Dr Lintle Mohase
Senior Lecturer in Plant Sciences

Dr Lintle Mohase has an interest in plant defence strategies against insect pests. Since sustainable crop protection is essential in securing food availability and enhancing livelihoods, her research seeks to understand physiological and biochemical changes in wheat infested with aphids. She explores the inherent enzymes and metabolites associated with the induction of defence responses to protect wheat against aphids. She also investigates alternative strategies to reduce aphid populations and their impact on plants. Here, she investigates the potency of phytohormones, plant extracts, and insecticides in conferring wheat protection or killing aphids. As extensive insecticide application affects sensitivity, she also evaluates the potential of insecticide tolerance amongst aphids.

 

Dr Mariette Jackson
Lecturer in Plant Sciences

Dr Mariette Jackson is a lecturer in the botany division of the UFS Department of Plant Sciences, where she teaches undergraduates and trains postgraduate students in the field of Plant Molecular Systematics. Her research interest is in the evolutionary relationships within genera of the Asteraceae (sunflower family) and Scrophulariaceae (figwort family) with a few publications in accredited journals and multiple conference contributions. She has been a member of the UFS Environmental and Biosafety Research Ethics committee (EBREC) since 2016 and was appointed vice-chair in 2024. 

 

Dr Monique de Milander
Senior Lecturer in Exercise and Sport Sciences

Dr Monique de Milander was born in Worcester on 11 September 1980. She received her secondary education in Calvinia where she matriculated from Calvinia High School in 1998. She obtained a diploma in Sports Management and Coaching (2002) at Northlink College, a BA degree in Applied Leisure Science: Nutrition and Exercise (2004), a BA Hons in Human Movement Science (Kinderkinetics) (2005) with distinction, and her MA and PhD in Human Movement Science (Kinderkinetics) in 2009 and 2015 respectively (University of the Free State). She started her career as a lecturer in Bloemfontein in 2005 and in 2006 was appointed in the UFS Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences where, at present, she is a senior lecturer. In her spare time, she enjoys sports such as swimming, cycling and running.

 

Dr Gale Davids
Lecturer in Education Foundations

Since 2022 Dr Gale Davids has been a full-time lecturer at the University of the Free State in the Department of Education Foundations, Faculty of Education, where she coordinates and teaches undergraduate and postgraduate Education Studies modules. As a participant in the Women Influencing Scholarship and Education (WISE) programme, she is strategically positioned to advance her research productivity and leadership capacity toward professorial excellence. Her research expertise centres on learner discipline, social justice, restorative justice, philosophy, and educational policy and school governance. Her scholarly contributions include co-authoring a chapter on parental roles in schools (2020) and publishing on collective ownership for learner discipline in Issues in Educational Research (2024).

 

Dr Maria Shabangu
Lecturer in Education Management Policy and Computer Education

Dr Maria Thobile Shabangu is a passionate South African educator and academic with expertise in educational management and guidance. She holds a BEd FET, a BEd Honours in Guidance and Counselling, and a Master of education degree in Educational Management from the University of Venda. She later obtained her PhD in Educational Management from the University of Zululand. Dr Shabangu served as a secondary school teacher from 2010 to 2024. During this time, she also held a leadership role in a teachers’ union as an education convenor, where she oversaw key educational matters and presided over meetings on behalf of educators. In 2025, she joined the University of the Free State as a lecturer. She is deeply committed to advancing research, mentoring future educators, and contributing meaningfully to the body of knowledge in South Africa and beyond.

 

Dr Roné Vorster-de Wet
Senior Lecturer in Basic Medical Sciences

Dr Roné Vorster-de Wet (PhD Health Professions Education from the UFS; MSc Physiology from SU) is a senior lecturer at the Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences.  She has taught undergraduate and postgraduate Physiology for the past 27 years and is passionate about student self-efficacy, blended learning, curriculum development and student support. She is inspired to use innovations to assist her students and was awarded the best presentation at the Faculty Forum and the teaching and learning excellence Khothatsa Award for the most inspirational lecturer at Health Sciences (2019).

