Cathi Albertyn
Professor
School of Law
University of the Witwatersrand
Tel: +27 11 717 8467
www.wits.ac.za
Cathi Albertyn is a professor of law at the School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand, specialising in constitutional law, human rights and gender and the law. She holds a doctorate from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom and is an attorney of the high court. Between 2001 and March 2008 she was the director of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (Cals), a research, advocacy and litigation institute attached to the law school. She also ran its Gender Research Programme from 1994 to 2001. Albertyn has published extensively on issues of equality, the judiciary, gender and dramatic transformation, and gender and the law. She is the editor (along with Elsje Bonthuys) of Gender, Law and Justice (Juta and Co: 2007), a comprehensive volume on women and the law. She is a commissioner at the South African Law Reform Commission, the statutory body charged with reforming the country’s laws. When at Cals, Albertyn was one of the founders of the Reproductive Rights Alliance, an NGO promoting women’s reproductive rights, and she still serves on its management committee.
Nasima Badsha
CEO
Cape Higher Education Consortium
Tel: +27 21 763 7100
www.chec.ac.za
Nasima Badsha, an adviser to the minister of education, is CEO of the Cape Higher Education Consortium. Between 1997 and 2006 she was deputy director general in the national department of education. She has held a range of positions in higher education, including an associate professorship at the University of the Western Cape, where she headed the Academic Development Centre and served as executive assistant to the rector, research officer with the Alternative Admissions Research Project at the University of Cape Town, and lecturer in biochemistry at the University of Natal, Faculty of Medicine. Her extensive involvement with policy development includes participation in the National Education Policy Investigation and membership of the National Commission on Higher Education. She has served on numerous boards and councils. She was a founder member of the Forum for African Women Educationalists — South Africa. She has an honours degree in biochemistry from the University of London, a master’s in medical sciences from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a graduate certificate in education from Leeds University.
Judith Bishop
Professor of Computer Science
University of Pretoria
Tel: +27 12 420 3057
www.cs.up.ac.za/~jbishop
Judith Bishop has been professor of computer science at the University of Pretoria since 1991. She was in the first group to study computer science in South Africa in 1970 (Rhodes University, BSc Hons) and has stayed at the front of her field of programming languages for distributed systems. She now works on the principles of adaptive software in a multilingual and mobile environment. She is the top National Research Foundation-rated woman computer scientist in South Africa and has published more than 80 journal and conference papers. Her 14 books are available in six languages. Bishop received her master’s cum laude from the University of Natal in 1974 and she completed her PhD in 1977 at the University of Southampton (UK). In 2005 the department of science and technology named Bishop Distinguished Woman Scientist of the Year for Innovation; in 2004 she was given the IFIP Silver Core medal, and this year the University of Pretoria awarded her a Centenary Leading Minds medal. In 2006 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa.
Belinda Bozzoli
Deputy Vice-Chancellor
University of the Witwatersrand
Tel: +27 11 717 1152
www.wits.ac.za
Belinda Bozzoli, deputy vice-chancellor (research) at the University of the Witwatersrand, is a member of the National Archives advisory board and the board of the National Research Foundation. Bozzoli has served as head of the department of sociology (1996 to 1998) and head of the school of social sciences (2001 to 2003) at Wits. She graduated with a DPhil from the University of Sussex in 1975. She worked as an associate fellow at Yale University (1978 to 1979) in the United States, and as a research fellow at Cambridge University, UK, and at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, France. She was twice the Ernest Oppenheimer visiting fellow to Oxford University. She was a finalist for the Melville Herskovits Award and a winner in the Human Sciences Research Council Top Researcher Award for her book Women of Phokeng. Bozzoli is an A-rated scientist and has published six books, the most recent of which were Theatres of Struggle and the End of Apartheid (Edinburgh, Ohio and Wits University Presses: 2004) as well as numerous articles. She serves on the boards of the journals Urban Forum, African Studies and Sociology.
Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan
Professor of Zoology
University of Cape Town
Tel: +27 21 650 4007
www.uct.ac.za
Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan is a leader in the field of palaeobiology. A University of Cape Town professor, she was honoured as the 2005 Shoprite Checkers/SABC2 Woman of the Year, South Africa’s most prestigious award for women. “She has put South Africa on the map with her outstanding work, and as someone who has made a difference in the field of science and technology,” one of the judges commented. Chinsamy-Turan was the first scientist to use the microstructure of extinct animals’ bones to decipher various aspects of their growth and developmental patterns. In 2005 she published The Microstructure of Dinosaur Bone: Interpreting Biology through Fine Scale Techniques, the first scholarly book devoted to fossil bone microstructure, and in 2008 she published her first children’s book, entitled Famous Dinosaurs of Africa. Chinsamy-Turan is passionate about stimulating interest in science among the public.
Jacklyn Cock
Professor of Applied Sociology
University of the Witwatersrand
Tel: +27 11 717 4439
www.wits.ac.za
Jacklyn Cock, professor of applied sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand, has served as a member of the National Parks Board, the ANC commission on the emancipation of women, the research advisory committee on the Women’s National Coalition and the ANC task force on the environment. She was a founding member and co-chairperson of the Military Research Group. She also helped found the Group for Environmental Monitoring and Cease Fire. Cock is a board member of the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, the Community Agency for Social Enquiry and the Centre for Conflict Resolution in Cape Town. She has been a member of the national steering committee of Gun Free South Africa since 1996. Her most recent books include From Defence to Development: The Redirection of Military Resources in South Africa; Rainbow Nations and Melting Pots: Conversations about Difference and Disadvantage in the United States and South Africa (with Alison Bernstein); and The War Against Ourselves: Nature, Justice and Power (Wits University Press: 2007).
Cheryl de la Rey
Chief Executive Officer, Council on Higher Education
Tel: +27 12 392 9111
www.che.ac.za
In May 2008 Dr Cheryl de la Rey became CEO of the Council on Higher Education, a statutory body that plays an advisory role to the education minister. She was formerly deputy vice-chancellor and professor in psychology at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and, prior to that, executive director: research promotion at the National Research Foundation (NRF). De la Rey has published books and journal articles in her discipline, psychology. She completed her BA, honours and master’s at the University of Natal and her PhD at UCT. Her commitments include the Board of the Centre for Industrial and Scientific Research, the National Advisory Council on Innovation, the Executive Evaluation Committee of the NRF and chairperson of the national Science, Engineering and Technology for Women Committee. Over the past year she was instrumental is establishing the South Africa-Japan Forum for University Vice-Presidents and Deputy Vice-Chancellors. She is registered as a psychologist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa and she is a fellow of the Psychological Association of South Africa and a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.
Magda Fourie
Professor of Higher Education Studies and
Vice-Rector: Teaching and Learning
Stellenbosch University
Tel: +27 21 808 4513
www.sun.ac.za
Magda Fourie is professor of higher education studies and vice-rector: teaching and learning at Stellenbosch University. She has been appointed by the minister of education as a member of the Council on Higher Education and of Umalusi, the quality assurance body for general and further education. Fourie’s undergraduate studies were in languages and social sciences, and she specialised in educational management for her post-graduate work. Her PhD research focused on higher education, governance and transformation. She has been involved in research projects including the evaluation of the quality promotion unit and the certification council for technikon education for the Council on Higher Education, as well as institutional audit criteria for the Higher Education Quality Committee. In 2001 she received a research award from the South African Association of Women Graduates and, in 2002, an Oxford fellowship from the Association of Commonwealth Universities.
