Prof Gerhard Hancke is the Head of the Advanced Sensor Networks Group and Coordinator of the Computer Engineering Programme. He pioneered and is still leading advanced sensor networks (ASN) research in South Africa, with significant international recognition, especially for advanced wireless sensor network and communication solutions for industrial applications. In 2007 he received the South African Department of Trade and Industry THRIP Technology Award in the SMME Development Category, and in 2011 in the Advanced Hi-Tech Category.

He initiated and co-edited the first Special Section on Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks in a high impact journal, the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, in 2009, and the position paper he co-authored for this edition has since been cited 330 times. He co-edited a book on Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks, the first on this topic.  He has been collaborating with institutions worldwide, such as City University of Hong Kong, Technical University of Vienna, Austria, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, Óbuda University, Hungary, University of L’Aquila, Italy, Bahcesehir University, Turkey, King’s College London, UK and ABB Corporate Research, Sweden.

He served on IEEE Board Level (i.e. world-wide) as Chair of the following committees: Ethics & Member Conduct (2010/11), Admission & Advancement (2010/11) and Member Engagement & Life Cycle (2009). He also contributed significantly to IEEE technical activities as Member of the Industrial Electronics Society (IES) Administrative Committee for the past 15 years, of which 6 as secretary and 8 as Senior Member.  He has been very active in the organization of leading IEEE IES conferences internationally, notably as General (Co)-Chair of the IEEE Industrial Symposium on Industrial Electronics (ISIE 1998) in Pretoria, the IEEE Conference on Industrial Informatics in Vienna (INDIN 2007) and the IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology in Cape Town (ICIT 2013), as well as the series of IEEE AFRICON’s in Sub-Saharan Africa. He received the 2007 IEEE Larry K. Wilson International Award, “For inspiring membership development and services as a member of several regional and technical conferences worldwide”.