Approved Advisors

Joseph Anochie Boateng is an Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Pretoria and a registered professional engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa. He holds a PhD in Civil Engineering (Transportation Engineering) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA), an MS in Civil Engineering (Structures) from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (USA), and a BSc (Hons) in Civil Engineering from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana). He has over 20 years of experience in academia, research, and industry, with expertise in pavement engineering, asphalt materials, and transport infrastructure. Prior to joining the University of Pretoria, he held several research and leadership roles at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), where he led and contributed to major R&D initiatives in pavement design, construction, and materials innovation. Joseph has been actively involved in high-impact research projects funded by the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) and the Tanzania National Roads Agency (TANROADS), focusing on advanced asphalt technologies, sustainable materials, and performance-based pavement and materials design. Joseph has supervised several postgraduate students, published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, and contributed to technical guidelines and standards for SABITA. He has also designed and delivered professional training programs for engineers and practitioners across Africa, including CPD courses for the South African Road Federation (SARF) and the Botswana Ministry of Transport and Communications. His work integrates research, teaching, and mentoring, aiming to strengthen engineering education and the practical impact of pavement engineering and materials across the continent.

• Pavement engineering
• Asphalt materials
• Materials performance testing
• Sustainable pavement materials

Gerrit Jordaan is a civil engineer with 48 years of experience in consulting engineering, research, development and training. He specialises in road and airport pavement design, rehabilitation design, contract management and use of nanotechnology solutions for the utilisation of naturally available granular materials stabilised with New (Nano) Modified Emulsions (NME). With 11 years of practical research and development experience at the CSIR on various aspects related to pavement design, evaluation and rehabilitation and Accelerated Pavement Testing (APT), together with 37 years of consultancy experience in pavement project execution, management, forensic investigations and research, he has the unique background to ensure that the best technical expertise is used and applied in a practical manner in a developing environment. He has been involved in road rehabilitation projects throughout Africa (in more that 15 countries) for local authorities as well as international donor agencies including the World Bank, EU and Danida. He was a technical advisor to the lenders (Banks) on major road Toll-concession projects in southern Africa as road pavement engineering expert. He developed a scientifically based materials design method (universially applicable) based on the mineralogy of granular materials to design Material Compatible Nano Modified Emulsions (MC-NME) stabilising agents for use in road construction. Throughout his career he has been involved in research and he has been on the A-Panel of SANRAL since 2018.

• Pavement engineering
• Pavement materials
• Nano-modified materials
• Pavement rehabilitation

Professor Elsabe Kearsley is a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Pretoria She is registered as professional engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) and a NRF rated researcher. During the last 30 years her research focussed on reducing the environmental impact of the cement and concrete industry. This can be achieved through using recycled materials and waste streams from industrial processes in cement and concrete, reducing the volume of raw materials used by optimizing concrete mix compositions or improving assumptions made during the design and construction of concrete infrastructure. She has been supervising postgraduate research students and conducting not only experimental laboratory studies to determine the effect of different waste streams and mix compositions on concrete properties, but also conducing Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of concrete infrastructure to determine the effect of environmental conditions on concrete behaviour over extended periods of time. To date he has been the author or co-author of more than 130 peer reviewed journal and conference proceedings and supervised over 40 research Masters and PhD students. I can assist with information on: Civil engineering qualifications and professional registration; Cement and concrete materials and applications; Structural Health Monitoring; Measurement techniques and physical testing.

• Cement and concretematerial
• Structural health monitoring
• Measurement techniques
• Physical testing

Dr Julius Komba is a graduate of Civil Engineering and also holds a Bachelor of Engineering Honours (Transportation Engineering), Master of Transportation, and PhD (Civil Engineering) all from the University of Pretoria. He is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Pretoria, where he teaches and supervises undergraduate and postgraduate students, conducts research, and undertakes consultancy work. He is a registered Professional Engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA). He has over 16 years of experience in the field of transport infrastructure engineering. His expertise extends across several countries, including South Africa, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Mozambique, and Malawi, where he has successfully led and participated in various road infrastructure projects. Currently, he serves as an Editorial Board Member of the American ASTM Journal of Testing and Evaluation, and is regularly invited to review journal articles, such as the International Journal of Pavement Engineering and Journal of Construction and Building Materials. He also serves on the Organizing Committees of the Annual South African Transport Conference (SATC), Conference on Asphalt Pavements for southern Africa (CAPSA) and contributes to national working groups responsible for developing and updating road design manuals and specifications. He serves as a Category A researcher on the SANRAL research panel. He has published 16 refereed journal articles, 32 refereed conference papers, 4 book chapters, 2 edited books, 6 manuals/guidelines, 6 non-refereed articles, and over 30 technical reports.