 

Dr Jana Vermaas
Lecturer in Sustainable Food Systems

Dr Jana Vermaas is a lecturer in the UFS Department of Sustainable Food Systems and Development, with a growing research focus on food waste, sustainable consumption, and consumer behaviour. Her work explores consumption and disposal patterns to inform more effective interventions for sustainable food systems. Complementing this, she has a strong foundation in textile science and sustainability, particularly in the responsible processing of natural fibres like wool and biomaterials. Dr Vermaas also teaches food marketing, branding, and consumption trends, fostering critical thinking about the connections between consumer choices and sustainability.

 

Dr Nonhlanhla Nduku
Lecturer in Curriculum Studies and Higher Education

Dr Nonhlanhla Nduku is a dedicated, diligent, goal-driven, people-oriented, creative, and innovative teaching professional with a PhD in Curriculum Studies, an MA in Curriculum Studies, an Honours Degree in Educational Technology, and a Secondary Teachers’ Diploma in Agricultural Sciences. She gained an invaluable 21 years of Agricultural Sciences teaching experience and occupied a managerial position at high school level for 6 years, where she was Departmental Head (Science and Technology). Dr Nduku’s interest is in the Agricultural Sciences Curriculum Development and Instruction. She is skilled at developing new ways to encourage students while challenging and inspiring them to deepen their knowledge and understanding. With a proven record of getting exceptional results by giving students appropriate feedback, encouragement, and assistance, she possesses a sound understanding of research and scholarly activities.

 

Dr Willemien Marais
Lecturer in Communication Science

As a journalism scholar and former journalist, Dr Marais has a particular interest in alternative or unconventional forms of journalism. In developing societies, these forms of journalism are often more effective in fulfilling journalism’s watchdog function in addition to informing and assisting audiences in making sense of their community and society. Linked to this, but also as an extension of the scholarship of teaching and learning, is her interest in solutions journalism as a suitable approach to the practice of unconventional forms of journalism. While journalists are sense-makers and guides to navigating the complexities of society, journalism scholars in turn suggest guidelines, solutions and operational frameworks to journalists and journalism students in a developing society. This is reflected in her undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and supervision. In addition to being a journalism scholar and educator, she is also the editor of Communitas, an accredited academic journal with a focus on community communication.

 

Dr Sanele Siwela
Lecturer in Education Foundations

Dr Sanele Siwela is a lecturer at the University of the Free State in the Faculty of Education. Dr Siwela was educated at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and graduated with a PhD in Social Justice Education, an MA in Education, a BA Hons in Education, an advanced certificate in Education and a diploma in Education. Dr Siwela also holds a BA degree and a certificate in Gender and Feminism from the University of South Africa (UNISA). Her academic career has embraced teaching undergraduate and post-graduate students, as well as research and community work in higher education in South Africa. Her research interests are in Social Justice Education (gender, sexuality and disability).

 

Dr Morogwana Shokane
Lecturer in  School of Nursing

Dr Morogwana is an advanced midwife and neonatal nursing specialist and an emerging scholar with a strong focus on maternal, neonatal, and women's health. Her work is grounded in evidence-based practice and a commitment to improving health outcomes for women and newborns through clinical excellence, education, and research.

 

Dr Juliah Modula
Senior Lecturer in School of Nursing

Dr Mantji Juliah Modula is a senior lecturer at the University of the Free State. She is a mental health nurse with a PhD in Nursing and holds a postgraduate diploma in Public Health. Her work focuses on teaching, research supervision, and community engagement, with key interests in mental health and intellectual disability. She has published in national and international journals and she presents her research work at national and international conferences and platforms. She participates in professional community networks, including Women Influencing Scholarship and Education, Black Female Academics, Forum of University Nursing Deans of South Africa (FUNDISA), Mental Health Innovations, and the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IASSIDD).

