Nelson Mandela University's Distinguished Professor Darelle van Greunen and her Centre for Community Technologies have been honoured with South Africa's prestigious Science Diplomacy Award for their work using digital innovation to transform health, education and agriculture in the Eastern Cape and across Africa.

The Centre for Community Technologies (CCT), based at the Nelson Mandela University in Gqeberha, received the prestigious Science Diplomacy Award at the national "Science Oscars" late last week for its outstanding work in health, education and agriculture in the Eastern Cape, South Africa and beyond the country's borders.

"Led by Distinguished Professor Darelle van Greunen, Director of the CCT and Professor of Information Technology at the university, the centre has become a continental leader in integrating academic research with real-world solutions, using digital innovation to address critical societal needs in health, education and community development," the university said in a statement.

The award celebrates how the CCT integrates research with real-world impact -- a hallmark of Van Greunen's work.

She is a firm believer in the philosophy "in Africa, for Africa, by Africans" and has consistently focused on making science accessible, inclusive and rooted in community realities.

One of the initiatives that stood out is the development...