Inaugural lectures present an opportunity for showcasing exciting and ground-breaking research and teaching being carried out by professors in our University. Each lecture represents a significant milestone in an academic’s career, providing official recognition of their promotion or appointment to full professorship. These lectures are furthermore an ideal opportunity for new professors to introduce themselves and to present an overview of their own contribution to their field to academic peers, students and research collaborators. They are also a platform for celebrating a professor’s academic achievements with his/her family, friends, mentors and colleagues.
Inaugural lectures form part of the University’s Public lectures series and may only be given by all newly appointed full professors who have been appointed in academic Schools and Centres.
Professor Colleen Aldous
Qualifications: B.Sc, B.Sc (Hons), M.Sc (UP), PhD (University of Twente, The Netherlands)
The practice of medicine is subject to many influences that challenge the ethical and scientific fundamentals of achieving good health and saving lives. Historically, medical practitioners follow a combination of study and practice including mentorship, and personal and anecdotal evidence, that are aligned with ethical principles. Evidence-based medicine emerged alongside this process to ensure scientific rigour for medical decision-making. But this process has evolved into processes of dominance through profit-driven models of evidence that have overwhelmed individual practice, leading to a contest between elitist models of research and ethics and practitioners who have the immediate interests of their patients in closest view. If evidence-based medicine and human research ethics developed as a result of medical research atrocities of the twentieth century, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for scientific integrity in this century.
Professor Colleen Aldous is a Full Professor in the School of Clinical Medicine, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban, South Africa.
After a career as a school teacher and focussing on motherhood, Professor Aldous returned to university to receive a B.Sc (Honors) in Genetics and an M.Sc in Science Education (Genetics) in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Pretoria in 2002 and 2005, respectively. She was conferred her doctorate in science education at the Univerity of Twente in the Netherlands in 2009.
Professor Aldous joined the Department of Genetics on the Pietermaritzburg Campus of the Univerity of Natal in 2004, as a contract lecturer. After moving to Durban and working as a post-doc at CAPRISA and HIV Pathogenesis Program (HPP), she joined the then Faculty of Medicine in 2010 as a research coordinator. After the university restructuring, she was allocated to the School of Clinical Medicine School as a Senior Lecturer and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2015 and Full Professor in 2020.
Professor Aldous’s research area remains in the field of genetics but has expanded to include investigations into postgraduate education in the clinical setting. In her role as a research support professor, she supports research across all clinical disciplines. This global view of clinical research has led her to think about the field of Evidence-Based Medicine, particularly its interpretations and communication to the public.
She has supervised a senior doctorate in obstetrics and gynaecology and 18 Doctoral (PhD) studies in genetics, general surgery, orthopaedic surgery, plastic surgery, psychology, podiatry, anaesthetics, internal medicine, and paediatrics. She has further supervised 14 MMed and seven MMedsci students and mentored two post-docs. She is currently leading 20 PhD candidates in various clinical disciplines. Professor Aldous has been a mentor on several platforms, including DRILL and the international King’s College London Mentorship Program run by Dr Tom Rusbridge.
With her students and collaborators, as well as independently, she has published over 150 research articles in indexed journals and several in the lay press. She has written chapters for books, both in textbooks and in peer-reviewed books and written and edited a book on protocol writing aimed at the MMed student. She has been the recipient of the UKZN Top 30 award twice.
As an academic, she has taken her role in the public understanding of science seriously. She was interviewed on several radio stations, national television, and newspapers during the COVID-19 pandemic, focussing on research and evidence-based medicine.
Professor Aldous has examined several postgraduate theses for other universities and has reviewed articles for many academic journals. She has been a guest speaker at national and international conferences and has been part of the organisation of both national and international conferences.
Professor Aldous was elected a Member of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa in 2021.
Professor Kavilan Moodley
Qualifications: B.Sc Hons (UCT), M.Sc (Natal), PhD (Cantab)
In this talk, I will review my academic journey through cosmology, the study of the large-scale structure and evolution of the universe, and pay tribute to teachers and mentors that have guided me on this journey. En route, I have had early encounters with the theory of general relativity and developed models for the origin of small fluctuations in the early universe that seeded the cosmic structure we see around us. I have traversed the path of constraining these cosmological models, using data from measurements of the cosmic microwave background, to most recently being involved in building a telescope in South Africa that will measure the large-scale distribution of hydrogen in the universe and thereby uncover the properties of the mysterious dark energy that pervades our universe. Over the course of this talk, I will provide an overview of the state of modern cosmology and how we have arrived at the cosmological model, driven by principles of simplicity, but I will also reflect on our role as scientists in society, and the inherent complexity that this entails.
Kavilan is currently full professor in the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, and director of the Astrophysics Research Centre, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He completed his PhD in 2002 at the University of Cambridge, after which he worked as a postdoctoral researcher in astrophysics at the University of Oxford, before returning to South Africa in 2003 to take up an academic faculty position at UKZN. Kavilan’s research interest is in the area of cosmology and involves confronting cosmological theories with observational data, in particular observations of the cosmic microwave background and large-scale structure. Kavilan served as a scientific board member of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope project, a member of the international science working group for the Square Kilometre Array Project, and as associate editor for the South African Journal of Science. In 2007, Kavilan won the South African Institute of Physics Silver Jubilee Medal, in 2011 he was awarded a Fulbright Visiting Research Scholar (VRS) Fellowship to Princeton University, and in 2022 he was awarded a Fulbright VRS Fellowship to the Flatiron Institute at the Simons Foundation in New York. He served as a member of the NRF Astronomy Advisory Council and the SARAO Science Advisory Committee, and in 2020 was elected to the Academy of Science of South Africa. Kavilan has published 110 research papers with over 8500 citations and has delivered invited lectures at a number of international conferences, including the International Dark Side of the Universe Conference in 2014 and the COSPAR Scientific Assembly in 2018. He is currently the principal investigator of the HIRAX telescope project, which aims to measure the evolution of dark energy and localise fast radio bursts.
Professor Ursula Scharler
Qualifications: B.Sc (Salzburg), B.Sc Hons, PhD (UPE)
What makes ecosystems resilient and persist over time?
Biodiversity shapes ecological systems by causing a variety of complexities, which allow the ecosystem to adapt to external and internal changes in the short and long term. The degree of species interactions, species’ roles and functions determine ecosystem responses to change, where biodiversity can be an insurance for resilience and impact on certain ecosystem services. Systems ecology provides a holistic view of ecological systems and their biodiversities, enabling us to examine direct and indirect processes which also facilitate ecosystem services. Thus, understanding the link between biodiversity, functional roles, and ecosystem behaviour is paramount to comprehend the resilience and persistence of ecosystems over time, and this is illustrated from both a reductionist and a systems approach. How to ensure the continued existence of different biodiversities and the provision of ecosystem services by estuarine and marine ecosystems depends on our understanding of the underlying processes, and on how to best convey complex adaptive behaviour to managers.
Professor Ursula Scharler joined UKZN in August 2006 as a Lecturer after completing post-doctoral studies at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (MD, USA), the Smithsonian Institute (MD, USA) and Wageningen University (The Netherlands). Her main fields of research are ecology, systems analysis and ecosystem modelling on estuarine, marine and socio-economic systems, with an emphasis on variability, resilience, extinctions, inter- and transdisciplinarity. She holds several Associate Editor positions with international journals, and engages in advisory committees, as member and chair. She has organised and participated in many international and national workshops, the latest in 2022 on ecosystem indicators and as a member of a UN advisory seeking interlinkages between Sustainable Development Goals. Professor Scharler regularly reviews national and international grant applications, and for national and international journals. She has graduated several MSc and PhD students, and supervised post-doctoral fellows. Professor Scharler currently enjoys a NRF B2 rating, and was invited keynote speaker to 6 international conferences.
