Dr Martha Van Straaten
Area of expertise: Disaster social work, disaster risk management, public health, and social work
Faculty/Department: Department of Social Work / Disaster Management Training and Education Centre for Africa (DiMTEC)
Dr Martha Maria van Straaten is a registered social worker and academic who currently holds a multi-disciplinary portfolio at the University of the Free State (UFS). She serves as the Placement Liaison Officer for the Department of Social Work, an ad hoc lecturer in the Disaster Management Training and Education Centre for Africa (DiMTEC), and a social worker within the School of Clinical Medicine’s ‘Cortex Crew’, providing support to medical students, as well as an advisory board member in the Department of Sociology. She was recognised as a top 5 finalist in the Rising Stars Awards (Services: Public and Private category) in 2025.
Her primary research niche is disaster social work, specifically the intersection of disaster risk management, public health, and social work. Her doctoral research (2025) addressed the ‘policy-practice gap’ in South Africa’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the neglect of mental health and psychosocial support for vulnerable groups and frontline responders.
In addition to her focus on disaster management, Dr Van Straaten has extensive experience in forensic social work, having published on court reporting standards and expert testimony. She is also actively engaged in the scholarship of teaching and learning, researching field instruction optimisation and advocating for a ‘pedagogy of care’ to bridge the gap between academic theory and the complex realities of practice.
Key research interests:
• Disaster social work and disaster risk reduction (DRR)
• Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS)
• Forensic social work and expert witness testimony
• Scholarship of teaching and learning in social work education
Opinion pieces, radio and television interviews
• Radio engagements: Interviewed on Radio Rosestad (Child Protection Week, 2023), Islam Radio (Social Development Month, 2022), and RSG (Social Development Month, 2022).
• Opinion piece: Published ‘Socially developing communities or making them dependent’ in October 2022.
Published ‘Gender-based violence classified as a national disaster: what the law now requires’ in November 2025.
• SABC News: Dam collapse | 50-year-old missing since 2022 Jaggersfontein tragedy in November 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFeOlu_eaJU
Contact details:
Email: vanstraatenmm@ufs.ac.za / mmvstraaten@gmail.com