Paper Review Panel

Prof Amira Omer Siddig Osman

Amira Omer Siddig Osman is a Sudanese/South African architect/lecturer/researcher is a Professor of architecture at the Tshwane University of Technology. Amira studied at the University of Khartoum in Sudan in 1988 (B.Sc.) and 1996 (M.Sc.). She also obtained a Diploma from the Institute for Housing Studies in Rotterdam (IHS) in 1992 and PhD in Architecture from the University of Pretoria in 2004.

She worked as an architect in Khartoum during the period 1988- 1997 with various practices on small and large projects and was a United Nations Volunteer (UNV) in Maseru, Lesotho 1997-1998, as an architect with the Department of Public Works. She has participated in a number of projects in South Africa including a hostel upgrade and designs for social housing in Pretoria. Amira is a registered Professional Architect with the South African Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP) and while her focus is academic and research-oriented, she continues to practice on a small scale.

Amira taught at a number of institutions for about 30 years, with 10 years at the University of Khartoum, 11 years at the University of Pretoria and 5 years at the University of Johannesburg. Amira contributed to the conceptualisation of the honours programme at UP and ran it for several years. She also managed the first master’s studio at UJ in 2012 which helped lead to the full accreditation of the degree in 2013. She established the Housing and Urban Environments (HUE_UP) research field at the University of Pretoria and at the University of Johannesburg. She also established UJ’s research and academic UNIT 2 “Architecture and Agency: DESIGN | MAKE | TRANSFORM” in 2015. The unit focused on the promotion of Open Building thinking and practice, exploring relevance and applications in the South African context. Amira’s teaching has focused on Housing and Urban Policy and she currently runs the design studio for the professional master’s studio at TUT.

She previously worked as a Senior Researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria (2010-2012) where she collaborated with a team from the Department of Human Settlements, the South African Institute of Architects (SAIA) and other councils and private sector representatives in the development of ten points for sustainable human(e) settlements which she proceeded to disseminate widely.
Amira was one of the conference conveners for the World Congress on Housing in 2005 at the University of Pretoria and the convener of the Sustainable Human(e) Settlements: the urban challenge, 2012, hosted by FADA, University of Johannesburg and partners. She also served as UIA 2014 Durban General Reporter and head of the Scientific Committee for the International Union of Architects (UIA) and the South African Institute of Architects (SAIA). She currently serves as a joint coordinator for the international CIB Open Building Implementation network.

Dr Anis Daraghma

Dr. Anis Daraghma is a human geographer, civil engineer, water engineer, and art director. The emphases of Dr Daraghma’s work is affordable housing, people and the environment, comprehensive and inclusive national dialogue, art as a form of political expression. Dr Daraghma graduate from the University of Cape Town (PhD), MSc. environmental science the Netherlands, water and civil engineer from Birzeit University.  Currently, Dr Daraghma is the director of the Institute of Palestine and South Africa (IPSA) and the Forum for Dialogue (FFD). He is also  facilitating an MOU between Nelsom Mandela University and the University of Birzeit on affordable housing for both Palestine and South Africa.

Professor Samuel Babatunde Agbola

Babatunde Samuel Agbola is an Urban and Regional Planner with life long interest in Human Settlement Development and how this has been affected by climate change. He holds a BSc Degree in Economics from the Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria and an MCP, MA and  PhD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. He was the Pioneer Director of Physical Planning at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He is currently the Chair of the Regional Committee for Africa (RCA) of the International Council for Science (ICSU) now merged with the International Social Science Council (ISSC) as International Science Council (ISC). He was a past Chair of the Association of African Planning Schools (AAPS), the Chair of the Nigerian Chapter of the Land Use, Land Cover Change Group of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) . Prof Agbola was one of the Pioneer Members of what is today the Safer Cities Network of the UN-Habitat. He was a Visiting Professor of Planning at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls. He is the author of fifteen books, seventy–two Chapters in highly rated books published by rep12 KButable international publishers and over fifty three peer reviewed international and local journal articles. Most of these publications are in the area of Human Settlement Development and Management

