WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP BY CHARNDRÉ EMMA KIPPIE
UCT VICE CHANCELLOR IS MAKING EDUCATION HER MISSION
Prof. Mamokgethi Phakeng
TIRELESS ADVOCATE FOR SOUTH AFRICA’S CUTTING EDGE RESEARCH A Leading Woman in Academia Prof. Mamokgethi Phakeng is a highly celebrated B2 NRFrated scientist who has completed more that 80 research papers, as well as five published edited volumes. Prof. Mamokgethi Phakeng participated in around 30 plenary talks which have taken place at international conferences, and has been invited as a visiting professor in universities around the globe. An award-winning academic, she has been awarded a plethora of awards for her valuable research and community work, such as the Order of the Baobab (Silver) which was conferred by the President of South Africa, in 2016. As the Founder of the Adopt-a-Learner Foundation – an NPO launched in 2004 which provides educational and financial assistance to learners from rural and township communities to obtain their higher education qualifications – Prof. Mamokgethi Phakeng is especially passionate about mathematics. Her vision for the Foundation began with a need to empower mathematics educators in underprivileged communities, whilst providing learners from such communities with access to quality mathematics education. “I started this Trust because while I was the first to obtain a PhD in mathematics education, I do not want to be the last”, she explained.