Leah Gilbert
Professor of Health Sociology
University of the Witwatersrand
Tel: 27 11 717 3684
www.wits.ac.za
A member of the academic staff of the University of the Witwatersrand since 1978, Leah Gilbert has been involved in teaching social sciences in a variety of health disciplines including public health, medicine, nursing, dentistry and pharmacy. Her teaching provided the background for the widely used reader Society, Health and Disease. She has been instrumental in developing the social sciences component of the master’s of public health, an interdisciplinary MA course titled “HIV/Aids in Context”, as well as the sociology of health and illness. Gilbert’s research interests encompass the links between society, health, disease and the health professions, and she has published widely in internationally accredited journals on social aspects of dentistry, the role of pharmacy in primary healthcare, and medical and healthcare pluralism. Her current research focuses on the role of health professionals in response to HIV/Aids, and the social complexity of adherence to and implementation of antiretroviral therapy.
Jennifer Glennie
Founding Director
South African Institute for Distance Education
Tel: +27 11 403 2813
www.saide.org.za
Jennifer Glennie is the founding director of the South African Institute for Distance Education (Saide), a non-profit organisation committed to increasing access to lifelong education for all South Africans. As a member of the Minister’s Council on Higher Education, Glennie has been active in the formation of the Higher Education Quality Committee. She is the South African government’s representative on the board of the Commonwealth of Learning, is a member of the Unisa Council, was the founding president of the National Association of Open and Distance Education in South Africa, and is chairperson of the board of the Community Agency for Social Enquiry. She worked for 15 years in a range of capacities, from course developer to director, for the Sached Trust, a prominent anti-apartheid education organisation. She holds a mathematics honours degree from the University of the Witwatersrand and a master’s from the Institute of Education in London. She is an honorary fellow of the Commonwealth of Learning and, in 2007, was awarded the chancellor’s medal by the University of Pretoria for her contribution to education.
Amanda Gouws
Professor of Political Science
University of Stellenbosch
Tel: +27 21 808 2414
www.sun.ac.za
Amanda Gouws, professor of political science at the University of Stellenbosch, teaches South African politics, gender politics and political behaviour. Her research deals with women and citizenship and she has published widely on women and the electoral system, the national gender machinery and citizenship issues. Her book, (Un)Thinking Citizenship: Feminist Debates in Contemporary South Africa (Juta & Co) was chosen by Constitution Hill as the book of the month of February 2008 on the theme of citizenship. In 2003 she received the Rector’s Reward for excellence in research. She is currently the chairperson of the sexual harassment advisory committee at the University of Stellenbosch and is a member of the board of the African Gender Institute at the University of Cape Town. She was the chairperson of the women’s forum at the University of Stellenbosch from 2003 to 2005. She holds a PhD from the University of Illinois and during 2007 was a visiting professor at Northwestern University in the US.
Rachel Gumbi
Rector and Vice-Chancellor
University of Zululand
Tel: +27 35 902 6624
www.uzulu.ac.za
Professor Rachel Gumbi assumed office in 2003 as the first female rector and vice-chancellor of the University of Zululand. She is a registered nurse and midwife; she has worked in the wards and college of King Edward VIII Hospital, lectured at the University of Zululand and served as professor and head of department in health, education and nursing science at the University of the Transkei. From 1996 to 2003 Gumbi was chief director of human resources in the national department of health, where she contributed to the formulation of some of the health policies in operation in South Africa. With a distinguished record as an academic, researcher, scholar, practitioner and manager, she serves as a member of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and on the Forum and is chairperson of WHO’s Global Advisory Group (nursing and midwifery) which advises the organisation’s director general on policy linked to health care delivery. From 1995 to 2003 she was the president of the South African Nursing Council. Gumbi has a PhD from Unisa and a master’s from the University of Liverpool.
Fazella Haniff
Director
Wits International Office
Tel: +27 11 717 1057
www.wits.ac.za
Fazella Haniff has worked for 19 years in community human rights in Canada and South Africa via board and committee representation. She was born in Guyana, South America; educated in Canada, where she stayed for 23 years; resided in the United States for two years and has been a permanent resident in South Africa since October 1994. She completed her studies in human resource management at Ryerson Polytechnic University, Toronto, Canada in 1994. In September 2006 she was elected president of the International Education Association of South Africa. Haniff is the director of the International Office at the University of the Witwatersrand, putting her strategic experience to work with the senior team members to grow international education and collaborations at the university. She also represents South Africa on the Network for International Education Associations and on the board of the Centre for Indian Studies in Africa.