Prof Brink Botha

Prof Brink Botha is an Associate Professor in the Built Environment and Owner/Managing Director of various entrepreneurial ventures, primarily Built Environment and Real Estate related. Professor Botha shares a passion for property development, a niche discipline in which he is active both as academic and industry practitioner, but also as an entrepreneur as well as Professional Consultant.  He has been involved in Academia and the Built Environment for the past two decades since 1996 with vast experience in the related disciplines.

The author completed a National Diploma in Building Cum Laude, two Baccalaureus degree respectively in Quantity Surveying and Construction Management Cum Laude, an MSc in the Built Environment with specialization in Property Economics and Valuation as well as a PhD with a thesis titled: “Property development: A Business Process Model.

Professor Botha is currently Head of the Construction Management Department at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and Co-Director of the MSc Built Environment programme jointly hosted by two Built Environment departments. In this capacity, Professor Botha is actively involved in conducting, publishing and promoting Built Environment and Real Estate related research whilst being active in Industry in his capacity as professionally registered Construction Projects Manager with the South African Council for the Construction and Project Management Professions. He is amongst other fulfilling the function of Project Manager of the implementation of various Built Environment related Short Learning Programmes.

Professor Botha is also a Member of the Association of Construction Project Managers, an Incorporate of the Chartered Institute of Building, a Member of the Ergonomic Society of South Africa and is serving on the respective Councils of the South African Property owners Association as well as the Association of Schools of Construction of Southern Africa. Professor Botha is passionate about advanced teaching and learning methodology, mentoring and life coaching as well as community renaissance, hence rendering various pro bono services whilst supporting related non-profitable organizations aligned to the collective objective.

 

Dr Darlington Onojaefe

Dr Darlington Onojaefe obtained his doctoral degree in 2009 and is currently a Senior Lecturer and Head of Academic Programmes at the Graduate Centre for Management, Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Darlington’s teaching and research interest is in the application of marketing, brand and strategic management concepts in the domain of business and market development. In addition, he has contributed to discussion, research and project implementation in partnership with business and public sector organisations. He has authored and co-authored several academic papers in peer reviewed journals and has presented conference and seminar papers in international conferences. Dr Onojaefe has supervised post graduate students and member of Academic Advisory Committee of CSIR-DST Conference on Sustainable Human Settlements and acts as external examiner for post graduate studies in several universities.  

D. K. Ahadzie

 

Geci Karuri-Sebina, PhD

Associate: South African Cities Network
Visiting Research Fellow: Wits School of Governance
Johannesburg, South Africa

Geci is a Johannesburg-based scholar-practitioner who mainly works on urban planning and governance issues. She is currently working in several capacities as an Associate of South African Cities Network, an expert resource to the Presidential Advisory Panel on Land Reform, Visiting Research Fellow with the Wits School of Governance, and National Organiser of the Civic Tech Innovation Network in South Africa. She is also a Global Faculty member of Singularity University.

 Geci’s experience and interests span a range of development foresight, policy, innovation and practice topics, particularly relating to cities and local systems. She has two decades’ experience working and publishing in these fields. Her recent publications include the book Innovation Africa  (Emerald Books) and a foresight journal special issue on Urban Futures.

Geci previously worked with South Africa’s National Treasury Neighbourhood Development Partnership Grant programme, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Advanced Policy Institute. Having started off with a tech background (Bachelors in Computer Science), she went on to receive Masters’ degrees in Urban Planning and Architecture from UCLA (USA), and a PhD from the University of Witwatersrand (South Africa).

