in the sciences as agents of change. In fact, I would like to see more people prioritising disability inclusion.
“The award is a true reflection of the hard work we have put into advocating for disability inclusion and its importance in society. Through this work, we challenge negative attitudes and prejudices around disability and promote equal participation and opportunities for people with disabilities."
Ned added that it will help to expose their research to wider audiences and stakeholders while attracting potential funders to invest in disability studies as well as use their research to drive inclusion in various spaces they occupy in society.
Mienke Knipe
Knipe received a doctoral fellowship for a research project that quantifies the economic role of transport. She says knowing the extent to which reduced travel time, reduced travel cost and improved access to transport facilitates economic activity at sub-national level provides motivation for, selection of and prioritisation of government-funded transport investment. Closing the knowledge gap can contribute to the justification for increased government-funded transport investment.
“I feel empowered to conduct, disseminate and inspire more research in transport economics/planning. The field of transport is a male-dominated industry. In fact, the Minister of Transport, Ms Barbara Creecy, recently shared a statistic that only 22% of South Africans in the transport industry are females.
“Furthermore, the statistics on people living with a disability (like me) in the transport industry is even lower. Therefore, opportunities that recognises women in transport, through initiatives such as the SAWiSA, hopefully inspires more young women with and without disabilities to take a seat at a male-dominated table.
“With prize money of nearly R100 000, this fellowship provides the opportunity to share transport-related ideas, challenges and solutions on international platforms via publications and conferences with the aim of collaborating with others from multidisciplinary fields."
Knipe's research output was used to comment on the draft National Public Transport Subsidy policy of South Africa. This policy sets a goal that travel cost for commuters be no more than 10% of their income. Currently, South Africans spend nearly double this. A chapter of her PhD thesis shows how South Africans will redistribute a saving in their travel cost if the policy goal of 10% is met.
Knipe has experience in the passenger transport industry across public, private and academic sectors. Her project involvement in the private and public sectors includes Comprehensive Integrated Transport Plans, Provincial Land Transport Framework MyCiti and Dial-a-Ride, collaborating with entities such as the City of Cape Town, Stellenbosch Municipality, Intercape and the World Bank. Demonstrating a sharp focus on revenue optimisation, she served as a revenue manager for a regional airline and led a passenger satisfaction project for two long-distance bus operators in South Africa.
She also presented her work at the African Transport Research Conference, the Annual Southern African Transport Conference and the Union Internationale des Transports Publics.
- Photo: Prof Lieketseng Ned and Miss Mienke Knipe at the awards ceremony.?
