Research focus areas of Informatics lecturers

Prof Alta van der Merwe

Position: Deputy Dean Teaching and Learning (EBIT)

NRF rating: B3

Office: IT Building 5-82.2

E-mail: [email protected]

ORCID: 0000-0002-3652-7512

My research generally focuses on IS and Organizations. The majority of my students use design science as their research approach, mainly using qualitative data collection.  My students are involved in the following research focus areas:

• Enterprise Architecture (EA):  EA approaches, data and process management within EA, modelling and adoption.
• Society 5.0: Disruptive technologies, Data Science related topics from an Organization perspective.
• Design: Design of systems within an IS organization, Social-technical systems.
• Design Science: Studying the approach of Design Science.

The research domains that I investigate include IS organizations, Education. 

Topics that I am actively involved in are listed below. I can support students who are committed to researching  suitable topics in one of the following areas:

• Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Architecture Management
• Innovation Cycles, methodologies, practices
• Design Science;
• IT Strategy for Society 5.0.

These keywords and concepts are relevant to my research. Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Architecture Management, Innovation, Design, Data Science, Design Science, Industry 4.0.

Prof Machdel Matthee

Position: Associate Professor 

NRF rating: C2

Office: IT Building 5- 58

E-mail: [email protected]

ORCID: 0000-0002-6973-1798

My research generally focuses on 21st century skills (skills needed to function in a technology-dominated society) and the teaching thereof. The aim is to provide quality education and promote social well-being:

Keywords and concepts relevant to my research: Critical thinking, Change, Societal Implications, ICT and education, Disruption, Social media, Future, 21st century skills, Society 5.0, well-being.

Prof Aurona Gerber

Position: Associate Professor

NRF rating: C1

Office: IT Building 5-61

E-mail: [email protected]

ORCID: 0000-0003-1743-8167

I am currently the CAIR node representative for the CAIR node @ UP Informatics. The node focuses on research in the broad area of AI for Development and Innovation.

My research generally focuses on all aspects of IS Systems, including advanced modeling, the design and development of systems, as well as IS system implementation within enterprises. I take an interdisciplinary view in applying mostly qualitative approaches, including design science research, to study the following research focus areas:

• Applied AI, specifically within Information Systems (IS).
• AI for Socio-economic Development, AI for Business Innovation including Enterprise Architecture Management.
• Digital Disruption & Innovation: Exponential Technologies, Platform Companies and Platform Transformation.
• The value chain of Data Science and AI, including data-informed intelligent decision making for businesses and the effective integration of data science and AI into information systems, organizations and society.
• AI for Sustainable Environments, Biodiversity Informatics.
• Applied AI for Social and Moral Good, Ethics of Applied AI.
• Research Strategies for Applied AI (including methods such as Design Science Research (DSR) and Design Thinking).

TThe AI for Development Research Group also include a sub-focus area on Semantic Technologies that includes research and development in:

• Advanced Conceptual Modeling
• Computational Ontologies, Ontologies in Information Systems
• Ontologies and Semantic Technology Applications, Ontology Engineering.
• Text Analysis / Semantic Text Analysis.

These keywords and concepts are relevant to my research. Applied Artificial Intelligence, Information Systems, Design Science Research, Ontologies, Platform Companies.

Prof Rennie Naidoo

Position: Associate Professor 

NRF rating: C3

Office: IT Building 5-93

E-mail: [email protected]

ORCID: 0000-0001-8392-1136

My research on IS and Organizations focuses on four of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure; Decent Work & Economic Growth; Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, and Gender Equality. I take a multidisciplinary view in applying either qualitative or quantitative approaches to the following specialized areas of study:

• Digital workplace. Automation, digital enterprise, digital transformation, digital technologies, digital channels, digital collaborations, digital platforms, digital marketplaces, remote technologies, video game industry.
• Cybersecurity. Cybersecurity careers, cybercrime, cyber defences, cyber safety, cyber skills, cyber threats, cyber warfare, governance, leadership, risk management, privacy. 

The research domains that I investigate include global organizations, services, healthcare, SOEs, government agencies, manufacturing, outsourcing arrangements, software development teams, DevOps teams, DevSecOps environment, the cybersecurity function, and cybersecurity staff.

