Dr Sphumelele Ndlovu is a Senior Researcher under the CSIR’s Biophotonics Group. He is a former Deputy Director of Indabuko Institute, a privately owned research and development company focusing on energy storage solutions. He previously worked as an Air Quality Scientist at the South African Weather Services. He also worked as a Doctoral Fellow on Lunar Laser Ranging under the Space Geodesy Programme at Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory, a facility of the National Research Foundation, in collaboration with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Ndlovu graduated with a PhD in Engineering (2017), MSc in Physics (2013), BSc honours in Physics (2011) and BSc in Applied Mathematics and Physics (2010), all from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He holds a number of accolades that include being in the top 200 Mail and Guardian Young in 2019, top 100 South African Shining Stars in 2019, top 400 young physicists to participate in the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in 2016, and top 10 young scientists to represent South Africa in the BRICS Young Scientist Conclave in 2016. Ndlovu’s research interests are optics and lasers, physical computing, machine learning and embedded systems.