Professor Fhatuwani Mudau
Qualifications: B.Sc.Agric (Univen), M.Sc.Agric (US), PhD Agric (UP), MBL (GSBL-UNISA)
The inaugural lecture will cover the work on herbal tea production, biochemistry of herbal bush tea in a research which has been done over the period of 20 year in South Africa. Bush tea (Athrixia phylicoides DC.) is an aromatic perennial shrub that has medicinal properties. There are 14 species of bush tea and 9 of these are found in South Africa. This shrub has leafy stems that grow up to a metre in height. The plant belongs to the Asteraceae family. Bush tea grows in rocky areas, grasslands and forests across South Africa. Traditionally, bush tea has been used in cleansing blood, treating headaches, boils, bad acne, sore throat and loss of voice. Various tribes and cultures in South Africa use bush tea in various ways for different purposes, for instances Vhavenda people use bush tea as an aphrodisiac and Sothos also use strong brew as a calming wash for sore feet. Zulu people in KwaZulu-Natal use dried stems of bush tea to make brooms. Bush tea tea is rich in non-toxic flavonoids, antioxidants and tannin levels are very low, making it a favourable healthy beverage. Moreover, the absence of caffeine is a desirable feature of a healthy beverage. The plants have compounds which has been discovered and characterised for the first time. The details of its biochemistry, agronomic practices medicinal properties will be discussed.
Professor Mudau is a professor and Dean and Head of School at University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Professor Fhatuwani Nixwell Mudau completed a B.Sc Agric (Crop Science) at the University of Venda in 1996. He then registered for an M.Sc at the University of Stellenbosch where he researched citrus nutrition. He completed his PhD (Horticultural Sciences) at the University of Pretoria in 2005 and he has done extensive research in herbal medicine. He has completed a Master in Business Leadership (MBL) at UNISA Graduate School of Business Leadership and number of Leadership courses at GIBBS, and University of Cape Town, Graduate School of Business.
His previous working experience includes Vista University VUDEC, Campus (Now Incorporated into University of South Africa), University of Venda and University of Limpopo as a Lecturer. In 2006, he was seconded to establish a fully funded Research Centre as an Associate Professor and Centre Manager known as Limpopo Agro Food Technology Station (LATS) by Tshumisano Trust (Now Technology Innovation Agency (TIA)). He then joined Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) under Food and Beverages (Now Agro-Industries) Strategic Business Unit (SBU); HealthCare and Education (SBU) as a Specialist. He has extensively published more than 100 papers in both local and international Journals. He has received numerous funding for research from various research funders. His H-Index index is 24 (Google Scholar), 15 (Scopus) and 12 (Web of Science) and his work has been cited 1437 times according to Google Scholar. He has supervised 48 M.Sc and M.Agric students and 11 PhD students. He is currently supervising 8 PhD students (at University of South Africa) whom he was supervising before he joined UKZN in 2020 in the field of Plant Sciences.
He has briefly served as a Board member of South African Horticultural Sciences Society, Rotondo Pty Ltd, Berekisanang a subsidiaries company under Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). He has reviewed a number of manuscripts in highly reputed journals, both locally and internationally. Prof Mudau has vast experience in project development and implementation in Agro Industries, Education and the HealthCare sector.
He has extensive experience in managing mega projects, performing initial assessments on business proposals, due diligence investigations as well as presentation of written recommendations to credit, investment committees and investors. These skills are not common in most scientists. He has served in the Selection committee (Best published papers in American society of American Horticultural Journal papers) under American Horticultural Science Society for a full term. He is a C3 NRF rated scientist. He has received numerous awards including Unisa Research Chancellor award, Best publisher under GDARD research grant in 5 consecutive years and he was one of the finalists of NSTF awards under Crop Science category and Research output.
Professor Vivian Besem Ojong
Qualifications: BA (Cameroon, Buea), MA, PhD (UZ)
The phenomenon of migration continues to take twists and turns in contemporary times. Coupled with new technologies, human movements continue to be reshaped in novel ways and this has implications for anthropology as a discipline, particularly for the anthropological method. Perhaps one can toy with the idea of virtual societies which are emerging out of the technological interaction of migrants who share common interests and identities. Mobility continues to reshape anthropological discourse and although it appears to engender greater freedoms, my major critique centres on the globalization of inequality which is characteristic of the present migration trends. These are affected by technological developments which have heightened the degree of surveillance and has implications for inclusion and exclusion. If the modern anthropologist’s duty is to study people and their relationships everywhere, the transnational connections and virtual communities which people are part of should be interesting perspectives that need to be understood.
Professor Vivian Ojong is a Full Professor in the Discipline of Anthropology, College of Humanities University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban, South Africa. Academic Coordinator (1 April 2007 – December 2013). She held the following administrative position: Academic coordinator (1 April 2017 – December 2013), Academic Leader (1 June 2016 – 30 April 2019), Acting Head of the School of Anthropology, Gender and Historical Studies (January 2008 –June 2011), Acting Dean and Head of School, Social Sciences, University of KwaZulu–Natal, South Africa (1 May 2019 – 31 August 2021) and Dean and Head of School Social Sciences, University of KwaZulu–Natal, South Africa (1 September 2021–present).
Professor Ojong received BSc (Hons) Sociology/Anthropology Degree from University of Buea Cameroon 1997. She obtained her MA in Anthropology 2003 and PhD in Anthropology from the University of Zululand in 2005.
Professor Ojong joined the Department of Anthropology, University of KwaZulu Natal, in June 2004 as a lecturer, and ascended to the position of Senior Lecturer in April 2007, associate Professor in January 2013, and full professor in January 2019. Professor Ojong research areas are identity politics, migration, globalization and diaspora studies, gender, feminism, entrepreneurship as well as culture and religion. Her teaching interests are research methodology, policy, theoretical frameworks, migration, and globalization as well as gender and feminism. She has successfully completed the supervision of 15 Doctoral (Ph.D.) and a number of Masters Students, mentored 7 Postdoctoral Fellows, and published 50 research articles in journals.
Professor Ojong has examined a number of Masters and Ph.D. theses from various Universities including the University of Fort Hare and the University of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, University of Cape Town, University of Free State, Walter Sisulu University. She is a member of the Pan African Anthropological Association (PAA), Anthropology Southern Africa (ASA), Association for the Study of World Wide African Diaspora (ASWAD), and African Association for the Study of Religions. She is a reviewer for more than 20 high-impact factor journals and Guest Editor of some Special Issues. Professor Ojong has been an invited speaker at a number of conferences and workshops in South Africa, regional, continental and international. She has had the opportunity of giving invited talks at several Universities, public sector and on social media platforms. Professor Ojong is a National Research Foundation (NRF), South Africa C3 rated social scientist since 2018.
