Phemelo Mahamuza completed her Master's in GIS and Remote Sensing at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2024, specialising in machine learning for water quality analysis. Her work applies geoinformatics and remote sensing to South Africa’s landscape. She has contributed to key projects, including Covid-19 wastewater surveillance, Drosscapes of the Gauteng City-Region (GCR), geospatial research, mining and industrial studies, and the political ecology of water, energy, and food in GCR. She also participated in the spatial validation of government infrastructure projects at the Gauteng City-Region Observatory.

Phemelo has recently joined the Centre for Emerging Researchers (CER) as a Data Scientist in Geospatial Intelligence and Applications. In this role, she applies her expertise across various sectors, such as human settlements, education, agriculture, and critical infrastructure, while also providing training and capacity building. She is a proud member of the Golden Key Society and a two-time recipient of the Postgraduate Merit Award from the University of the Witwatersrand.