Midlands State University (MSU) lecturer, Moreblessing Shoko has won this year’s Marina van Damme Award for exceptional and promising female engineers.
BY Stephen Chadenga
Shoko, who is a lecturer in the department of surveying and geomatics, received her award at a colourful ceremony held on June 13 at the University of Twente in the Netherlands.
In a statement yesterday, MSU said Shoko was selected for her efforts in wanting to strengthen the position of women in Zimbabwe, by giving them the opportunity to pursue full-time education.
“One particular problem she addresses is that girls often miss a quarter of their time at school, due to their monthly period. Shoko wants to prevent such setbacks by developing new, reusable and hygienic sanitary towels and then using drones to aid their distribution in remote areas,” the MSU said.
Shoko said she intended to use the drones to gather geo-information for further scientific research and for practical applications in agriculture and industry.
The Marina van Damme Scholarship is awarded each year to a successful University of Twente alumna in the Netherlands.
The scholarship carries a cash benefit of 9 000 euros which the winner would be entitled to spend on further developing her career through a study programme, project or internship.
