Expert Reference Group
Digital Public Infrastructure
Prof. Geo Quinot
Geo Quinot is a Professor of Law at Stellenbosch University and Director of the African Procurement Law Unit (APLU). He specialises in public law and is a leading voice in the development of procurement regulation and administrative justice in South Africa and across the continent.
He holds an LLD from Stellenbosch University and teaches widely in public law, with a growing focus on how digital technologies are transforming procurement systems and governance frameworks. Through his work with APLU, he contributes to research, capacity building, and policy reform initiatives aimed at strengthening public-sector accountability and performance.
Christine Strauss
Christine Strauss is an admitted Legal Practitioner (Attorney) and Trade Mark Practitioner (SAIIPL). After practising in intellectual property law until 2022, she transitioned to academia and is now a lecturer in the Mercantile Law Department, where she teaches Law & Technology. She holds an LLM in Law, Science and Technology from Stanford University and is currently completing her LLD at Stellenbosch University. Her research explores the intersection of law, science, and emerging technologies.
Zinhle Novazi
Zinhle Novazi is a Lecturer in Law and Technology and International Trade Finance in the Mercantile Law Department at Stellenbosch University. She is a qualified attorney and a doctoral candidate at the University of Groningen, where her research focuses on the regulation of automated decision-making in financial services, with particular attention to data protection, AI, and consumer protection.
She brings professional experience from roles in tax, fiduciary services, and cybersecurity, having worked as a Tax and Fiduciary Specialist at Investec Bank, completed her articles at Tabacks and previously contributed to risk and intelligence projects at S-RM. Zinhle holds master’s degrees from Queen Mary University of London (where she was a Chevening Scholar) and the University of the Witwatersrand, along with an LLB and a Bachelor of Social Science from the University of Cape Town.
Beyond academia, she serves as a Director of Novazi Investment Holdings and the Heavy Chef Foundation NPC, supporting initiatives that broaden entrepreneurial opportunities. In recognition of her leadership, she was named one of the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans in 2023.
Expert Reference Group
Policy Advice Systems
Dr Guy Lamb
Dr Guy Lamb is a National Research Foundation rated researcher and is based within the Political Science Department at Stellenbosch University (in South Africa) where he directs the Conflict, Peacebuilding and Risk Unit. Guy has undertaken research on issues related to violence, security and peace since the mid-1990s, and has led numerous prestigious multi-country research projects in this regard. He is currently a member of the Interpol Future (advisory) Council and is a Fellow of the Geneva-based UN Institute for Disarmament Research. In South Africa he serves as a commissioner on the high-level National Planning Commission where he chairs the Commission’s Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Task Team, and he is part of the government’s Integrated Crime and Violence Prevention Strategy Working Committee. He is also an advisor to the Western Cape Minister of Police Oversight and Community Safety. Guy was previously the Director of the Safety and Violence Initiative at the University of Cape Town and led research departments at the Institute for Security Studies and the Centre for Conflict Resolution. He was part of the drafting team of the UN Modular Small-arms-control Implementation Compendium and has served as an armed violence expert for the UN Security Council Sanctions Branch.
Dr Ilse Eigelaar-Meets
Ilse Eigelaar-Meets is a Sociologist at the Univeristy of Stellenbosch. Currently a full time lecturer in Sociology, she has had a career in applied Sociology predating her permanent employment in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at Stellenbosch University. She has worked as a researcher and project manager in several institutions including National and Provincial government (National Advisory Council for Innovation, Department of Social Development Western Cape Provincial Government, and as Deputy Director for research at the Department of Local Government and Housing Western Cape Provincial Government). She has taught in various tertiary institutions including University of Johannesburg (RAU), Cornerstone Christian College and Hugenote Kollege and worked as a full time researcher in a research company, SOREASO for 15 years .
Her research areas include Community and Rural development, Migration (Demographic and social impacts), Population, and Local Governance.
In her work as researcher, she has acquired wide-ranging research experience serving a broad range of clients such as government, the corporate sector, and universities.
Ongoing interest: Human and Rural Development, Migration, Research Methodology (Survey research, Monitoring & Evaluation)
Prof Tania Ajam
Tania Ajam is a Professor in Public Policy, Finance and Economics at Stellenbosch University’s School of Public Leadership. She holds a Master’s in Business Science from the UCT, an M.A. (Econ) from Cambridge University and a PhD (Public Management) from the University of Pretoria. She has held several non-executive directorships in both private and public sectors, including the Reserve Bank of South Africa. She served as a Commissioner on the Financial and Fiscal Commission for a decade until 2014 and has been a Senior Advisor at the Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC) in the National Treasury and a member of the Davis Tax Review Committee. She was a member of the President’s Economic Advisory Council between 2019 and 2024.