Prof Lou-Marie Kruger and Ms Caroline Pule, two top female researchers at Stellenbosch University (SU), received national acclaim on Thursday (11 August 2016) when they were honoured with the Department of Science and Technology (DST)'s Women in Science Awards.
The annual Women in Science Awards ceremony was held as part of the DST's celebration of Women's Month. The DST hosts these awards to reward the country's outstanding female scientists and researchers and to encourage younger women to follow in their footsteps.
The theme for this year's awards was "Women's empowerment and its link to sustainable development".
Kruger, a lecturer in the Department of Psychology, was a second runner-up in the category Distinguished Women Researchers in the Humanities and Social Science, while Pule, a doctoral student in the Department of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, won a TATA Africa Scholarship.
Kruger was honoured for her significant contribution to psychology in South Africa, especially her work on the emotional impact of poverty on women and girls, and what needs to be done to empower them.
Her research highlights the emotional worlds of low-income South African women and girls, using mostly psychoanalytic, feminist and postmodern theoretical frameworks. She focuses on research that has a direct impact on people, is politically relevant and can potentially contribute to social change.
Regarded as a leading feminist scholar in South Africa, Kruger has published widely in international academic journals, contributed chapters to many books and also supervised a number of postgraduate students.
She has received several teaching and research awards, and fellowships, including a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Fellowship (2004), an American Association of University Women International Fellowship (1992-1993), a Clara Mayo Memorial Award from Boston University (1992) and a Fulbright Scholarship (1990).
Pule's received the TATA scholarship for her doctoral research which focuses on the physiology of drug-resistant and tolerant Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Her research may lead to the identification of new TB drug targets and better strategies to overcome the mechanisms used by M. tuberculosis to survive anti-TB drug administration and in turn help shorten TB treatment.
Pule occupies leadership positions in multiple organisations and is also as an Ambassador of South African National Tuberculosis Association (SANTA), a vice-president of the South African Associates Women Graduates (SAAWG) in the Western Cape, an executive committee member of the Association of South African Women in Science and Engineering (SAWISE), and a research director of the Governance Leadership Organisation.
She is also the founder of the "Caroline Pule Science and Literacy Foundation", which aims to help establish science clubs in disadvantaged communities and to distribute scientific literature to these communities.
Pule is also a former recipient of, among others, the Rector's Award for exceptional leadership and a National Health Scholarship from the South African Medical Research Council and the Department of Health.
Finalists for this year's awards competed in five categories, namely Distinguished Women Researchers (with subcategories), Distinguished Young Women Researchers, Research &Innovation leading to Socio-economic Impact and/or Empowerment of Women, Fellowships (masters students and doctoral students), and the TATA Africa Scholarships for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology for masters and doctoral students.
Photo 1: Ms Caroline Pule
Photo 2: Prof Lou-Marie Kruger