Professor Ojong received the following awards; 2008- Mellon Merit Award for Younger scholars in the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal Research Productivity Award ( Emerging Researcher for 2010), University of KwaZulu-Natal Productivity Award (Emerging Researcher for 2011), University of KwaZulu-Natal Research Productivity Award (Top 30 Researchers for 2012), College of Humanities Staff Excellence Award (Top 30 Researchers), College of Humanities Staff Excellence Award (Top 10 Most Published Women), College of Humanities Staff Excellence Award (Morale Booster Award for School of Social Sciences (2017), College of Humanities Staff Excellence Award (Top 30 Researchers) in 2018, College of Humanities Staff Excellence Award (Top 10 Most Published Women Award) in 2018, College of Humanities Staff Excellence Award (Excellence in Teaching) in 2018 and NRF Rating C3 in 2018.
Professor Dipane Joseph Hlalele
Qualifications: BA.Ed(UNIN), B.Ed, M.Ed, MA, PhD(UFS)
My most important contribution to existing knowledge and research is carving a research area called ‘sustainable rural learning ecologies’. I coined this area through enmeshing issues of sustainability [as informed by SDGs], rurality [my residential, social, and employment geographies for over five decades], learning [a rudimentary, prominent and pervasive phenomenon in my field of specialisation] as well as ‘ecologies’ which I took from geophysical/natural/positivistic interpretation to social/humanistic/interpretive paradigm. My contribution further enriched Barron (2004, 2006) notion of learning ecology. I adopted the learning ecology framework which contends that learning takes place within (intra), across (inter), and between spaces such as schools and the various entities of the communities. One of the concerns I raise relates to rural schools, colleges and universities that seem to, unintentionally so, structure their learning programmes in such a manner that they neglect rural attributes and resultantly ostracize or marginalize learners/students from rural environments. To complete the loop, these institutions are more likely to fail in preparing graduates for decisive contribution in sustainable rural learning ecologies.
Dipane Hlalele is a Professor in the School of Education at UKZN and a C2 NRF rated researcher who appears in the World Top 100 Education Scientists in South Africa, 2022 (AD Scientific Index). Prior to joining UKZN as an associate professor, he was an assistant dean and senior lecturer at the University of the Free State, a college of education lecturer and a high school deputy principal and teacher. He was a principal- and co-investigator in the Community engagement in rural contexts: a relational leadership strategy (2017-2019); Sustainable urban-rural learning connections (2017-2018) National Research Foundation (NRF)-funded projects respectively. Prior to this, he was a principal investigator in Sustainable rural learning ecologies, Sustainable Futures for the People of the Afromontane and a co-investigator in the Adaptive leadership in community engagement and service learning NRF funded projects respectively. The accrued value of these projects is R2.7 million. He has supervised twenty seven doctoral and twenty six master’s degree students to completion; hosted five postdoctoral research and one teaching fellows and published over fifty five articles, peer-reviewed conference proceedings and chapters in books. He has examined over hundred theses and dissertations from sixteen South African and two international universities. His current research interest draws from positive and community psychology as well as education and he therefore strive for and advocates helpful, hopeful and respectful research. He currently sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Education, Journal of Educational Studies as well as Australian and International Journal of Rural Education. He is currently Ethics Chair: Human and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee at UKZN.
Professor Johnson Lin
Qualifications: B.Sc (National Tsing Hua University); PhD (SUNY at Bu alo)
Advancement in science and biotechnology have progressively aided mankind through exploration and use of natural resources. Unfortunately, some of these interventions may instigate environmental effects which impacts human health.
Natural bioremediation is an ecologically sound tool that encompasses the usage of biological processes to reduce or remove pollutants through biochemical solubilization or mineralization. Evidence emanating from the Exxon Valdez and Deepwater Horizon oil spills reveal microbes playing significant roles in restoring ecological health. Hydrocarbon degrading microbial isolates possess the potential for innovation in many applications.
Combinations of advantaged molecular techniques, molecular modelling together with artificial intelligence potentiates bioremediation for commercialization and environmental health that can be demonstrated in plastic degradation.
This lecture is an opportunity to share my research in this area.
Professor Lin is a Full Professor in the Discipline of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, College of Agriculture, Engineering and Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban, South Africa.
Professor Lin received a B.Sc. (4th year) Degree from National Tsing Hua University at Taiwan in 1984. He earned a PhD in 1992 under the supervision of Einstein Professor J.H. Wang at the State University of New York at Buffalo, U.S.A. He underwent postdoctoral training on the structure and function of reverse transcriptase of HIV-1, under Prof J. Coleman in the Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University, before migrating to South Africa in 1995.
Professor Lin joined the Microbiology Department, University of Durban Westville as a Senior Researcher in June 1996, and accepted a Lecturer position in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at the University of Zululand in 1997 before being promoted to Senior Lecturer in Microbiology. He was appointed as an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology at the University of KwaZulu Natal in 2003 and was promoted to a Full Professor in 2020.
Professor Lin’s main research focus is on environmental microbiology and bioremediation. In recent years, molecular techniques have been utilized in exploring the potential applications of microbial enzymes. He has successfully supervised 11 Doctoral (PhD) and 19 Masters (MSc) students, mentored 6 Postdoctoral Fellows and published 121 research articles in national and international peer-reviewed journals in the areas of research focus and related topics. He is currently supervising 5 PhD and 3 MSc students.
Professor Lin has examined a number of M.Sc. and PhD theses from the Universities of the Northwest, Free State, UKZN, Limpopo, Zululand and Rhodes, Durban University of Technology, Birla Institute of Technology (India), Nirma University (India) and University of Zimbabwe.
He is an editor in chief of the African Journal of Biochemistry Research from 2007, a member of the Editorial Board of Water SA, a member of Advisory Board of the International Journal of Biotechnology from 2013. He is a reviewer for more than 20 high impact factor journals such as Journal of Biotechnology, Corrosion Science, International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation, Chemical Engineering Journal, Water SA and others. He had also served as a member of the Scientific Committee at the Euro-Mediterranean Conference for Environmental Integration for several years. He constantly reviews the funding proposals or rating applications for the NRF, WRC and MRC.
Professor Lin has been an invited speaker at several international conferences in the United States, Singapore, Taiwan and South Africa, among others. He was a visiting scholar to the Institute of Biological Chemistry, Taipei, Taiwan in 2010 and was appointed as an Adjunct Professor at the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences from 2015 to 2020.
Professor Lin was a National Research Foundation (NRF), South Africa C2 rated scientist since 2007. He was a recipient of Research grants from the NRF, WRC, MRC and the Schlumberger Foundation – Faculty for the Future program, over the years. He has served as an External Selection Committee Member in the interview for an Associate Professor, Professor and an External Assessor member in the performance evaluation of staff, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Zululand.
Professor Genene Tessema Mola
Qualifications: B.Sc, M.Sc (Addis Ababa), PhD (Bonn)
Progress and Challenges
Conducting polymers have attracted tremendous research interest in the last three decades because of their potential application in the area of flexible photonic and electronic devices. Thin-film polymer solar cell (TFPSC) is one of the highly sought area of application with the view to produce light weight and flexible solar panel. The energy band structure of the donor and acceptor molecules, in the preparation of polymers blend bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) solar absorber medium, is of great importance to the overall performance of polymer solar cell. The limitation in tuning the energy band structures of fullerene molecules poses significant challenges to the progress in BHJ polymer solar cells. In an attempt to cater the challenges, the small molecules non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) came into the TFPSC research space with the possibility of altering the optoelectronic properties the polymer molecules that brought polymer solar cells closer to the realization of full-scale commercialization. The use of plasmon metal nanoparticles have contributed to ease some of the limitations of polymer molecules. Opportunities and challenges of TFPSC in contributing towards the realization of cheap renewable energy will be presented.