 

Dr Lindi Nel
Senior Lecturer in Psychology

Dr Lindi Nel obtained her BA Psychology and BA Hons in Psychology at the North-West University, South Africa. Her academic career started in 2005 as lecturer at the University of the Free State, where she is currently employed as senior lecturer. She obtained her PhD in Psychology in 2012 and her research interests and publications include positive psychology constructs, as well as the teaching of psychology and attachment theory as applied within South African contexts.  She has produced 22 master’s and 7 doctoral studies under her supervision. Currently she is the programme coordinator of an applied doctoral degree in child psychology, the only applied doctoral with this focus in South Africa. She has presented several papers both nationally and internationally.

 

 

Dr Vhonani Sarah-Jane Neluvhalani-Caquece
Senior Lecturer in Mercantile Law

Dr Vhonani Sarah-Jane Neluvhalani-Caquece currently teaches Commercial Law to non-law students, Electronic and Internet Law to final-year law students, and Business Crimes at LLM level. Teaching and mentoring such a diverse group of students requires a deep passion for education itself. In addition to lecturing, she supervises postgraduate research at both master’s and doctoral level. To strengthen her practice, she completed a postgraduate diploma in Higher Education, driven by curiosity about how learning takes place and how teaching practices can be adapted to accommodate diversity while remaining inclusive.

Her research bridges the worlds of law, technology, and social justice, with a strong focus on the rights of children to a nationality and a name. This includes work on stateless and undocumented children who are denied socio-economic rights because, legally, they “do not exist”. Part of this inquiry considers whether digital identity may offer solutions. Her doctoral thesis recommends ubuntu and African communalism as frameworks for closing the gaps in South African law to ensure that no African is regarded as stateless in Africa.

Beyond teaching and research, she is a recipient of the NRF Thuthuka Post-PhD Grant (2024–2026). She strives to combine academic rigour with warmth and accessibility, creating classrooms and research spaces that are places of dialogue, empowerment, and transformation.

 

Dr Letecia Wessels
Lecturer in Genetics

Dr Wessels is a researcher in forensic genetics, specialising in human forensic DNA profiling, quality assurance in forensic laboratories, and molecular analysis of blowfly species to refine postmortem interval estimations. She has been instrumental in developing and implementing forensic science training across undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the University of the Free State and her work supports forensic casework, enhances time-of-death estimation accuracy, and contributes to the growth of forensic science education and research in South Africa.

 

Dr Florence Tadi
Senior Lecturer in Psychology

Dr Ntsoaki Florence Tadi is a Senior Lecturer in the UFS’s Department of Psychology. Before joining the university in October 2005, she worked as a professional nurse in various hospitals, state institutions, and Correctional Centres. Dr Tadi obtained a master’s degree in public administration (UFS), a Master’s degree in clinical psychology (Medunsa, 2003) as well as a Ph.D in Psychology (UFS, 2011). Between 2023 and 2025, she led the Sesotho Psychology Terminology Development Project, a pioneering initiative aimed at expanding linguistic and conceptual resources for psychological discourse in indigenous languages. Her leadership in this project significantly informed and facilitated the subsequent development of the Pedagogical Translanguaging Project, advancing culturally responsive teaching and learning practices within multilingual educational contexts. Her current research interests centre on mental health within black families and communities, with particular emphasis on parenting practices, parental mental health literacy (MHL), and the psychosocial well-being of adolescents. Her work seeks to advance culturally responsive frameworks for family/community-based mental health promotion.

 

Dr Makoena Moloi
Senior Lecturer: Plant Sciences

My umbrella research is on crop stress physiology. The current focus is on climate change-associated stressors, particularly drought and heat, which aligns with SDG 13 (Climate action). I am interested in establishing how these stress factors affect the crops at the physiological and biochemical level because any interruption at this level affects the crop yield and nutrition, which aligns with SDG 2 (zero hunger- with a focus on improved nutrition.

 

Dr Alba Du Toit
Senior Lecturer: Sustainable Food Systems and Development.

The Chair for the Agro-processing of Climate-smart crops aims to provide solutions to address hunger and malnutrition through innovative processing of staple cereals and underutilised food staples. Aims to use the principles of circular food design to develop products that could provide solutions and support the South African food system.

