Bio: Prof. Raisuyah Bhagwan, is a Full Professor in the Department of Community Health Studies, at Durban University of Technology. She is also a National Research Foundation, C2 rated researcher. She is passionate about issues of social justice, community development, spirituality and indigenous knowledge systems and has published extensively on these topics. She is on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work and Social Work Practitioner-Researcher. Prof. Bhagwan was a recipient of the NRF Community Engagement Grant 2015 and she was also a recipient of the CHE-HELTASA National Excellence in Teaching Award in 2018.

Bio: Dr. Fathima Dewan has been a Lecturer in the child and youth care programme for the last twenty years, with a PhD in Public Administration (Peace Studies), an MEd (Higher Education) as well as a degree in Child and Youth Development. She served as Head of Programme for a number of years from 2008 to 2012 and 2020/2021.She has participated in and contributed to the profession of child and youth extensively, including being a member of the higher education task team on the Professional Board for Child and Youth Care as well as playing a leading role in the development of the new Master’s degree in Child and Youth Care. She has had international collaborations with Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK and the State University of New York.

Bio: Ms. Thobile Hlengwa has practiced child and youth care in various residential settings from 1991-1998. She is registered as an Assessor with the Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority (HWSETA). In 2004, she obtained a B. Tech Degree in Child and Youth Development at the then Durban Institute of Technology (DIT). She has an Honours degree in Social Development from the University of Cape Town (UCT) and a Master’s degree in Education (Higher Education) from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. From 2007 to date, Ms. Hlengwa has been a Lecturer in the Child and Youth Care Programme.

Bio: Ms. Mirriam Siluma’s interests include indigenous knowledge systems and its implementation in child and youth care work, which includes the decolonisation of the child and youth care curriculum. Her area of expertise is child and youth care work with children and youth at risk. Mirriam is passionate about issues pertaining to advocating for child and youth care as a profession, professionalisation of child and youth care, professional and professional development of child and youth care and the professional identity of child and youth care workers in South Africa.

Bio: Mrs Charlene Singh’s area of interest is in improving communities and family cohesion where there is a risk to the healthy growth and development of young people, and she intends to continue pursuing her PhD in this area. She has worked as both a child and youth care worker and a child and youth care Manager and has since found an interest in the personal and professional development and well-being of child and youth care workers. She was the KZN Chairperson of the Child and Youth Care Workers’ Practitioners Forum and is now a board member on the Professional Board for Child and Youth Care Workers.