• Road/pavement design
• Pavement analysis and design
• Software development
• Long-term pavement performance monitoring
• Climate-resilient roads

Dr Mgangira is an independent consultant and Director of Mgangira Associates (Pty) Ltd, bringing more than 30 years of experience in transport infrastructure engineering. His career spans university lecturing and senior research roles at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), in the Transport Infrastructure Engineering Competence Area, with a focus on transport geotechnics. He has taught geotechnical engineering and pavement technology, and his primary research focus is the behaviour, microstructure and performance prediction of geo‑materials, supported by extensive work in materials evaluation and geotechnical physical modelling. He also contributes to Engineering Education, particularly in problem‑based learning approaches. Dr Mgangira currently serves on the SANRAL Research Panel. Over the past decade, he has been a lead author and specialist contributor to the development of national and regional manuals and guidelines covering geotechnical design, quality control and assurance, and pavement design for low‑volume roads. His project experience includes work across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, South Africa and South Sudan. Dr Mgangira is an independent consultant and Director of Mgangira Associates (Pty) Ltd, bringing more than 30 years of experience in transport infrastructure engineering. His career spans university lecturing and senior research roles at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), in the Transport Infrastructure Engineering Competence Area, with a focus on transport geotechnics. He has taught geotechnical engineering and pavement technology, and his primary research focus is the behaviour, microstructure and performance prediction of geo‑materials, supported by extensive work in materials evaluation and geotechnical physical modelling. He also contributes to Engineering Education, particularly in problem‑based learning approaches. Dr Mgangira currently serves on the SANRAL Research Panel. Over the past decade, he has been a lead author and specialist contributor to the development of national and regional manuals and guidelines covering geotechnical design, quality control and assurance, and pavement design for low‑volume roads. His project experience includes work across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, South Africa and South Sudan. 1. Technical and Analytical Foundations • Materials and Geotechnical Behaviour: understanding soil variability, characterisation methods, microstructure–performance relationships, and appropriate testing strategies. • Pavement Engineering Fundamentals: layer functions, material selection, and performance prediction. 2. Applied Design, Evaluation and Research • Geotechnical design and site investigation. • Forensic Investigation: diagnosing failures, linking symptoms to root causes, and developing remedial strategies. • Research Methods: experimental design, data interpretation, and writing for technical publications. 3. Professional and Career Development • Ethical and Responsible Practice. • Communication and Reporting — writing clear technical reports, presenting findings, and engaging stakeholders.

• Materials geotechnical behaviour
• Pavement Engineering
• Forensic Investigation
• Geotechnical Design

Bio Prof. Mohamed Mostafa is a Professional Engineer (ECSA) and Academic at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), currently holding the KZNDoT Chair in Sustainable Transportation. He holds a PhD in Pavement Engineering from the University of Liverpool and possesses over 30 years of experience in academic teaching, research, and industry practice. Prof. Mostafa specializes in sustainable roads, pavement engineering, and climate-resilient transport infrastructure. He has authored over 110 scholarly publications and successfully supervised numerous postgraduate students, including 7 Doctorates and 23 Masters degrees. As a SANRAL Research Panel Member (Level A) since 2019, he actively contributes to national road research initiatives. His expertise spans experimental, analytical, and modelling approaches for asphalt and granular materials, alongside smart transportation systems. Prof. Mostafa is dedicated to human capacity development and mentoring the next generation of engineers and researchers. He serves on various editorial boards and technical committees, bridging the gap between theoretical research and practical application in South Africa's transport sector.

