Amos Saurombe has 10 years of research and teaching experience influenced by the desire to find practical African solutions to Africa’s problems. Working with other colleagues at Unisa this research has produced a new BRICS community engagement (CE). His research has produced practical solutions and models that are already being used by SADC, African Union (AU) World Trade Organisation (WTO) and World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

Mandisa Mbali is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at the University of Stellenbosch. In 2009, she completed her doctoral dissertation in Modern History at the University of Oxford, where she was a KwaZulu-Natal Rhodes Scholar. In 2011 she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the History of Medicine at Yale University. Mbali has served on the Thuthuka and Sabbatical Grant Technical Review Panels of the National Research Foundation and she also sits on the KwaZulu-Natal Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee.

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Dr Tiri Chinyoka holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech, USA). He is currently a member of the academic staff in the Department of Mathematics & Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and is a member of the Center for Research in Computational and Applied Mechanics (CERECAM) research group at UCT. His research interests are in the field of modelling and analysis of complex fluids and flows. He has served as a Vice President of the South African Association for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (SAAM).

Benita Olivier is an associate professor in the field of musculoskeletal physiotherapy at the Physiotherapy Department of the University of the Witwatersrand. She is an avid researcher with a high level of research productivity, aimed at investigating and promoting the prevention of musculoskeletal dysfunction. She has a special interest in the prevention of sports injuries, with a specific focus on human movement analysis. As part of her PhD research project, she investigated the cricket fast bowling action with the aid of kinematic analysis. She established the Wits Physiotherapy Movement Analysis Laboratory in 2010 and has moulded it into a lab that advocates research excellence. Benita has published 37 manuscripts and is currently the supervisor of 13 MSc and 4 PhD students. She is a National Research Foundation Y-rated researcher. In 2014, Benita was the recipient of the Claude Leon Merit Award, the Friedel Sellschop Award for exceptional young researchers and was identified by the Mail & Guardian as one of the top 200 most influential young South Africans.  She was also a finalist in the 2014 Standard Bank Rising Stars Awards and received the School of Therapeutic Sciences Mentoring Award in 2014. As a mother of two young boys, she aspires to live a balanced life, with a strong sense of integrity and a drive to positively contribute to the lives of others on a daily basis.

Lungiswa Nkonki is a Senior Lecturer at Stellenbosch University. She convenes at teaches Economic Evaluation in Healthcare to post graduate students.  In January 2014, the Competition Commission of South Africa appointed her as a panellist for the Private healthcare market enquiry (http://www.compcom.co.za/healthcare-enquiry).  She completed her PhD in Health Economics at the University of Bergen in 2012. Her doctoral dissertation title was: “Health systems challenges in South Africa: Effective and equitable delivery of interventions to improve infant feeding and reduce mother to child transmission of HIV”. Her research interests include economic evaluation of healthcare programmes, measuring inequality in health outcomes, and understanding the determinants of attrition/retention of lay health workers. She has also worked as a specialist scientist at the Medical Research Council. She is a National Research Foundation (South Africa) rated scientist.

Christina Thobakgale-Tshabalala is a Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the HIV Pathogenesis Program at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). She obtained her junior degrees from University of the North, a PHD from UKZN, followed by a Postdoctoral Fellowship with UKZN and the Ragon Institute at Harvard University. She is a recipient of numerous awards including the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Columbia Fogarty Traineeship, Golden Key International recognition and recently a runner-up for the Distinguished Young Women in Science award from the Department of Science and Technology.

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Prof Puleng Segalo is a Fulbright scholar currently holding the position of Head of Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Human Sciences at the University of South Africa. Her research work analyzes South African women’s narratives of survival and resistance pre, during and post-apartheid, contrasting testimonies offered by women to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), narratives spoken in interviews and focus groups, and embroidered stories that women stitch onto fabric to tell another tale of survival and resistance. Her scholarship focuses on the post-apartheid struggles that women engage in, in freeing themselves now from the shackles of patriarchy. She has dedicated her work toward the advancement of women in South Africa, at the level of economics, education and also their deep psychological sense of purpose and community. In addition to being an NRF rated researcher, Prof Segalo has received recognition for her research work in the form of awards and invitations as a guest speaker at a number of national and international academic forums and popular media. In 2013 she was awarded the University of South Africa Principal Prize for Excellence in Research and in 2014 named the Distinguished Young Woman Scientist of the year by the National Department of Science and Technology.

