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dst Women in Science Awards the distinguished young women in science: Social Sciences and Humanities award
Professor Pearl Sithole Associate Professor and Anthropologist, Community Development Programme Professor Pearl Sithole scooped the Distinguished Young Women in Science: Social Sciences and Humanities Award for her sustained contribution in the areas of gender and development, traditional governance systems and the politics of knowledge production. Sithole’s areas of intellectual passion are knowledge production, governance and development, with specific focus on local government and traditional leadership, and gender analysis. Her innovative writings on African scholarship not only confront the politics of knowledge production, but also advance innovative mechanisms for the integration of advocacy and policy strands with theoretical relevance.
masters fellowship
Ms Anna Zawilska Ms Anna Zawilska completed her BSc in Electronic Engineering summa cum laude at UKZN in 2010. Her research investigated how to embed data in images generally, irrespective of the content of the image. This opens up opportunities for more meaningful and rapid interaction between parties working in sensitive areas. The media interaction, for example, on the Internet is sizeable. The research found that if images could be loaded on the Internet with information that would not be seen by anyone else but the recipient, it would reduce the risk of exclusive information being used elsewhere. Zawilska received the Engineering Council of South Africa Merit Award for being the final year student with the most outstanding results at UKZN in 2010, and second prize in the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers National Student Final Year Design Project Competition for her design project. She has an outstanding academic record, having obtained eight distinctions in matric coming first among learners at independent schools in KwaZulu-Natal and second overall in the district of Umlazi. In 2011, she worked towards her MSc at UKZN in the field of digital image steganography which combines the topic of data security with image processing. Zawilska’s plans for the near future include reading for her DPhil in Computer Science in the field of human-computer interaction at Oxford University. This field is centred around usability issues of technology and the seamless integration of technology into our everyday lives. The exact topic of the DPhil will be developed further as the degree progresses.
University of KwaZulu-Natal RESEARCH REPORt 2011
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