• Sustainable Road Infrastructure
• Pavement Engineering
• Transport Sector Studies
• Climate Resilience
• Non-Conventional & Recycled Materials
• Research and Postgraduate studies

Paul Nordengen is the Director of Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology Africa in South Africa. He was a Research Group Leader at the CSIR for over 3 decades. He obtained an MSc in structural engineering from Wits University in Johannesburg in 1988 and his PhD in performance-based standards for heavy vehicles in 2013. He has been involved in the development of bridge, overload control, abnormal load and road transport management systems in various countries in Africa. He is chairperson of the South African RTMS (self-regulation) and Smart Truck/PBS national committees, SABS TC 241 (RTMS) committee and was chair of the SARF Education committee for over 30 years. He serves on ISO TC241, the committee that developed ISO 39001, Road Traffic Safety Management Systems (2012). He was a member of various OECD-ITF Working Groups on High-Capacity Transport. He is a Council Member and Past President of the SA Road Federation and a Board Member and Past President of the International Forum for Heavy Vehicle Transport and Technology (HVTT) and now holds the position of Vice President: Africa.

• Bridge management systems
• Overload control
• Abnormal load control
• Road transport management systems
• Performance-based Standards for heavy vehicles

Phil graduated with a BSc (Hons) and MSc from the University of Natal in 1975 and a PhD from the University of Pretoria, 1989, all in Engineering Geology. He worked at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria, South Africa (including 2 years in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman), for 37 years with projects in 27 countries. He has been mainly involved in research and implementation of materials aspects related to roads, road construction, transportation geotechnics and climate resilience of the transportation network. He retired in 2013 and is now a specialist consultant in geomaterials and roads with Paige-Green Consulting (Pty) Ltd and recently retired as an Extraordinary Professor in the faculty of Civil Engineering at the Tshwane University of Technology. He has served on the boards of various international journals for many years and is a registered Professional Natural Scientist, member of various professional societies and a Fellow of the SAIEG and SAICE and Life Fellow of the Geological Society of South Africa GSSA) and has more than 170 published articles. He has been awarded the Gold Awards of the SAICE Geotechnical Division and SAIEG.

• Pavement materials
• Problem soils
• Durability of aggregates
• Chemical stabilisation
• Gravel roads
• Climate resilience engineering
• Slope stability
• Engineering geology
• Road construction

KEY EXPERIENCE Transportation engineering Experienced in the roads and transportation field, including road network planning, information systems, transportation and traffic impact studies, road design, and urban renewal. Experience in public transport includes the development of public transport strategies, the definition of the public transport networks and BRT routes, and the development of integrated public transport networks. Economic evaluation of road projects, and specifically in the application of the HDM-4 system for the economic assessment of road projects. Research experience as part of the SANRAL panel: Assessment of the introduction of electric vehicles and alternative fuels on the SA market Development of a guideline document for the design of bypass roads at towns • Addressing challenges in the procurement of engineering and other professional services. Road drainage Experienced in the planning and design of low-volume river crossings and a co-author of SANRAL’s Road Drainage Manual. Engineering management Engineering management experience gained on various large projects, for example SANRAL road network upgrading, World Cup 2010 projects, and the Medupi and Kusile Power Stations. Regarding Service delivery innovation in the public sector, Pine was the leader of professional teams responsible for business improvement programmes at various government departments. Business management Founding member of the consulting engineering firm, Nyeleti Consulting. The firm was formed with a strong focus on empowerment and has received various awards on business, as well as on technical level. Nyeleti has also contributed towards leadership positions in industry organisations such as SAICE and SAAE.

• Transportation engineering
• Road drainage
• Engineering management
• Business management

Dr Chris Rust is a registered professional civil engineer with more than 42 years experience. His main fields of expertise are road pavement engineering and research management. Specific interests include: ● Accelerated pavement testing using the heavy vehicle simulator; ● Asphalt mix design; ● Pavement performance modelling; ● Nano-modified emulsion use in pavement layer stabilisation; ● Technology foresight, and ● Research management. He has authored and co-authored more than 100 peer reviewed publications. He has mentored more than 12 students. He has been the project leader and/or team member of more than 50 research projects. He is currently on the SANRAL Research Panel and is leading two SANRAL research projects.

• Pavement materials
• Pavement design
• Accelerated Pavement Testing
• Technology Foresight
• Research impact assessment
• Research management

Les Sampson is a Registered Professional Natural Scientist and Engineering Geologist who graduated from the University of London in 1974. Although a UK citizen, he has been based in South Africa since 1982 and is the Director of his own consultancy, Sampson Consulting. He has worked in the roads and transport sector for over 50 years specialising in road construction materials, low volume roads and research management, and has extensive experience in the road and transport sector both in South Africa and Internationally. As part of his consultancy Mr Sampson was appointed as Executive Director of the Asphalt Academy in South Africa from 2001 to 2011; was the Technical Team Leader for the UKAID funded Research for Community Access Partnership (ReCAP, 2015-2018); was the Technical Director of the project to develop the Ethiopian Low Volume Roads Design Manuals and other associated documents and manuals; and is currently a member of the SANRAL Research Panel working on four projects related to road construction materials and strategic research management. Prior to starting his own business, Mr Sampson was employed by the Division of Road and Transport Technology of the CSIR where he held several senior research and management positions during his 16 years of service.

