Associate Editors and Mentees

Pascal Bessong 

Pascal Bessong is a research professor at the University of Venda (South Africa); Visiting Scholar at the Center for Global Health, University of Virginia (USA) and Honorary Professor at the School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa). He holds a PhD in Microbiology, with training in South Africa and France, followed by postdoctoral training in molecular virology in the USA. He is the Founding Director of the South African Medical Research Council Extramural Unit on Antimicrobial Resistance & Global Health. Professor Bessong has more than 15 years of experience, as Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator, in the establishment and management of community-based prospective studies on surveillance for human infections, antimicrobial resistance, and the impact of enteric infections on growth and development in young children. He embeds human capital development in research and community mobilisation activities. He is an elected Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and holds a B2 rating from the National Research Foundation. He is a recipient of the 2023 Gold Merit Award from the South African Medical Research Council. This award is given to “established senior scientists who have made seminal scientific contributions that have impacted the health of people, especially those living in developing countries”.

   

Floretta Boonzaier

Floretta Boonzaier is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Cape Town (South Africa). She has a PhD in Psychology from the University of Cape Town. In 2010 she received the runner-up award in the South African Department of Science and Technology’s Women in Science awards for Distinguished Young Woman Researcher in the Social Sciences or Humanities. She is an alumna fellow of the W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center, Harvard University. She also serves on the board of ‘Resources Aimed at the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect’. Her work spans feminist, critical, social and postcolonial psychologies, with interests in intersectional subjectivities, youth subjectivities, gendered and sexual identifications, participatory methodologies and gendered violence.

  

Chrissie Boughey

Chrissie Boughey is Emeritus Professor of the Centre for Postgraduate Studies at Rhodes University (South Africa). She came to South Africa in 1999 after spending many years teaching English as a second/foreign language in places such as Spain, the Middle East and the United Kingdom. She holds a DPhil in Linguistics from the University of the Western Cape, an MA in Applied Language Studies from the University of Reading (UK) and a PGCE in Education from the University of Wales (UK). She has been involved in a number of national initiatives directed at the assurance of quality and the improvement of teaching and learning in higher education. Her research interests are in academic literacy, teaching & learning in higher education, critical realism, social realism, academic development, and educational development

Simone Dahms-Verster

Simone Dahms-Verster is a Lecturer in Water in the Centre in Water Research and Development (CiWaRD) at the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa). She is a Steering Committee member for the Network for Industrially Contaminated Land in Africa. She holds an MSc degree in Aquatic Health and a PhD in Zoology, specialising in ecotoxicology and aquatic health. Her research focuses on developing a smartphone-based water monitoring system, using artificial mussels to detect heavy metal contamination in freshwater bodies, and looking at the efficacy of fungi in remediating contaminated soils in a South African context.

Thywill Dzogbewu

Thywill Dzogbewu is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Central University of Technology (South Africa). He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the Central University of Technology. His research focuses on the use of green manufacturing processes, smart materials, and topology optimisation strategies via advanced manufacturing technologies to produce 3D and 4D structures.

    

Teresa Coutinho 

Teresa Coutinho is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology at the University of Pretoria (South Africa).  She is also the Director of the Centre of Microbial Ecology and Genomics, and a founding member of the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute at the University of Pretoria. Her research interest is in phytobacteriology, primarily on those pathogens that are not typically pathogenic to plants, for example, Enterobacter species.  She has also conducted research on primary pathogens such as Xanthomonas vasicola, X. musacearum, Ralstonia solanacearum and R. pseudosolanacearum. She holds a B2 rating from the National Research Foundation. She is the current Secretary-General of the International Society for Plant Pathology.

    

Jemma Finch

Jemma Finch is an Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa). She holds a PhD from the University of York. A palaeoecologist by training, she uses plant and animal remains preserved in sediments to understand past climate and environmental change. She is the recipient of the 2021 UKZN Vice Chancellor’s Research Award. She teaches undergraduate biogeography and environmental change, and has special interests in fieldwork-based training, and in developing scientific writing skills.

  

Jennifer Fitchett

Jennifer Fitchett is a Professor in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa). She holds a PhD in Geography from the University of the Witwatersrand. She is African Councillor of the International Society of Biometeorology and President-Elect of the Society of South African Geographers and a Member of the South African Quaternary Association and the South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS). Her research is situated within the discipline of biometeorology and explores the impacts of climate change on both the natural environment and human populations.