Dr Karen Cloete is currently employed as a postdoctoral researcher at the iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator Based Sciences, National Research Foundation, where her research is focused on the biological applications of ion beam techniques. She has authored and co-authored a number of international journal publications in multidisciplinary fields and has also provided editorial assistance for various academic manuscripts and a treatment guideline. She has convened and lectured a module on writing and publishing scientific papers for MSc (MedSci) in Clinical Epidemiology students, taught a course to microbiology honours students on fungal genomic DNA extraction, and has also organized and presented workshops on research supervision and project management, academic writing, publishing, and presentation to postgraduate registrars, clinical consultants, and senior scientists. Her research has been highlighted in popular media and she has also been the recipient of various scholarships and grants. She has served on several committees, as a reviewer for international journals, as a consultant for the Language Centre of Stellenbosch University, and as a scientist for commercial companies. She strongly believes in the power of science to affect positive change and is currently designing new studies on evaluating elemental profiles in human scalp hair related to disease pathology using ion beam analysis techniques.

Dr Cloete has served as a former SAYAS Co-Chair.

Dr. Shazrene Mohamed is a computational astrophysicist working at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO). She completed her undergraduate studies in Astronomy, Astrophysics and Mathematics at Harvard University and obtained her PhD in Astrophysics from Oxford University. After two years as an Argelander Fellow in Bonn, Germany, she moved to Cape Town where she is currently an NRF Research Career Advancement (RCA) fellow.  She is a Rhodes Scholar, a NRF P-rated researcher and recipient of the South African Institute of Physics (SAIP) Silver Jubilee Medal. Her research primarily focuses on supercomputer simulations of evolved stars to investigate how they interact with their surroundings and with each other, particularly, how mass is transferred from one star to another. These systems are important as they are thought to be the progenitors of novae and supernovae explosions.

Aliza le Roux (PhD) is Associate Professor: Zoology and Entomology and Coordinator: Afromontane Research Unit at the University of the Free State – Qwaqwa campus. She heads the Mammalian Cognition Research Group, studying the causes and consequences of paternal care in bat-eared foxes and the cognitive ecology of wild primates. She also founded and coordinates the SAYAS Blog.

Professor Roula Inglesi-Lotz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of Pretoria and a Y1 NRF Rated academic.

She completed her undergraduate studies in 2006 at the University of Macedonia, Greece and continued with her postgraduate studies at the University of Pretoria, South Africa in 2008. She received a Postgraduate Fellowship from the Department of Economics towards her PhD and a three-year bursary from the South African National Energy Development Institute of the Department of Energy. Her doctoral thesis was titled A sectoral benchmark-and-trade system to improve electricity efficiency in South Africa.

Her research continues to focus on energy and environmental issues seeking answers to pressing issues associated with traditional ways of consuming and generating energy as well as investigating new and alternative solutions for higher efficiency in the consumption of energy and renewable fuels for generating energy.  Prof Inglesi-Lotz has published more than 40 papers in international and local peer-reviewed.

With an NRF Y1 rating, Prof. Inglesi-Lotz is the author of over 45 peer-reviewed publications and 2 book chapters.  Prof. Inglesi-Lotz currently supervises 4 PhD, 1 MCom and 4 Honours students. She has successfully supervised 12 MCom students, 10 of which graduated cum laude. She currently is responsible for the Research methodology course at Honours level. She has also developed the curriculum and currently teaches the first course on Energy and Environmental Economics in the Department of Economics, UP with main focus on the interlinkages between energy, the environment and the macroeconomy.

In 2017, she was received the award for the Distinguished Young Woman Researcher in the Humanities and Social Sciences category at the 2017 Women in Science Awards, by the South African Department of Science and Technology.

Roula is a fellow of the International Association of Energy Economics (IAEE) as well as the Economic Society of South Africa (ESSA). She is on the editorial panel of the Journal of Southern Africa (JESA), as well as a reviewer for several top international journals. She is currently an affiliate of Economic Research Southern Africa (ERSA), a member of the Econometric Society and the Association for The Advancement of African Women Economists (AAAWE).

John Ele-Ojo Ataguba is Associate Professor and Director of the Health Economics Division in the School of Public Health & Family Medicine at the University of Cape Town (UCT).  John is a Commonwealth scholar and an economist with research experience in many African countries.  His research interests include health inequality, equity in health and health care, social determinants of health, impact evaluation, and health financing.

He is a former Executive Committee member of SAYAS.