Professor Genene Tessema Mola is a Full Professor in the Discipline of Physics, College of Agriculture Engineering and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
Professor GT Mola received B.Sc. and MSc Physics Degree from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He obtained PhD Degrees from the University of Bonn, Germany in 2003.
Professor GT Mola has served several academic institutions as full-time academic staff since his graduation from Addis Ababa University and University of Bonn, respectively. He was member of academic staff of the Department of Physics at Alemaya University, Addis Ababa University and National University of Lesotho. In January 2011, he joined the School of Chemistry & Physics, Physics Cluster, UKZN, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa as an Associate Professor of Physics and then promoted to the position of Full Professor in 2020.
Professor GT Mola’s research area is Experimental Condensed Matter Physics. His current research focuses on nanostructured energy materials, and thin film solar cell technologies such as Organic and Perovskite Solar Cells. His recent research emphasis is on the application of plasmon metal nano-particles for solar energy conversion. However, non-fullerene based thin film organics solar cell is also one of the area of interest that his research group is engaging at the moment. Professor Mola has received various research grants from National Research Foundation (NRF); Third world Academy of Science (TWAS), Italy; International Physical Sciences (IPS), Sweden. Prof. Mola has supervised over 41 postgraduate students of whom 11 are Ph.D. graduates. He is currently supervising 5 Ph.D. 1Msc and 1 Honors students. Professor GT Mola has published over 125 research articles in several highly reputable journals. He is a member of several professional societies such as International Solar Energy Society (ISES), Member of Material Research Society (MRS) and African Material Research Society (AMRS) etc.
Professor Mola has served as Director for Material Sciences Program at Addis Ababa University, as Physics Department Chairman at Alemaya University and Academic leader at University of KwaZulu-Natal. Prof. Mola is an associate editor and editorial board member for several international renowned journals such as Associate Editor for Solar Energy Journal (Elsevier, Impact factor 7.2), Editor Board member: Advanced Energy Conversion Materials (AECM), Open Physics, (De Gruyter), Guest Editor for Journal of Frontiers in Energy Research. Prof. Mola has conducted a number of plenary talks, and invited presentations in several international conferences. He has reviewed several research articles in high impact journals, many research proposals, over 20 Ph.D. theses.
Professor GT Mola is a National Research Foundation C2 rated scientist since 2019. He has been one of the top 30 productive researchers at UKZN over the past two years 2019, and 2020, consecutively. He is also named as one of the top 5 cited researcher by UKZN in 2018.
Professor Shenuka Singh
Qualifications: B. OH (UDW), PG Dip (Heal Res Ethics) (Cum Laude) (Stell), M.Sc[DENT] (UWC), PhD (UWC), PhD (Clinical and Res Ethics) (Stell)
Ethical guidance in research is underpinned by the need to show respect for study participants by upholding autonomy in participant decision-making, confidentiality, and protection of individual rights, privacy, and interests yet decision-making could also be influenced by the participant’s socio-cultural and belief systems. This calls for a more Africanized approach to research ethics where these values and beliefs are upheld, in addition to the need for solidarity and benefit sharing efforts in research, that are facilitated through committed stakeholder engagement. While national and international ethics guidelines do exist, there is little evidence that such a paradigm shift in research ethics is adequately interrogated in the teaching and learning curricula in higher education where research skills are first developed and nurtured. Critical reflection is used to highlight the opportunities to stimulate such discourses and debates in humanized pedagogy in higher education.
Shenuka Singh is a Full Professor in the Discipline of Dentistry, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa. She is an appointed member of the National Health Research Ethics Council (NHREC) in South Africa (2020-2023) and she chairs the Norms and Standards Committee within NHREC. Professor Singh is a Deputy Chair for the Biomedical Research Ethics Committee at UKZN (2020-2023) and a member of the Human Sciences Research Council’s Research Ethics Committee (2019-2024). She was the appointed Research Ethics Chair for the Council for Science and Industry Research in South Africa (CSIR REC R&D: 2015-2018) and the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee at UKZN (2014-2018). As part of her ongoing engagement with research ethics, she conducted a number of training workshops at various institutions of higher education and research in South Africa. From an international perspective, she was invited to be part of a World Health Organization joint working group (Regulation and Safety Unit and Health Ethics & Governance Unit) in 2021 to develop a tool for the benchmarking of research ethics oversight.
She is actively involved in research and postgraduate supervision and has presented papers at local and international conferences (including invitations as keynote speaker). Professor Singh was awarded the UKZN Certificate of Excellence in Teaching in 2018. She was also a recipient of the 2018 College of Health Sciences Teaching Excellence Award, UKZN (in the category: Outstanding Contribution to Teaching).
Professor Moganavelli Singh
Qualifications: B.Sc Hons, M.Sc (UDW), PhD (UKZN)
Bio-nanocarriers based on inorganic nanoparticles provide an interesting and novel strategy for the delivery of therapeutic genes or drugs. Several nanoparticles have been synthesized, including lipids, polymers, carbon-based and inorganic nanoparticles (gold, silver, platinum, silica, selenium). Inorganic nanoparticles are attractive candidates for both gene and drug delivery, and have the potential to revolutionize the area of nanomedicine and cancer therapy, due their small size, good stability, and amenability to functionalization and cell-specific cellular uptake. Gold nanoparticles favour shapes from nanoclusters to nanospheres to nanostars. This talk covers nanoparticles researched from 2000 to date, focussing on on gold and selenium nanoparticles for anticancer drug and gene delivery. Both these nanoparticles have shown the ability to bind, condense and successfully transport nucleic acids (DNA, mRNA and siRNA) to cells in vitro, in addition to successfully delivering anticancer drugs to cancer cells.
Professor Mogie Singh is a Full Professor in the Discipline of Biochemistry, College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban, South Africa.
Professor Mogie Singh received B.Sc. (Honours) and MSc in Biochemistry from the University of Durban-Westville. She obtained her PhD Degree in Biochemistry in 2005 from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Westville Campus).
Professor Mogie Singh joined the Department of Biochemistry, in September 1987, as a junior laboratory technician and since worked her way through the ranks of Senior technician, Lecturer (2001), Senior Lecturer (2008), Associate Professor (2017) and full Professor in 2020. During this time, she held the positions of Dean’s Assistant (2005-2009), Deputy Head of School for Biochemistry, Microbiology and Genetics (2010-2011), Academic Leader of Teaching and Learning (2014) and Academic Leader of Research and Postgraduate Studies (2017-2018).
Professor Singh’s research area is rooted in Gene Therapy and Nanomedicine, with particular focus on non-viral or nanoparticle-mediated gene and drug delivery for the treatment of cancer. In addition, she is involved in collaborations involving the testing of medicinal plants and novel synthesized chemical compounds for various biological activities including anticancer activity, in collaboration with researchers at UKZN, NWU, UniZULU, and WSU. She has successfully supervised and graduated 18 Doctoral (PhD) and 32 Master (MSc) students, mentored 6 Postdoctoral Fellows (of which 2 are current), 4 NRF interns, and published over 145 papers in Scopus and ISI indexed journals, together with 5 published book chapters, 15 published proceedings, and 57 conference presentations. Notably, one of Prof Singh’s papers published in the journal Pharmaceutics has been nominated for a highest cited paper award for 2021- the outcome to be announced next year. Prof Singh is currently supervising 12 Doctoral (PhD), 6 Masters (MSc) and 2 honours students.