She is active a number of roles including as a Regional Advisor: Africa Innovation Summit; Curator: The Emergence Network; Council Member: South African Council of Planners; Board member: African Network for the Economics of Learning, Innovation, and Competence Building Systems (AfricaLics) and Plan Act NGO; founding director: Southern African Node of the Millennium Project and co-founder: ForesightForDevelopment.org; Associate Editor: African Journal for Science, Technology, Innovation and Development (Taylor & Francis) and Africa Regional Editor: foresight  (Emerald).

za.linkedin.com/in/gecik/

geci@sacities.net

Prof. Jabulani Gilford Kheswa (PhD Psychology)

Teaching: Jabulani is an Associate Professor and HOD in the Department of Psychology, University of Fort Hare, South Africa.  He specializes in sexuality and facilitates the following modules; Health Psychology, Psychopathology, Personality Theories and Research Designs.

Community engagement: He is instrumental in providing workshops on psychological well-being and sexual behaviour of adolescents in Secondary Schools. This stems from the knowledge and skills acquired from the Postgraduate Diploma (HIV/AIDS) obtained from Stellenbosch University, MEd (Psychology of Education) from  the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and his thesis entitled “Sexual values, attitudes  and behaviour and psycho-social well-being of a group of African adolescent males” from North West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, South Africa..                      

Research: Jabulani has a book chapter in the South African 3^rd Edition of the Psychology. Themes & Variations, co-authored 39 peer reviewed journal articles and presented at the international and local conferences. He reviews manuscripts for international journals and acts as an external examiner for various South African universities. In October 2018, he presented a paper in Cape–Town, entitled “Implementation Science” at the 2^nd  HIV Adolescence Workshop, where he was invited as a guest speaker.

 

Janet Cherry

Janet Cherry is a South African social justice activist and academic. She is currently Professor and Head of the Department of Development Studies at the Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth. She has a PhD in political sociology from Rhodes University. Her main areas of research are sustainable development, democratic participation, social and political history, labour, gender and human rights. She has published two books as well as a number of articles and chapters in books on South African history, labour and social movements, transitional justice and sustainable development.

Dr Jeffrey Mahachi

Dr Jeffrey Mahachi is a registered professional engineer and registered construction project manager. Jeffrey obtained his qualifications from Wits University (PhD), University of Surrey (MSc) and University of Zimbabwe (BS Eng). He is also a recipient of an M.IT degree from University of Pretoria. Jeffrey is currently the Head of School of Civil Engineering and the Built Environment at the University of Johannesburg and lectures structural engineering. He has previously worked
for the National Home Builders Registration Council, where he held several executive positions, worked for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) as a Research Engineer and lectured at Wits University. Jeffrey has also been involved in a number of construction projects including sustainable human settlements and the roll-out of innovative building systems. Jeffrey has contributed to the development of standards and is passionate about developmental engineering and promoting innovation in the construction industry. He is currently serving as a Board Member of Agrѐment South Africa, Council for GeoScience, the Engineering Council of South Africa and the Clay Brick Association. He has authored and co-authored two books in structural engineering and several journal and conference papers.

Dr Kedibone Phago

Kedibone Phago holds a doctoral degree in Public Administration from the University of South Africa (Unisa). His research focused on housing policy and has published papers in this area. His impeccable and solid research record in publishing scientific articles, papers in conference proceedings and book chapters is has also earned him several accolades. He has published over 40 papers in journals, book chapters, book reviews and opinion pieces.

He is currently serving as a Research Professor for the Faculty of Management Sciences at the Mangosuthu University of Technology.

Kedibone also served as a full Professor and Head of Department for a Postgraduate Programme of Master of Public Administration at the Faculty of Management and Law of the University of Limpopo. He worked at Unisa as Associate Professor in the Department of Public Administration and Management. He has a strong experience in the supervision of postgraduate students both in South Africa and Uganda.

