Chemistry professor wins prestigious award

A chemistry professor from Kenya, who has helped to improve the safety of drinking water and is actively working at school and university level to increase the number of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, has been named a winner of the prestigious L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Awards for Africa and the Arab States.

Catherine Ngila was named one of the five winners of the award on 11 February to honour them for their contributions in tackling global challenges through their scientific work.

Ngila is the acting executive director of the African Academy of Sciences, a former deputy vice-chancellor in charge of academic and student affairs at Riara University in Kenya, and visiting professor of applied chemistry at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

According to L’Oréal and UNESCO, she was recognised for introducing, developing and applying nanotechnology-based analytical methods to monitor water pollutants and removing industrial water pollutants. The technology has enabled millions of families to benefit from safer drinking water, while human health and aquatic life have improved.

“With the award, I plan to mentor upcoming women in science so that they can have confidence that they, too, can be acknowledged for their academic successes,” Ngila told University World News.

Girls need role models

“There are few role models for young girls growing up within the school system. This is because it is difficult [for women] to get appointed in leadership positions and, therefore, women chief executive officers, for instance, are not many,” she added.

Being a woman scientist in Africa, she said, was a struggle, as women faced multiple barriers, including bias and stereotyping, to advance in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers.

“Most of the research activities [in my field] are laboratory-based and this requires a lot of time and effort to design experiments, develop methodologies, collect data and analyse it, then prepare manuscripts for publication,” Ngila said.

“Women have to multitask and [find a balance] between family, academics or career and if the pressure is too much, they give up the pursuit of their careers,” she said, adding that, conversely, men do not always have to juggle responsibilities and could often spend longer hours in the laboratory.

The consequences are that, within the STEM research culture, men often exclude women in the work of their academic departments because of women’s other roles.

When women lack critical mass in the workplace, they are less empowered to advocate for themselves and more likely to be perceived as a minority group.

In this minority position, women are more likely to be pressured into taking on extra work as tokens on committees or mentors to female graduate students, explained Ngila.

How to overcome barriers

However, based on her own experience, Ngila noted that women can succeed in STEM fields and be mothers and wives with support systems from family members and the understanding of co-workers in laboratories and the workplace.

“To support women scientists in Africa, efforts should include creating family-friendly policies, increasing transparency in salary scales, providing mentoring and support programmes for women scientists, protecting research time for women scientists and targeting women for hiring, research support and advancement,” she said.

Ngila pointed at research, indicating that family-friendly policies such as special leave and on-site childcare could alleviate gender inequity, resulting in increased research productivity for women.

“Balancing studies and a young family was very challenging. When I finished my doctorate and started working … I moved between institutions, trying to balance,” she said.

“In some of the institutions where I worked, in Botswana and South Africa, I experienced discrimination as a migrant worker outside my country. But, because all foreign workers were treated in the same way, particularly in Botswana, I did not perceive it as discrimination because of being a woman.

“Back in my own country, Kenya, there exists all sorts of discrimination, based on tribal affiliation and gender bias in favour of men. I found myself being sidelined by male counterparts when decisions were being made,” she said.

Projects to grow women scientists

Given her own experiences, Ngila is set on helping girls and young women who want to follow a similar pathway.

She has set up an annual award for the best performing girl in physical sciences in St Angela’s school, a secondary school in her rural home town of Kitui, known as the “Prof Ngila Award”.

“I intend to expand this to include other sciences and mathematics and set up a programme to support young women aspiring to pursue doctorates in chemistry or biotechnology, specialising in water research through mentorship and help them explore opportunities for scholarships,” she said.

“My long-term goal is to build an academy or centre of excellence in water research. Setting up a well-equipped water laboratory and producing water filters used in water filtration cartridges. I hope the ‘win’ will open doors to help secure funding to meet these goals.”

Ngila and the other women were awarded US$121,273.

The other winners are Professor Kyoko Nozaki, a professor of chemistry at the University of Tokyo, Japan; Professor Shafi Goldwasser, an expert in computer science and cryptography, who works at institutions in the United States and Israel; Professor Françoise Combes, an astrophysicist from Collège de France; and Professor Alicia Dickenstein, a mathematician from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.