Professor Singh has examined a large number of MSc and PhD theses from UKZN, University of the Witwatersrand, University of Zululand, Durban University of Technology, University of Venda, University of Cape Town, University of Western Cape, University of Limpopo, Rhodes University, Monash University Malaysia, and the Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata, India. In addition, she was part of the Scientific organising committee for 4th International Conference on Nanomedicine, Drug Delivery, and Tissue Engineering (NDDTE’19), Rome, Italy (2019), Promotion committee for Kuwait University 2021, and Panel member for peer review of the SAMRC/WITS Antiviral Gene Therapy Unit, University of the Witwatersrand (October 2020). She currently is on National Research Foundation (NRF) standing panel for the Natural and Life Sciences (2019/2020 – 2022/2023). She has reviewed grants for the NRF, Belgian Foundation of Cancer, Fund for Scientific Research-FNRS (F.R.S.-FNRS), the FWO-Research Foundation Belgium, Wellcome trust/DBT India Alliance Fellowship for Cochin University of Science & Technology, and Postdoctoral grants for the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India.
Professor Singh is a currently a member of the Editorial Board of Evidenced-based Complementary and Alternative Research, and has been invited to serve as a Guest editor for the Journal of Oncology, Pharmaceutics and Frontiers of Chemistry. She is a reviewer for more than 50 journals including high impact journals such as Journal of Controlled Release, International Journal of Pharmaceutics, European Journal of Pharmaceutics, Pharmaceutics, Cancer, Biomedicines, Pharmaceuticals, Nanomaterials, Molecules, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Current Nanoscience, PlosOne, Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, Nanomedicine, International Journal of Nanomedicine; Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine and Nanotechnology, RSC Advances, Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology, Biomaterials Science, Micro-Nano Letters, Nanotechnology Reviews, Scientific Reports, Theranostics, Nanoscale Advances and Nature Gene Therapy.
Professor Singh is a National Research Foundation (NRF), South Africa C3 rated scientist since 2012 and has received several grants including the Nanotechnology Flagship, international bilateral and BRICS funding. She has a Google scholar h index of 27, an i10 index of 75 and over 2200 citations to date. She has been among the 30 researchers in UKZN for 2019 and 2020. Professor Singh has been an invited speaker at a number of international conferences in Singapore, Japan, USA, Italy, Poland, and Dubai, 2 of which were Keynote talks. She recently represented South Africa in the Controlled Release Society’s International Chapter Webinar featuring India, South Africa, and Turkey. She has served as a Judge for presentations at the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy Annual Congress in Washington, USA, and as a sessional chair at South African Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SASBMB) and the 4th International Conference on Nanomedicine, Drug Delivery, and Tissue Engineering (NDDTE’19) in Rome, Italy. Professor Singh is member of South African Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SASBMB), European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT), American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT), International Society of Global Health and the Controlled Release Society Local Chapter – South Africa.
Professor Fayth Anese Ruffin
Qualifications: Juris Doctor (USA), PhD (Newark, USA)
The intersection of the theory and practice of Public Governance can generate epistemic freedom through reflexive praxis and towards transformation. Reflexive praxis is foundational to light-working in Higher Education. Public Governance is related directly to business, the non-governmental sector and the larger geospatial scales and spheres of governance. Light-working is centred on authentic integration of one’s personal/professional self through reflexive praxis which illuminates ways of transforming both self and students. The lecture demonstrates the incalculable extent of the role of Public Governance in the world. Using examples of epistemological underpinnings of extension of knowledge through postgraduate supervision, the lecture explains why and how epistemic freedom is central to Public Governance. The lecture reveals why Public Governance, as a study and practice, cannot be restricted to the prevailing status quo. Rather, light-working facilitates ways of being and doing in HE that advance the flexibility and dynamism required to advance transformation as an ongoing process with a multiplicity of manifestations that serve humanity and the natural environment.
This is done through examples of the extension of knowledge through postgraduate supervision in various areas such as community-based justice, the institutional of traditional leadership, indigenous farming techniques and traditional fishery development.
Academe finds me in my third career preceded by being a public management professional and a practicing attorney or both simultaneously. Besides holding a Juris Doctorate (law) degree and a PhD in Global Affairs I am consistently engaged in experiential learning. As a warrior-liberator, I seek to free people from the colonised mentality that affects all of us, whilst advancing plural epistemologies as a matter of epistemic freedom. Reflexively, there are a few common threads that link my career lattice and propel my career trajectory. These are justice, liberation and spirituality. Justice means historicised conscientiousness, liberation projects epistemic freedom and spirituality signals expression of one’s highest self. I am one of those Africans whose ancestors were displaced by both the West and East African slave trades. Born in the African Diaspora, I was acutely aware from a very young age of my Africanity. I knew through a deep sense of spiritual guidance from within that I would return to be of service to the continent of my origin.
From 2012 to 2015 I served UKZN as a member of Senate and represented the Senate on the College of Humanities’ Academic Affairs Board and an Academic Promotions Committee. Additionally, I represented the CLMS on the University Honorary Degrees Committee from 2012 to 2015 and the University Institutional Forum from 2012 to 2016. From 2013 I have served the Department of Science and Innovation – National Research Foundation Centre on Indigenous Knowledge Systems (DSI-NRF CIKS) which is comprised of five universities: Northwest University, University of South Africa, University of Limpopo, University of Venda, and the University of KwaZulu-Natal; the CIKS hub is based at UKZN. I played a central role in UKZN African IKS (AIKS) policy-making as part of the working group of experts and engaged in programme planning and curricula development for integrating IKS into curricula at UKZN and elsewhere. From 2014 – 2015 I led curricula design and development for IKS honours programmes for the four UKZN colleges as programme developer, which led to a postgraduate diploma in African Indigenous Knowledge Systems.
My approach to education is primarily centred on liberation. I am a warrior on the battlefield for intellectual liberation. DuBoisian pragmatism grounds my teaching philosophy, I live it as African epistemologies and generate it as continuously unfolding emancipatory education. My research interests are multi-inter-transdisciplinary. I implement ways of intersecting teaching and learning with community engagement as well as undertaking research-led community engagement for co-production of knowledge that solves societal problems. This means my work extends beyond the physical borders of UKZN through work with governmental and non-governmental organisations. For me, research findings co-produced with government, non-governmental organisations, industry and communities inform substantive and procedural aspects of contextualised teaching and learning whilst empowering people and community.
Research areas of expertise include research methodology, public governance, global affairs, epistemic freedom and indigenous knowledge systems. Of the thirty-five graduated upper level students during my eight years at UKZN, seven earned doctorate and twenty-eight masters’ degrees. Ninety percent of these graduates are South Africans and fifty-two percent are female. Results of research that I have led or personally conducted has been invited for presentation at international institutions such as the United Nations General Assembly side event for the Tenth Anniversary of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, Organisation of Economic Development and Cooperation, World Justice Forum and the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) of the African Union.
I am grateful for being the recipient of teaching excellence awards including the Distinguished Teacher’s Award from UKZN and the National Teaching Excellence Award from HELTASA/CHE. I am have published widely in books and international journals, delivered conference papers across four continents in ten countries, and am grateful for various research-related awards such as best-paper and best-presentation. I continue to design and facilitate professional development workshops for academics in various universities which are driven by promotion of our authentic selves, infusing spirituality and reflexively practicing the non-dualism of the personal and professional to achieve epistemic freedom through light-working in higher education.