Kedibone Phago is currently serving as a Deputy Editor for a Journal of Public Administration, a premier journal in his discipline in South Africa where he is also responsible for editing special issues. He is also a South African Association of Public Administration and Management (SAAPAM) board member representing the journal. He serves as one of Africa’s editor for the Journal of Local Economy published by Sage. The journal is hosted by Local Economy Policy Unit (LEPU) at the London South Bank University.

Prof Leslie Bank

Leslie J. Bank is a Professor of Social Anthropology and Deputy Executive Director at the Human Sciences Research Council in Cape Town. His books include Home Spaces, Street Styles: Contesting Power and Identity in a South African City (Pluto Press, London, 2011), Inside African Anthropology: Monica Wilson and her Interpreters (Cambridge University Press, co-editor 2013), Imonti Modern: Picturing the Life and Times of a South African Location (HSRC Press, co-author, 2017), Anchored in Place: Universities and City Building in South Africa (African Minds, co-editor, 2018),  City of Broken Dreams: Myth-making, Nationalism and Universities on the African Rust belt (2019, Michigan State University Press, Lansing, USA) and Migrant Labour After Apartheid (HSRC Press, co-editor 2019, forthcoming). His new book Sobukwe’s Children is due out in 2020.

Ms Lorato Motsatsi

Lorato Motsatsi is a Researcher at CSIR, Built Environment, Building Science and Technology competency area. Her focus has been on optimising social infrastructure i.e. building performance research, indoor environment quality, thermal comfort, building thermal performance and inclusive design. Lorato has also worked on the development of norms, standards and guidelines for the South African Department of Health, Infrastructure Unit System Support and school building design. Of late, Lorato has been involved in Human Settlements projects and has been a convener and organizer of the Out-Of-The Box Human Settlement 2018 Conference and editor of the Out-Of-The Box Human Settlement 2018 Conference Proceedings.

Prof Maléne Campbell

Prof Maléne Campbell (Pr. Pln A592/ 1988), a professional Town and Regional Planner, is an associated professor and Academic Departmental Head at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning of the University of the Free State. She worked both in private and public sector and has been teaching at the University of the Free State for the past 23 years while doing research. During this time, she investigated human settlement issues of small towns and secondary cities. She also published on additional topics such as mining towns and studentification. She delivered two PhD and 60 Masters students during her academic career. Editorial contributions include the role as one of the editorial associates of the Town and Regional Planning Journal as well as for the journal Acta Structilia.

Dr. Olufemi Ojo-Fajuru

Dr. Ojo-Fajuru, Joseph Olufemi was born about 56 years ago in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. He holds a Higher National Diploma in Town and Regional Planning (YCT, Yaba Lagos, 1987); Post Graduate Diploma in Urban and Regional Planning (FUT Akure, 2004); Master in Environmental Management (UNAD, Ado-Ekiti, 2005); Master of Technology in Urban and Regional Planning (FUT Akure, 2010); and Doctor of Philosophy in Town and Regional Planning (UKZN, Durban, 2018). He joined Yaba College of Technology in 2005 and he is now a Senior Lecturer in Urban and Regional Planning Department of the Institution. His research areas cut across urban and rural landscape planning; green landscaping and green growth; urban design and development; environmental impact assessment; livelihood strategy and liveability enhancement; promotion of socio-economic and environmental sustainability, strengthening climate adaptation, disaster mitigation and vulnerability reduction, building resilience in communities; environmental planning, design and management for sustainable human settlement development. He has published articles in learned journals and chapter contributions to textbooks and has presented many papers at conferences. He is currently a Research Fellow in the Department of Building and Human Settlement of the Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. He is a member of the Nigerian Environment Society Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP) and a registered Town Planner with the Town Planners Registration Council (TOPREC) in Nigeria. Haven acquired cognate academic and professional qualifications, he has been involved in various aspects of Urban and Regional Planning practice, consultancy and academia.