Shireen Hassim
Associate Professor of Political Studies
University of the Witwatersrand
Tel: +27 11 717 4364
www.wits.ac.za
Shireen Hassim, associate professor in political studies and assistant dean (humanities: research) at Wits University, has published several books on gender, politics and development, exploring the themes of representation, social policy and citizenship. Her book on the politics of the South African women’s movement, Women’s Organisations and Democracy in South Africa: Contesting Authority (University of Wisconsin Press/UKZN Press, 2006), won the American Political Science Association’s 2007 Victoria Shuck award for best book in women and politics. She holds a doctorate in political science from York University and wrote her dissertation on the politics of the South African women’s movement from 1980 to 1999. Hassim is a member of the editorial boards of a number of international journals including Feminist Africa and the International Feminist Journal of Politics and Politics and Gender, and is a co-editor of Politics and Society. She is a member of the Ruth First Committee, has been closely involved with several South African women’s organisations, and is a board member of Women’sNet and the Community Agency for Social Enquiry.
Karin Jacobs
Senior Lecturer: Microbiology Department
Stellenbosch University
Tel: +27 21 808 5806
www.sun.ac.za
Dr Karin Jacobs is a senior lecturer in the microbiology department at Stellenbosch University. She studies several economically important fungi and has embarked on a research project into the fungal ecology of the fynbos soil. Jacobs, who hails from the Free State, started her undergraduate studies at the University of the Free State and obtained her PhD in 2000 from the University of Pretoria. The aim of her research is to improve the understanding of ecosystems, to the benefit of all people. Her book is used as a reference for the identification of Leptographium by plant pathologists around the world. In 2003 she received the Unesco-L’Oreal international fellowship for young women in science. She was awarded the Meiring Naude medal from the Royal Society of South Africa in 2006 for her contributions towards science in South Africa.
Helen Laburn
Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences
University of the Witwatersrand
Tel: +27 11 717 2555
www.wits.ac.za
Professor Helen Laburn, dean of the faculty of health sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, is honorary professorial research fellow in the brain function research group, school of physiology. Laburn holds a BSc honours and a PhD from Wits and has served Wits in various capacities. Prior to her deanship in 2006, Laburn was head of the school of physiology and, in that school, professor of thermal physiology. She is chairperson of the board of the Wits Health Consortium and a director of the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa and an honorary fellow of the Physiology Society of Southern Africa. For several years she was the only South African who was a foreign member of the Physiological Society (London). By invitation, Laburn has been a member of the Thermal Physiology Commission of the International Union of Physiological Sciences and is the chairperson of the South African national committee for that organisation. She has published widely on the subject of fever and temperature regulation and is considered to have particular expertise in the feto-maternal thermal relationship.
Beatrys Lacquet
Dean of Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
University of the Witwatersrand
Tel: +27 11 717 3684
www.wits.ac.za
Beatrys Lacquet graduated from Rand Afrikaans University (RAU — now the University of Johannesburg) in 1988 with a doctorate in electrical and electronic engineering. She was appointed professor of electrical and electronic engineering at RAU in 1996 and served as chairperson of the department from 2000 to 2003. She joined the Wits University in 2003 as De Beers professor of electronics in the school of electrical and information engineering. She is the dean of the faculty of engineering and the built environment. Lacquet has authored and co-authored more than 150 journal papers and conference contributions. She jointly holds a few patents. She is an active fellow of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers and served as its president for the term 2005/06. Lacquet is a registered professional engineer, actively serves on the Engineering Council of South Africa’s council and exec, and is chairperson and a member of its various committees.
