Prof Johan Coetzee is an associate professor of banking and finance at the University of the Free State, specialising in banking, financial risk management, behavioural banking, fintech, and the evolving relationship between banks and customers. A chartered banker and certified management and business educator, he has extensive experience in postgraduate supervision, curriculum development, and international academic collaboration across Africa and Europe. His research and industry engagement focus on the impact of technological innovation, data analytics, and artificial intelligence on financial services and banking decision-making.

Prof Arno van Niekerk is an associate professor in the Department of Economics and Finance. He holds a PhD in economics and has more than two decades of experience in teaching, research, and community engagement. His research interests include economic inclusion, sustainable development, innovation, international economics, and global economic governance. He is the author of the award-winning book The Inclusive Economy: Criteria, Principles and Ubuntu (2022) and West to East: A New Global Economy in the Making? Achieving the SDGs (2025). Prof Van Niekerk has published extensively in accredited journals and books, regularly presents at national and international conferences, and contributes to public debates on economic issues through national media. His work focuses on advancing inclusive, sustainable, and human-centred economic development.

Dr Ivan van der Merwe is a lecturer in the Department of Economics and Finance at the University of the Free State (UFS). He earned his BCom, BComHons (cum laude), and MCom (cum laude) in money and banking from the UFS, where he later also completed his PhD in economics, focusing on financial stability, early warning systems, and macroprudential policy in South Africa. With more than two decades of academic experience, he teaches various finance-related modules that focus on monetary economics, derivative markets, international finance, investments, and portfolio management. His extensive teaching footprint spans undergraduate to master's levels, including international guest lectures. He supervises postgraduate research up to PhD level and has shared his research on systemic risk, financial stability, and macroprudential policy at academic conferences.

Dr Jacobus N Keyser is part of the Department of Economics and Finance at the University of the Free State. He became an academic in 2003 after working in the private sector. He has taught various economics and financial economics modules at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Dr Keyser holds a PhD, a master's degree in higher education, a master's degree in economics, an honours degree in economics, a higher educational diploma, and a BCom degree. His research and publications focus on finance, higher education, and political economics.

Andrew James is a lecturer in finance at the University of the Free State and a PhD candidate specialising in financial markets. His research focuses on financialisation and market efficiency in non-ferrous metals markets, with broader interests in asset pricing, commodity markets, and the application of machine learning in finance. He holds a Master of Commerce in finance from the University of Cape Town and has industry experience as an investment analyst at Mi-Plan Asset Management and in operations at Allan Gray. He teaches investment management and financial modelling. His work combines academic research with practical financial market experience, contributing to a deeper understanding of how information is incorporated into asset prices and how financial markets function.