Prof Fanelwa Ngece-Ajayi walked in with the academic procession at her inaugural lecture at UWC in September 2026. Image: Shelley Christians/UWCBefore Professor Fanelwa Ngece-Ajayi became a scientist, researcher, educator and community leader, she was a young girl from Khayelitsha who wanted to become an actor.
At school, she loved drama. Then came an experience that seemed to confirm where her future lay: a trip to the Baxter Theatre to watch University of Cape Town students perform Shakespeare's King Lear, a play she had been studying in class.
“I fell in love with it. I thought: ‘Okay, this is the career that I want to do’,” she said.
But her mother was not convinced. She recalled her mother saying, “There’s no way that you will have a career or a good life if you continue with this”.
And so, the curtains were drawn on her acting ambitions. But it would not be the first time that life would take Prof Ngece-Ajayi in a direction she had not anticipated.
Today, she is a C2-rated Professor of Physical Chemistry and Deputy Dean of Research and Innovation at the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). She is one of the lead researchers at UWC's SensorLab Laboratories, where her work focuses on green and sustainable nanotechnology, including the development of drug-metabolism sensors, with additional research interests in water purification, plant enhancement and the eradication of harmful microbes. Her research has earned her national and international recognition.
When Prof Ngece-Ajayi spoke about her inaugural lecture, she did not begin by discussing her awards or research output. She spoke about people: “No man is an island”.
The most important message she wants to communicate is captured in the isiXhosa philosophy umntu ngumntu ngabantu – that a person is a person through other people.
“I didn’t get to where I am on my own, but rather with the community.”
Prof Fanelwa Ngece-Ajayi, sitting alongside the Dean of the Faculty of Natural Science at UWC, Professor David Holgate. Image: Shelley Christians/UWCIt is a philosophy that is deeply personal because her own journey is filled with people who stepped in at crucial moments. These supporters were her mother, her mother's employers, her teachers, her mentors and her academic colleagues. It was the people who saw her potential before she had any idea how far that potential might take her.
Prof Ngece-Ajayi grew up in Khayelitsha. Her mother was a domestic worker. Her father worked as a security guard when he was actively involved in her life, before leaving the family. He eventually returned, but by then he was ill, and their circumstances had changed.
Her mother, meanwhile, remained determined that her children should receive a good education. Because she did not have someone to look after her children, Prof Ngece-Ajayi and her brother were moved from township schools to former Model C schools.
Education was important in the household, but university was something else entirely. She had assumed that her mother would know what was required when the time came to send her daughter to university. But her mother had never been to university herself.
That is where an unexpected act of generosity changed the trajectory of Ngece-Ajayi's life. Her mother's employers, Janine and Peter Hundemark, knew the circumstances of the family. They knew her mother needed support. They also saw something in her daughter and paid her university registration fee.
For a young woman whose family lacked the financial resources and university experience to enable the transition, it was a crucial intervention. But it also came with a responsibility. The understanding was that she should work hard, make the opportunity worthwhile and eventually be in a position to support her family. She took that responsibility seriously.
Image: Shelley Christians/UWCIn fact, she was already used to finding ways to make things work. Long before she began working with nanomaterials, Prof Ngece-Ajayi worked with her hands. She could braid hair, and started a salon at home. On some weekends, she also worked as a domestic worker thanks to the skills she learned from her mother.
The income helped with school expenses and transport and she continued to work when she went to university. There was no luxury of simply being a student because she had responsibilities at home.
“I knew that my parents needed support.”
The young woman who was trying to build a future in higher education was also trying to ensure that the people who had raised her were not left behind. That experience would inform the kind of academic and community leader she eventually became.
Long before chemistry became her profession, Prof Ngece-Ajayi had another characteristic that would serve her well as a scientist: she was curious. She remembers enjoying reading, including The Hardy Boys books.
The mystery stories appealed to her, and how the investigations were solved. This was arguably the start of why and where her passion for science and problem-solving began. At one point, she thought about becoming a doctor, but that did not quite materialise either.
Eventually, chemistry emerged as the discipline in which she found her place. And as her academic journey developed, so did the people around her who helped shape her as a scientist.
Prof Ngece-Ajayi received a standing ovation after delivering her inaugural lecture. Image: Shelley Christians/UWCAmong them were Prof. Priscilla Baker and Prof. Emmanuel Iwuoha, who have been her mentors since the third year of her academic journey.
Prof Baker is a prominent UWC scientist and co-head of SensorLab, where she holds the SARChI Chair in Analytical Systems and Processes for Priority and Emerging Contaminants. Her work focuses on analytical and electrochemical approaches to environmental and health-related challenges.
They have also appeared together on SensorLab research publications, including early work involving electrochemical sensors and nanomaterials.
For Prof Ngece-Ajayi, people such as Prof Iwuoha and Prof Baker became part of the academic community that helped her grow from student into researcher. And that brings her story back to the idea that she considers central to her inaugural lecture: nobody arrives alone.
Today, her research sits at the intersection of chemistry, health and sustainability. Her work includes developing green nanomaterials for drug metabolism sensors, as well as exploring applications in water purification, plant enhancement, and antimicrobial technologies.
Some of the science is highly specialised, but the problems she is trying to address are not abstract. They include drug treatment and disease, clean water and environmental contamination. and access to scientific knowledge.
Her research into drug metabolism sensors, for example, has focused on technologies relevant to treatments for diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis. UWC has previously highlighted her work on drug-metabolism nanobiosensors for antiretroviral and TB treatment drugs.
For her, the value of science lies in what happens when discovery leaves the laboratory and engages with society. That principle also explains her commitment to STEM education. Prof Ngece-Ajayi founded AmaQawe ngeMfundo to promote and enrich STEM education in marginalised communities.
The initiative is rooted in an issue she knows personally: talented young people can have the ability to succeed but lack the resources, exposure or support needed to see themselves in scientific careers.
UWC has previously reported her desire to build the next generation of scientists in communities including Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain and Bonteheuwel. There is a striking symmetry to this part of her story because, as a young woman, she had someone else help her open the door.
Now she is trying to open doors for others. The people who invested in her did not know exactly what she would become. She is now doing something similar for young people who may not yet know where their own journey will take them.
If she had one billion rand
If she were given R1 billion tomorrow to solve one problem connected to her research, what would she do? Watch here