Professor Vimolan Mudaly
Qualifications: B.Paed (UDW), B.Ed Hons (UNISA), M.Ed (UDW), D.Ed (UKZN)
This is my journey of discovery as I moved from research in mathematical modelling to that of visualization. Along the way I learned that ours is a seeing brain, we only ‘see’ what we already know. All mathematical images are processed in the brain (internal) and are then communicated (external) in a symbolic form. In this presentation I trace my trajectory of research as I moved from looking at mathematical modelling to that of visualization in mathematics. I write about a model that I developed that explains my understanding of visualization from the perspective of Sfard’s commognition theory. This has been a series of learning incidents which has resulted in the Iterative Visualization Thinking Cycle.
Vimolan Mudaly is a Professor in the School of Education. He completed his undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Science Education at the former University of Durban-Westville and obtained an honours degree in education from the University of South Africa. He was awarded a Master in Education cum laude and subsequently, obtained a doctoral degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Professor Mudaly served as an examiner and Chief Marker of the National Senior Certificate examinations and was the Chairperson of the major professional body, the Association of Mathematics Educators in South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal sector.
In 2003, Professor Mudaly joined UKZN and his passion for teaching mathematics within the South African context for the South African student led to a specialisation in Mathematical Modelling, and the use of manipulatives to understand geometry. This created a fertile ground for excelling in the field of visualisation in mathematics, where he has firmly established an international profile.
Professor Mudaly has made a substantive and significant contribution through a cogent body of work in both visualisation and active learning in mathematics, and this is attested to by his authorship of more than 58 Peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and conference proceedings. He has published in several international and high impact journals, such as The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast. In 2016 he was ranked among the Top 30 prolific researchers in UKZN, and received accolades for having achieved the first position in the School of Education. His commitment to developing and enhancing scholarship in the field is evident by the graduation of more than 36 PhD and Masters students under his supervision.
International collaboration with highly acclaimed researchers in Mathematics education from Illinois State University, University at Buffalo and University of Southampton serve as an endorsement of his research standing as a leading scholar. He delivered plenary addresses at many national and international conferences, including the USAID conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Recognition of his work nationally resulted in invitations to other universities to lead discussions on visualisation research and to engage in the work of the Special Interest Group in Visualisation and the Discussion Group held in Taipei and the Topic Study Group in Shangai in China. He served as the Associate Editor of the leading Mathematics Education journal in South Africa – Pythagoras and is a member of the Editorial Board of Learning & Teaching Mathematics.
Professor Mudaly’s work has far-reaching, significant impact on society. He was appointed to the South African Government Expert team to report on the effects of Covid-19 on Education, by The Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME), the Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC) and the National Research Foundation (NRF). He has served as the lead author of the Education Chapter of the Country Report on Covid-19.
Besides hosting annual research workshops for postgraduate students in the mathematics department, Professor Mudaly has also been invited as a guest lecturer internationally to conduct research workshops, especially in the area of qualitative research and analysis.
His expertise has been recognised through his regular invitations to comment on national television, radio and newspapers on current and urgent educational matters as an expert in the field.
Professor Shaun Ramroop
Qualifications: B.Sc Hons (Natal), M.Sc (UNISA), PhD (UKZN)
Even in a well-designed and controlled study, missing data occurs in almost all research. Missing data can reduce the statistical power of a study and can produce biased estimates, leading to invalid conclusions. This warrants the need to review problems and types of missing data, along with the techniques for handling missing data. The mechanisms by which missing data occurs are illustrated, and the methods for handling the missing data are interrogated within the ambit of flexible statistical modelling. The classical methods range from complete case analysis (CC), last observation carried forward (LOCF) and mean value imputation whilst the more modern techniques include Multiple Imputation (MI), Multiple Imputation via Chained Equation( MICE), Inverse Probability Weighting (IPW) and Multiple Subset Correspondence analysis. The merits and demerits of the aforementioned techniques are also discussed.
Professor Shaun Ramroop is a Full Professor of Statistics. After completing his BSC (Statistics & Applied Mathematics) in 1995, he went on to complete is BSC Hons (Statistics) in 1996 and was employed as a Biometrician in 1997 at the South African Sugar Research Centre in Durban. His academic journey is outlined as follows: He was employed as a tutor at the University of Natal in 2001. Upon completion of his MSC in Statistics in 2002 with UNISA and he then obtained a PHD in Statistics in 2007 at UKZN. In 2007 he was promoted to Lecturer and then as Senior Lecturer in 2011. In 2016, he was promoted as Associated Professor and thereafter in 2018 he was promoted to Head of Department/Academic Lead of Statistics at the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN) till 2020. At the end of 2020 he was promoted to Full Professor. One of the distinguishing features of his academia is that in 2015 he was given the award of “Distinguished Teacher” within the College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science.
Professor Ramroop has graduated 25 MSC students and 6 PHD students as well as publishing more than 50 papers in accredited journals. His research areas include Biostatistics and Applied statistics in modelling and analysing business, health, education, environment, agriculture and social systems. In 2010 was recognized as one of the top 30 emerging researchers at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He has made significant contribution in applied statistics to the areas of malnutrition, anaemia, childhood obesity, interpersonal violence, forestry, service quality and entrepreneurship. His research has led to the application of novel models which consequentially gives meaningful inference to help the underwriting of policies and extending the existing body of knowledge in those areas.
From 2012 till present he was invited to act a judge by the South African Statistical Association in their annual honours project competition. This is a noteworthy position since he is able to gauge the standard of the honours project nationally. This would then enable the department of Statistics to set the correct research standards for the honours projects so that UKZN graduates are marketable and become sought after by external institutions and businesses.
Professor Ramroop is considered to be a problem solver to real world problems by using Statistics. From 2016-2017, He was the chief consultant/researcher to the Msunduzi Municipality in the “Living Conditions Survey”. His role involved training of fieldworkers, design of the survey, analysis of the results and presentation of findings to stakeholders in the Msunduzi municipality. He was also the chief statistician to the Greater Sekukne District municipality in their “Customer satisfaction survey” from 2012-2015 and the Silulumanzi Water projects from 2013-2016.
Professor Ramroop’s standing and recognition as researcher and academic are evident from the work he performs at a national level for leading, strategic education and research organisations in South Africa.
Professor Naven Chetty
The number of Physics graduates is declining rapidly with a consequence of dire shortages in key fields such as biomedical physics, geophysics and medical physics. Such shortages will have deep impact on research and development as well as economic growth. This talk focuses on developing strategies to increase numbers of graduates in Physics through strengthening of the school curriculum. Interventions are urgently needed at the level of high school for any impact to be felt at tertiary. The tertiary curriculum is also in drastic need of an overhaul which includes wider usage of Problems-Based Learning (PBL), technological learning (TL) and group learning (GL). COVID-19 has provided an ideal platform for much needed reforms in the teaching of physics with greater focus on graduate attributes and increased throughputs.