Sershen Naidoo is presently a lecturer in Plant Ecophysiology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He has a BSC in Biology, a BSc Honours in Plant Physiology, an MSc in Seed Biology and a PhD in Cryobiology and Plant Physiology from UKZN. He is presently actively involved in research projects ranging from Plant Germplasm Conservation and Plant Responses to Climate Change, to Climate Policy, Urban Conservation/ Ecology, Ecotourism and Renewable Energy.

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Dr Cletos Mapiye obtained his BSc Agriculture (Hons) (2002) and MSc Animal Science (2004) degrees with merit from the University of Zimbabwe and a PhD degree in Animal Science (2010) from the University of Fort Hare. Dr Mapiye’s pre-doctoral career involved stints as a Pasture and Ruminant Research Scientist (2003-2005) at Grasslands Research Station (Ministry of Agriculture, Zimbabwe) and Animal Science Lecturer (2005-2007) at Bindura University of Science Education, Zimbabwe. His post-doctoral career includes his services as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Animal Production at the National University of Rwanda (2010-2011) and Post-doctoral Fellow in the Meat Lipid Lab at Lacombe Research Centre of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (2011-2013). In November 2013, Dr Mapiye was appointed as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Animal Science at Stellenbosch University. He contributes to teaching of undergraduate courses in Meat Science and Beef Production, and supervision of graduate students. In addition, he has been guest lecturing and externally examining thesis for many universities in Southern Africa.

Dr Mapiye’s research program focuses on finding sustainable ways of manipulating meat quality and lipid composition to improve meat eating quality, shelf-life and healthfulness. He is a National Research Foundation Y2 (Young Promising) rated scientist with over 80 refereed scientific publications, 5 invited papers and over 45 conference proceedings papers/abstracts. To date, Cletos has supervised/co-supervised 5 MSc and currently supervises/co-supervises 5 MSc and 4 PhD students.

Eugene Lee Davids is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s Adolescent Health Research Unit at the University of Cape Town. His overall interest is in understanding the role that parents play in adolescent development. More specifically, his work examines the role of perceived parenting styles in adolescent health decision-making. He holds a Bachelor of Psychology degree as well as a Masters and Doctoral degree in Child and Family Studies from the University of the Western Cape. And, is a registered Community Mental Health Counsellor with the Health Professions Council of South Africa. More recently, Eugene has started working on a new research project that looks at instrument development to understand adolescents’ condom use decision-making. Some of the prestigious awards and scholarships that he has held includes the Desmond Tutu Emerging Leadership Award, Winifred McKinnon Educational Trust Bursary, Abe Bailey Travel Bursary, Mandela Rhodes Scholarship and has been selected as a Donald J Cohen International Scholar in Child and Adolescent Mental Health as part of the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions World Congress (IACAPAP).

Matseliso Mokhele is a Research Associate Professor in the faculty of Education at the University of Fort Hare. Her research interests lie in the area of Teacher Education, in particular on what has become a large industry in South Africa, the provision of professional development and support to primary and secondary school teachers. Professor Mokhele’s research star has continued to rise from her humble beginnings as a Research Assistant at the University of Pretoria, a Research Officer at the ETDP-SETA, a Research Manager at the HSRC, a Senior Lecturer at the University of South Africa and now a Research Associate Professor at the University of Fort Hare. Mokhele has presented numerous papers at local and international conferences and she has published over 15 articles in South African and international scholarly journals. She was invited to the following international universities as a visiting scholar; Michigan State University, USA; Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; University of Zimbabwe, Kenyatta University, Kenya and Polytechnic of Namibia. She is a recipient of multiple academic awards including the coveted National Research Foundation (NRF) Y2 rating, travel award from the prestigious American Educational Research Association (AERA) and Resilience in Research Award for UNISA women in Research. She also received an award from the Department of Science and Technology as a Distinguished Young Woman Scientist in Social Sciences for her outstanding contribution to building South Africa’s scientific and research knowledge base. Mokhele completed doctorate degree in education at the University of South Africa in 2011.

Chris L. de Wet completed his studies at UJ (then RAU) and the University of Pretoria. He is currently Associate Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Studies in the Department of Biblical and Ancient Studies, at UNISA. He is an international expert on ancient Greek and Roman slavery and labour exploitation, and has published two monographs on the topic. His first book, Preaching Bondage: John Chrysostom and the Discourse of Slavery in Early Christianity was published in 2015 with the University of California Press, Berkeley. His second monograph entitled, The Unbound God: Slavery and the Formation of Early Christian Thought appeared in 2017 with Routledge. His next research project deals with ancient Greek and Roman medicine and medical discourse and practice related to gender, ageing, and disability. He is also part of an international research team working on religious conflict and violence, which holds a R5-million grant with the Australian Research Council. He has also authored 55 academic articles and book chapters. He is the current president of the New Testament Society of Southern Africa and also editor of the accredited academic periodical, the Journal of Early Christian History. He is part of the editorial team of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Households in the Ancient World, and executive editor of the forthcoming 2-volume Routledge Handbook of Slavery in the Biblical World. He has given guest lectures and keynote addresses at Oxford University, University of Helsinki, University of California, Australian Catholic University, University of Montreal and University of Ottawa. He holds an NRF Y1 rating.

