NRF awarded three emerging TUT researchers Y2 ratings in 2025

Among the researchers that were newly rated by the National Research Foundation (NRF) in 2025 at the Tshwane University of Technology

Dr Mpho Makaleng Are three emerging researchers Dr Mpho Makaleng, Dr Mpho Muloiwa and Dr Gbolahan Adekoya.

Drs Makaleng, Muloiwa and Adekoya were rated Y2 (Emerging Researchers) by the NRF. They formed part of 19 researchers who were awarded NRF ratings in the 2025 academic year. TUT now has 15 Y-rated researchers, bringing the total of NRF rated researcher to 75. 

Dr Makaleng is a Lecturer and Section Head in the Department of Marketing, Supply Chain and Sport Management in the Faculty of Management Sciences. Her research interests are in logistics and supply chain. She completed her PhD in Reverse Logistics at Nelson Mandela University, becoming the first PhD graduate in Logistics at that university. 

She started her career as a lecturer at TUT in 2014. She contributes to the broad supply chain management discipline through textbook authoring, curriculum development and research publications. She has presented several papers at international conferences related to logistics and supply chain. She is an external examiner for various tertiary institutions, acts as a supervisor for Master’s research projects and is an external reviewer for national academic journals. 

Dr Mpho Muloiwa Dr Muloiwa joined TUT in 2015 as a Junior Lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment. In 2017, he was promoted to Lecturer. 

His research interests are domestic wastewater treatment; civil engineering (wastewater), machine learning and big data, engineering optimisation algorithms, decision making (mathematical models), biological wastewater treatment, particle swarm optimisation and physical-biological interaction.

Dr Muloiwa obtained his PhD in Civil Engineering, M-Tech: Engineering: Civil (Water Resources Engineering) and B-Tech: Engineering: Civil (Water Resources Engineering) from the University of Johannesburg. His PhD study focused on the optimisation of energy consumption in domestic wastewater treatment plants. His study was inspired by the electricity crisis in South Africa and around the globe.

Dr Gbolahan Adekoya Dr Adekoya is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering. His areas of expertise encompass polymer science and engineering, materials science, energy and modelling and simulation. He has made significant contributions to the study of conductive polymers, polymer-based nanocomposites, MXene-hybrid materials, graphene derivatives and their applications in energy storage, flexible electronics and drug delivery.

He holds a Doctor of Engineering in Polymer Engineering, an MSc in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, and a BEng in Polymer and Textile Engineering.

Dr Vathiswa Papu-Zamxaka, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, said the researchers signal a new generation of research leadership at TUT.

“You bring fresh energy, new ideas and renewed momentum into our research ecosystem,” she said.