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.

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.

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 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.

Dr Tozama Qwebani-Ogunleye is currently the Project Manager at the Vaal University of Technology in a start up company called Dihlare Pty Ltd. The company provides the ideal vehicle to authenticate traditional medicines in order to ultimately produce them for community consumption. In addition to her leadership role at Dihlare, she heads a research group where she supervises the next generation of scientists, funded through her National Research Foundation (NRF) Thuthuka Post-PhD track research grant. Dr Qwebani-Ogunleye is an advocate for science and has delivered many science talks, some on invitation, at high schools and other platforms. She was a member of the NRF Role Modelling Campaign aimed at encouraging high school learners to pursue studies in the STEMI fields and create awareness about the importance of PhDs to knowledge creation and social-economic factors.

Her notable contribution to science has resulted in several accolades awarded to her, including the 2011 DST Young Women in Science Award from the Department of Science and Technology and TATA Africa. In 2016 she was the Mail and Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans in 2018 she is the recipient of the TechWomen Fellowship. This is an Initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. It is a platform for emerging women leaders in STEMI and the award encompasses a one month working visit to the San Francisco’s Silicon Valley. This is then followed by a one week program in Washington DC, where the awardee participates in discussions, forums and cultural events. The discussions normally rotate around Women in Science and Leadership

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).

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.

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.

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.

Dr Nosiphiwe “Nosi” Ngqwala is a member of the SAYAS Executive Committee. She is currently a lecturer at Rhodes University in the faculty of Pharmacy. As a young academic she is interested in contributing in the intellectual pool of the country as a result after her PhD she decided to become a lecture and a researcher working with the Environmental health and biotechnology research group (EHBRG) where she supervises Masters and Honors students.  Although she is from Mount Frere Eastern Cape, she has a deep-rooted love for South Africa and passionate about the society, which have motivated her to be a part of the solutions to the economic, environmental and social problems affecting South Africa. Her desire to make a difference led her to be the founder and a co-coordinator of two NPOs: Siyakhana youth development, which focuses on youth development in rural areas in Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal Provinces. The second is Children of the soil (COTS), focusing on working with schools to address climate change issues in Grahamstown. She is also a vice chairperson of Young Water Professionals (YWP) in the Eastern Cape “Programme is focused on bringing people working in or interested in the water sector together in a meaningful way” and an active member of the Activate Innovation Leadership Program, a national network of young leaders equipped to drive change for the public good across South Africa.

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.

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).

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).

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.

Dr Tatenda Dalu is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Venda, where he has the opportunity to interact with young upcoming scientists every day, and mentoring their scientific research development. He studied his BSc (2008) and MSc (2012) in Aquatic Ecology at the University of Zimbabwe before moving to Rhodes University for his PhD (2015) and Postdoctoral studies (2015–2017). To date, he has had 78 articles accepted peer-reviewed journal articles and has supervised two MSc students to completion and is currently supervising 8 MSc and 1 PhD student. He was made a Research Associate with the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity due to his exceptional professional involvement and contributions to South Africa aquatic ecology research which encompasses co-supervising and mentoring MSc and PhD students and collaborating in research projects. Tatenda is an individual who values constant growth, personal development and embraces new challenges. He excels in team settings, learning much whilst also contributing towards team effort. His value for people, and personal and work ethic as well his knowledge and skills make him an exceptional research scientist. His research philosophy is centred on research excellence rather than specifically addressing fundamental or applied research, with the ultimate goal of bridging the gap between the two in the bigger picture. Furthermore, it is his opinion that collaboration is vital for the adequate development of an excellent career in research. Collaborations enable better quality work and facilitate the timely output of research. This belief has motivated his initiative of being Co- or Principal Investigator in short and long-term research projects involving researchers from various institutions.

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. Amy Slogrove is a paediatrician and epidemiologist in the position of Senior Lecturer at Stellenbosch University Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences in the Department of Paediatrics & Child Health and is based at the Ukwanda Centre for Rural Health in Worcester, South Africa. Amy also provides paediatric care at the primary healthcare level in the rural Breede Valley sub-district of the Western Cape where access to specialist care is challenging for communities. Amy has an MBChB from the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine at the University of KwaZulu Natal, she specialised in paediatrics at Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Children’s Hospital, has a PhD in Population and Public Health from the University of British Columbia in Canada and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Research at the University of Cape Town.

Amy holds an Emerging Global Leader Award from the US National Institutes of Health that she is using to establish a rural maternal and child health research unit in Worcester. The aim of this unit is to understand the effect of pregnancy and early life exposures, including HIV and antiretroviral drugs, on maternal, infant and child outcomes with a particular focus on the implications for rural and remote populations.

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.

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.