 

Peta de Jager

Peta de Jager is a registered professional architect, and holds a master’s degree in applied ethics. She is currently appointed research group leader in the field of building science and technology for the built environment unit at the CSIR. The Architectural Engineering research group specialises in building performance and social infrastructure - particularly healthcare and education buildings - focusing on the development and application of research and science to support service delivery particularly in the public sector. Current projects include a lead role in defining a science, technology and innovation roadmap for sustainable human settlements. Peta holds a certificate in instructional design and has mentored numerous young professionals. She serves on the UKRI International Peer Review College, the South African Federation of Hospital Engineering, and the International Union of Architects Public Health Group.

Prof Prudence Khumalo

Prudence Khumalo is an Associate Professor in the department of Public Administration and Management at the University of South Africa. He has published on Public Policy and Development, Leadership, Environmental Governance, Poverty and Local Economic Development. He has presented papers at both local and international conferences. He has successfully supervised a number of students at both Master’s and Doctoral levels. Prudence currently serves as the chair for the research committee in the department of Public Administration as well as a Programme co-ordinator of the Human Settlements Cluster in the same department.

Prudence holds a Doctorate Degree in Public Administration, University of Fort Hare 2011, Master of Public Administration, University of Fort Hare 2009, and a Bsc Honours in Human Resource Management, Midlands State University 2005.  He had a stint with the University of Fort Hare as a Postdoctoral Fellow in 2011 and later on joined UNISA in a similar capacity under the Poverty Alleviation Field within the Department of Development Studies in the College of Human Sciences prior to assuming his current position.

Prof Ncwadi

Prof Ncwadi holds a PhD in Economics from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.  His areas of specialization are Public Finance, Money & Banking, International Finance, Health Economics, Labour Markets, Macroeconomics, and Applied Econometrics.  His research interest is in Public Finance, Policy Analysis and Entrepreneurship.

Professor Ncwadi is a former Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Management and Commerce at Fort Hare University and also a Director of Macroeconomic Analysis Unit at the Eastern Cape Provincial Treasury. He has also been a Head of Department of Economics at Nelson Mandela University. He is currently a Full Professor of Economics and a Director of the School of Economics, Development and Tourism at Nelson Mandela University. Prof Ncwadi is a co-chair of Pan African Entrepreneurship Research Council Editorial Committee in USA. He is a member of BRICS Academic Think-Tank and Athens Institute for Education and Research. 

Robert Mongwe

Robert Mongwe holds a Masters Degree In Anthropology from the University of Stellenbosch (MPhil Anthropology), a BHons (Development Studies), BA (Politics) from the University of the Western Cape.   Robert’s interests are in the areas of Housing Studies, especially informal settlements upgrading, housing politics and citizenship, culture, development, and land.  In his current position Robert has supervised postgraduate (at Masters Level) in the areas identified above.  Robert attends national and international conferences.  Currently he is involved in a research project funded by the National Institute of Social Sciences & Humanities entitled “Imagining the Future of Land Reform in Post-apartheid South Africa”.  Robert is also the Convenor and Head of department and part of team who developed the Bachelor of Social Science in Human Settlement at the University of Fort Hare.

Dr. Rosemary Hayangah

Rosemary Awuor Hayangah (Pr Pln) holds a Ph.D. in Planning (Wales); MA in Urban & Regional Planning BSc.  (1^st Class Hons) Nairobi. Dr. Hayangah is a renowned Urban & Regional Planner with over 20 years’ experience in research and planning practice, Specialist in settlement planning, housing, place making and neighbourhood development with over 15 years’ experience as a lecturer at the university level. She has supervised over 30 Masters and 4 PhD student research projects and published several papers.  She has a wide international urban and regional planning experience; has been team leader and project manager in a number of planning projects including long term and short term physical development plans; social surveys; data management and a Web enabled GIS project and was in charge of IT training for programme for staff members in a Town & Regional Planning Department. Dr Hayangah has over 15 years working experience with local government both as a practicing planner and Technical Consultant on physical planning and infrastructure development. She is a former Head of School for Architecture, Planning & Housing at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She is currently a Programme Delivery Facilitator with the National Department of Human Settlements (South Africa) and practising professional planner.