Vishnu Jejjala obtained three Bachelor of Science degrees with honors in Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy from the University of Maryland 1996. He completed his Masters and Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Illinois in 2002. He subsequently held postdoctoral research appointments at Virginia Tech, Durham University, the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, and Queen Mary, University of London. In October 2011, he was appointed as the NRF/DST Chair in Theoretical Particle Cosmology at the University of the Witwatersrand. He is an Associate Professor in the School of Physics.

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Lisa Claire du Toit is currently a full-time Senior Lecturer of Pharmaceutical Chemistry in the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Most recently, Dr. du Toit has been awarded the Friedel Sellschop Award in 2014 which recognizes and supports exceptional young researchers, as well as the Claude Leon Foundation Merit Award for outstanding emerging researchers.

Dr Srila Roy is Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand. She has a BA in Philosophy from the University of Delhi and a MA in Philosophy and Social Theory and PhD in Sociology, both from the University of Warwick. Before joining Wits in 2014, she was Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Nottingham where she continues to be Honorary Assistant Professor. She is an Associate Editor of the Journal of South Asian Development, and serves on the editorial board of The Sociological Review, and the council of the South African Sociological Association. She has held visiting fellowships at the Delhi School of Economics, the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, the University of Johannesburg, the Universidad de Valparaiso in Chile, and also acted as an external expert to the Bergen Summer School on Global Development Challenges.

Dr. Roy uses a postcolonial and transnational feminist lens to research a number of themes including gender and sexuality; cultural memory, violence and trauma; the affective economies of social movements; and the politics of development and neoliberalism, much of which takes as its starting point the contemporary socio-political history of India/South Asia. She is the author of Remembering Revolution: Gender, Violence and Subjectivity in India’s Naxalbari Movement (OUP, 2012), the editor of New South Asian Feminisms (Zed, 2012), and the co-editor of New Subaltern Politics (OUP 2015).

Prof. Yanxia Sun got her DTech in Electrical Engineering, Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa and PhD in Computer Science, University Paris-EST, France in 2012. She has 9 years teaching and research experience. Currently she is serving as an Associate Professor and Head of Department: Electrical and Electronic Engineering Science, University of Johannesburg. She has lectured seven courses in the universities. Currently she is supervising six PhD students and two MTech/MEng students. Yanxia Sun is doing research in Particle Swarm Optimization, Neural Network, Nonlinear Dynamics, Control Systems, and Renewable Energy. She published 42 papers including 14 ISI master indexed journal papers. She was awarded NRF rating Y2 (2015-2020) and obtained the NRF incentive grant. She is an IEEE member and reviewer for several international journals and conferences. She was the principal investigator/co-principle investigator of four research Grants.

Lindie Koorts is a historian and biographer, who is fascinated by the ability of individuals to shape their environment. I completed my MA in Historical Studies (cum laude) at the University of Johannesburg in 2005, and received my DPhil in History from the University of Stellenbosch in 2010. My postgraduate research focused on DF Malan, the first of the apartheid prime ministers. As part of my studies, I spent a year at the University of Groningen’s Institute for Biography.

In 2014, I published a biography of Malan, in both English and Afrikaans, entitled DF Malan and the Rise of Afrikaner Nationalism and DF Malan en die opkoms van Afrikaner-nasionalisme. It was the first full-length biography of an apartheid prime minister to be published after 1994. The two books were shortlisted for the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award and the KykNET-Rapport Prys vir Nie-Fiksie respectively. This exposure gave me access to a wider, non-academic readership. I am a strong believer in public engagement, and making history accessible to a wider audience. For this reason, I regularly participate in public debates, and I write a bi-weekly column for the Afrikaans daily newspapers.

I am currently a Senior Lecturer in the University of the Free State’s International Studies Group, which is a specialist history unit. My research focuses on Paul Kruger’s Transvaal, and in particular the relationship between capital and the state in a society undergoing rapid modernisation, all within the context of globalisation.

