Presidency

The Presidency, which includes the President, President-Elect and Past President, meets on a monthly basis in preparation for the Executive Committee meetings and to consult with the Executive Director regarding the short- and long-term objectives of the Society. The former includes the organisation’s day-to-day functioning and the latter involves its strategic planning and growth initiatives to ensure PsySSA’s position as the leading professional psychology association in the country and the continent.

President: Prof Mercy Tshilidzi Mulaudzi

Mercy Tshilidzi-Mulaudzi is Professor of Psychology at the University of Venda and is Acting Executive Dean in the Faculty of Health Sciences comprising 5 departments, including Psychology. Her research interests are in Mental Health, HIV and AIDS, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Gender-Based Violence andEpidemiology. In the field of Psychology for 36 years, Prof Tshilidzi-Mulaudzi has taught, conducted research, and supervised graduates in psychology who are self-employed or who work in the public and private sectors. She has previously served as Additional Member on the PsySSA Executive and currently serves the in South African National Committee for the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS). Prof Mulaudzi is an academic leader who has not lost her connection with practitioners and the communities she interacts with. Despite her accolades and achievements, she remains humble and accessible.

President – Elect: Prof Ronelle Carolissen

Ronelle Carolissen is a clinical psychologist and full professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology at Stellenbosch University. She has served as the vice-dean (Teaching and Learning) in the Faculty of Education from 2017-2020 and is a South African National Research Foundation (NRF) rated researcher. Her research expertise and publications explore transformation in higher education, with a specific emphasis on feminist decolonial pedagogies and critical community psychology perspectives on equity and youth citizenship in higher education contexts. She has published numerous journal articles in these areas and is the co-editor of the books Community, Self and Identity: Educating South African University Students for Citizenship (HSRC Press, 2012), Discerning Critical Hope in Educational Practices (Routledge, 2014), Transforming Transformation in Teaching and Research in Higher Education (African Sun Media, 2018), and Community Psychology: South African Praxis (2022). Ronelle is a longstanding member of PsySSA, has served two terms as the chair of the Division of Community and Social Psychology, chairs the transformation committee of PsySSA, and serves on the publications standing committee. PsySSA awarded her recognition for teaching Psychology in higher education in 2016. She serves on South African and international journal editorial boards that intersect in the fields of education and community psychology and serves on managing boards, most notably the SAMRC (South African Medical Research Council, 2019-present). She is a Fulbright research scholar alumnus (2021-2022), chief editor of the journal Psychology in Society (PINS), and a member of ASSAF (Academy of Science of South Africa).

Past President: Prof Floretta Boonzaier

Floretta Boonzaier is Professor of Psychology at the University of Cape Town, and co-Director of the Hub for Decolonial Feminist Psychologies in Africa. She is noted for her work in feminist, critical and postcolonial psychologies, research on subjectivity in relation to race, gender and sexuality, work on gendered and sexual violence, and decolonial research methodologies. She was Editor-in-Chief of the journal Psychology in Society (PINS) from 2018 to 2021. She is a past UCT Mandela Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University and a past recipient of the runner up award in the South African Department of Science and Technology’s Women in Science awards, for the category of Distinguished Young Woman Researcher in the Social Sciences or Humanities. She serves on the Board of Mosaic Training, Service and Healing Centre for Women, in Cape Town and the African Gender Institute and Huma Institute at the University of Cape Town. She is also an Executive Committee Member of the Sexuality and Gender Division of the Psychological Society of South Africa. Her recent publications include the co-edited volumes Engaging youth in activism, research and pedagogical praxis. Transnational and intersectional perspectives on gender, sex and race (Routledge, 2018), Decolonial Feminist Community Psychology (Springer, 2019 ), Men, Masculinities and Intimate Partner Violence (Routledge, 2020) and the co-authored book, Pan-Africanism and Psychology in Decolonial Times (Palgrave Macmillan, in press).