Naven Chetty is a Professor in the discipline of Physics. He obtained his BSc in Computational Physics and BSc (honours) in Physics from the former University of Natal in 2002 and 2003, respectively. On completion and by his insatiable desire for knowledge and passion for physics, he enrolled for his MSc in Physics in 2004 at the newly formed UKZN. The MSc was upgraded to a PhD in December 2006, not least because of the coherent body of work done but also for his exceptional research capacity demonstrated during the master’s program. He was then awarded a PhD for research in Molecular Optics in April 2009, on a thesis entitled “Measurement of the temperature dependence of the Buckingham effect (electric-field-gradient-induced-birefringence) in gases.”
From 2006 he was employed as a contract lecturer in the physics department in Pietermaritzburg. In 2007 he was employed as senior tutor on a fixed term contract in the newly established augmented program at UKZN to teach Physics. He was tasked as being the developer of the augmented physics module and many materials that he developed then are still in use today. In 2008, while still a contract employee, he was appointed the Assistant Dean of Recruitment for the Faculty of Science and Agriculture with his primary function being to increase student enrolment into STEM. Through many successful initiatives (many of which still run in the college today) he successfully helped increase the enrolments in STEM to help the Faculty to meet its enrolment targets. Based on this his contract was extended for another 2 years while he still taught on the augmented physics programme. In July 2010, he was finally employed on a permanent basis as a lecturer in the School of Physics while also still serving as the Assistant Dean, a role he held until the emergence of the college model in 2012.
He became a senior lecturer in 2014, and due to his educational interests and extensive knowledge on rules, procedures and institutional knowledge, he was appointed as the Academic leader of teaching and learning for the School of Chemistry and Physics in the same year (2014). In fact, Naven acted as the ALTL for more than 3 months in later half of 2013 while still only a lecturer, testimony to the high regard management had of his academic administration capabilities. He was later promoted to Associate Professor in 2017 and a Full Professor in 2020.
In 2015, he was head-hunted by the DVC of the College to head-up the access programme. At this point Naven had come full circle to head up the programme in which he officially started his academic journey almost ten years prior. His main tasks in this was ensure that the programme was resuscitated and to be financially viable. He was appointed as the College Dean of teaching and learning from 2017 to date. He sits on many national and international committees in his field in Physics as well as in the broader educational field. As part of his university service he sits on Senate, Council and the Fincom of UKZN. He also serves on the distinguished student and teacher award committees. Prof Chetty has been a reviewer for the Council for Higher Education from 2016 to date as well as an evaluator on the evaluation review panel at Umalusi from 2018 to date. In addition, he served as an Editor of the Open Physics Journal as well as a member of the various NRF accreditation panels. Naven is also a reviewer for a variety of journals and an examiner of programmes and theses of many Universities in Southern Africa and India.
Some notable awards and recognition
- C3-Rated Scientist, National Research Foundation (NRF), 2022.
- College Distinguished Teacher Award for 2015.
- University Distinguished Teacher Award for 2017
- Senior Member (Optical Society of America) 2019
- Incentive funding for rated researchers (IPRR) 2018, National Research Foundation (NRF), South Africa
- Research Development grants for y-rated researcher 2021-2022, National Research Foundation (NRF), South Africa
- Performance Awards (UKZN) 2013-2020
He has supervised 8 Ph.D. and 16 MSc graduates, with 2 summa cum laude and 7 cum laude. He has 44 peer-reviewed journal articles and 12 conference proceedings published. Against his name is funding received in the region of 6 million rand over the past 6 years, most notably funding for underprivileged students to pursue degrees. Professor Naven Chetty is recognized as a research scientist and a teacher in Biomedical and Experimental physics globally and he is passionate about growing Physics at UKZN.
Professor Oluwatosin Temitope Mewomo
In this lecture, we give a brief introduction and history to Banach algebras and notion of amenability. In particular, we show how the notion of amenability originated from measure theoretic problem, and how it moves to abstract harmonic analysis and then to the theory of Banach algebras. Various notions of amenability in Banach algebras are discussed with some characterizations and our contributions. In the second part of this lecture, we give a brief introduction to some notable fixed-point iterative schemes in some important spaces with applications. In particular, we show how iterative scheme can produce approximate solutions to certain classes of nonlinear problems, fixed points of some non-linear operators and zero-point problems and our contributions.
Professor Oluwatosin Temitope Mewomo is a Full Professor in the Discipline of Mathematics, School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, College of Engineering, Agriculture and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban, South Africa.
Professor Mewomo received B.Sc. (Honors) Mathematics Degree from University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (UNAAB), Nigeria in 2000 and won the United Bank for Africa Award as the overall best graduating student of the Department of Mathematical Sciences. He obtained MSc and PhD Degrees in 2004 and 2007 respectively, from the Department of Mathematics Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and UNAAB respectively with Distinction Grade in his MSc. He received the Ondo State Government Scholarship and Federal Government Scholarship for his MSc and African Mathematics Millennium Science Initiative (AMMSI) for his PhD study.
Professor Mewomo joined the Department of Mathematics, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria, in October 2002 as a Graduate Assistant, and ascended to the position of Senior Lecturer in 2013. He joined the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, UKZN, Durban, South Africa in March 2015 as a Senior Lecturer and ascended to the position of Full Professor in 2020.
Professor Mewomo’s research area is functional analysis. In particular, Banach algebras, fixed point theory and applications to nonlinear and optimization problems. The main focus in his research in Banach algebras is the notion of amenability and its various manifestations. His research in fixed point theory cut across fixed point iterative methods for approximating the fixed point of nonlinear operators, nonlinear and optimization problems in Hilbert, Banach and Hadamard (complete CAT (0)) spaces. He has successfully completed the supervision of 14 Doctoral (PhD) and 22 Master (MSc) students, mentored 4 Postdoctoral Fellows and published over 180 research articles in Scopus and ISI indexed journals published by Springer, Taylor and Francis, Elsevier, De Gruyter and so on in these areas of research focus. He is currently supervising 5 Doctoral (PhD) students.
Professor Mewomo has examined a number of M.Sc. and PhD theses from University of Pretoria, University of Witwatersrand, UKZN, Botswana, Pakistan and India. He is a member of the Editorial Board of International Journal of Nonlinear Analysis and Applications (IJNAA). He is a reviewer for more than 20 high impact factor journals such as Numerical Algorithms, Optimization, Acta Mathematica Scientia, Computational and Applied Mathematics, Fixed Point Theory, Quaestiones Mathematica, Afrika Matematika, Rocky Mountain Journal of Mathematics, Applied Numerical Mathematics, Bulletin Iranian Mathematical Society, Journal of Industrial and Management Optimization, Journal Nigerian Mathematical Society and many more. He is a reviewer of American Mathematical Society (AMS) MathSciNet, zbMATH and Guest Editor of some Special Issues.
Professor Mewomo has been an invited speaker at a number of international conferences and workshops in the United Kingdom, Canada, Finland, Sweden, South Africa, among others. He has had the opportunity of giving invited talks in several Universities, such as Queen University Belfast, University of Glasgow, University of Leeds, CoE-MaSS Wits, University of Cape town, Stellenbosch University, University of Wits, and University of Pretoria. He was one of the Keynote speakers at the 2017 International Conference, which was held at, Lahore, Pakistan, 2017. He was a visiting research to Queens University Belfast, University of Glasgow, University of Leeds, University of Dalhousie, University of Manitoba, University of Pretoria, University of Wits and African Institute for Mathematical Science, South Africa.