• Pavement materials
• Materials testing
• Low volume roads technology
• Material durability
• Stabilisation
• Strategy development
• Research impact assessment
• Research management

Sarah Skorpen is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Pretoria. She is involved in structural engineering research and teaches structural design courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Before joining the University of Pretoria, she spent nine years in the Structures Division of Royal Haskoning DHV (formerly SSI), where she focused primarily on the design of buildings, bridges, and dam structures. Her current research interests include the structural behaviour of bridges, particularly integral and incrementally launched bridges, structural health monitoring, and structural steel and timber engineering. She aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice, using experimental research to gain a deeper understanding of structural behaviour and to support more effective design. Sarah is a registered Professional Engineer (PrEng) with the Engineering Council of South Africa, a Chartered Engineer (CEng), a Member of the Institution of Structural Engineers (MIStructE), and a Fellow of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE). She also serves on the national code committees for SANS 10160 (Structural Loading) and SANS 10162 (Structural Steel Design) and is Head of Delegation of fib South Africa (International Federation for Structural Concrete).

• Structural Engineering
• Structural Health Monitoring
• Structural Research

Tinus Stander received the B.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees in electronic engineering from the University of Stellenbosch in 2005 and 2009, respectively. From 2010 to 2012, he was an RF and Microwave Engineer with Denel Dynamics (a division of Denel SOC Ltd.), Irene, South Africa, before joining the Carl and Emily Fuchs Institute for Microelectronics, University of Pretoria, in 2013. He currently serves in the Institute as professor and principal investigator for microwave and millimeter-wave electronics and microelectronics, with personal research interests in water vapour radiometry, built-in self-testing of RF circuits, and 3D printed microwave devices. He further holds certifications in Project Management, and served as project leader on SANRAL Research Project 1.2a, "Sensors". He is registered as a Professional Engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa.

• Electronic devices and systems
• Technology development projects
• Radiofrequency electronics
• Remote sensing

Professor Marco van Dijk (PrEng) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Pretoria, with over two decades of experience in hydrology, hydraulics, stormwater engineering and drainage design. He holds BEng, BEng(Hons), MEng and PhD degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Pretoria and a C2 NRF rating. His expertise spans flood hydrology, stormwater drainage systems, culvert and bridge hydraulics, and the hydraulic assessment of road infrastructure. He has been extensively involved in applied research, consulting and training related to drainage design and flood risk management, including numerous hydrological and hydraulic studies for national roads, municipalities and developers. His consulting experience includes flood line determinations, stormwater system design, culvert and bridge assessments and hydraulic modelling. He has made a significant contribution to national practice through his involvement as a co-author of the SANRAL Drainage Manual, which serves as a key reference for drainage design in South Africa. He has also presented numerous professional short courses on flood estimation, stormwater drainage for roads, HEC-RAS modelling and urban hydrology to practicing engineers across the country. His research and supervision work includes advancing methodologies for improving culvert performance, stormwater system optimisation and climate-resilient drainage design. In 2015 he received the WRC Knowledge Tree Award - New Products and Services for Economic Development and in 2021 he received the WRC Knowledge Tree Award - Empowering Communities. He has published widely and supervised numerous postgraduate students in these fields. Through his combined academic, research and industry experience, Professor van Dijk brings a strong practical and theoretical foundation to mentoring engineers in drainage, hydrology and stormwater management.

