SAWiSA 2026: Prof. Musawenkosi Saurombe — Second Runner-Up, Distinguished Young Woman Researchers
As South Africa commemorates the 70th anniversary of the historic 1956 march of 20 000 women to the Union Buildings, the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) is proud to showcase the extraordinary finalists for the 2026 South African Women in Science Awards (SAWiSA).
Prof. Musawenkosi Saurombe is a Second Runner-up in the Distinguished Young Woman Researchers category. She is a full Professor of Industrial Psychology and Deputy Head of the Department of Industrial Psychology and People Management in the College of Business and Economics at UJ. She is a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Research on Social Change and Mobility at Kozminski University in Poland. Her research focuses on talent management, women's representation, employee wellbeing, skilled labour migration and the digitalisation of the talent management function in organisations.
Having graduated in 2017 at the age of 23, Prof. Saurombe is known for being the youngest woman to obtain a PhD in Africa. She has been an Ambassador and Advisory Board Member of the Charlotte Mannya-Maxeke Institute, an organisation focused on empowering girls and women, since 2017.
She has an NRF Y2 rating and is the author of over 50 peer-reviewed publications, including papers in leading international journals such as Men and Masculinities, BioMedical Central Public Health, Frontiers in Organizational Psychology and Sage Open.
She serves on the editorial board of Sage Open Business and Management and is an Associate Editor for the American Psychological Association's Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
She is a frequent keynote speaker for local and international audiences such as the Human and Sciences Research Council and the Africa Youth Summit. Prof. Saurombe has received several national and international scientific awards including the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans award (2019); NRF Early Career/Emerging Researcher award (2025), as well as the 2018 Class of 100 Most Influential Young Africans by the Africa Youth Awards. She has successfully supervised three PhD, 12 master's and 23 honours students, and currently supervises four PhD and three master's students.
An industrial psychology research scientist registered with the South African Board for People Practices and the American Psychological Association, Prof. Saurombe is steadily growing into a noteworthy scholar within the broader field of humanities and social sciences.