Prof Esther Akinlabi is Vice Dean: Teaching and Learning. She is based at University of Johannesburg’s Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment. Her research areas involves solid state welding – Friction stir welding and Laser Material Processing. Prof Akinlabi’s research in laser additive manufacturing involves the production of titanium based functionally graded composites. She is registered with ECSA and a member of SAIMechE. Prof Akinlabi is also involved with the Engenius programme in collaboration with ECSA.

She was awarded the Distinguished Young Women Scientist –Physical and Engineering Sciences Category at the Women in Science Awards 2016 run by the Department of Science and Technology in August 2016.

I am a Y2 rated researcher, certified Natural Scientist and Senior Lecturer in the Institute for Rural Development at the University of Venda. I Hold BSc. Honours degree (1999) and MSc (2004), both in Animal Science from the University of Zimbabwe. I attained a PhD in Animal Science at the University of Fort Hare in 2010. Upon completion of my doctoral studies I joined the University of Venda on a postdoctoral fellowship up to 2012. During this period I was honoured with an Excellence in Research Award by the university. In 2013 I took up a postdoctoral fellowship at North West University (NWU). While at NWU I was nominated to attend the 16^th International Summer School in Japan in my capacity as one of the outstanding postdoctoral research fellows in the Faculty of Agriculture Science and Technology.

My professional work experience includes roles as an academic at four higher institutions of learning in Zimbabwe and South Africa. I have supervised to completion 6 Honours, 5 Masters and 1 PhD students. Currently I am supervising 6 Masters and 6 PhD students. My research interests are in ethno-veterinary control of livestock diseases, food security and animal production. I have published 39 papers in refereed journals and 2 in refereed conference proceedings and recently received an award for an Active Researcher from the University of Venda. I am a member of various scientific associations and serve as a reviewer and panel member for NRF. Furthermore, I am a reviewer and sub-editor of the South African Journal of Animal Science and a reviewer of other couple of refereed journals.

Dr Natasha Ross undertook her undergraduate studies at the University of the Western Cape where she obtained her BSc Chemical Science degree in March, 2008. Her first introduction to research was in 2008 when she developed a nanocomposite biosensor for determining the metabolic profile of anti-retroviral drugs in human serum as her BSc Hons project. For attainment of a Master of Science degree awarded in 2010, she constructed a novel nanocomposite immunosensor for anti-transglutaminase antibody detection, which was a biomarker for coeliac disease (Analytical Letters, 11 (2011) 1956-1966, Journal of Bioactive and Compatible Polymer, 1-11 (2013), doi:10.1177/0883911512472277 and Biomedical Applications of Nanostructured materials, Macmillan Publishers India Limited (2010) 269-264). Dr Ross’s PhD degree (awarded in 2013) focussed on the synthesis of modified nanostructured manganese oxide (MnO) cathode materials for the improvement of the stability and energy storage capacity of Lithium-ion batteries (LIB)  (Electrochimica Acta, 101 (2013) 86–92, Electrochimica Acta, 128 (2014), 178-183 and Journal of Nanomaterials, 613124 (2015), 6).  She has presented her research at various international and national conferences. She is a Lecturer at the Department of Chemistry and a recipient of the University of Michigan (UM)-African Presidential Scholarship for 2015/16 for research exchange visit to the UM Energy Institute. She also teaches grade 11 physical science to learners from previously disadvantaged backgrounds and is one of the academic staff members of SensorLab where she is involved in sensors and energy materials research, as well as in postgraduate co-supervisor.

Dr. Thobela Nkukwana is Lecturer: Monogastric Nutrition at the University of Pretoria. Her research interests are on promoting transparency and traceability towards safer production of poultry meat and eggs.

Dr. Thobela Nkukwana obtained her BSc degree (Animal Science Production) at the University of the North, Turfloop (now Limpopo).  She then embarked on her MSc degree in Poultry Science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, supervised by the world renowned and A-rated poultry scientist Prof. Rob Gous.  As a student,she has worked as a Research Assistant at Ukulinga, UKZN.  After obtaining her MSc, she worked as an Animal Nutritionist at NuTecSA (Pty) in Pietermaritzburg. She has also worked as a lecturer at the University of Fort Hare, a career move spanning nine years.

It was during her tenure at UFH that she embarked on her doctoral studies as part of the NRF capacity building initiative under the PhD track. The PhD was done in collaboration with the University of Stellenbosch.  Dr Nkukwana progressed through the University ranks and held the post of Head of Department (Poultry Science) and also served as a member of Senate, Institutional Forum and Council for three years. She has published widely in international, peer reviewed journals, and one of her papers is currently ranked fourth amongst the Top 25 Hottest Articles in the Livestock Science Journal.

