Principal Investigator

Thulani Makhalanyane is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and The School for Data Science and Computational Thinking at Stellenbosch University. His research focuses on understanding the evolution of microbial communities in the environment. His work has been published in the leading microbiome journals including The ISME Journal and Microbiome J. His work is multidisciplinary and has been published in authoritative journals such as Nature, Science and PNAS.

He serves on the leading editorial boards within his discipline and is currently Editor in Chief (Reviews and Perspectives) for the ISME Journal (IF >10) and Senior Editor at mSystems (IF >7). In 2018, Thulani was elected to the International Board of ISME and was appointed Director of the ISME Ambassador Program which promotes outreach in over 100 countries. Since 2019, Thulani has served as member of the NRF Basic and Applied Microbiology Ratings Specialist Committee and was appointed Convener in 2022. He also serves on several national and international panels representing South Africa in bilateral discussions.

Thulani Makhalanyane has received several national and international awards. In August 2016, Thulani received the ISME Ambassador of the Year Award. He is a previous Fulbright Scholar, has been awarded the prestigious TW-Kambule-NSTF Award (Emerging Researcher) in 2015, the UP Exceptional Achievers Award (in 2019, 2020 – 2024), and the National Research Foundation Prestigious Award (P-Rating) in 2019.