Tim Forssman

Tim Forssman is a Senior Lecturer in Cultural and Heritage Studies in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Mpumalanga (South Africa). He has a DPhil in Archaeology from the University of Oxford and MSc and BSc Honours in Archaeology from the University of the Witwatersrand. He runs the Hunter-Gatherer Archaeological Research Project, through which he and his team investigate forager innovations, technologies, and indigenous knowledges in central southern Africa and Mpumalanga. His research interests include forager-farmer interactions, forager economies, trade dynamics, and landscape archaeology. 

    

Michael Inggs

Michael Inggs is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Cape Town (South Africa). He has an Honours degree in Physics and Applied Mathematics from Rhodes University and a PhD DIC from Imperial College London. He has worked in industry in the UK, USA and South Africa. His research interests are in radar, earth observation using radar, and high-performance computing architectures and languages for signal and image processing.

   

Nkosinathi Madondo

Nkosinathi Madondo is a Lecturer in the Academic Language and Literacy Unit at Mangosuthu University of Technology (South Africa). He holds a PhD in Education from Rhodes University. He has been involved in various academic literacy and mentorship programmes, as well as curriculum development, which is where his passion lies. His research interests include academic literacy, academic development, critical realism, social realism and decolonial theories.

Philani Mashazi

Philani Mashazi is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Rhodes University (South Africa). He spent several years at the Council for Minerals Technology (Mintek) as a research scientist. During his time at Mintek, he pursued his doctoral degree part time and successfully obtained his PhD from Rhodes University in April 2012. He joined Rhodes University’s Chemistry Department in 2013 and is actively engaged in various departmental activities while continuing to pursue his research interests. He plays a role in supporting the Nanotechnology Innovation Centre, funded by the Department of Science and Innovation. His research is in the integration of biological molecules with nano structures for the development of novel sensors and biosensors.

  

Thebe Medupe

Thebe Rodney Medupe is a Professor of Astronomy at North-West University (South Africa) and has been Deputy Dean for Community Engagement since 2018. He holds a PhD in Astronomy from the University of Cape Town. He is President of the African Astronomical Society and a co-founding member of the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme (NASSP). He established the Mahikeng Astronomical Observatory in 2015. His research interests span observational and theoretical aspects of stellar astrophysics, and he has expertise in both observational and theoretical (numerical) modelling of pulsations in stars. Additionally, he is passionate about the public outreach of astronomy, with a focus on African indigenous astronomy and the astronomy content of ancient manuscripts from Timbuktu.

  

Sydney Moyo

Sydney Moyo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Louisiana State University (USA). He obtained a PhD in Zoology from Rhodes University in 2016 and an MSc in Ecology from the University of Zimbabwe in 2011. His research focus is on freshwater, estuarine and terrestrial ecosystems. He uses both field- and laboratory-based approaches to explore ecological questions in South Africa, Zimbabwe and the USA. A central focus of his research is exploring the connectivity between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems via invertebrates.

Lindah Muzangwa

Lindah Muzangwa is a Lecturer in Agricultural Sciences and Practice at the Royal Agricultural University (UK). She holds a PhD in Agriculture (Crop Science) from the University of Fort Hare. She is a dedicated crop scientist and agronomist with over 15 years of expertise in open-field agronomy, crop experimentation, laboratory analysis and teaching. Her extensive body of work, primarily focused in Africa, has significantly advanced the implementation of sustainable cropping systems in the face of evolving climate conditions. She tailors her efforts to cater to the needs of both small-scale and commercial farming environments.

    

Pfananani Ramulifho

Pfananani Ramulifho is a Senior Lecturer in Freshwater Ecology and Management in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Unisa. He holds a PhD degree in Zoology from the University of Venda, a master’s degree in Hydrological Sciences (University of KwaZulu-Natal), and honours and bachelor’s degrees in Environmental Sciences. His research experience lies in aquatic ecology, environmental flow assessment, climate change, hydrological and catchment modelling, and aquatic community structures. He was in the Mail and Guardian Top 200 Youth South Africans (Environment Category) for 2020. He is a former vice-chair of the South African Young Water Professionals national committee and a member of SACNASP, the Water Institute of Southern Africa, and the Entomological Society of South Africa.

Shane Redelinghuys

Shane Redelinghuys is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (South Africa). He holds a PhD in Medical Microbiology from the University of Pretoria. His research interests include the understanding of microbe–host interactions and the cellular, genetic and immunological mechanisms of causing disease, or systems biology approaches to answer health-related research questions.