Marlien Pieters is a Professor at the Centre of Excellence for Nutrition, North-West University, where she heads up the Nutrition and Haemostasis sub-programme.  Following the completion of her PhD in 2002, she did a post-doctoral fellowship at the Free University of Amsterdam. She has a C2 NRF rating. She heads an international task force on the standardisation of fibrin network structure methodology and was elected as a co-Chair of the FXIII and Fibrinogen Scientific and Standardisation Sub-committee of the International Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis in July 2013. In 2014, she became a Board Member of the International Fibrinogen Research Society.  She was awarded the AU-TWAS Young Scientists National Award in the area of Earth and Life Sciences in 2015.

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Dr Rory Pilossof is senior lecturer at the University of Free State, in the Department of Economics. This appointment contributes to my profile as a scholar and is recognition of the multidisciplinary elements of my work. In 2017 I was awarded an Advanced Newton Fellowship for a three-year research project into labour and labour migration in southern Africa and a visiting research fellowship at the University of Kent, UK.

He enrolled at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2003, where he earned support via the Charles Struben Scholarship, an Ernest Oppenheimer Trust Bursary, and Beit Trust Emergency Support. In 2007 he began his PhD at the University of Sheffield on white farming discourse and identity, funded by the highly competitive Overseas Research Studentship.  His research there was supported by the Royal Historical Society Research Funding, the Excellence Exchange Scheme, and the Petrie Watson Exhibition.

After his PhD he undertook a postdoctoral position at the University of Pretoria (UP), where he turned his thesis into a monograph, The Unbearable Whiteness of Being: Farmers’ Voices From Zimbabwe, (2012) published with the University of Cape Town Press and Weaver Press in Zimbabwe.

Tolu Oni completed medical training at University College London Medical school, UK, and postgraduate training in internal medicine, including GUM/HIV in UK and Australia. She moved to Cape Town, South Africa to work in HIV/TB research in 2007. She completed her research doctoral degree in Clinical Epidemiology of HIV-associated TB at Imperial College London, based in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. She is currently Associate Professor and Public Health Physician Specialist, Division of Public Health, School of Public Health and Family Medicine at the University of Cape Town.

She is a former Co-Chair of SAYAS and a Next Einstein Fellow. Tolu is currently one of the Co-Chair s of the Global Young Academy (GYA).

Naomi Nkealah is a senior lecturer in the Department of English Studies at the University of South Africa. She obtained her PhD on African Literature from Wits University in 2011 and has since lectured at Wits University, University of Limpopo and now Unisa. Her research specialises in feminist theory and African women’s writing, while also exploring intersections of gender and sexuality in African literature. She has published widely in: South African journals such as English in Africa, the English Academy Review and the South African Theatre Journal; international journals such as Research in African Literatures and ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature; as well as in edited books such as Style in African Literature: Essays on Literary Stylistics and Narrative Styles (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2012) and Performing Gender in Arabic/African Theater: Between Cultures, Between Gender (Amsterdam: Intercultural Theatre Series No 4, 2009). She currently holds an NRF rating in the category of Y1, positioning her as a leading emerging researcher in her field with great potential to becoming an internationally established scholar. As an academic, she presents papers at national and international conferences, supervises postgraduate students, reviews articles for journals and books for publishers, and examines theses and dissertations for various universities. She has won several awards, including the Most Resourceful Staff Member Award from the University of Limpopo (2013), the Golden Key Membership Award from the Golden Key Society (2012), and the DAAD Scholarship for Young Academics and Scientists (2009).

She was awarded the Distinguished Young Women Scientist –Humanities and Social Sciences Category at the Women in Science Awards 2016 run by the Department of Science and Technology in August 2016.

Jo Vearey is an Associate Professor with the African Centre for Migration & Society, University of the Witwatersrand. Her research interests focus on urban health, public health, migration and health, the social determinants of health, HIV, informal settlements, sex work, and local level responses. In 2014, Jo received a Friedel Sellschop Award from the University of the Witwatersrand for outstanding young researchers and was awarded a British Council Researcher Links Travel Award to spend time at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

She has served on the SAYAS Executive Committee.

Dr Sahal Yacoob is an experimental particle physicist. He is currently part of the ATLAS collaboration which discovered the Higgs Boson in 2010 and continues to explore the energy frontier. He is passionate about expanding access to knowledge, resources, and the scientific method while developing an active particle physics group in South Africa. Dr Yacoob is the first South African representative of the international particle physics outreach group (IPPOG).