Dr Nhlanhla Mpofu is the Director for Teaching, Learning and Programme Development and a Senior Lecturer at Sol Plaatje University. Nhlanhla received her PhD (Humanities Education) from the University of Pretoria. Her research interests are in the area of knowing sciences positioned within the socio-cultural and cognitive perspectives. Through her research focus, Nhlanhla seeks to gain a strategic, epistemological and pragmatic understanding of the nuanced discourse of knowing how to teach. Her research and professional perspectives are drawn from multi-paradigmatic trajectories that seek to locate teaching knowledge in the empowering epistemic metaphors embedded in context, reflection, problem solving, critical thinking, experiential and transformative spaces. Following her research foci, Nhlanhla, is at the moment the principal investigator of two research grants.

Nhlanhla serves as a grant reviewer and moderator for the National Research Foundation (NRF) and a programme evaluator for the Council for Higher Education (CHE). She is a reviewer for a number of local and international journals and conferences. She also works with a number of local and international universities as a thesis and dissertation examiner. Nhlanhla is a recipient of several awards that include the Kresge Foundation DREAM Institute on Student Success Travel Grant; The World Bank Margaret McNamara Scholarship; Golden Key International recognition and recently returned from the United States of America on a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

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.

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.

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.

Dr Leyla Tavernaro-Haidarian, PhD is a media professional, communication specialist and postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Communication at the University of Johannesburg. She has raised over USD100,000.- in academic and corporate funding for her research on communication in South Africa and has published peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters through Sage, Taylor and Francis, Intellect and Palgrave McMillan as well as a monograph through Routledge London/New York. Leyla’s research focus is on the normative moral theory of Ubuntu and its implications for communication, education, leadership and governance. In her capacity as a media professional, Leyla has produced and presented for a variety of media outlets, including Warner Brothers/KTLA5, the Austrian and South African Broadcasting Corporations, HBO and the Africa Channel USA. She is a member of the Golden Key International Honor Society and the South African Communication Association and her research has been described as “outstandingly accomplished and […] an excellently executed cross-disciplinary study”. Elsewhere she has been praised: “for her careful selection and ability to create critically rigorous arguments and assumptions that explicate motives for deep-rooted problems facing contemporary societies […] from an interdisciplinary perspective in the wake of thunderous calls for transformation”. Leyla consults for companies and organization such as Accenture and the United Nations and presents and keynotes at international fora including the Global African Diaspora Forum, TED, the US State Department, the Unique Speaker Bureau and Ethical Business Building the Future. She is a 2018 South African Women in Science Awards nominee.

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.

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).

Dr Samson Khene is a Senior Lecture in Physical Chemistry at Rhode University. His main field of research has been in the synthesis and spectroscopic characterisation of phthalocyanine complexes for their possible application as photosensitisers in photodynamic therapy (PDT), electrocatalysis and nonlinear optical (NLO) material. He has published research papers in international Journals (with impact factors ranging from 1.4 to 13) and 1 book chapter. He hold a NRF Y rating and has an h-index of 13 (Scopus), a HOPE fellow, Africa Science Leadership Program (ASLP) fellow and member of the Board of African Network for Electroanalytical Chemistry (ANEC). He has been selected to attend 9^th HOPE meeting with Noble prize Laureates in Japan (2017) and Africa Science Leadership program (2017). He has been invited to be a speaker at the Electrochemical Society (ECS) in Seattle (USA) May 2018. Dr Khene has served as an external examiner for PhD and MSc research thesis, a journal editor, a reviewer for journals, conferences and NRF funding proposals. He is a co-organiser of “General Session” symposia at the 70^th international Society of Electrochemistry (ISE) 2019, to be held in Durban (It is the first of its kind in Africa).

Dr khene is a co-founder of the Rhodes Science Dialogues (RSD) and Science Village Hubs (SVH) (under ASLP initiative). The initiative arose from a deep concern of creating a more scientifically literate African society. He believes that a scientifically illiterate society is a disempowered society, which does not fully possess the capacity to engage with and understand natural and social phenomenon. The “Science Village Hubs” is composed of individual from different African Countries, namely South Africa, Ghana, Sudan, Ethiopia and Nigeria.

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.

