Rated Reseachers

Prof Victor Mlambo, Professor in the School of Agricultural Sciences is an Animal Scientist specializing in Animal Nutrition and related disciplines such as nutritional physiology, meat science and animal welfare. He has carried out such investigations on cattle, sheep, goats, broilers, layers, indigenous chickens, Japanese quails and fish. He is an Editor of Animal Feed Science and Technology journal published by Elsevier; an Associate Editor for the South African Journal of Animal Science and Associate Editor for the Botswana Journal of Agriculture and Applied Sciences. 

Prof Tarombera Mwabvu, an Associate Professor at the School of Biology and Environmental Sciences, focuses on taxonomy, faunistics and phylogenetics of flightless soil macroinvertebrates, and their response to habitat transformation. He has had research attachments at other institutions, including the Zoological Museum at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark), the Royal Museum of Central Africa (Belgium), the Natural History Museum (Zimbabwe) and the University of Yaounde 1 (Cameroon). Besides his interest in research, he is passionate about mentoring younger people and reminding them that “it is not impossible

Dr Mazanai is a Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Business Management at the University of Mpumalanga(UMP). He has been an academic since 2011. Prior to joining UMP, he held the positions of a Lecturer and Programme Coordinator in the Department of Management, School of Business and Economics at Monash University, South Africa Campus, from the year 2014 to 2018. In addition, he held the position of lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Limpopo from the year 2011 to 2013.  

His extensive teaching and research publication experience is in the areas of Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Education and SME Management. He is an accredited Research Supervisor with Monash Institute of Graduate Research (MIGR) and a registered Human Resources Practitioner (HRP-Learning and Development) with the South African Board for People Practices (SABPP). In 2015, he received the Early Career Researcher Award in recognition of his contribution towards research and supervision of postgraduate students at Monash University, South Africa Campus.

His community engagement and academic citizenship activities include mentorship of student entrepreneurs and nGAP lecturers, peer review of journal articles for various journals as well as external moderation of postgraduate research projects for various universities in South Africa, among others.  In addition to his experience as an academic, he has briefly served as a business consultant and high school educator on a part-time basis during the period from 2009 to 2010, whilst pursuing his Masters studies.

He holds a PhD in Business Management from the University of Johannesburg. In addition, he has a Mcom in Business Management, a Bcom (Honours) in Business Management, a Bcom in Business Economics and Industrial Psychology(Cum Laude) from the University of Fort Hare as well as a Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education (with distinction) from the University of Johannesburg.  He is a Y2 rated Researcher by the National Research Foundation in South Africa

Dr Tim Forssman, Senior lecturer, runs the Hunter-Gatherer Archaeological Research Project, through which he and his team investigate forager innovations, technologies, and indigenous knowledges in central southern Africa and Mpumalanga. His research interests include forager-farmer interactions, forager economies, trade dynamics, and landscape archaeology. His books include Bushman Rock Art: An Interpretive Guide (2012), Beyond the Dripline: Later Stone Age Changes on the Greater Mapungubwe landscape (2013), and Foragers in the middle Limpopo Valley: Trade, Place-Making, and Complexity (2020). He is currently writing his fourth book, titled Archaeology in Africa: Why it Matters. Dr Forssman is passionate about up-skilling students through experiential learning activities and teaching them the necessary skills required to be successful scientists or heritage practitioners. He is also active within his local community, sitting on the Mpumalanga Heritage Society executive board, as well as on international editorial teams and boards. Dr Forssman regularly publishes on online platforms, is often interviewed in the media, and has developed a travelling museum initiative that brings heritage to people.

 

Billy Mathias Kalema holds a Doctor of Technology Computer Science and Data Processing from Tshwane University of Technology, a Master of Science in Computer Science, Postgraduate Diploma in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Science with Education from Makerere University Uganda. Prior to joining the University of Mpumalanga, Billy was an Associate Professor at Durban University of Technology  where he joined after serving as a Senior Lecturer and Head of department of Informatics at Tshwane University of Technology. He is an experienced researcher and mentor.  Prof Kalema has supervised 10 PhDs and 40 masters and has examined 50 postgraduate studies at both masters and doctoral levels in several Universities in Africa.

