IN CONVERSATION WITH NRWDI CEO, RIEDEWAAN BAKARDIEN

Associate Professor Rodney Genga is the Wits-SAHLI design team lead and Director of the Engineering and Built Environment Academic Development Unit. He is also a Principal Researcher in the School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Aeronautical Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand. He is trained in Mechanical Engineering, Metallurgy, and…

Caesar Balona is a qualified actuary and Fellow of the Actuarial Society of South Africa (FASSA), working at the forefront of modernising risk management through the strategic application of data science, AI and engineering. He currently works at Old Mutual Insure, where he is building an industry-leading climate and catastrophe…

Prof Sue Williams completed her undergraduate medical training at the University of the Witwatersrand before continuing her specialist training in ophthalmology at Wits and receiving her Fellowship in Ophthalmology from the Colleges of Medicine and Surgery of South Africa. She has a Master of Medicine in ophthalmology and completed her…

Michael Gomes is a medical student and PhD candidate at the University of the Witwatersrand. He is part of the Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform. He was recently awarded the 2026 South African Medical Research Council Institutional Clinician Researcher Development Programme scholarship to support his research into nanoparticle-based drug delivery…

Dr. Victor Mashindi is an electrochemist and nanomaterials researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand. He has a PhD in chemistry and works at the Molecular Sciences Institute in the School of Chemistry. His research focuses on nanomaterials and electrocatalysts for clean energy technologies. His expertise includes the synthesis of…