Inaugural Lectures

Biography

Marshall Keyster was born and raised in Greenlands (Bellville South). He received his PhD in Plant Biotechnology from the Institute for Plant Biotechnology at Stellenbosch University. Marshall received postdoctoral training in plant molecular biology at UWC and is a co-principal investigator in the Centre of Excellence in Food Security. He often travels to the University of Missouri to conduct collaborative research and is an NRF-C2-rated researcher as well as the Associate Editor of the Plant Molecular Biology Reporter journal.

Biography

Professor Nicolette Roman has a PhD in Psychology, is a Senior Professor and South African Research Chair in the study of families. She is the Founder and Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Children, Families and Society (CISCFS) at the UWC and a Visiting Professor at the University of Huddersfield in the UK. She has received numerous awards, including the Chancellor’s Outstanding Alumni Award in Health Sciences, the DVC and Dean’s Research Excellence awards and the winner of the 2023 inaugural HERS-SA award for Women in Humanities and Social Science. Her research focuses on family capabilities and social cohesion for family well-being. She has published and presented her research locally and internationally.

Biography

A professor in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department, Desiree Lewis studied at UCT, Wits and the University of York (UK). She is the author of Living on a Horison: Bessie Head and the Politics of Imagining, co-editor of Surfacing: On Being Black and Feminist, and the lead PI of an intra-institutional Programme titled, “Critical Food Studies”. Her work on food has involved collaboration with partners in and beyond South Africa, mentoring postgraduates and young researchers, guest editing journal special issues, and publishing her own writing on this subject.

Biography

Ayub Sheik is Professor and Head of Department of Language Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of the Western Cape. He was previously at the University of Kwazulu-Natal. He has also lectured at several universities in the United Arab Emirates. In addition, he was an Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of English Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a visiting DAAD scholar at the University of Essen, Germany. His scholarly predilections are postcolonialism, African literature, poetry and the supervision of postgraduate students in English Education. His book, Wopko Jensma: A Monograph: The Interface between Poetry and Schizophrenia was published in June 2024 by Brill in the African Writer Series.

Biography

Professor NE Schutte is a distinguished academic and thought leader with a multifaceted research portfolio that intersects Talent Management, Neuropsychology, Strategic Leadership, Public Administration, Local Government, Human Resource Management, Knowledge Management, Online Learning, and Organizational Behavior. His work in these areas reflects a deep commitment to advancing knowledge and practice within both academic and professional contexts.

Professor Schutte has established himself as a prolific researcher, with an extensive body of published work that includes numerous articles in high-impact journals, books, and conference presentations. His research is characterized by its interdisciplinary approach, bridging gaps between traditional academic silos to address complex, real-world challenges. His insights into the interplay between human behavior, organizational dynamics, and leadership strategies have informed and shaped best practices in various sectors, particularly within public administration and human resource management.

In addition to his research, Professor Schutte has made significant contributions to academia through his role as a mentor and supervisor. He has successfully guided a substantial number of master’s and PhD students, helping to cultivate the next generation of scholars and practitioners in his fields of expertise. His mentorship is highly regarded, with many of his students going on to make impactful contributions in academia, industry, and government.

Throughout his career, Professor Schutte has been recognized for his outstanding contributions to research and scholarship. He was honoured as the Most Productive Senior Researcher of the Faculty at North-West University in 2014, a testament to his prolific output and influence in his fields of study. Moreover, his innovative work has earned him multiple awards from the South African Board for People Practices (SABPP), including Best Publication in HR Research in both 2015 and 2018. In 2018, he was also awarded Best Human Resources Consulting Product for his pioneering community outreach initiative, Giftback, which has become a model for integrating academic research with community service.

Professor Schutte continues to push the boundaries of research and practice, with ongoing projects that explore the latest trends and challenges in his areas of specialization. His work remains at the forefront of scholarly and professional discourse, contributing to the development of new theories, methodologies, and practices that enhance organizational effectiveness and societal well-being.