Nita Lawton-Misra
Head: Disabled Students’ Programme
University of the Witwatersrand
Tel: +27 11 717 1208
www.wits.ac.za
Nita Lawton-Misra is running the disability unit as well as acting as deputy registrar (academic) at the University of the Witwatersrand. She has also been recruited by the South African Local Government Association to be a member of a reference group on disability matters. She is passionate about transformation and diversity, especially disability issues. With a strong background in education and psychology, Lawton-Misra has worked in the disability arena for about 20 years, gaining experience in different types of disabilities. Her current focus on disability is within the higher education sector, and she has been actively involved in sensitisation and advocacy programmes both within and outside Wits. Lawton-Misra’s engagement constantly extends beyond South Africa’s borders and she is often invited to conduct workshops at tertiary institutions all over Africa. She regularly presents papers at conferences within the education and private sectors and is a member of Absa’s transformation advisory committee.
Gill Marcus
Visiting Professor, Gordon Institute of Business Science
Non-executive chairperson, the Absa Group
Tel: +27 11 350 3532
www.absa.co.za
Gill Marcus, a former deputy minister of finance, is a visiting professor at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs). She started her political career at the ANC’s department of information and by 1976 had become the editor of the party’s weekly bulletin. She spent her exile in the United Kingdom before returning to South Africa in 1990. She established her own, highly respected voice in the party and was elected chairperson of the parliamentary joint finance committee. In June 1996 she was appointed deputy minister of finance and three years later became the first woman deputy governor of the South African Reserve Bank. Marcus serves on a number of boards, including Gold Fields Ltd, and the advisory board of the Auditor General. In July 2997 she was appointed non-executive chairperson of the Absa Group.
Lorna Martin
Professor / Head of Division Chief Specialist
University of Cape Town / Health, Forensic Pathology Services
Tel: +27 21 406 6412
Email: [email protected]
Professor Lorna Jean Martin is the first female and the youngest appointed professor and head of a department of forensic pathology in South Africa. She was appointed in September 2004 as chief specialist for the Western Cape government, department of health, forensic pathology services; and head of the division for forensic medicine and toxicology, University of Cape Town. She runs a department of nine pathologists with support staff who provide a medico-legal investigation of death service for the Cape Peninsula and West Metropole region. Her main interests include rape homicide, female murder, violence against women and clinical forensic medicine. With Professor Lynette Denny she was responsible for the development of the country’s first medico-legal protocol for the management of rape survivors, which has now been adopted for national implementation by the department of health. Her work goes beyond the immediate academic environment to develop formative partnerships in the health sector that have ensured that violence against women has been prioritised as a major public health concern.
Veronica McKay
CEO of the Kha ri Gude South African Mass
Literacy Campaign
Tel: +27 12 312 5208
Email: [email protected]
Professor Veronica McKay was recently appointed as the CEO for the Kha ri Gude South African Mass Literacy Campaign, a programme driven by the national department of education and intended to enable 4,7-million South Africans to become literate by 2012. She was formerly director of Unisa’s Institute for Adult Basic Education and Training. Under her leadership the institute trained more than 80 000 adult educators, 230 000 registration and voting officers for the 2004 elections, and, more recently, 4 000 community development workers. The institute also ran a component of the education department’s South African National Literacy Initiative, enabling 342 000 adults to become literate. McKay has conducted a wide range of interdisciplinary research for organisations such as Unesco, the International Labour Organisation, the Commonwealth of Learning and the Association for the Development of Education in Africa. She has authored and co-authored a number of articles and books, as well as Commonwealth award-winning teacher education materials. In 2000 she won the education section of the Shoprite SABC3 Woman of the Year.