 

Prof Sijekula Mbanga

 

Dr. Taibat Lawanson
Associate Professor of Urban Planning, University of Lagos, Nigeria

Dr Taibat Lawanson is Associate Professor of Urban Planning at the University of Lagos, Nigeria where she leads the Pro-Poor Development research cluster and serves as co-director of the Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development. She holds a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from the Federal University of Technology, Akure. 

She has taught courses and conducted research on urban informality, urban management, pro-poor development, governance and environmental justice and has over 50 published articles in these areas.

Taibat is a member of the International Society for City and Regional Planners, Urban Affairs Association and the West African Rapid Urbanization and Heritage Conservation Research Network. She serves on the board of directors of the Lagos Studies Association, and the editorial advisory board of Area Development and Policy journal. She is also a UN policy expert on Urban Governance, Capacity and Institutional Development.

Email address: tlawanson@unilag.edu.ng

Thomas Stewart

Thomas has been a housing practitioner since 1991.  He developed a passion for human development and residential property development while studying towards his master’s degree in town- and regional planning at the University of the Free State.  During his student years he was involved in various community development initiatives, facilitating the engagement of students in the broader community, where he got exposure to the social dynamics of a developing South Africa.

Following his university studies, he spent time in Public Service as a Town Planner. He subsequently joined the Urban Foundations’ Housing Policy Unit in 1991.  The latter resulted in project managing one of the biggest (4000 units) Informal Settlement Upgrading projects in South Africa, i.e. Freedom Square in Bloemfontein.

His housing development involvement extended to various towns in the Northern Cape;  Free State; and Eastern Cape, where a spread of Informal Settlement Upgrades;  Greenfields Developments;  Owner Managed (Peoples Housing Process);  Social Housing Projects;  and Retirement Villages has been structured and implemented by him, in his capacity as either development or project manager, employed by the New Housing Company (NewHco) and Inframax.  (1992 – 2007).

He founded his own housing development management company, Hadeda Developments, in 2007.  This allowed him an entrepreneurial space and exposed him to a wider range of opportunities and business initiatives.

On 1 August 2014, he joined the University of the Free State as lecturer in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and is the main driver of an honours course in Spatial Planning, Specialising in Human Settlements. Other than teaching honours’ and masters’ students he also supervises several masters’-; mini-; and full research dissertations.

Prof Uwe Altrock

Uwe Altrock has, since 2006, been a Full Professor of Urban Regeneration and Planning in the School of Architecture, Urban and Landscape Planning in the Kassel University in Germany. He completed his Urban and Regional Planning studies in the Technical University of Berlin. Between 1992 and 2006 he has worked in the State Department of Urban Development, the Technical University of Berlin, Technical University of Hamburg and the BTU Cottbus in the Postgraduate Program for Civil Servants urban and regional planning, neighbourhood planning and Urban Structures respectively.  Uwe is a Co-Editor of the Journal of Jahrbuch Stadterneuerung and Planungsrundschau Book Series. His current research focus incudes: DFG – Spatial planning and locational decision-maing for public housing interventions in South Africa; Land Hassen Rural -urban land-use changes across sace and time in Bangalore, India; 

Professor Winston Shakantu

Winston Shakantu is a Professor of Construction Management at NMMU. His qualifications include an Honours degree in Building; a Masters in Construction Management from the University of Reading; a Doctorate from Glasgow Caledonian University and a Post-graduate certificate in International Construction Management from Lund University.

Winston is also professionally qualified as Professional Construction Managers (PrCM) and is a full member of the chartered Institute of Building (MCIOB). He is also a Chatered Construction Manager. He has published over 100 papers in journals, conferences and book chapters and supervised to completion 10 Doctoral graduates and scores of Masters and Honours candidates.