Dr Yacoob is a former SAYAS Co-Chair and has served on the Executive Committee for three terms.

Nomusa Makhubu is an NRF-rated art historian and artist. She is the recipient of the ABSA L’Atelier Gerard Sekoto Award (2006) and the Prix du Studio National des Arts Contemporain, Le Fresnoy (2014). Makhubu became chairperson of Africa South Art Initiative (ASAI) in 2015. She is a UCT-Harvard Mandela fellow, an ACLS fellow, an Abe Bailey fellow, and was a research fellow of the Omooba Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon Art Foundation (OYASAF) in Nigeria, Lagos where her doctoral research was based. Makhubu was a committee member of the National Arts Festival. Makhubu co-curated the international exhibition, Fantastic, in 2015. She co-edited a Third Text Special Issue: ‘The Art of Change’ (2013). She was a recipient of the CAA-Getty travel award in 2014. Her current research focuses on African popular culture, photography, interventionism, performance art and socially engaged art. She lectures Art History and Visual Culture at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

David Bilchitz is a Professor of Fundamental Rights and Constitutional Law at the University of Johannesburg and Director of the South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International Law (SAIFAC). He is also Secretary-General of the International Association of Constitutional Law from June 2014 until 2018.  David has a BA (Hons) LLB cum laude from Wits University. He graduated with an MPhil in Philosophy from St John’s College, University of Cambridge in 2001 and with a PhD in law from the same university in 2004. David worked as law clerk to Deputy Judge-President (then) Langa of the South African Constitutional Court in 2000. His book on ‘Poverty and Fundamental Rights: the Justification and Enforcement of Socio-Economic Rights’ was published by Oxford University Press in February 2007. He also has two co-edited books, one of which – titled ‘Human Rights Obligations for Business: Beyond the Corporate Responsibility to Respect?’ – was published by Cambridge University Press and launched at the United Nations library. As at 31 December 2014, he has published ten book chapters, and over 30 journal articles. He is also on the editorial boards of several prestigious journals. Prof. Bilchitz’s academic work focuses on the critical role that law plays in protecting vulnerable within constitutional democracies: his focus is on the field of fundamental rights and, in particular, the content of socio-economic rights, the obligations of business in relation to fundamental rights, the tension between religious freedom and equality, and the rights of animals.

Dr Oladapo Adeyemi Aremu is a Senior Lecturer at DST Centre of Excellence in Indigenous Knowledge Systems, North West University (Mafikeng Campus), where he teaches undergraduate modules in indigenous Science and Technology. He obtained his MSc (Ethnobotany cum lauda, 2010) and PhD (Botany, 2012) degrees from UKZN. His research focuses on the documentation, bioactivity testing and safety evaluation of South African medicinal plants. Adeyemi also has interest on the application of low-cost and indigenous approaches for enhancing the productivity and conservation of plants with medicinal and nutritional values. He is an highly-motivated and dedicated emerging scientist with a track record of academic excellence. He has authored/co-authored 70 peer-reviewed articles (985 citations, h-index of 14 and i10-index of 25 – Google Scholar, 20/08/24). Adeyemi has successfully mentored/co-supervised 9 Honours and one MSc (cum laude) students and currently supervising more than 10 postgraduate students. He is an editorial board member for South African Journal of Botany and regularly reviews manuscripts/proposals for more than 10 ISI-rated international journals, national and international funding organisation. In recognition of his academic achievement and contribution to science in South Africa, Adeyemi was awarded the National Research Foundation (NRF) Y2-rating in 2016. He is also a recipient of NRF Knowledge Interchange and Collaboration Travel Grant (April, 2016), selected as a participant in the High-level Capacity Strengthening Internship Programme in Systems Thinking for Emerging Researcher (August, 2016) and the Claude Leon Fellowship (2013-2014). He is actively involved in various community engagement activities in KwaZulu-Natal and North West Provinces.

