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Ms Siphumelele Nene

Ms Siphumelele Nene

Project Manager (Siyaphumelela 3.0)

Contact Info

  • 0312603646
  • NeneS2@ukzn.ac.za

Staff Bio

Ms Nene is an experienced Public Health Researcher and Project Manager with extensive expertise in research coordination, project management, and higher education initiatives. She currently serves as Project Manager for the Siyaphumelela 3.0 Project within the University Teaching and Learning Office (UTLO) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). Siyaphumelela is a national, data-driven collaboration established in 2014 to improve student success across South Africa’s post-school education and training sector.  

Prior to joining UTLO, Ms Nene served as Research Coordinator at UKZN’s Cancer and Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Research Unit (CIDERU). Over the course of her career, she has held a range of research positions at several leading South African institutions, including the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), the Departments of Psychiatry and Paediatrics at the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, the Centre of Excellence in Human Development at the University of the Witwatersrand, and the Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD) at UKZN.

Her experience spans roles as Research Assistant, Junior Researcher, Research Fellow, and Research Coordinator, providing her with extensive expertise across the research lifecycle, including study implementation, data collection and analysis, and stakeholder engagement. Her research portfolio is diverse, covering areas such as disability studies, HIV prevention, key populations, sexual and reproductive health and rights, mental health, and cancer epidemiology and prevention. Ms Nene has contributed to the academic community through co-authorship of articles published in local and international peer-reviewed journals and through poster and oral presentations at numerous conferences.

Education
  • Master of Social Sciences (Counselling Psychology)
  • Monitoring and Evaluation (Certificate)
  • Supplemental Instruction (Certificate)
  • Good Clinical Practice (Certificate)
  • Cancer Registry Preceptorship (Certificate)
  • A Palliative Approach for Health Care Professionals (Certificate)
Research Interest
  • Cancer Epidemiology and Cancer Prevention Research
  • Implementation Science
  • Monitoring and evaluation
Publication
  • Nene, S., Hlongwa, M., Hlongwana, K. & Dlamini, S. (2025). Factors influencing early detection of lung cancer in patients in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review protocol. Syst Rev 14, 243. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-025-02967-0.
  • George, G., Nene, S., Beckett, S., Durevall, D., Lindskog, A. & Govender, K. (2019). Greater risk for more money: the economics of negotiating condom use amongst sex workers in South Africa, AIDS Care, DOI: 10.1080/09540121.2018.1563284.
  • Veling, W., Burns, J.K., Makhathini, E.M., Mtshemla, S., Nene, S., Shabalala, S., Mbatha, N., Tomita, A., Baumgartner, J., Susser, I., Hoek, H. W., & Susser, E. (2018). Identification of patients with recent-onset psychosis in KwaZuluNatal, South Africa: a pilot study with traditional health practitioners and diagnostic instruments. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127- 018-1623-x.
  • Hanass-Hancock, J., Nene, S., Johns, R. & Chappell, P. (2018). The Impact of Contextual Factors on Comprehensive Sexuality Education for Learners with Intellectual Disabilities in South Africa. Sex Disabil. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195- 018-9526-z.
  • Hanass-Hancock, J., Chappell, P., Johns, R. & Nene, S. (2018). Breaking the Silence Through Delivering Comprehensive Sexuality Education to Learners with Disabilities in South Africa: Educators Experiences. Sex Disabil . https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-018-9525-0.
  • Chappell, P., Johns, R., Nene, S., & Hanass-Hancock, J. (2017). Educators’ perceptions of learners with intellectual disabilities’ sexual knowledge and behaviour in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Sex Education, https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2017.1405801.
  • Hanass-Hancock, J., Nene, S., Deghaye, N., & Pillay, S. (2017). ‘These are not luxuries, it is essential for access to life’: Disability related out-of- pocket costs as a driver of economic vulnerability in South Africa. African Journal of Disability, 6(0), https://doi.org/10.4102/ajod. v6i0.280.
  • Davis, G. P., Tomita, A., Noel Baumgartner, J., Mtshemla, S., Nene, S., King, H., Susser, E., & Burns, J.K., (2016). Substance use and duration of untreated psychosis in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. South African Journal of Psychiatry, Vol 22 (1), p 1-7 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/sajpsychiatry.v22i1.852.
  • Tomita, A., Burns, J.K., King, H., Noel Baumgartner, J., Davis, G. P., Mtshemla, S., Nene, S., & Susser, E., (2016). Beyond symptom management: Family relations, unmet needs of persons living with severe mental illnesses, and potential implications for social work in South Africa, Social Work in Health Care, Vol 55 (1), p 12-27, DOI:10.1080/00981389.2015.1088926.
  • Tomita, A., Burns, J.K., King, H., Baumgartner, JN., Davis, G.P., Mtshemla, S., Nene, S., & Susser E. (2015). Duration of untreated psychosis and the pathway to care in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 203(3): 222-225.
Conferences and Presentations

Nene, S., Ginindza, T., Jafta, N., Dlamini, S., Mkhabela, B. & Hlongwana, K. (2025). Towards early detection of lung cancer using community mobile x-ray in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. 15th AORTIC International Conference on Cancer in Africa, 2-5 November, Hammamet, Tunisia.

Nene, S., Lubuzo, B., Dlamini, D., Jafta, N., Ginindza, T., & Hlongwana, K. (2023). Multinational Lung Cancer Control Program as a partnership model towards strengthening health systems for lung cancer care in South Africa.  14th AORTIC International Conference on Cancer in Africa, 2-6 November, Dakar, Senegal.

Nene, S., Slemming, W., Makusha, T., Drysdale, R. & Richter, L (2019). Paternal depression: Results and lessons from the baseline of an antenatal intervention trial in Soweto, South Africa. 10th Child Health Priorities Conference, 28-30 November, Potchefstroom, South Africa.

Nene, S., Nene, Z., Mahali, A., Groenewald, C., Essack, Z. & van Rooyen, H. (2018). Learning about sexual and reproductive health: perspectives from young women participating in an incentivized behavior change intervention in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, 14th AIDS Impact Conference, 29-31 July, London, United Kingdom.

Nene, S., Govender, K., George, G., Khoza, T., Braga, C., Anderson, L. & Mohoto, N. (2018).  Acceptability of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) amongst sex workers in South Africa. 22nd International AIDS Conference, 23-27 July, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Nene, S., &Hancock, J. (2015). “I will be able to make a difference”: A formative evaluation of a comprehensive sexuality education innovation for learners with disabilities. Association for the Social Sciences and Humanities in HIV (ASSHH) Conference, 6-9 July, Cape Town, South Africa.