 |
Name | Dr Busisiwe Ntsele |
| Highest qualification |
Dual PhD (University of the Free State, South Africa, and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands) |
|
| Position | Post-Doctoral Research Fellow | |
| Contact details | ||
| Research interests/expertise |
Public Culture & Engaged Scholarship |
|
| Current projects |
Post-Doctoral Research |
Dr. Busisiwe Octavia Ntsele is a first-generation interdisciplinary scholar and human rights advocate specializing in law, sociology, and international human rights law. Born in Ticantfwini, she holds a Bachelor of Arts in Law, a BA Honours in Industrial Sociology, and an MA in International Human Rights Law. She completed a joint PhD (Desmond Tutu Fellowship between the University of the Free State (UFS) and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2024, where her research critically examined community engagement in South African universities, focusing on decolonizing education and promoting epistemic justice through collaborative community partnerships.
Currently, Dr. Ntsele is a postdoctoral fellow at the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs (TM-School) at the University of South Africa (Unisa) where she actively advances her research agenda. Her work integrates diverse knowledge systems in higher education, emphasizing community-led research and mutually beneficial university-community partnerships. She is dedicated to challenging institutional power dynamics in academia to foster social justice and epistemic equity.
Dr. Ntsele’s role at TM-School is instrumental to her broader research and public culture initiatives, embedding her work in a vibrant, African-centered academic context. The school's innovative, transdisciplinary approaches to public and international affairs amplify her impact on decolonization, epistemic justice, and engaged scholarship in South Africa and beyond. Through this platform, she continues to promote inclusive scholarship, advance social justice, and strengthen collaborative knowledge production.
