Dr. Tendai Zengeni

Dr. Tendai Masunda Zengeni received her PhD in Information Technology specializing in Fiber Optics and Nanophotonics from Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia. Her research focus is in Optical Fiber Communications, Mode Division Multiplexing, Few Mode Fiber, Multimode Fiber, Optical Switching and Photonic Crystal Fiber. She was a Senior Research Assistant at the Optical Technology Research Laboratory at Universiti Utara Malaysia, which is affiliated with the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA.

She currently serves as a peer reviewer in 10 SCOPUS International Journals and is a member of the IEEE. As a researcher, Dr. Zengeni has published in high-impact international journals. She has 11 SCOPUS International Journal publications and other local and regional publications and she actively participates in global conferences and high-level panel discussions on telecoms, artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.

She was a recipient of the Erasmus Scholarship from the European Union for her Post-Doctoral studies in High-Speed Optical Communications at the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of West Attica, Athens, Greece. She is a recipient of the Best Paper Award at the IEEE International Conference on Photonics (ICP) 2018. She was also awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Postgraduate Scholarship from Universiti Utara Malaysia.

She was appointed as Board Vice Chairperson for Netone cellular, Zimbabwe and she has chaired the Integrity Committee as well as the National Mobile Broadband Committee in that organization. She is a UNESCO African Women in Tech & AI Fellow 2024, trained at the International Center for Artificial Intelligence - Morocco. Dr Zengeni is also a member of the UNESCO Women for Ethical AI (W4EAI) as well as UNESCO’s AI Ethics Experts without Boarders.

She was appointed a Core Team member drafting the Zimbabwe AI Strategy 2026-2030 by the Ministry of ICT Postal and Courier Services in Zimbabwe. Dr. Zengeni is also the Southern African Regional Representative for Women in STEM Africa (WiSTEM Africa). Senior Partner at EVSEG Consultancy and Partners, she is currently the Chairman of the Department of Artificial Intelligence, Software Engineering and Computer Science at Africa University, Mutare, Zimbabwe.