I am a NRF (Y2) rated researcher & lecturer in Physiology, Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Pretoria. I obtained my PhD in April 2013 prior to which I obtained my Honours degree (Cum Laude) and Master’s degree (Summa Cum Laude). I am a member of South African Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Physiology Society of South Africa and European Respiratory Society. I was awarded a self-initiated scholarship from the Professional Providence Society (2012) and the National Health Laboratory Service Research Trust grant (2013). During my studies I was actively involved in teaching, collaborations and student training. I lectured medical, dentistry and BSc students and co-ordinated modules for  Honours course for Medical Biochemistry. My role on the manuscripts and conference proceedings which I have co-authored include conceptualising projects, conducting molecular based experiments and writing papers for publication. My leadership roles at UP includes chairperson for muscle physiology in the first medical block and course co-ordinator for a 2^nd year module in 2016. I am a reviewer for high impact factor ISI-rated journals and served as a panel member for the review of NRF funding applications. To date I have authored and co-authored 31 publications in peer-review journals. My H-index is 9 with 256 citations and a ResearchGate score of 27.31. I believe that academia provides the perfect platform for both teaching and research and it should be used to provide similar opportunities to all students especially those from less fortunate backgrounds which I can personally relate to.

Ernst van der Wal is a lecturer in Visual Studies at the Visual Arts Department of Stellenbosch University, where he also obtained his PhD in the Visual Arts in 2013.  His research examines the visualisation and embodiment of lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender identities within post-apartheid South Africa – a subject on which he has published widely.  Recent research focuses on forms of community-based knowledge production that bridges the divide between transgender and cisgender scholarship.

Prof Reza Malekian is an Associate Professor and head of Advanced Sensor Networks Research Group in the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering at the University of Pretoria (UP). Before joining UP, he was with the University of “St. Paul the Apostle” in Macedonia.

Prof. Malekian’s research is focused on Internet of Things, Sensors and smart cities. He is particularly interested in design and developments of industrial applications in the area of E-health, intelligent transportation systems, mine safety, water management, and agriculture.

He is registered as a chartered engineer with the Engineering Council of the UK, a rated researcher with the NRF, a senior member of the IEEE, and a Fellow of the British Computer Society.

Prof. Malekian was a guest professor or visiting professor in many international universities such as University of Porto (Portugal), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium), Aarhus University (Denmark), University of Maribor (Slovenia), Vilnius University (Lithuania), and University of St. Paul the Apostle (Macedonia) in the past two years.

From 2013-2016, he was a management committee member of “Autonomous Control for a Reliable Internet of Services (ACROSS)”, European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST).

Dr Tshitangoni has more than 16 years experience in Environmental Management and Rural Development. After completing his Bachelor of Environmental Science degree, he chose to apply his knowledge and skills in the environmental consulting arena. He founded Wandma Consulting Services and worked for five (5) years before joining the KZN Department of Environmental Affairs. He worked in Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development before being appointed by the National Department of Environmental Affairs where he is currently serving as a Director: Land Remediation. He led the team that developed documentations in preparation for bringing Part 8 (Contaminated Land Provision) of the Waste Act into effect.

His academic qualifications includes: Diploma in Project Management, Diploma in Financial Management, B. Env.Sc, Hons, Masters and PhD in Rural Development. He has successfully supervised a Masters student. Currently he is co-promoting two PhD candidates at the Institute for Rural Development at the University of Venda. He has published numerous research papers in peer reviewed scientific journals and presented papers in National and International Conferences such as International Committee on Contaminated Land in the United States of America, Australia; Chrysotile Asbestos meeting in Switzerland. His research interest includes: Sustainable Rural Development, Governance, Community Participation and Engagement, Land Reform. Rural Planning and Development.

He held many positions of responsibility which includes: Public relation officer of Environmental Science society at the University of Venda. He is a member of Institute of Environment and Recreation Management, a member of Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa.

Avinash Govindjee is Executive Dean in the Faculty of Law at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. Avinash is an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa, practicing as a consultant to the firm Burmeister de Lange Soni Inc in Port Elizabeth.Avinash was included in the Mail & Guardian’s List of “200 Young South Africans” during 2013 and on the Nelson Mandela Business Chamber’s “Top 40 under 40” list. During 2014, Avinash was a finalist in the Titans Building Nations Award for achievement in academia.

Marnie Potgieter is Research Fellow at the Center for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Department of Genetics, University of Pretoria. She holds a PhD in Cell Biology. Her research focusses on microbiomics in complex disorders.

Alex Broadbent is Professor of Philosophy and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at University of Johannesburg (UJ) and Affiliated Research Fellow in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. He holds a P-rating from the National Research Foundation of South Africa (2013-2018). He held various research, teaching and visiting positions at Cambridge, Vienna, Athens and Harvard, before joining the University of Johannesburg in 2011. He holds degrees in philosophy from Cambridge (BA, PhD) and UCL (MPhil) and a Graduate Diploma in Law from BPP.

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