Ingrid Miller
Registrar
University of the Western Cape
Tel: +27 21 959 2911
www.uwc.ac.za
Dr Ingrid Miller’s academic background is in sport science and business administration. She was a lecturer in the sport, recreation and exercise science department at the University of the Western Cape for 15 years before becoming the university’s registrar. Her areas of specialisation include neuro-motor control and development, sport for the disabled and sport psychology. Her doctoral research focused on the social construction of racialised identities in the context of post-apartheid South African sport. She also obtained an Executive MBA. In 1995 she was honoured with the Educator of the Year Award in the Community and Health Sciences Faculty. At a broader university level she participated in strategic planning processes in her capacity as coordinator of the Equity Task Team and serves on many Senate and Council committees. She also represented South Africa on the Unesco Intergovernmental Committee for Physical Education and Sport. She was elected to chair the Registrars’ Forum of Higher Education South Africa in 2005 and has served on various national and provincial structures.
Sarojini Nadar
Senior Lecturer
University of KwaZulu-Natal
Tel: +27 82 570 7177
www.sorat.ukzn.ac.za/theology/staff/nadar/default.htm
Dr Sarojini Nadar is a senior lecturer in, and the director of, the gender, religion and ethics programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. In 2003 she obtained her PhD from the University of Natal in the areas of gender and biblical studies. Her work experience includes managing an international network of eight tertiary institutions. She sits on the editorial board of the international Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion and is also the co-editor of the Journal of Constructive Theology — Gender and Religion in Africa. Her numerous publications include 15 accredited journal articles in the areas of gender, religion, HIV/Aids and culture. The book African Women Religion and Health, edited with Isabel Phiri, received an award from the Catholic Press Association in the gender category. She is a sought-after speaker and has presented more than 22 papers internationally, from Brazil to Hong Kong. Nadar is passionate about issues of social transformation; hence as an activist-scholar, she facilitates workshops in local communities and for corporate institutions as well.
Clara L Priester
Marketing and Communications Consultant
Tel: +27 11 469 0978
Clara Priester is the former marketing and communications director for the Wits Business School (WBS), where she still lectures on various marketing courses. She has significant expertise in brand development, marketing and strategic planning. Her proficiency lies in applying strategic thinking with solid business judgement and leadership, as well as training and programme development. Priester began her career at Leo Burnett Advertising in Chicago, US. She then joined McDonald’s corporate headquarters, relocating to South Africa when she undertook the post of marketing and communications director for McDonald’s SA. After retiring from the WBS, Priester established Brandworx, a branding, marketing and communications consultancy. She is the chairperson of the Johannesburg Businesswomen’s Association, a trustee on the Women Private Equity Fund, a member of Democrats Abroad SA and of the CAF Southern Africa Board. She has a BA in psychology and secondary education from Kansas Wesleyan University, an MBA from the University of Chicago and is a Chartered Marketer (SA).
Lizette Rabe
Professor and Chair: Post-Graduate Department of Journalism
University of Stellenbosch
Tel: +27 21 808 3488
academic.sun.ac.za/journalism/index2.htm
Professor Lizette Rabe holds a DPhil degree from Stellenbosch University and is professor and chairperson of its post-graduate department of journalism, the first woman to hold this position. Rabie began her career in 1979 as a reporter at Die Burger. In 1982, she joined Sarie magazine, where she worked in various positions, taking her to assistant editor, deputy editor, and eventually editor — becoming the first woman to become editor of an Afrikaans Naspers publication. Rabie is author/contributor to seven books, and publishes both in academic and popular journals. She also writes a weekly column for News24.com. Rabe is, inter alia, a council member of the South African National Editors’ Forum, and a member of the South African Communication Association as well as the American Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. She served as founder-judge for the first Vodacom Journalist of the Year competition and has since been a judge. She also serves on seven other media-related judging panels.
Pamela Schwikkard
Dean: Law Faculty
University of Cape Town
Tel: +27 21 650 3086/7
www.law.uct.ac.za
On January 1 2009, Professor PJ Schwikkard will become the first-ever female dean of the Law Faculty at the University of Cape Town. She is deputy dean and head of the faculty’s public law department. Schwikkard has been lecturing in law for two decades, starting in 1987 at the University of Natal. She took up a professorship at Rhodes University in 1998 before moving on to UCT in 2001. She holds a BA from the University of the Witwatersrand, an LLB and LLM from the University of Natal and an LLD from the University of Stellenbosch, and was admitted as an attorney of the Supreme Court in 1990. She has published widely on criminal procedure — a national Research Foundation-rated researcher, her focus is the law of evidence — and was an editor of the South African Journal of Criminal Justice. She is a member of the South African Law Reform Commission and the editorial board of the International Journal of Evidence.
