Zach Simpson is a senior lecturer and educational developer in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.  He holds a PhD in Education from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.  His research interests include scholarship of engineering teaching and learning, academic literacies, multimodal social semiotics, and higher education studies.  He is the editor-in-chief of the SOTL in the South journal, and has published several papers and book chapters. 

Naiefa Rashied is a lecturer and researcher in the College of Business and Economics at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Ms Rashied is currently pursuing a PhD in Economics and is a NRF Thuthuka grant holder (PhD track). Her research interests include health economics, local economic development, decolonisation and scholarship of economics education. In 2017, Ms Rashied was awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Award for “Most Promising Young Teacher” at the University of Johannesburg. In 2018, Ms Rashied won the prestigious CBE Dean's Award for Innovation. 

Palesa Meso holds an LLB Law Degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, and works as an administrative assistant in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at the University of Johannesburg. In this role, she works closely with HR, handling tutor appointments and other related duties.

Shireen Motala held the position of the Director of the Education Policy Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, from 1999 to February 2010.  Her academic qualifications are BA (UDW), B Social Science Honours (UCT), MA (University of Warwick), PGCE (University of London) and PhD (Wits). In March 2010, she was appointed as Director of the Postgraduate Research Centre: Research and Innovation at the University of Johannesburg, and in 2015, Senior Director of the Postgraduate School.  In 2020, she was appointed NRF SARChI Chair: Teaching and Learning. She was Chairperson of the Education Policy Consortium from 2006 to 2010 and Chairperson of the UNESCO South African Commission from 2002 to 2006. In 2010 she was appointed by the Minster of Higher Education and Training to serve on the Council of Higher Education (CHE) for two terms until 2018. She was the first inaugural president of the South African Research Association (SAERA) from 2013 to 2014.

She has worked extensively in research and has provided leadership for regional and international partnerships which have led to collaborations with universities across Africa and with northern partners.  Her research interests and expertise have been in the areas of education financing, access and equity and education quality across the higher education and schooling sectors.