Prof Kalema has spoken at various international conferences, Doctoral symposiums, seminars and workshops.  He is a National Research Fund (NRF) South Africa C 3 - Rated researcher and a member of the Association of Information Systems (AIS), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE); Information Society for Africa (IST-Africa), the International Association of Computer Science and Information Technology (IACSIT) and the Asian Council of Science Editors (ACSE).

He serves on several technical committees as an Editorial board member and peer reviewer for both journals and conferences. Prof Kalema has published 30 accredited journals and over 50 international peer reviewed conferences in areas of socio-cognitive aspects of human response to information technology including acceptance, use, utilization and evaluation of technology for decision-making, ERPs, E-learning, ICT4Education, ICT4Business Enhancement, MOOCs, Big Data, Mobile Computing, Cloud-based integrated systems, and the Statistical Methods for Data Analysis. He is widely recognised by international research bodies and scholars with Science and Scientometrics measures of 727 citations, h-index of 13 and i10-index of 18.

His current and future research plans revolve around the practical application of research in daily life by putting IT to use especially in the economically and technologically disadvantaged developing countries. In this respect, Prof Kalema’s currently running 3 year project on Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) that sought to to help learners in South African areas of low bandwidth to upgrade their Matric exams. The project’s first two years were funded by the National Electronic Media of South African (NEMISA) at a tune of R700,000.  

Prof Thoko Mayekiso, Vice-Chancellor at the University of Mpumalanga and Clinical Psychologist, is a C3 rated scientist. She was initially rated C3 from 2013-2018 and was re-rated for the period 2019-2024. Prof Mayekiso received her MA from the University of Fort Hare and a D Phil in Psychology from the Free University Berlin in Germany. Her research interests include adolescent adjustment problems, HIV and Aids and community development. She is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.

Prof. Funso Raphael Kutu is a trained agronomy-soil scientist with extensive research and teaching expertise. He currently serves as Head of School at the School of Agricultural Sciences. He earned a BSc. Honours in Agriculture, MSc in Agronomy (Soil Science) and a PhD from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. Prof. Kutu began his academic career as a Teaching Assistant at the University of Ibadan. He later joined Ahmadu Bello University's Division of Agricultural Colleges in Zaria, Nigeria, as a Lecturer II and was promoted to Lecturer I after three years. He also served as Head of the Agricultural Technology Programme and Coordinator of the 'Students' Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES)' program in the same university. He worked in various institutions in South Africa before joining the University of Mpumalanga in 2018. These include the University of Fort Hare as a postdoctoral researcher, Agricultural Research Council - Grain Crops Institute (ARC-GCI), Potchefstroom as a Senior Researcher, Soil Scientist-Plant Nutrition; University of Limpopo as a Senior Lecturer in Soil Science and Associate Professor (Soil Science) in 2012. He worked briefly as a Team Manager in the Soil Health and Remediation programme at the Agricultural Research Council, Institute for Soil, Climate and Water (ARC-ISCW), Pretoria before joining the North-West University (NWU), Mafikeng Campus in August 2014 as a Professor of Agronomy. He was the team leader for the Plant Production research sub-group in the Food Security and Safety Niche Area, and Programme Leader for the Crop Science Programme in the School of Agricultural Sciences.

The theme for his research is “Improving sustainability and agro-ecosystem resilience through innovative soil fertility and nutrients management practices, and improved soil health for food and nutrition security”. His research works encompass Soil fertility evaluation and management, improved agronomic practices, cropping systems, nutrient dynamics in soil-plant systems, soil-crop-microbes interaction, microbial inoculants, compost science and utilization for soil health and crop yield improvement, and Green Chemistry. He served as Associate Editor in Agronomy Journal (USA) and currently serves as Chairperson of the Mpumalanga Agricultural Research Committee (MARC) on behalf of the Mpumalanga Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environmental Affairs (DARDLEA). He is a member of the Water Research Commission (WRC) project reference group. He equally serves as external examiner to many universities as well as assessor for promotion to professorship and associate professorship (readership) in several universities. He has published widely in accredited journals mostly internationally, and graduated Master and Doctoral students. He is a registered member of several professional bodies including the South African Council of Natural Scientific Profession (SACNASP), the Soil Science Society of South Africa, the Soil Science Society of Nigeria, the Soil Science Society of America and the Agronomy Society of America. He is a C2 rated scientist by the National Research Foundation of South Africa.