Mamokgethi Setati
Executive Dean: College of Science, Engineering and Technology
Unisa
Tel: +27 12 429 8046
www.unisa.ac.za
Mamokgethi Setati holds three professorships: she is full professor and executive dean of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology at Unisa; professor extraordinaire at the Tshwane University of Technology and honorary professor of mathematics education at Wits, where she earned a PhD in mathematics education. She is a former director of the Marang Centre for Maths and Science Education at Wits. A National Research Foundation-rated scientist, Setati is a respected mathematics education researcher and teacher educator. She has more than 35 reviewed articles published in journals, conference proceedings and book chapters and has won several awards, including the National Science and Technology Forum award for the most outstanding South African young female researcher in 2003. She has been invited as a speaker and visiting professor at conferences and universities in the UK, US, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, Botswana, Namibia, Kenya, Senegal and Mozambique. She is a trustee of the Telkom and FirstRand Foundations and a member of the South African Board of the International Council for Science.
Himla Soodyall
Director
Wits Human Genomic Diversity and Disease Research Unit
University of the Witwatersrand
Tel: +27 11 489 9208
www.wits.ac.za
An associate professor at Wits, the director of the Human Genomic Diversity and Disease Research Unit, Himla Soodyall is also a principal medical scientist at the National Health Laboratory Service. Her research makes use of the tools commonly used in molecular biology to study segments of the human genome in living people, to reconstruct the prehistory and evolution of modern humans. Passionate about encouraging public understanding of science, Soodyall is a sought-after public speaker. Her laboratory conducted the research for M-Net’s documentary So, Where Do We Come From? She is the National Geographic Society’s principal investigator for sub-Saharan Africa on the five-year Genographic Project. Other feathers in her cap include her role as South Africa’s representative on Unesco’s bioethics committee and the Order of Mapungubwe: Bronze, which she received for her outstanding contributions to science.
Courtenay Sprague
Lecturer
Wits Business School
Tel: +27 11 717 3603
www.wbs.wits.ac.za
Courtenay Sprague first joined the Wits Business School (WBS) in 1999 as a lecturer, following a three-year research appointment at Harvard Business School. From 2001 to 2005 she ran the South Africa higher education programme for Carnegie Corporation of New York, designing a new foundation strategy to transform academic staff within three South African universities. She has conducted work for the United Nations Development Programme, International Labour Organisation and UNAids. In 2005 she returned to the WBS as a full-time faculty member to focus on HIV/Aids management, and to complete her PhD in development studies. Her background is in political science and international development and her current research and teaching focus on access to medicines for vulnerable populations, health equity and ethics.
Louise Vincent
Associate Professor: Department of Political Studies
Rhodes University
Tel: +27 46 603 8664
www.ru.ac.za/politics/
Louise Vincent is an associate professor in the department of political and international studies at Rhodes University. Selected as a Rhodes scholar in the South Africa-at-large constituency in 1990, she entered the MPhil politics programme at Oxford University in 1991 and graduated in 1993. She subsequently read for a doctorate at Oxford, completing a thesis entitled The Volksmoeder Ideology in the Making of Afrikaner Nationalism. A political sociologist, Vincent has most recently written on the debate about virginity testing in South Africa, male circumcision rites and fashion brand Stoned Cherrie’s use of Steve Biko’s image on T-shirts. She has also written about quotas and women’s political representation, South Africa’s electoral system debate, and race and masculinity in South Africa’s democratic transition. A recipient of the prestigious vice-chancellor’s award for distinguished teaching, she has been recognised as an innovative university teacher who radically attempts to stretch the boundaries of what is possible in tertiary education.
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