 

Dr Ntombizandile Gcelu
Senior Lecturer: Education Management Policy and Computer Education

I am pursuing stakeholder collaboration as a strategy in Management Leadership Education Law and Policies. The dynamics of collaboration, the focus of collaboration, the indicators of collaboration, and collaboration with rural communities all form part of my inquiry. Leadership practices are of great interest to me for the sustainability of the organisation.

 

Dr Marinda Avenant
Senior Lecturer: Centre for Environmental Management

My research focuses on protecting river health, or integrity, through aquatic biomonitoring and environmental water assessments, with a particular interest in non-perennial rivers that naturally cease to flow periodically. These unique rivers are critical water resources in semi-arid and arid landscapes, but their resilience is threatened by climate change, which alters their primary drivers: stream flow and water temperature.

 

Dr Shirley Du Plooy
Senior Lecturer: Anthropology

I do ethnographic fieldwork in the eastern Free State primarily about sacred sites and sacred journeys or pilgrimages. Natural offshoots of this line of investigation includes aspects related to heritage, traditional health and healing, as well as rites of passage. I work within interpretive and ecological anthropological frames and am particularly influenced by anthropology beyond the human.

 

Dr Ijeoma Ogbonnaya
Lecturer: Social Science and Commerce Education

My research centres on Pedagogy of teaching, with focus on exploring innovative methods to enhance learning outcomes on difficult topics in economics curriculum. I am particularly interested in understanding how different teaching strategies, including active learning, different instruction, and technology integration can be tailored to meet diverse student needs.

 

Dr Oyinlola Adebola
Lecturer: Social Science and Commerce Education

My research interest is in the higher education with a focus on the student participation; I work challenges within universities, preservice teachers. I also conduct research in social sciences areas.

 

Dr Lulama Mdodana-Zide
Lecturer: Curriculum Studies and Higher Education

Advancement of sustainable continuing professional development for teachers and school leaders to enhance instructional quality and transformative educational environments.

My research examines ongoing professional development for teachers and school leaders, focusing on strategies that integrate sustainable practices and frameworks that support continuous growth to enhance instructional effectiveness and promote a supportive, adaptable learning environment. I explore how targeted and sustained professional development initiatives can foster transformative educational spaces that benefit both educators and learners, ultimately contributing to improved teaching quality and school leadership effectiveness.

 

Dr Ekaete Benedict
Lecturer: Business Management

My research focus is on entrepreneurship education and its influence on the entrepreneurial intentions of individuals, and the employability of youths/ students. I also research the growth and survival of small, micro, and medium enterprises (SMMEs).

 

Dr Frelet De Villiers
Senior Lecturer: Odeion School of Music

I am the HOD at the Odeion School of Music and postgraduate supervision is my passion. I am the accompanist of the Blm Children Choir and the UFS campus choir and Institutional choir. My research interest is the use of technology and the application of Seamless Learning and Self-Directed Learning in the music teaching situation in the higher education milieu.

 

Dr Marda Horn
Senior Lecturer: Private Law

As a property lawyer, the focus of my research is property law, and more specifically, traditional common law principles and the effect of the Constitution on these principles. I specialise in the legal development and legal uncertainty regarding sectional title schemes and other fragmented property schemes. I also do some part-time research in Legal Education studies, with my focus area being assessment practices.

 

Dr Nokuthula Tinta
Lecturer: Sustainable Food Systems and Development

Libitso App and Video content development specifically designed for the Deaf community.

 

Dr Lintle Maraisane
Lecturer: Childhood Education

I am an emerging scholar with a few publications in accredited journals. I serve and stand in for my department as a member of the Committee for Title Registration in the faculty. My research interest is in STEAM education in Early Childhood and best classroom practices and professional development for educators and practitioners.

