Prof Nastassia Thandiwe Sithole

Prof. Sithole, research interests focused on Environmental engineering with a particular focus on the circular economy through waste valorization and solidification together with remedial treatment of wastewater using secondary resources, turning industrial solid waste into useful building and construction material via alkaline/ acidic activation and resource recovery from the same industrial solid waste. Wastewater remediation through adsorption is also another area of focus. The main goal of her research is to develop zero waste discharge models and value-added products from solid waste materials to be used in different building and construction applications. Her research is globally relevant and takes to offset the societal need for a sustainable construction sector. The main goal of her research is to develop zero waste discharge models and value-added products from solid waste materials to be used in different building and construction applications. Prof. Sithole research areas are driven by the need to attain or achieve the United Nations sustainable developmental goals (SDG) for environmental sustainability SDG6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and SDG 3 (Good health and well-being).

Prof. Sithole is an Associate Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at the University of Johannesburg. She holds a Doctoral degree in Chemical Engineering, a Post Graduate Diploma in Higher Education, and a certificate of an Emerging Leader. Currently registered for a master’s in business administration (MBA) at the University of Suffolk (UK). She is registered as a candidate chemical engineering technologist with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA). She also completed the women in a leadership programme through the Johannesburg business school, where I was awarded the best action learning project award. Prof. Sithole is an active member of technical committees, contributing to the advancement of Engineering, the circular economy, societal impact, and sustainable development goals. She serves in the Department of Higher Education and Training subpanel: Engineering and Technology for evaluating 2023 research outputs. She is a recipient of the 2023 NRF Research Excellence Award for early career/ emerging research and the 2023 UJ Vice Chancellor distinguished Most promising researcher of the award. She was selected as one of the 2023 top 10 HERS-SA Higher Education Women Leaders Awards in the Women in STEM category. She was the 2022 Women in Leadership Best Action Learning Project winner. She also scooped the 2023 Mail and Guardian and inspiring fifty awards. Internationally, she is making strides, and she is recognized as one of the leaders in interdisciplinary research (waste valorization, circular economy and wastewater treatment). This is evidenced by the number of invitations to review articles for big journals. She reviews articles for reputable journals such as Journal of Cleaner production (IF = 11.2), Journal of building and construction (IF = 7.4), Case studies in construction materials (IF = 6.2), Separation and purification technology (IF = 8.6). Amazingly, she has published in these journals. She has recently been appointed as a editor in the journal of Frontiers in Environmental Chemistry (IF= 3).