Vishanthie Sewpaul (PhD) is a Senior Professor in the School of Social Work and Community Development, University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN), Durban.  She represents ASASWEI on the Board of the International Associations of Schools of Social Work (IASSW). She is also President of the National Association of Social Workers (South Africa). She serves on the Social Work Standards Generation Body and on the Professional Board for Social Work. She was Chair of the Global Standards Committee (a joint Committee of IASSW & IFSW).  She was the chief architect of the document “Global Standards for Social Work Education and Training” which was adopted at the General Assemblies of the IASSW and the International Federation of Social Workers in Australia in 2004. Professor Sewpaul has presented keynote addresses, papers and workshops at various local, national and international conferences, and has published widely in scientific journals. She is regarded as one of the most prestigious researchers at UKZN.  She serves on the advisory committee of the Social Work Journal, the Caribbean Journal of Social Work and is currently the Deputy Editor of International Social Work.  She shares special interests in the areas of Gender, AIDS and Sexuality; Globalisation and Social Policy; Anti-Oppressive Practice and Emancipatory Pedagogy.  She is currently the Chair of the Local Organising Committee for the 34th Global Social Work Congress that is being hosted in Durban, SA from 20 – 24 July 2008.

Zethu Mkhize holds a D Phil degree in Social Work and a Master’s diploma in Human Resource Management. She has worked as a social work practitioner in mental health and in the Department of Correctional Services. She joined the University of Zululand as a lecturer in the Department of Social Work and has taught social work practice, social policy, social administration and management. She is actively involved in research and has supervised research projects for students at both the undergraduate and the postgraduate level.
 In 2001 she was part of the Team that developed the University of Zululand HIV and AIDS Policy. This process coincided with a request by the United States Agency for International Development (through the Tertiary Education Linkages Project) for institutions of higher learning to submit proposals for funding institution wide HIV/AIDS projects. She led the proposal writing team which succeeded in securing the funding. She was then seconded by the University Management to manage the project for a period of two years. The University has since appointed her as Manager for HIV and AIDS Programmes. Her main responsibilities include:  policy development, mainstreaming HIV/AIDS in the formal curriculum, promoting VCT, research and developing a sustainable peer education programme.
Her involvement in HIV/AIDS related research includes a number of collaborative research projects with colleagues from Gallaudet University (US), University of Michigan (US) and De Mont Fort University (UK). She has presented papers at national conferences and international congresses and has published in academic journals.  She serves on various structures of governance (i.e.  Councils and Boards).

Antoinette Lombard is Professor and Head of the Department of Social Work and Criminology, University of Pretoria. She is the chair of the Standard Generating Body (SGB) for Social Work in South Africa and the vice chair of the Association of the South African Schools of Social Work (ASASWEI). She chairs the Education and Development Committee of the Professional Board for Social Work (PBSW) of which she is a member. In this capacity she is the task team leader for the design of the Continuous Professional Development policy for Social Work as well as the development of the quality assurance process of the BSW qualification. She has published numerous articles in scientific journals. She presented numerous conference papers at international, national, provincial and local level. Prof. Lombard is a board member of the Consortium for International Social Development and serves on the editorial committees of two international and one national journal. Her teaching and research interest lies in the fields of social welfare, social development and policy, community work, and social work education.

Since 1984 Ngeni Ntombela has worked as a social worker in the Mental Health field as a psychiatric Social Worker in Pietermaritzburg. From 1990- 1995, worked as a Social Worker then a Senior Social Worker at the then Department of Welfare and Population Development in Durban. She joined the University of Zululand in 1996 to present date.
Enjoys teaching at both undergraduate and post graduate levels:
Undergraduate teaching: Social group work; Cross-cultural practice; Gender Based Violence; Social Development and Service learning modules
Post Graduate level: Social Policy and Community Work Strategies papers as well as undergraduate and post graduate research supervision
Community Engagement: Work with Faith Based Organizations and other NGO’s
Registered as a Social Worker in Private Practice does EAP services

Tanusha Raniga is a lecturer in the School of Social Work and Community Development at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.  She completed a PhD in the topic area of HIV/AIDS and youth sexuality programmes.  Tanusha practised as a social worker in the NGO sector for 10 years doing mainly community work in rural and informal settlements before joining the university.  Currently her teaching areas are community work, social policy, and HIV and AIDS at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.  Tanusha’s research interests are integrating radical community work theories in projects, the psycho-social impact of HIV/AIDS on children and families and social security policy and poverty alleviation.