Environmental education

Head of Environmental Science

Cymbeline Harilal is an instructional designer at the Independent Institute of Education. She completed her Masters in Education (ICT) in 2024 (to be conferred). Cymbeline's areas of research are technological education as a means to eradicate unemployment in South Africa. Cymbeline is a South African registered educator approaching the PhD phase in STEM as her goal to be achieved by 2027.

My name is Alvira Prakash and I am a Full Time Lecturer for Education at Varsity College Pretoria. I am currently in the process of submitting my Masters dissertation in Life Sciences Education, where I explored teaching on online platforms in a university and school context. In the past I have obtained a B.Ed. Honours in Life Sciences Education, a PGCE and a BSc in Human Genetics. My goal is to strengthen my research skills and publish articles in the field of Education. I also hope to enroll for a PhD in the near future.

Currently a Head of Programme for the IIE, Lesego joined the hospitality industry having been inspired by one's relationship of and experimentation with food. Lesego has followed her passion into the foodservice industry at large; she further engages with the general management within hospitality industry segments and matters related to both education and teaching and learning. With over 10+ years of industry and academic experience, Lesego completed her Masters in Consumer Science and will further her PhD Studies, in the Consumer Science (Hospitality Management) with particular focus towards sustainability related topics. A journey from being a “display” chef, a cost controller, food and beverage management and product development, Lesego changed her direction to becoming more hands-on in the training space of the industry and is now fully committed to the education and development within the Commerce space at the IIE. Lesego strongly believes that those who wish to grow within this industry need to be aware

Candice Wepener is the Head of Humanities at the IIE’s Varsity College Pretoria Campus. Her research passions are situated within the broad fields of social inclusion, community psychology, and design psychology. Candice has explored various schools of thought in the field of psychology by studying her honours in psychology at North West University and is completing her second masters in psychology at the University of Pretoria.

Dr. Rika Swanzen is the Deputy Dean of Research at the Independent Institute of Education. From 2015-2018 Rika held the position of Adjunct Associate Professor with the Caulfield campus of Monash University in Australia and from mid-2016 to mid-2022 she served as ministerial appointee on the South African Council for Social Service Professions, to represent education and training. Swanzen served as one of the main editors of the Relational Child and Youth Care Practice journal from 2015 to 2022 and was a member of the scientific committee for the 2021 ASASWEI conference, while acting as session chair for various international and national conferences. Dr. Swanzen authored 24 peer reviewed publications and delivered 28 conference presentations from 2007 to 2023. Her citation score at January 2024 is 295 with an h-index of 7 and an i10-index of 5. While managing various academic departments since 2010, she developed curriculum, lectured, supervised and externally examined postgraduate students.

Lecturer at VC for past 18 years. Former State Advocate and practicing independent advocate.

Yeshika Chetty holds an LLB degree from the University of South Africa and an LLM in Multidisciplinary Human Rights from the University of Pretoria. She has over ten years of legal experience in Contract Law gained from her prior employment as a Public Servant. Yeshika’s research interests and passion lies in Human Rights and Environmental Law. She is a member of the Environmental Law Society of South Africa and the South African Women Lawyers Association. Yeshika currently lectures full-time at the Varsity College Pretoria campus.

Simangele Mkhize is a full-time lecturer at the IIE Varsity College, Pretoria campus, School of Humanities. She is a PhD candidate at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She completed her, master’s degree in Criminology and Forensic Studies and a Bachelor of Social Work degree at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She has published five research articles and one book chapter. She is a Golden Key member and has been recognized with the best mentor certificate. Her research interests include cybercrimes, social media and crime, victimisation of vulnerable groups, gender-based violence, anti-LGBTQI+ offenses, and the South African criminal justice system.