SASEE 2025 BGM Announcement

Professor Lelanie Smith is a full-time Associate Professor in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and IT at the University of Pretoria. She coordinates the Faculty’s Community Engagement Projects and Vertically Integrated Projects, and leads the holistic, capacity-building national initiative Bringing Life to Our Engineering Curricula. She chairs the UP EBIT Curriculum Development Committee and co-founded the Engineering Education Research Network Africa. She has driven and led multiple international collaborations in service of improving engineering education practice and research, and is a SASEE board member available for re-election. She received the 2022 GEDC Diversity award.

Prof Manimagalay Chetty has 30 years of academic and research experience, specialising in waste and wastewater valorisation, anaerobic digestion, algae-based biofuels, neural network modelling, airlift reactors, and engineering education. She leads the Green Engineering and Sustainability research group at CPUT and contributes to a similar group at DUT. A proven postgraduate supervisor and research collaborator, she previously headed Chemical Engineering at DUT and currently serves as Head of Department at CPUT. She has played key roles in the NRF BRICS bioenergy project, co-chaired major conferences, and will chair the 2025 Sustainability, Bioprocesses and Energy conference. She is Vice President of SAIChemE and SASEE.

Eudes Tshitshonu is a lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the Vaal University of Technology (VUT). He positions himself as a practitioner in the teaching and learning space. Keen on converting philosophies and theories on teaching and learning into tangible and relatable steps for the teacher in the classroom, Eudes has been exploring and developing technology to support his own practice with an attempt to demystify STEM / STEAM subjects. The work has been recognized with the Rectorate Award of Teaching Excellence twice. The utopia to contribute to the democratization of qualify education, keeps Eudes engaged through peer networks and self-driven initiatives such as the perfec6 platform he developed to promotes active learning in STEM/STEAM. He has been a SASEE board member since 2019.

Prof Tania Hanekom is a Professor of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering at the University of Pretoria, where she has served since 2000. An internationally recognised researcher in bioengineering and cochlear implant modelling, she has advanced user-specific computational models of the auditory system and published extensively. A dedicated educator, she founded Tuks Robot Race Day and the Tuks Robot School to promote hands-on learning in robotics. Widely celebrated for teaching excellence, she has received multiple UP and HELTASA awards. A registered Professional Engineer and Senior IEEE Member, she also leads undergraduate studies and contributes to curriculum and teaching innovation at UP.

Lauren Jansen is an emerging scholar in engineering education whose research focuses on online learning, teamwork development, and writing pedagogy in extended engineering programmes. She has presented at major conferences including SciCom 100, WEEF–GEDC and SoTL in the South, and has published in IEEE Xplore and the Australasian Journal of Engineering Education. Her collaborations span studies on formative assessment, teaching modalities, communities of practice, and reading comprehension. She contributes to national projects through the UCDP and EERN-A, and has received multiple grants and awards, including an Erasmus bursary and the ENGAGE Teaching and Learning Award for innovation in teaching.

Kalpana Ramesh Kanjee is a Lecturer at the University of Cape Town in the Academic Development Programme (ADP) in the Centre for Higher Education (CHED). She holds a BSc in electro-mechanical engineering and an MSc in engineering management. Over the past 21 years she has taught
mathematics for engineers in the ADP unit, ASPECT. Her interests have been in more of the psycho-social and generative mechanisms of teaching and learning and what can be done about teaching and learning in classrooms and beyond. Her current research interests, based on her about to be handed-in PhD, are Care and Learning Communities. She is a member of the Centre for Research in Engineering Education (CREE).

Rendani Wilson Maladzhi is a resilient academic leader whose unconventional pathway—from TVET studies and an access programme to a Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering—shapes his commitment to transformation. He is Head of Mechanical Engineering and an Associate Professor at DUT, with over two decades of academic leadership at institutions including UNISA and CPUT. His work spans entrepreneurship curriculum integration, project-based learning, and extensive international and national collaborations. A published researcher in smart manufacturing, green entrepreneurship, engineering education, and technology adoption, he is active in the EERA network. He has demonstrated excellence in academic governance, strategic planning, and industry-community engagement.

Thabang Ngwenya is a systems engineer, lecturer, and founder whose work focuses on building interconnected ecosystems that link education, enterprise, and community development. A strategic systems thinker, he designs sustainable models that create measurable social and economic impact. Over the past decade, he has led multi-sector programmes benefiting more than 15 schools, 1,000 university volunteers, and 15,000 learners. His academic work spans systems engineering, robotics, artificial systems, engineering education, and enterprise engineering. As co-founder of Keep That Gold Shining NPC, he advances youth empowerment. His leadership philosophy centres on human-centred, purpose-driven transformation grounded in learning, clarity, and collaboration.

Professor K. Nyembwe, Head of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering at CPUT since July 2024, is a registered Professional Engineer with extensive leadership experience at the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), where he served for eight years and chaired the Accreditation and Training Committee. Since 2004, he has led numerous accreditation panels and contributed to major ECSA policies, including those on CPD, IDoEW, and RPL. Before joining CPUT, he spent six years as Vice Dean: Teaching and Learning at the University of Johannesburg’s Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, advancing academic innovation, student success, and curriculum transformation.

Dr. Bronwyn Swartz is an Associate Professor and Faculty Teaching and Learning Coordinator in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at Cape Peninsula University of Technology. With a PhD in Quality Management and Cum Laude master's and bachelor's degrees, her research focuses on innovative teaching practices, digital transformation in higher education, and quality management. A multiple award-winning educator, she has received institutional and faculty teaching excellence awards and international recognition. Dr. Swartz leads collaborative research projects on innovative engineering curricula and AI integration in education, while supervising postgraduate students and contributing to community engagement initiatives across South Africa. She is a member of the national Innovative Engineering Curriculum project facilitation team.