Topics that I am actively involved in are listed below. I can support students who are committed to researching  problems in one of the following:

• Job and work design in cybersecurity
• New work arrangements in the digital enterprise
• New work arrangements in global and local software development
• Cybersecurity governance and risk management
• Social media scams and e-mail threats

Keywords and concepts relevant to my research include adoption, broadband, case study, cloud, control, culture, diversity, gender, inclusion, inequality, innovation, IOTs, race, resilience, risk, postcolonialism, power, privacy, skills, social engineering, social influence, socio-technical, staff retention, survey, trust, and work-related stress.

Prof Hanlie Smuts

Position: Associate Professor

NRF rating: C2

Office: IT Building 5-71

E-mail: [email protected]

http://www.hanliesmuts.com

ORCID: 0000-0001-7120-7787

As I have worked in industry until 2017, I work primarily in the field of Information Systems and Organisation focusing on

• Knowledge exchange in organisation-outsource vendor relationships.
• Management of knowledge assets and knowledge visualisation.
• Enterprise Architecture and the application of knowledge about the enterprise.
• The impact of digital business models / exponential organisations on knowledge management.
• Combining knowledge in machines (Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning) with knowledge in people for knowledge work.
• Big data implications on knowledge management.
• Industry 4.0 and big data management; disruptive technologies and business value.
• Knowledge sharing in smart cities and digital twins.
• Knowledge production in Society 5.0

The research domains that I investigate are are society 5.0, knowledge management, IT outsourcing, enterprise architecture, disruptive technologies and big data in organisations.

Topics that I am actively involved in are listed below. I will support students who are interested in related or similar research:

• Any knowledge and knowledge management related research especially how it relates to IT outsourcing and Enterprise Architecture.
• Aspects of Industry 4.0, digital disruption and digital transformation, such as the cross-functional nature of digital transformation strategies, alignment of Digital-IT-Business strategies over and above its alignment to business models.
• The phenomenon of exponential organisations, often in the digital domain, their digital transformation and how they manage knowledge assets.
• The impact and implication of big data on knowledge management in organisations.

These keywords and concepts are relevant to my research. Knowledge Management; Information Technology outsourcing; Enterprise Architecture; Digital Disruption; Digital Transformation; Big data;  Knowledge visualisation; Artificial Intelligence for Knowledge Management (AI4KM); Knowledge Management for Development (KM4D).

Prof Marita Turpin

Position: Associate Professor

NRF rating: C3

Office: IT Building 5-66.1

E-mail: [email protected]

ORCID: 0000-0002-4425-2010

Overview of my research focus areas appears below:

• Impact assessment in ICT4D.  Broader socio-economic impact of ICT4D projects on rural communities.
• Systems thinking in ICT4D. Emergent and unplanned consequences of ICT4D projects. Broader systemic influences in ICT4D.
• Teaching of 21^st century skills to IS students. Effective teaching of critical thinking, problem solving, creativity and design thinking. 

The research domains that I investigate include IS for sustainable development, IS teaching.

Topics that I am actively involved in are listed below. I can support students who are committed to researching  suitable topics in one of the following areas:

• Impact assessment in ICT4D
• Application of systems thinking in ICT4D
• Teaching problem solving skills to IS students
• Teaching critical thinking to IS students
• Teaching design thinking to IS students
• Development of new and appropriate theories in ICT4D

These keywords and concepts are relevant to my research. ICT4D, systems thinking, impact assessment, 21^st century skills, critical thinking, problem solving.

Dr Henk Pretorius

Position: Senior Lecturer

Office: IT Building 5-65

E-mail: [email protected]

ORCID: 0000-0003-2051-5290

My research in general focuses on IS in Organizations, but also include technology and sport. I prefer a qualitative research approach. Research areas (in various combinations) that I focus on include: 

• Governance, fraud and corruption;
• Process Management;
• Women in ICT;
• Innovative and future technologies (4IR, Robotic Process Automation, Artificial Intelligence, Social Media, etc.); and
• Technology and sport.

IS research is of interdisciplinary nature that involves various organizational research contexts. The exception may be technology and sport. 

Keywords: Process Management (Business), Women in ICT, Governance, Fraud, Corruption, 4IR, Robotic Process Automation, Artificial Intelligence, Social Media, Innovation, Technology in Sport, Disruptive technologies.

