University of the Western Cape

Ms Elizabeth Booi is a Registered Professional Statistician and Business Intelligence Specialist with over 25 years of experience. She is Head: Business Intelligence and Data Architect in the Rectorate: Institutional Planning at the University of the Western Cape. Elizabeth is the President of the Southern African Association for Institutional Research (SAAIR). Her leadership roles in SAAIR include Vice President (President-elect) from 2022 to 2024, Co-opted Executive Committee Member & Learner Analytics SIG Lead from 2021 to 2022, and a 2018 SAAIR Scholar. She is a Siyaphumelela “We Succeed” Coach, part of a South African Student Success National Initiative, where she supports universities in developing evidence-based student support strategies. Her areas of expertise include learning analytics, student success modelling, data governance, and ethical data use. A dedicated advocate for data literacy, capacity development, and strategic policy influence, Elizabeth facilitates workshops, presents at conferences, and mentors analysts and practitioners in leveraging analytics for institutional effectiveness. She is pursuing a PhD in Operations Research, focusing on AI Safety and Governance in Learning Analytics. Her research aims to develop an AI-based governance framework for student success models, integrating fairness, interpretability, and bias-mitigation techniques to ensure responsible and ethical AI deployment in higher education.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-booi/

Saide

Ashton Maherry is a Programme Lead for Student Success with Saide, having joined Saide in October 2022.  His primary responsibilities are leading Saide’s student success work, with an emphasis on the Siyaphumelela Student Success Initiative, where Saide acts as a backbone organisation as the network has grown to include 20 Partner institutions, all of which receive a Kresge Grant. Ashton’s further responsibility is to consolidate and share learnings from the network. Ashton was a senior knowledge applicator at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research for 12 years, with a focus on water research and spatial data analysis. Thereafter he joined Durban University of Technology in 2017 as part of the General Education team lecturing institutional general education modules. In 2018 he was appointed as the Siyaphumelela Data and Training Officer. In 2022 he joined Saide as a Programme Specialist. He is passionate about building capacity and using data to intervene timeously before students fail. Ashton is a member of the executive committee for the Southern African Association of Institutional Research (SAAIR) since 2021 and in 2024 was elected as the Vice-President of SAAIR.

SAAIR Office

Carin has served as the Office administrator for many years and comes from a background in Higher Education, having worked at Unisa for some time.

She has extensive experience in office administration, event management and financial management and plays a key role in the functioning of the Association.

Carin lives and works from home in Somerset West.

Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University

Benjamin Ntshabele began his career as an intern in data processing at Statistics South Africa, where he was later appointed as a Statistical Assistant. He then worked as a Statistician at the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development before transitioning into higher education as an Institutional Researcher at the University of Pretoria. He currently holds the same position at Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU). Ben holds a BCom in Statistics and BCom Honours in Statistics, both from North-West University, as well as a BCom Honours in Economics and an MPhil from the University of Pretoria. He has also submitted his PhD thesis at the University of Pretoria. With over 15 years of experience as a quantitative analyst and 12 years in the higher education sector, he specialises in institutional research, performance monitoring, and data-informed planning. His research interests include student success, graduate employability, mental health, and entrepreneurship in healthcare, with a strong focus on applying quantitative methods to improve academic outcomes and institutional effectiveness. He is a co-author of the chapter Evidence-Based Decision-Making on the Improvement of Student Success: A Study of the Uptake of Institutional Research at Two Universities in Gauteng, published in the book Utilisation of South African Research on Higher Education. Ben is currently serving his second term as Treasurer of the Southern African Association for Institutional Research (SAAIR), where he contributes to the organisation’s governance and strategic direction.

University of the Witwatersrand

Innocent Mamvura is a Data Scientist and AI Strategist who leads the AI & Machine Learning portfolio at the University of the Witwatersrand. With expertise spanning LLMs, AI Agents, cloud ML pipelines, and predictive analytics, he has designed and implemented solutions that directly enhance student success outcomes and institutional efficiency. A frequent contributor to the SAAIR and Siyaphumelela networks, Innocent is deeply committed to knowledge-sharing and building capacity in data literacy, AI adoption, and analytics for higher education. He strongly believes that with innovation and dedication we can achieve the SAAIR mandate of promoting collaboration, training and development amongst institutional researchers across the continent.

