Prof Azwihangwisi Mavhandu

Professor Azwihangwisi Mavhandu-Mudzusi’s research focuses on HIV/AIDS management and the LGBTQI+ community especialy in rural communities. She is currently a Professor at UNISA and the Director of School of Social Sciences at the College of Human Sciences, University of South Africa. She instils a respect for research excellence in her students and identifies exceptional talent, nurturing it particularly among her Black, particularly Black female, students, acting as mentor and encouraging them to continue their studies to PhD level and beyond.

She places value in collaborative networks to help her students produce impactful research. Her passion for education and mentoring ensures that her students complete their Master’s and PhD studies in record time, helping to bring more research talent into the mainstream and growing the country’s science cohort. To date, Prof Mavhandu-Mudzusi has graduated 28 master’s students and 19 PhD candidates and is currently supervising four Master’s and five PhDs. She has published 80 peer reviewed articles, 7 book chapters and 3 books. She won the Chancellor’s Calabash Award for Outstanding Educator, the Women’s Award for Leadership in Research, the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research and the DSI’s Women in Science Award.