Dr Thama Duba was appointed to be on the SAQA Board from 2011-2015 where she served in the Executive Committee and as Chairperson of its I & IT sub-committee. The SAQA Board reports to the Minister of Higher Education. Thama also served as an Academic Representative on the Durban University of Technology Council from June 2007, for a four-year term. Furthermore, she was as an executive member of DUT Convocation, and as Acting HOD of the Department of Mathematics, Physics and Statistics at the Durban University of Technology. Thama started her career at Mokopane College of Education as lecturer and was senior lecturer at DUT and is currently a lecturing at the University of the Witwatersrand in the School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics.

Thama obtained a Spencer Foundation Scholarship for studies in Educational Policy and further received an NRF/NSF Exchange Scholarship to Michigan State University in the United States in 2003 where her focus was on Mathematical Literacy. Prior to that Thama was a student at University of Cape Town where she completed MSc in Applied Mathematics; at University of the North (now Limpopo) for her Honours degree in Applied Mathematics and a triple major in Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Education to complete her BSc (Education) degree. Thama completed her PhD degree in Applied Mathematics at University of Kwazulu-Natal in 2016.

Her research interests are in solitons and solitary wave solutions of Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations and in Navier-Stokes Equations as applied in Fluid Dynamics especially large-scale fluids like ocean and atmospheres. Her research straddles between wave dynamics and double diffusive convection in ocean and atmospheres. Her current focus in on Rossby waves in stellar atmospheres.

Thama is also interested in mentoring women in Mathematical Sciences; and has a desire to advance the teaching and learning of mathematics in schools.