Prof Ronél Rensburg joined the University of Pretoria in 1999 and at the time of her passing was a Professor in the Communication Management Division of the Department of Business Management. She served as the Head of the Department of Marketing and Communication Management from 2000-2008 and as Programme Coordinator for the Division between 2014 and 2017.

She was a well-respected researcher who published extensively. She held a B3 NRF rating since 2013. She has been guest editor for the International Journal of Public Affairs (2011) and Public Relations Review (2014) and served on the editorial boards of five accredited journals in the field of public relations and communication management.

Her areas of specialisation were communication and reputation management, strategic communication in corporate governance, and international communication. She has supervised numerous postgraduate students since 2000.

She was a founding member and coordinator of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences’ Centre for Communication and Reputation Management (CCRM). She was a past President of the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA) and previous board member of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management (GA). She received the Fellowship of PRISA in 2016.

She was a speechwriter and trainer for politicians and captains of industry, and wrote a regular column for Business24 that focused on communication and reputation management issues.

More of her research can be found at: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1458-9920