• Flood Hydrology
• Design Flood Estimation
• Stormwater Drainage
• Culvert and Bridge Hydraulics
• Hydraulic Modelling
• Floodline Analysis

Gideon van Zijl, civil engineering graduate from Stellenbosch University (BEng 1986, MEng 1990, DEng 2016) and TU Delft, The Netherlands (PhD, 2000), is a Professional Engineer since 1993, and Professor of Civil Engineering at Stellenbosch University, South Africa since 2001. I am a born South African and citizen of both SA and The Netherlands, having studied and worked in the Netherlands in the period 1995 to 2009 on full time and later part time basis. Nationally, I am a Fellow of the South African Institute of Civil Engineering and of the South African Academy of Engineering. As SANRAL A-rated Researcher, I participated in the research projects on Integral Abutment Bridges, and currently the Concrete Durability Design, Investigation of In-situ vs. Laboratory Testing. Internationally, I was Chairperson of RILEM Technical Committee 240-FDS Framework for Durability Design of Fibre-reinforced Strain-hardening Cement-based Composites, and Co-chairperson of TC 208-HFC High Performance Fibre-reinforced Cementitious Composites Subcommittee Durability and served in the RILEM Educational Committee. I have taught structural engineering modules ranging from Strength of Materials, Building Materials and Concrete Design to Theory of Structures (Finite Element Modelling). Over the past 25 years, I have supervised 90 postgraduate research students of whom 76 (27 Doctoral, 49 Master’s) have graduated, and 14 are continuing. In the same period I mentored and/or advised faculty staff members, undergraduate and postgraduate students.

• Structural engineering mechanics
• Concrete durability
• Concrete materials
• Finite element modelling

Dr. Karien Venter is a passionate social scientist and senior researcher at South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), where she has dedicated her career to understanding the human side of transport systems. With more than twenty years of experience in road safety and transport behaviour, she has become one of the leading voices in shaping evidence-based approaches to safer, smarter mobility across Africa. At the CSIR, Dr. Venter works within the Smart Mobility cluster, leading projects that merge engineering, psychology, and data science to improve road user safety. She has contributed to national studies on distracted and fatigued driving, the development of South Africa’s Naturalistic Driving Studies (NDS) programme, the Cost of Crashes Methodology and the creation of the South African Road Safety Assessment Methods (SARSAM 2022) — a benchmark framework used by engineers and policymakers alike. She continues to promote industry specific initiatives such as the Transport Safety Lab and Performance Based Road Restraint Systems.

• Road Safety
• Driver behaviour
• Transport behaviour

Benoît Verhaeghe (Pr Eng) is a South African civil engineer and recognised specialist in road infrastructure engineering, with more than 35 years of postgraduate experience in research, development, and implementation within the roads and transport sector. He holds a BEng (1986) and MEng (Civil Engineering, Cum Laude, 1992) from the University of Pretoria. Mr Verhaeghe is the Executive Director of Verhaeghe Consulting (Pty) Ltd, providing professional consultancy services in areas including climate mitigation and adaptation for road infrastructure, materials science, pavement engineering and asset management for the transport sector. Prior to establishing his consultancy, he spent over three decades at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), where he held senior leadership roles, most recently as Impact Area Manager for Transport Infrastructure Engineering. His work has contributed significantly to the development of road engineering practice, standards, and policy in South Africa and internationally. He has contributed to major initiatives such as the South African Road Design System (SARDS), the Road Infrastructure Strategic Framework for South Africa, and international guidance on climate change adaptation for road pavements. Mr Verhaeghe has extensive experience in research leadership, capacity building, and mentorship, including projects establishing road research capacity in Africa and South Asia. He is the author or co-author of numerous technical guidelines, manuals, and peer-reviewed publications in pavement engineering, asset management, and climate resilience. He is a Registered Professional Engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa, a Fellow of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE), and an Honorary Member of the Society for Asphalt Technology (SAT). Fields of Expertise for Mentorship Benoît Verhaeghe can provide advice in the following fields: 1. Pavement Engineering and Asphalt Technology (including mix design, modified binders, pavement performance, and rehabilitation) 2. Road Infrastructure Asset Management (including performance monitoring, pavement management systems, and lifecycle optimisation) 3. Climate Resilience and Adaptation of Road Infrastructure (risk assessment, resilience strategies, and climate-responsive engineering design) 4. Transport Infrastructure Research Leadership and Innovation (research programme development, technology foresight, and R&D management) 5. Capacity Building and Development of Road Research Institutions (mentoring researchers, establishing research centres, and international technical cooperation)

• Pavement Engineering and Asphalt Technology
• Road Infrastructure Asset Management
• Climate Resilience and Adaptation of Road Infrastructure
• Transport Infrastructure Research Leadership and Innovation
• Capacity Building and Development of Road Research Institutions