South Africa does not have a research shortage it has a translation gap. At the 2026 South African Women in Science Awards, the Innovation Support and Enablement Programme sponsored the one category that rewards what happens after publication. Meet its two winners.

Every year the country produces research of international standard that never reaches a clinic, a boardroom, a policy instrument or a community. Closing that distance is the work of the national system of innovation, and it is the reason the Innovation Support and Enablement Programme (ISEP) sponsored the Innovation for Impact: Women Leading Change category at the 2026 South African Women in Science Awards.

The Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) hosted the awards at the NH Hotel in Sandton, Gauteng, on Thursday, 20 August 2026, under the theme "Placing Women at the Centre of Science, Technology and Innovation". A DSTI flagship programme since 2003, the South African Women in Science Awards (SAWiSA) recognise and reward excellence in science, technology and innovation among South Africa's women, and raise the profiles of outstanding researchers so that they may serve as role models for the next generation.

Thirty finalists shared prize money totalling R2,2 million. Of that, R190 000 was awarded across the two Innovation for Impact awards sponsored by ISEP.

What the category actually tests

Scholarly excellence is the entry requirement, not the distinction. What separates a winner in Innovation for Impact is demonstrable evidence that the work has travelled into clinical practice, into regulation, into the way an institution, an industry or a community does something differently.

Dr Pinkie Ntola, Interim Director of Technology Transfer and Innovation at the Durban University of Technology, chaired the panel that adjudicated the Public Engagement and Innovation for Impact categories. Reflecting on the 2026 entries, she said she was "particularly inspired by the clear translation of research into societal, policy and industry impact, as well as the strong alignment of many projects with the DSTI Decadal Plan and UN Sustainable Development Goals".

Prof. Tebogo Mothiba — Distinguished Woman Researcher

Prof. Tebogo Mothiba is a Full Professor of Nursing Science and the SARChI Chair in Prevention, Control and Management of Non-Communicable Diseases, hosted by the Department of Nursing Science at the University of Limpopo. She has served the university as Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Partnerships and as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Her research strengthens healthcare systems and improves health outcomes among vulnerable populations, with an emphasis on evidence-based, community-centred and technology-enabled solutions for rural and underserved communities. It has produced a sequence of working interventions: digital solutions for pre-eclampsia management, adolescent HIV treatment adherence programmes, diabetes self-management interventions, cardiovascular disease prevention strategies and healthcare worker training programmes. Collectively these have strengthened primary healthcare services, informed policy development and improved access to care. She is currently contributing to an innovative digital obstetric triage system designed to improve maternal healthcare outcomes nationally.

Prof. Mothiba holds an NRF C3 rating and has produced more than 229 scholarly outputs, attracting over 1 600 Google Scholar citations. Between 2020 and 2025 she supervised or co-supervised 18 doctoral and nine master's graduates, most of them women, many of whom now hold senior academic, research and healthcare leadership positions.

Associate Professor Sabrina Kumschick — Distinguished Young Woman Researcher

Associate Professor Sabrina Kumschick is Associate Professor of Risk Analysis for Biological Invasions at the Centre for Invasion Biology at Stellenbosch University. She chairs the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Environmental Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (EICAT) Authority, serves as Vice-Chair (EICAT) of the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group, and sits on South Africa's national Alien Species Risk Analysis Review Panel.

Her research assesses and predicts the environmental and socio-economic impacts of invasive alien species in order to support evidence-based conservation policy and management, integrating ecology, risk assessment, environmental management and policy engagement to produce practical tools.

Prof. Kumschick played a leading role in developing EICAT, now a globally adopted impact assessment framework, and formally established the IUCN EICAT Authority in 2018 to oversee, coordinate and review assessments. Her findings have contributed to improved invasive species legislation, evidence-based management prioritisation and international biodiversity policy development, while supporting more inclusive approaches to conservation that account for impacts on ecosystems, livelihoods and communities. She holds an NRF B2 rating and has authored 81 peer-reviewed publications.

Why this matters beyond the ceremony

The two recipients illustrate the breadth of what translation can look like. One has changed how care is delivered in under-resourced districts. The other has changed how the world measures ecological harm.

For investors, innovators, entrepreneurs and ecosystem partners, that distinction carries practical weight. A research base is only an economic asset at the point where its outputs are adopted by a health system, a regulator, an industry or a market. Recognition of the kind Innovation for Impact provides is one of the few public signals that identifies where in the national research system that adoption is already happening, and who is doing it.

ISEP is a national programme that supports and enables innovation across South Africa's innovation ecosystem, working alongside researchers, institutions, funders and industry to help promising research reach the point of use. Sponsoring this category places that mandate behind public recognition: it affirms that the translation of research into societal and economic benefit is itself an achievement worth rewarding.

The wider 2026 cohort

Alongside the Innovation for Impact awards, the 2026 SAWiSA recognised Distinguished Women Researchers and Distinguished Young Women Researchers in the Humanities and Social Sciences and in the Natural (Life and Physical) and Engineering Sciences, as well as two Public Engagement with Science categories. Fourteen currently registered master's and doctoral students received DSTI-Prof. Keolebogile Motaung Fellowships, named in honour of one of South Africa's most highly regarded black women scientists and academics.

"A national system of innovation that does not fully draw on the talent of women is a system that is not yet operating at its full potential."
— Prof. Blade Nzimande, MP, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation

ISEP congratulates Prof. Mothiba, Associate Professor Kumschick and every 2026 SAWiSA winner, runner-up and finalist.