Prof Lunic Base Khoza
Nominee's Province:
Limpopo
Project Name/Description:
Hall of Fame inductee fights for disadvantaged rural communities Prof Lunic Base Khoza was the 2019 winner in the category Distinguished Women Researchers – Human and Social Sciences, South African Women in Science Awards. As nurse, educator and administrator, Khoza has developed professional and institutional capacity at the University of Venda (Univen) for the past 16 years, serving as Head of Department for Advanced Nursing Science, Dean of the School of Health Sciences, and, in 2018, as Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic). In 2013, Khoza became the first black female senior professor at the university. Two of her primary focuses have been the creation of opportunities for students from historically disadvantaged rural communities to register for postgraduate studies, and the development of research skills among academic staff. Khoza is currently conducting NRF-funded research on inequalities in eye healthcare in Limpopo, and has expanded her networks with experts in eye epidemiology from the Netherlands and Australia with a view to sustain the project beyond the NRF lifespan. Previously, she was the first Univen candidate to be awarded a South Africa-Netherlands Research Programme on Alternatives in Development grant to conduct research on the burden of tuberculosis in the country. An NRF C3-rated researcher with 81 peerreviewed publications, Khoza has graduated 15 doctoral and 18 Master’s students, and has acted as a reviewer for numerous national and international journals, including Curationis, Health Care for Women International, and the British Journal of Applied Science & Technology. She has served on the International Council of Nurses and its Rural and Remote Nurses Network Core Steering Committee, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame for Research Excellence in Nursing by the Forum of University Nursing Deans in South Africa in 2015.
