Gugu has done sterling work for her PhD, graduating in good time at the University of Free State. Due to her high standard of work she was able to publish in top‑notch peer-reviewed international journals, with an above-average output of four publications resulting from her PhD work. The title of her PhD thesis, which she successfully defended in July, is Luminescence investigation of trivalent rare earth ions in sol‑gel derived SiO2 and ZnO co‑doped SiO2:Pr3+.

Unfortunately Gugu was not able to attend the award ceremony as she was at her graduation ceremony in Bloemfontein.