Fulufhelo Nemavhola is currently an associate professor and head of department in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of South Africa. Fulufhelo was born in the Phadzima Dzumbathoho village in the Limpopo province of South Africa. In addition to being a registered professional engineer (PrEng) with the Engineering Council of South Africa, Fulufhelo is also a chartered engineer (CEng) registered with the Engineering Council of the United Kingdom (ECUK). Fulufhelo graduated with Bachelor of Science (Mechanical Engineering) and Master of Science (Mechanical Engineering) degrees at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. He held various positions, including those of senior engineer and design engineer in private and parastatal companies before joining the academia. Fulufhelo’s interest in academic research then steered him to pursue a doctorate from the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery of the University of Cape Town in December 2010. The PhD degree was studied under the supervision of Prof Thomas Franz, Prof Neil Davies and Dr Laura Dubuis. His research looked into the remodelling heart post myocardial infarction. His research focus is in the areas of mechanobiology, soft tissue mechanics, computational biomechanics and engineering education in open distance e-learning (ODeL). Fulufhelo is involved extensively in research, having authored, co-authored and presented a number of papers in both national and international fora. Fulufhelo has his heart set on the development of rural villages using technology. As such, Fulufhelo is currently involved in various programmes with the aim of developing poor or underprivileged communities.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Dr Pradeep Kumar, PhD, is an internationally trained pharmacist, a Senior Lecturer of Pharmaceutics at the Wits’ Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, and a Senior Researcher at the Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform (WADDP). Pradeep’s doctoral thesis was focused on engineering neural devices for spinal cord injury interventions and was awarded the Most Prestigious PhD Degree Award for his research. In addition, he has established a first-in-the-world computational analysis and programming algorithm for the design of drug delivery devices and polymeric architectures. For the advancement of his discipline, Pradeep was awarded the prestigious Claude Leon Foundation Merit Award (2018), ASRT Young African Researcher Award (2018), and an AGNES’ Junior Researcher Grant funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2018). Earlier this year, Dr Kumar received the SPER Young Scientist Award at PST2018, Bangkok. Pradeep has proudly presented his research at reputed international conferences across the globe (USA, France, Spain, Australia, Denmark, Canada, Thailand, and India) and is the recipient of Elsevier’s NanoToday (2011) and International Society of Developmental Neuroscience (2012) Awards. Pradeep, an inventor on 4 granted and 11 filed patents, received Wits Innovators Forum’s First-time (2013), Prolific (2014) and International (2016) Inventor Awards for his contributions to innovation in pharmaceuticals (such as a paediatric wafer). Dr Kumar has contributed to over 185 high-impact publications, 4 editorials, 2 edited books, 30 book chapters and 110 scientific presentations (H-index: 25). Dr Kumar has graduated 7 PhD students and currently supervising 6 doctoral projects. Recently, he featured among the 2018 Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans (Category: Science and Technology).

Dr Sarah Fawcett is a Lecturer in the Department of Oceanography at the University of Cape Town (UCT). She received her undergraduate Honours degree from Harvard University in 2006 and her Ph.D. from Princeton University in 2012. Dr. Fawcett’s research is focused on understanding the complex relationships between biogeochemical fluxes and primary productivity in the ocean on a variety of scales, with implications for past, present, and future climate, ecosystem structure and function, ocean fertility, and global biogeochemical cycles. Her principle tool is precise and novel measurements of the stable isotopes of nitrogen, and she is currently developing a marine isotope laboratory at UCT that will be the first of its kind in Africa. Dr. Fawcett works on questions of global relevance, such as the role of the Southern Ocean in past and present climate, as well as of local importance, such as water quality and ecosystem health in False Bay. In 2017, she was awarded an NRF P-rating, which recognizes that she is “likely to become a future international leader in [her] field, on the basis of exceptional potential demonstrated in research performance and output during [her] early career”. In 2017, she received the South African Network for Coastal and Oceanic Research (SANCOR) Young Researchers Award and a Claude Leon Merit Award for Early-Career Researchers, and was named one of the Mail and Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans. In 2018, she was a recipient of the UCT College of Fellows Young Researcher Award.

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 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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

Prof Makondelele Makatu is one of the SAYAS Co-Chairs. She is a Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Venda (UNIVEN). She obtained her doctoral degree from the University of Pretoria (UP). Prior to that, she had received her education at UNIVEN, University of South Africa (UNISA) and University of Maastricht, the Netherlands. In her quest for new and innovative ideas to deploy in her academic work, Prof Makatu applied for and received a EUROSA scholarship which enabled her to spend a month at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. She completed the Teaching Advancement at Universities (TAU) fellowship programme, offered by the University of Johannesburg. Prof Makatu is one of the 2016 Africa Science Leadership (ASLP) fellows and a full member of the Organisation for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD). Over the years, she participated in many academic and community development initiatives, capacity building and mentoring activities. She particularly notes her involvement in the household vulnerability to food and water insecurity project from 2013-2014, which the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC) and Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) funded and was implemented in Thulamela Municipality of Limpopo Province by the Institute for Rural Development at UNIVEN. As the frontline field coordinator of the project, it opened many doors for her to learn directly about household vulnerability, common coping strategies and understanding the causes through the lenses of children, youth, adults and community leaders. Apart from this work, her other research projects have focused on widows’ bereavement and related rituals, siblings of mentally retarded children, coping with special health care needs, parental support towards adolescents’ pregnancy and adolescents and financial stress in the family. Currently she is coordinating a project focusing on developing responsible citizens amongst in-school youth for the benefit of the society. Prof Makatu has successfully supervised and co-supervised eight Masters and three PhD students. Furthermore, she serves as an external examiner for Psychology Masters dissertations of students registered at various universities in South Africa. An author and co-author of peer-reviewed and accredited journal articles. Prof Makatu believes her star in the academic arena will continue to rise.