Tshwane University of Technology

Valentine Maroga is a seasoned higher education professional with over 14 years of Experience in administration. She began her career by completing a National Diploma in Office Management and Technology, followed by a BTech degree and a postgraduate qualification in Business Management. She went on to obtain a Master of Business Administration (MBA), which she is leveraging to strengthen her expertise in strategic leadership, institutional planning, and data-informed decision-making. Valentine currently serves as the Acting Institutional Researcher at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), where she plays a key role in advancing evidence-based planning and performance monitoring. In addition to her institutional role, she serves on the Executive Committee of the Southern African Association for Institutional Research (SAAIR) and was awarded the prestigious SAAIR Scholarship in 2024. Through her MBA and professional contributions, Valentine aims to drive impactful change in higher education by aligning research, strategy, and innovation to improve institutional effectiveness and national development outcomes.

University of Pretoria

Dr Hossein Masoumi Karakani has been working at the Department of Institutional Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation (DIP) at the University of Pretoria (UP) for five years, where he currently serves as Deputy Director for Institutional Research and Analytics (IRA). He holds a Ph.D. in Mathematical Statistics from UP and a verified certificate in Statistical Learning from Stanford University. Specialising in advanced analytics, time series, and Bayesian statistics, he develops interpretable, ethical, and production-ready predictive models to address challenges in higher education.
Hossein has held both academic and industry roles prior to joining DIP. He served as a Lecturer in the Department of Statistics at UP for three years, teaching, developing modules, and supervising postgraduate students. In industry, he worked as a Data Scientist at Knowledge Integration Dynamics (KID) for two years and at the Explore Data Science Academy for one year, applying advanced statistical and machine learning techniques to real-world problems.
His research is published in esteemed journals and presented at national and international conferences, including but not limited to Deep Learning IndabaX 2024 and 2025, Computational and Methodological Statistics, and the International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD). He is a 2024 fellow of the Tuks Young Research Leadership Programme (TYRLP) and serves on scientific committees such as Deep Learning Indaba, AfriClimate AI, and the African Computer Vision School.
A top 1% Kaggle data scientist, Hossein has won two silver medals and, in 2021, became the first from UP to enter Kaggle’s global rankings. He also mentored in the Kaggle BIPOC Mentorship Program (2023–2024), guiding mentees in real-world data science applications.
Committed to advancing data literacy, Hossein believes data is the new global language. He currently serves as an Executive Member of the Southern African Association for Institutional Research (SAAIR).

Walter Sisulu University

Dr Munienge Mbodila is a distinguished academic and researcher currently serving as a member of the SAAIR Exco, overseeing the Institutional Research (IR) Institute. He holds a BSc and Honours degree in Computer Science from the University of Fort Hare (2006 and 2008, respectively). He earned an MSc in Computer Science and Information Systems from North-West University in 2014. His commitment to excellence in higher education is further demonstrated by his Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching and Learning from Stellenbosch University and a PhD in Computer Science and Information Systems from North-West University.
Dr. Mbodila’s professional journey spans various critical roles, including Network Technician at Fort Hare University, Lecturer at the University of Venda, and Lecturer & Manager of Data Analytics at Walter Sisulu University under the Directorate of Teaching and Learning. Currently, he serves as Senior Lecturer in the Department of Networks and IT Support and the Manager: Student Tracking and Institutional Research in the Directorate of Planning, Evaluation, and Monitoring at Walter Sisulu University, where he plays a pivotal role in leveraging data analytics to enhance student outcomes.
As a leading expert in computer science and institutional research, Dr. Mbodila is dedicated to advancing student success and institutional decision-making through data-driven strategies. He has significantly contributed to the academic community with over 60 published articles and numerous presentations at national and international conferences. His expertise in teaching, research, postgraduate supervision, and student tracking and Institutional Research empowers the institutions to identify trends, conduct institutional research, monitor student progress, and implement data-informed interventions to drive student success.

University of Venda