Senamile Masango is a celebrated nuclear scientist, world energy leader, entrepreneur and the first African woman to form part of an African-led team conducting experiments at CERN, The European Organisation for Nuclear Research. CERN is a world renowned centre for scientific research where the Higgs boson was discovered.
Selected by a jury of internationally renowned experts, Senamile holds the international Women in Science award for 2022, honouring her crucial contributions to the progress of science.
Hailing from a Zulu royal lineage, the PhD candidate, has been a beacon of light for African women in STEM and blazed a trail through the scientific roadmap – notably attending university
at the tender age of 16.
Achieving remarkable career milestones, Senamile is a founder of the Senamile Masango Foundation. This foundation was formed to contribute to the building of the Africa we want,
leaving no one behind and empowering women in the engineering and science field. She’s currently a non-executive director at the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation Ltd, known as
NECSA, where she also serves as the chairperson of the Research, Development, and Technology subcommittee, non-executive director at Moses Kotane, and council member at the University of
the Western Cape. She is also South Africa’s Research Leader at BRICS Youth Energy Outlook and the Senamile Masango Foundation was the winning team from South Africa in the BRICS
Youth Energy Outlook 2020.
Among her many accolades, Sinamile was recognised as one of the 50 Global Inspirational Women of 2020 and a Women in Tech Global Awards finalist in 2021.