Dr Marié Hattingh

Position: Senior Lecturer

NRF rating: Y2

Office: IT Building 5-67

E-mail: [email protected]

ORCID: 0000-0003-1121-8892

My research generally focuses on the role of Social Media in communities. I take an interdisciplinary view in applying either qualitative or quantitative approaches to study the following research focus areas:

• Use of Social Media in different Communities. Reporting crime, finding missing persons, community upliftment, the integration and use of social media by governmental institutions, understanding how social media is used by online activists and the relationship with offline activism. 
• Influence of social media in different communities. Electronic word of mouth, social media influencers, digital entrepreneurs, social media incorporation into organisations, social participation.
• Darker side of social media use. Positive and negative use of social media such as: darkweb, fake news, narcissism, FOMO, social media fatigue, addiction and the moral/ethical consequences of social media use.
• The responsible use of technology by different communities. Evaluation studies of e-Textbook use by learners and their parents, technology use for special needs education.

The research domains that I investigate include Organisations, Government, Communities and Individuals.

Topics that I am actively involved in are listed below. I can support students who are committed to researching suitable topics in one of the following areas:

• Understanding what aspects make social media influencer attractive (quantitative and qualitative)
• Understanding the factors that drive electronic word of mouth participation
• Understanding how organisations incorporate social media feedback/data into their organisation’s knowledge base
• Understanding the constructs associated with FOMO and social media fatigue.

These keywords and concepts are relevant to my research: Community safety, eActivism, eGovernment, eWOM, Facebook, FOMO, netnography, social media, social media fatigue, social media influencer, text mining, Twitter.

Dr JP van Deventer

Position: Senior Lecturer

Office: IT Building 5-97

E-mail: [email protected]

ORCID: 0000-0002-3598-0921

My research generally focuses on IS and Organizations. I take an interdisciplinary view in applying mostly a quantitative approach to study the following research focus areas:

• IT Value: Knowledge Representation, Enterprise Architecture, Unstructured Analytics, Text Analysis, Data Science
• IS Implementation: Several domains of business, technology, people, infrastructure and market forces to change the Enterprise Architecture, symbolic representations of text and pattern analysis from one state to another

The research domains that I investigate include Knowledge Representation, Enterprise Architecture, Unstructured Analytics, Text Analysis and Data Science

Topics that I am actively involved in are listed below. I can support students who are committed to researching suitable topics in one of the following areas:

• Enterprise Architecture in general and Knowledge Architecture in particular
• Unstructured analytics and text analysis approaches
• Fundamentals in Data Science and application thereof
• Various forms of predictive modeling
• The impact of artificial intelligence, big data and machine learning
• Internet of things and the application of sensor networks
• Pervasive and ubiquitous systems and computing especially security concerns
• Ethics in general with a specific interest in concerns pertaining to procedural ethics

These keywords and concepts are relevant to my research. Knowledge Representation, Enterprise Architecture, Unstructured Analytics, Text Analysis, Data Science

Dr Funmi Adebesin

 Position: Senior Lecturer 

 Office: IT Building 5-73

 E-mail: [email protected]

ORCID: 0000-0003-0512-016X

• ICT use in period of pandemics: The role of ICTs in the fight against COVID-19
• Digital health and 4IR. The role of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) in the transformation of healthcare.
• Social media and digital health. The influence of health social networks on health behaviour change and chronic disease management.
• Consumer health wearable devices. Use of consumer wearables for self-tracking/self-quantification, security, privacy, ethical issues around tracking of health data. 

• The role of ICTs in the fight against COVID-19.
• ICT interventions in the period of pandemics.
• The role of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) in the transformation of healthcare.
• The influence of health social networks on health behaviour change and chronic disease management.
• The influence of social media on health self-tracking/self-quantification.
• Factors leading to resistance in the use of electronic medical record (EMR) systems.
• User-centered approaches to the development of EMR systems.
• User-centered approaches to the development of consumer wearable health devices.
• Ethical, security, and privacy issues related to the use of consumer wearable health devices. 
• Legislation and policies for the protection of health data. 
• Impact of healthcare systems on healthcare professionals’ work processes.
• Management and sharing of health data.
• Usability and user experiences (UX) of consumer wearable health devices.
• Usability and user experiences (UX) of mobile apps.

Dr Lizette Weilbach

Position: Senior lecturer 

Office: IT Building 5-69

E-mail: [email protected]

ORCID: 0000-0002-0827-2444

My research in general focuses on ICT to support quality education and social well-being.  I take an interdisciplinary view in applying either qualitative or quantitative approaches to study the following research focus areas:

• Information Technology to enhance teaching and learning. Current tools, techniques, and approaches for both face-to-face and online teaching and learning; chatbots; visualization.
• Information Technology effecting social and emotional well-being.  Social media; FOMO; the overuse of technology; cyber-bullying. 

