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Herald Correspondent
The Britain Zimbabwe Society (BZS) has awarded its annual young researcher prize to Roselyne Masamha, a lecturer in learning disabilities and nursing at the University of Hull in the United Kingdom.

The prize, which is offered in partnership with the Oxford African Studies Centre, recognises and encourages research and publication endeavour and excellence by early career researchers.

Masamha is also a Doctor of Clinical Education student at the University of Leeds. She will receive her award at the BZS annual research day, which will be held at St Antony’s College, Oxford University on Saturday.

BZS president Dr Knox Chitiyo said: “We are pleased to announce Roselyne as the winner of the 2019 young researcher prize. Her research is at the interface of science and society; it investigates the politics of knowledge production in relation to an African identity within nurse education. The judges were impressed by the originality of Roselyne’s research and its potential applicability.”

Masamha welcomed the award, saying: “I feel very honoured to have been awarded the young researcher prize for 2019. It comes at an intense period as I am finalising my thesis for submission and provides some timely motivation and encouragement. I am very grateful for the nomination and recognition as well as for the support of my supervisors, Helen Bradbury and Dr Rebecca O’Rourke.”

Her research focuses on the nursing education experiences of Zimbabweans in the UK in the context of post-colonial dynamics, migration, African identities and knowledge. The research makes a case for African knowledges and for personal experience as a knowledge form, pushing back against academic institutions’ tendency to constrain what qualifies for scholarly recognition.

This year’s research day will be held under the theme; “Creativity and Innovation — Research and Resilience in Zimbabwean Arts and Science”.

The keynote speaker will be Natalie Jabangwe, one of Zimbabwe’s most innovative business leaders and CEO of EcoCash Zimbabwe, an innovative mobile payment solution that enables customers to complete financial transactions directly from their mobile phones.