Agriculture and Science

Professor Irene Govender is a full Professor in the discipline of Information systems and Technology (IS&T), and an NRF-rated researcher in the field of computing. She served as Academic leader of Information Systems and Technology since 2014 and completed her tenure at the end of 2020.

Her research interests are interdisciplinary involving a niche area of OOP programming, technology for teaching and learning, ICT4D, and Big Data Analytics. She has published widely in scholarly journals and invited speaker for conferences internationally. She has taught a range of modules including Research methodology for IS &T, Advanced Systems Design, Networking and Security for information systems, programming, Mobile and Personal information Systems for mobile app development and Big data analytics. Additionally, she has supervised and graduated more than 25 master’s and doctoral students.

Professor Govender has served as reviewer for several NRF committees, as well as for over 20 international journals and conference proceedings. She has also made many visits to universities and institutions in many parts of the world and collaborated on academic matters. Served as Moderator of Bachelor of Science (honors) degree program offered by London Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom and part of the review panel for Ghana BEd programme, including external examiner for several international universities. Beyond academic matters, Prof Govender has played a pivotal role in the institutional audit of Stellenbosch University, involving academic governance, quality assurance, and compliance processes. Additionally, she has been instrumental in developing programs and modules that align with the University’s innovation objectives.

Professor Govender has been Chief Examiner for the national senior certificate for IT for several years. She brings a multidisciplinary and multi-institutional perspective, a particular strength, to teaching, learning and research with her experience in teacher education in computing, IS&T and computer science. She believes that teaching-learning and research is a partnership.