Prof XG Mbhenyane is Deputy Vice Chancellor—Academic, University of Venda, (UNIVEN), South Africa, with a “C” rating from the National Research Foundation of South Africa.   “C” researchers  are established researchers with a sustained and recent record of productivity in the field, recognized by their peers as having produced a body of quality work, the core of which has coherence and attests to ongoing engagement in the field, and demonstrated ability to conceptualize problems and apply research methods to investigating them.

Prof Mbhenyane’s involvement in human nutrition research has been at various levels.  At the level of an educator, she has been an external examiner of dissertations and theses and has supervised master’s and doctoral students at UNIEVEN and externally, whose research has been presented at national and international conferences, published in accredited journals, peer-reviewed conference proceedings and in book chapters.  As a research scientist, her main areas of interest are indigenous foods, nutrition and prevention of disease and poverty, nutrition and hunger, with a number of publications in accredited journals and peer-reviewed journals and presented at international and national conferences.  She has received funding for her research from external organizations, collaborates with a number of universities and national and international research organizations and has been called upon to review articles for accredited and peer-reviewed publications. 

As a Dean of School of Health Sciences, Prof. Mbhenyane engaged in promoting research activities by supporting staff enrollment in higher degrees and applying for funding support.   In addition, she has served as a panelist reviewing two research units of the Medical Research Council, the Nutrition Intervention Research Unit and the Research Unit for Chronic Diseases of Lifestyle.

In her position as Deputy Vice Chancellor—Academic she is responsible for fostering and establishing a culture of research and innovation across the university that, given the limited resources, responds to research demands for  space, facilities, funding and other resources based on the scholarly and the education merits of the research. 

In 2009 Professor Xikombiso Mbhenyane was named South African Businesswoman of the Year in the professional category.   

Further Details:

Xikombiso Mbhenyane (SouthAfrica)

Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic

Associate Professor Nutrition

University of Venda

Thohoyandou, South Africa

Email: xikombiso.mbhenyane@univen