The University of Venda (UNIVEN)’s Faculty of Science, Engineering and Agriculture is pleased to announce that Mukhodeni Mudau, who is a UNIVEN Honours graduate, is the winner of Esri South Africa Young Scholar Award, 2021. Mukhodeni won the first place of the 11th year of Esri Young Scholars Awards programme. Part of the prize for winning this award includes R5000 towards her tuition fees. Mukhodeni Mudau is the first UNIVEN student to win this competition. 

Her innovative project is titled: ‘Assessment of the Geomorphological Diversity of Komati Gorge, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa’. The honours project was supervised by Mr Edmore Kori who is a Lecturer in Geomorphology in the Department of Geography and Geo-Information Sciences at UNIVEN. 

Esri South Africa is proud to be participating in the Esri Young Scholars Award programme. 

The 22-year-old Mukhodeni Mudau, who hails from a village called Ha-Munzhedzi, outside Elim, did her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences and Environmental Science honours degree under the Department of Ecology and Resource  Management at UNIVEN. She is currently seeking enrolment for master’s degree in Environmental Sciences at UNIVEN. 

Mukhodeni entered Esri South Africa Young Scholar Awards competition earlier this year (2021). It was an open call competition for students (both undergraduate and postgraduate) countrywide. The competition was open for every student registered at any South African University. At first, Mukhodeni said, she felt intimidated by the previous winners when she browsed Esri ‘s website. However, she believed in her project. 

Mukhodeni said that she is intending to enter more academic competitions like the Esri South Africa Young Scholar Awards competition. “I’m looking forward to enrol for masters and hopefully to work with environmental based companies on exciting projects for the betterment of the environment”, she added. 

Issued by: 

Department of Marketing, Branding and Communication 

University of Venda 
Tel: (015) 962 8525 /8710 
Date: 17 May 2021 

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