The research domains that I investigate include organisations, communities, and individuals.

Topics I’m actively involved in are listed below:  I can support students wanting to do research on:

• Understanding and supporting technology use, application, and acceptance in education
• The use of social media in education and organisations
• Cyberbullying and how to make parents and children more aware and robust
• The use of a chatbot to support IS Analysis and Design teaching

These keywords and concepts are relevant to my research:  IT to enhance learning; Social media use; Chatbots for education; IS analysis and Design Teaching; Cyberbullying; social and emotional consequences of IT application and use.

Dr Tendani Mawela

Position: Senior Lecturer

NRF rating: Y2

Office: IT Building 5-99

E-mail: [email protected]

ORCID: 0000-0003-0574-3340

My research generally focuses on IS and Organizations. I take an interdisciplinary view in applying either qualitative or quantitative approaches to study the following research focus areas:

• Digital Government (E-Government). The use of information and communication technologies to support the policies and operations of government. 
• ICT for Development (ICT4D). The relation between information and communication technologies and development.
• Digital Skills (E-Skills). The skills and capabilities required to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by ICT’s and mobile technologies.

The research domains that I investigate include Public sector organizations, citizens and other e-government user communities. 

Topics that I am actively involved in are listed below. I can support students who are committed to researching  problems in one of the following areas:

• ICTs for service delivery, citizen participation and governance.
• Social media for civic engagement and political participation.
• The role of ICTs in social and financial inclusion.
• Opportunities, challenges and implications of emerging and disruptive technologies in government.
• The systematic review of Digital Government, Digital Skills and ICT4D literature.

These keywords and concepts are relevant to my research. Digital Government, e-Government, Mobile Government (m-Government), Smart Governance, Digital skills, e-Participation, e-Democracy, ICT  for  Development (ICT4D), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Digital Divide, Digital Inclusion, Social Media, Systematic Literature Reviews. 

Dr Riana Steyn

Position: Senior Lecturer

NRF rating: Y2

Office: IT Building 5-66

E-mail: [email protected]

ORCID: 0000-0002-9841-2497

My research generally focuses on Entrepreneurs from an educational perspective. I focus my research on Entrepreneurial skills development and how this can be achieved through various avenues, thus focusing my research on:

• Micro-credentials (Badges) and the role they play to increase entrepreneurial skills levels
• The effect of Nano-teaching and learning on Higher education and/or entrepreneurs
• Educational technologies to increase skills development
• Entrepreneurs and the adoption of IT in their business
• IT training and skills development  needs of entrepreneurs

Topics that I am actively involved in are listed below. I can support students who are committed to researching suitable topics in one of the following areas:

• Micro-credentials (badges) to increase skills levels
• Educational technologies and teaching online
• SME and IT adoption
• Entrepreneurial IT adoption approaches
• IT training needs for entrepreneurs

These keywords and concepts are relevant to my research. IT adoption, entrepreneurs, SMEs learning approaches, Micro-credentials, Nano-teaching and learning

Dr Sunet Eybers

 Position: Senior Lecturer

NRF rating: C3

 Office: IT Building 5-63

 E-mail: [email protected]

ORCID: 0000-0002-0545-3688

My research generally focuses on Applied Data Science. I take an interdisciplinary view in applying either qualitative or quantitative approaches to study the following research focus areas:

• Data Science for Social Good.  The impact of Data Science on Digital Society 5.0; how Data Science can be used to the benefit (if any) of society; and what are the moral/ethical consequences of Data Science interventions. 
• Data Science Implementation. Design, data development lifecycle, agile development approaches, and the implementation and use of data in the context of the organization (including data governance) as well as data visualization. 
• Applied Data Science sub-disciplines. Data mining, data analytics, business intelligence, data warehousing.
• Teaching and Learning. How Data Analytics can be used in Higher Education Institutions. 

The research domains that I investigate include business management (including project management and organizational strategy); social media; applied data science; pedagogy.

Topics that I am actively involved in are listed below. I can support students who are committed to researching  suitable topics in one of the following areas:

• All aspects of Data Science Information Systems and Applications
• Organizational strategy
• Social media
• Online Learning / eLearning
• Data / Learning Analytics
• Pedagogy in Higher Education

These keywords and concepts are relevant to my research. Business intelligence, data mining, data warehousing, text mining, social media, crime, organizational strategy, data visualization, eLearning, online learning, tertiary education methods, teaching and learning, ethics, data governance, digital society 5.0.