Professor Mewomo is a National Research Foundation (NRF), South Africa C2 rated scientist since 2019. He was a recipient of the 2012 Research and Productivity Award of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria before joining UKZN. He has been one of the top 30 productive researchers at UKZN over the past three years consecutively, ranked 7th in 2018, 3rd in 2019 and 2nd in 2020. He has won severally the Deputy Vice Chancellor, College of Engineering, Agriculture and Science Research Awards. He is a panel member of Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), South Africa Research, Output Sub-Panels Reviewer and Evaluations of Scholarly Books and Conference Proceedings since 2016 to date. He was a recipient of the London Mathematical Society Scheme 5 Fellowship, National Research Foundation, South Africa, Incentive Funding for Rated Research (2019-2024), International Mathematical Union (IMU) travel grant and lots more.
Professor Mewomo is member of American Mathematical Society and Nigerian Mathematical Society.
Professor Ignatius Verla Nsahlai
Seemingly seamless is the nature of diet intake by ruminants; it captures some salient features of research by Professor Ignatius V Nsahlai. The discussion starts with two models on (1) digestible organic matter (DOM) required as by sheep in the tropical highlands and (2) his published methodology for estimating DOM intake of grazing livestock. His group further proposed a model for estimating methane emission where the level of feeding was in multiples of reticulo-rumen capacity. This model out-performed its immediate contemporary (R2 80.5 vs 60.5%). One enigma in diet formulation is the unknown daily intake. His research group developed a model using a multiplicative strategy for estimating the daily intake of diets by ruminants. In view of some shortcomings, his research group has tested and approved the model by Illius and Gordon based on its structure but the input parameters are being re-modelled. Is the research really seamless?
Family name: Nsahlai
First names: Ignatius Verla
Work address: Animal and Poultry Science, SASA, UKZN, PMB, 3209, South Africa
Email: nsahlaii@ukzn.ac.za
ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS
University degree/ Certificate | Subject of specialization | Year | Name of location |
Ph.D. | Animal Nutrition | 1991 | University of Reading, UK |
PG Diploma | Animal Production | 1987 | University of Reading, UK |
Maitrise es Science | Animal Biology and Physiology | 1985 | University of Yaounde, Cameroon |
Licence (BSc.) | Natural Science (Zoology) | 1984 | University of Yaounde, Cameroon |
Certificate | Project planning & evaluation | 1999 | University of Natal, RSA |
WORK EXPERIENCE
2007 Associate Professor: Pogramme Director/Acting HOD, UKZN, Pietermaritzburg, S.Africa Address: Discipline of Animal & Poultry Science, UKZN, PMB Campus.
July 1996-Mar 2007 Senior Lecturer and Pogramme Director, UKZN, Pietermaritzburg, S.Africa Address: Discipline of Animal & Poultry Science, UKZN, PMB Campus.
July 2001-Jan 2002:
Visiting Research Professor: E (Kika) de la Garza Institute for goat Research, Langston University, Langston, OK., USA. Responsibilities: Determination of requirement expressions for goats.
June 1994-April 96
Associate Scientist. International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA) (now: International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Oct. 1991-June 1994
Postdoctoral Fellowship. International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Main responsibilities: as above (officially but not practically excluding supervision).
July 1991-Oct. 1991
Analyst of animal Feeds. Berks, Bucks & Oxen (BBO) Farmers Ltd. Twyford. Reading. UK.
Main responsibilities: Analyses of feeds, determination of quality of wheat grain and farm inspection to assess level of contaminants.
1 Languages
English Excellent
French Fair (reads fluently but speaks to a limited)
International and Local Recognition
1. NRF Evaluation Panel Member, 2006; NRF selection committee Member, 2006;Reviewer of CGIAR Challenge programme for water and Food proposals; Mentor and Facilitator of the Sub-Saharan Africa Challenge Programme, 2004-2006; Sub Editor: South African Journal of Animal Science; Reviewer: Two Local journals and five ISI accredited journals; NRF Reviewer: Funding proposals and promotion documents; Reviewer of The United States-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Project proposal.
Supervision & co-supervision
1. Completed: 17 PhD and 30 MSc. candidates; On-going: 1 MSc and 3 PhD candidates.
PUBLICATIONS
1. Manual(s): 3; Book chapters: 6; Refereed journal articles: 138; Conference proceedings: 71
2. EXHIBITIONS: 3
Professor Desmond Wesley Govender
Qualifications: BCom (UNISA), BScHons, MA, PhD (UKZN)
Title: A Turbulent Learning Curve: Technology Integration
Date: 15 June 2022
Time: 15h00 – 16h00
The integration of technology is a continuous challenge in most organizations and industry. A recent survey, post the onset of covid-19, shows that Emerging technology adoption has a people problem and therefore one needs to get out of one’s own way to embrace change. This is true for the education sector as well.
As early as 2007, it became evident that, regardless of the amount of technology and its sophistication, technology will not be used appropriately unless educators have the skills, knowledge, and positive attitudes towards its use.
More than 15 years later, the same holds true and many are still researching technology adoption in education. How do we explain this phenomenon? Moreover, with ongoing technological developments, and the classroom having evolved into a seabed of technological advances, the big idea for education is finally here: How do we facilitate an exploration of new education approaches that reflect today’s students and 21st century skills?
Professor Desmond Govender is a Professor in Computer Science Education. After completing a teaching diploma he started his career as an educator in Mathematics and Computer Studies. During his teaching tenure, he continued his studies at UNISA and the former UDW where he obtained his BCom and Honours’ degrees in Computer Science, respectively. Thereafter, he lectured at the former Edgewood College for teacher education in Computer Science and then was appointed as Provincial Subject Advisor for IT in the Department of Basic Education in KZN. In 2002, he joined the former University of Natal in the School of Mathematics, Science, Technology and Computing discipline as a senior lecturer and obtained his Masters’ degree in Digital Media and PhD in information systems and technology at UKZN. He served as Head of School and assistant to the Dean for three years. He was then appointed to associate Professor in 2016, and later to Full Professor in 2020.
Professor Govender is an established NRF rated researcher who enjoys international recognition. He has supervised and graduated 16 PhD and 10 master’s students and published more than 75 articles in national and international peer-reviewed journals and in conference proceedings. He received three awards for research output from the College of Humanities (top 30 researchers – twice) and the School of Education (top 3 researchers) in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The niche areas of his research are Programming paradigms and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) integration in Teaching and Learning. Recently, his concentration has been ICT integration in teaching and learning in the 4IR.
Presently, he is adviser to Umalusi, Department of Basic Education (DBE), Independent Examinations Board (IEB) for the subject Information Technology in high schools. He is presently an external moderator for Information Technology (IT) in the country which involves ensuring that standards for IT of all examining bodies are maintained. This ties in with his involvement in teacher education for Computer Science.
His international collaborations and advisory services include Wellington Institute of Technology, New Zealand, Midlands State University, Zimbabwe and a Non-Governmental organization in Zimbabwe called SolidarMed, who are involved in an electronic health community programme. His role has been to advise on the structure and design of system software development. At Midlands State University, he was instrumental in offering Computer Science Education courses into their B.Ed. Curriculum.
Several bodies, including Ghanaian Government (as an accreditation team), NRF, and Computer Science Teachers Association based in the US have sought his expertise. Additionally, he has been called upon to present workshops on quantitative analysis in education research and statistics nationally to staff and students in faculties of Education of other universities, for example Rhodes University and University of Zululand.
Professor Desmond Govender’s standing and recognition as researcher and academic are evident from the work he performs at a national level for leading, strategic education and research organisations in South Africa.