Melanie Walker is SARCHI Chair in Higher Education and Human Development and Distinguished Professor at the University of the Free State (UFS). She is an A-rated NRF scholar in Education. Before joining the UFS, she was Professor of Higher Education at the University of Nottingham, where she was Director of the PhD in Higher Education, Director of Postgraduate Students, and a Director of Research in the Faculty of Social Sciences. Her research Interests include Leading proponent of human development and capabilities applied to higher education and social justice and distinctive interdisciplinary research agenda on higher education and human development, also comparative and international education. She serves on the editorial board of Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Power and Education and Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning (CriSTaL). She is member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)