Dr Tania Prinsloo

Position: Senior Lecturer

NRF rating: Y2

Office: IT Building 5-59

E-mail: [email protected]ac.za

ORCID: 0000-0003-1877-9115

My main research area is within ICT for Agriculture, focusing on the three Sustainable Development Goals: No Poverty, Zero Hunger and Life on Land. In this domain, I look at:

• IS in issues of (in)equality and marginalized groups.
• IS for a greener society, specifically in agriculture.
• Designs for wearable, pervasive, and ubiquitous systems and computing in agriculture.
• Ethical uses of data.
• The role of IS for climate change.
• Animal-computer-interaction.

In terms of ICT for Education, I focus on the Sustainable Development Goals Quality Education and Reducing Inequalities. Here, I focus on:

• Principles of lifelong learning.
• Different learning styles and how to accommodate students in an online environment.
• Continuous assessment vs. the traditional methods of assessment.
• Current IS teaching trends.

Finally, I am interested in developmental issues pertaining to the Global South. 

The research domains that I investigate are new technologies in development, agriculture and education.

These keywords and concepts are relevant to my research. ICT4D, ICT4Ag, ICT for Education, sustainable agriculture using technology, wearable devices in agriculture, IS and climate change, animal-computer-interaction, development in the Global South, lifelong learning, learning styles, continuous assessment, teaching trends.  

Dr Komla Pillay

Position: Lecturer

Office: IT Building 5-100

E-mail: [email protected]

ORCID: 0000-0002-5301-3804

My research focus is Knowledge / Big Data Management and IS in Education with specialised areas of study in:

• Enterprise Data Management: acquiring, storing and processing organizational data to ensure data quality. The relation of people, processes and technology in ensuring maintenance of company data laws.
• ICT in Education: optimizing student and lecturer outcomes by incorporating Information and Communication Technology into course design.

 
Topics that I am actively involved in are listed below. I can support students who are committed to researching problems in one of the following:

• Convergence of IoT, Cloud and Big Data
• Self-service business intelligence
• Social Media information in the age of big data
• Smart City Technologies
• Creation of appropriate tools and methods to support online learning
• Impact of smart cities on Education
• Use and design of technology to ensure quality education

Keywords and concepts relevant to my research: big data, IoT, smart city, Cloud computing, e-learning, ICT in education.

Dr  Nita Mennega

Position: Lecturer

Office: Building IT 5-98

Email: [email protected]

My research generally focuses on the dynamics influencing individuals' decision to enter the Information Technology industry. I take an interdisciplinary view in applying either qualitative or quantitative approaches, or a combination thereof, to study the following research focus areas:

• IT labour market: Shortage of IT professionals, gender issues, diversity issues
• Higher Education: Information Technology qualifications - availability and uptake
• Industry readiness: Soft skills development for the workplace

Topics that I am actively involved in are listed below. I can support students who are committed to researching suitable topics in one of the following areas:

• Factors that influence students' decision to enroll for an IT degree
• Theoretical approaches to investigating the lack of diversity in the Information Technology workforce
• Perceptions of society on the IT industry
• Development of soft skills in engineering and IT students (e.g. communication skills, teamwork, project planning)

The following keywords and concepts are relevant to my research: gender and Information Technology, Information Technology career choice, graduate skills development.

 Mr Ridewaan Hanslo

 Position: Lecturer

 Office: IT Building 5-101

 Email: [email protected]

My research generally focuses on IS and AI with specialised areas of study in:

• Agile Project Management. Scrum adoption, Agile project success.
• Machine Learning. Predicting agile project outcomes, agile adoption using regression analysis.
• Neural Networks. Deep learning transformer models, Natural language processing.

The research domains that I investigate include Agile practitioners, IT organizations, software development practices, predictive analytics, neural network architectures.

Topics that I am actively involved in are listed below. I can support students who are committed to researching problems in one of the following:

• Scrum adoption challenges
• Agile project success factors
• Predicting agile project outcomes
• Named-entity recognition sequence tagging
• Prediction Analytics using Machine Learning and Neural Networks

Keywords and concepts relevant to my research: Adoption, Agile, Agile Practitioners, Deep Learning, IT organizations, Quantitative, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Neural Network Architectures, Scrum, Software Development, Software Engineering, Statistical Analysis.

 Dr Lelanie Smith

Position: Senior Lecturer; Head of the Community Engagement Projects and Vertically Integrated Projects in EBIT

 Office: IT Building 5-82.3

 E-mail: [email protected]