 

Dr Karin Ehlers
Senior Lecturer: Genetics

I am the program director of the Forensic Sciences program. I developed the undergrad and postgrad program and is also involved with research in Forensic Genetics. I am trying to establish a closer working relationship between SAPS and the UFS. I am also a member of the National Forensic Oversite and Ethics Board (also known as the DNA Board), which provides oversight on the functioning of the Forensic Sciences Laboratory of SAPS.

 

Dr Marlie Van Rooyen
Senior Lecturer: Linguistics and Language Practice

Main research focus:
News translation
Community media
Sociology of translation
Ethnographic methods

Co-investigator: Switzerland/South Africa joint project funded from 2025 to 2027: “South–North flows of information through translation at the global news agency Agence-France Press”. Co-investigator, Lucile Davier, University of Geneva).

Principal investigator: Development of translation and interpreting education in South Africa

Co-investigator: Interdisciplinary community-based education and research project: “Health, nutritional status, and development of children in early and middle childhood in the Free State, South Africa”.

 

Dr Somarie Holtzhausen
Senior Lecturer/ Researcher: Curriculum Studies and Higher Education

Research focusing on higher education and student affairs focusing on my new niche area: Professional Development of discipline experts through PALAR.

 

Dr Nomakhuwa Tabane
Senior Lecturer and Head of Department- Paediatrics and Child Health

I am an emerging scholar with a few publications in accredited journals. I serve and stand in for my department as a member of the Committee for Title Registration in the faculty. My research interest is in STEAM education in Early Childhood and best classroom practices and professional development for educators and practitioners.

 

Dr Adri O'Neill
Senior Lecturer- Animal Science

Her research focuses on effective livestock production by minimizing stress in animals, improving animal nutrition, and optimizing meat quality. Her impact on the scientific community is reflected in her publications, including a notable 2008 article that has been cited nearly 500 times. She has successfully secured funding for various research projects and continues to advance knowledge in animal physiology and welfare.

As an educator, Dr Adri teaches courses in anatomy and physiology, animal metabolism and diseases, pig production, and reproduction physiology. She currently supervises seven master’s students and two PhD candidates, mentoring the next generation of animal scientists. Her commitment to research and teaching is evident in her continuous efforts to engage and inspire students while contributing to advancements in livestock management and meat science.

 

Prof Joy Owen
Associate Professor- Anthropology

Prof Owen’s primary research love is African transnational migration. Her monograph entitled ‘Congolese social networks: Living on the margins in Muizenberg, Cape Town’ detailed the lives of transnational Congolese migrants resident in Muizenberg in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Joy’s work hones in on the complex ways in which African transnational migrants create and maintain belonging in post-Apartheid South Africa. Focusing particularly on social networks, Prof Owen demonstrates how contingency, strategy, love and habitus support onward migration (or not).

A second research flirtation is embodied critical pedagogy that recognizes students as knowledge holders and producers through their experiences prior to and during higher education. Students are critical teaching and learning collaborators in classroom spaces, however defined. ‘Just Joy’ described by one of her supervisees as an invisible pioneer merging both head and heart in her teaching, as she encourages students to become critically conscious of the world they have inherited and are creating, and the ways in which all forms of oppression can and need to be collectively addressed.

Prof Owen’s work, inclusive of her research, teaching and administrative work, unobtrusively pulls apart academic and social binaries making the world safer for the appreciation and celebration of difference – the primary marker of humanity.

 

 

Prof Adre Minnaar-Ontong
Associate Professor: Plant Sciences (Plant Breeding)

Research focus is on disease resistance breeding – Breeding for resistance against fungal diseases across multiple crops with specialisation on resistance breeding against:

• Sclerotinia sclerotiorum diseases in both sunflower and soybean

• Soybean sudden death syndrome (SDS) and associated phytotoxins

• Mycotoxins produced by Fusarium head blight (FHB) causal pathogens in wheat

The South African economically important crops (soybeans, sunflowers and wheat) involved in the research are evaluated for resistance to the different diseases (sclerotinia diseases; soybean sudden death syndrome and associated phytotoxins; FHB and associated mycotoxins) to promote the improvement of disease control strategies, therefore increasing yield and crop quality.