Featured author: Professor Krishnan Kanny

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Professor Kanny is a seasoned engineer and scientist with over twenty years research experience in advanced engineering materials systems. He has extensive experience in mechanical engineering product, process and system design including development, implementation and commissioning.
Over the last decade he has been researching composite and bio composite materials systems for a range of applications including the automotive sector and the built environment. More recently he has been processing and testing Nano-infused structures for the aerospace, naval, and mass transit systems. His current work is at the nanometer scale length, where new functionalities and properties of matter are being harnessed for a broad range of applications. Professor Kanny holds a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering (TU, Alabama, USA). He currently heads up the Nano Composites Research Group (nCRG). Under his stewardship the group has grown from strength to strength and he has managed to build an impressive infrastructure and research capability in a relatively short time. The nCRG is one of very few groups in the country that has capability in the trinity of design, materials and processing.

Top publications:

• Urea-phenol-formaldehyde micro capsules containing linseed oil for self-healing anti corrosive coating applications
• Studies on dynamic ageing conditions for Life Cycle Prediction of tyre tread
• Dynamic response of nanocomposite laminates during low, medium and high velocity impact loading

Featured author: Professor Nirmala Dorasamy

Department of Public Management and Economics

Professor Dorasamy is Full Professor in the Department of Public Management and Economics at the Durban University of Technology. The focus area of her research is ethics and public sector management, with an emphasis on enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of public service delivery underpinned by a strong sense of governance within a democratic dispensation. Her international linkages involve collaborative research with the Swinburne University of Technology, Federation University and Monash University in Australia, the American University in Cairo, MUST University in Kenya and Mendel University in Czech Republic. She has successfullysupervised and graduated several Masters and Doctoral students, while being recognised as a local and international examiner for postgraduate research. She is an accredited evaluator for EDTP and CHE; and an editorial board member for several internationally acclaimed journals. Professor Dorasamy has developed resource material for government, and both local and international institutions of higher education. She has co-authored textbooks for senior secondary learners, books for higher education purposes and she has published in local and international journals as well as presented papers at national and international conferences. She has been the recipient of the Top Researcher\Top Female\ Top faculty Awards at the Durban University of Technology. She was successfully nominated for the international staff exchange in the Faculty of Regional development at the Mendel University, Czech Republic.

Top publications:

• Predictors of Whistle-Blowing intentions: an analysis of multi-level variables
• Job and career satisfaction in higher education institutions: a case study of university “A” in South Africa
• School-based evaluation to improve learner performance

Featured author: Dr Celani John Nyide

Department: Finance and Information Management – Midlands

Celani John Nyide received National Diploma in Cost and Management Accounting with Cum Laude, Bachelor of Technology in Cost and Management Accounting, Master of Business Administration and Doctor of Business Administration. Dr Nyide is an emerging University Scholar. He has published eight articles in accredited peer reviewed journals and has presented research papers at international conferences. He is actively involved in the supervision of postgraduate students, having successfully supervised four masters’ dissertations. His research interests include environmental management accounting, sustainable reporting, and environmental auditing. He is a senior lecturer and Head of Department: Finance and Information Management – Midlands.

Top publications:

• Material flow cost accounting as a tool for improved resource efficiency in the hotel sector : a case of emerging market
• Financial bootstrapping and the small business sector in a developing economy
• Environmental management accounting practices : major control issues
• Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) in the developing economy : a case of the hotel sector

Featured author: Dr Firoza Haffejee

Department of Basic Medical Sciences

Dr Haffejee is a senior lecturer in Physiology and Epidemiology in the Department of Basic Medical Sciences. She obtained her PhD in 2013 from the University of KwaZulu Natal in the field of Women’s Health. Her current research interests focus mainly on HIV. In this field, she has published on HIV knowledge, prevention, stigma and behaviour changes due to the HIV pandemic. She is also passionate about other public health issues and supervises postgraduate students in topics related to public health. Dr Haffejee also has research interests in education. She implements new teaching styles in her classroom to improve teaching and learning and has published these findings so that other educators can also benefit from her teaching practices. Dr Haffejee holds grants from the NRF and MRC. She collaborates with other researchers both locally and internationally.

Top publications:

• Impact of headaches on university students in Durban, South Africa
• Perceptions of students regarding the effects of the implementation of the tobacco control act of 1999 on a South African University campus
• Knowledge and attitudes about HIV infection and prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV in an urban, low income community in Durban, South Africa: Perspectives of residents and health care volunteers
• Knowledge and attitudes about HIV infection and prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV in an urban, low income community in Durban, South Africa: Perspectives of residents and health care volunteers
• Integrating cervical cancer prevention initiatives with HIV care in resource-constrained settings: A formative study in Durban, South Africa

Featured author: Dr Dorcas Rosaley Prakaschandra

Department of Biomedical and Clinical Technology

Dr Prakaschandra is the Head of Department in the Department of Biomedical and Clinical Technology. She qualified with a PhD from the School of Clinical Medicine at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine (University of KwaZulu- Natal) in 2013. Her expertise revolves around cardiovascular disease epidemiology, pathogenesis and pathophysiology, as well as cardiovascular risk factor clustering in the clinical context. She has also received exposure to cardiovascular genomics – an area in which I wish to extend my expertise.
Dr Prakaschandra has published on the broad subject of Cardiology (cardiac surgery, cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular genomics) and recently, in higher education studies in national and international DHET approved, peer-reviewedjournals. She has been intensively involved in post-graduate supervision since 2014, and has successfully completed supervision of three Masters students thus far. Dr Prakaschandra serves as a member of the South African Heart Association (SAHA), a task team member of the Board of Radiography and Clinical Technology (HPCSA), and am involved as a reviewer for the Cardiovascular Journal of Africa (CVJA), the South African Medical Journal (SAMJ) as well as for the international journal, Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice.

Top publications:

• Glyacaemic control profile in diabetic patients : a sub-analysis of the Phoenix Lifestyle Project
• Type two diabetes mellitus : an overview of prevalence, pathogenesis, complications and treatment options
• Are common polymorphisms of the Lipoprotein Lipase and human Paraoxonase-1 Genes Associated with the metabolic syndrome in South African Asian Indians?
• High prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in Durban South African Indians: The Phoenix Lifestyle Project
• Comparative assessment of absolute cardiovascular disease risk characterization from non-laboratory- based risk assessment in South African populations

Featured author: Dr Anisa Vahed

Department of Dental Sciences

Dr Anisa Vahed is a senior lecturer/dental technologist in the Department of Dental Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences at the Durban University of Technology. Her research interests include metallographic structure of newly developed dental materials, teaching and supervision of both undergraduate and postgraduate research, and the teaching and learning through discipline-specific games to enable students’ access to, and acquisition of, knowledge. Dr Vahed has received teaching awards from: the Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa in conjunction with the Council on Higher Education; the Dental Technology Association of South Africa; and the Durban University of Technology -Vice Chancellor’s Excellence in teaching award, and has presented papers at both national and international conferences. She has also published book chapters and papers in accredited journals and conference proceedings.

Top publications:

• From dental bite to dental bytes : students’ experiences of a game-based project
• Legitimating supervision from different academic territories : an auto-ethnographic account
• Workshop Interventions to facilitate students’ access to knowledge: A dental technology case study