Linguistics. Born and raised in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Prof. Upor attended and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Dar es Salaam with a Bachelor of Arts with Education degree. She also holds a MA in Linguistics from the University of Dar es Salaam and a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Georgia in the United States of America. Rose has more than 21 years working at the University of Dar es Salaam. She boasts 14 years’ experience in senior leadership and executive roles in university governance. She currently serves as the Principal, College of Humanities and the Chairperson of the College Board. She represents the University Council in the Planning, Finance and Investment Committee and the Appointments Committee. Moreover, she has been a member of the University Senate for over 10 years. She was formerly a Head of Department and Director, Office of the Vice Chancellor. She has served as a convenor of several committees on various policy and strategy development for the university. Rose has received executive leadership training from the Harvard Business School and INSEAD (Europe campus).

Department. He specialises in urban governance, regional development and geographical information systems.

thereafter, and the Dean, Faculty of Arts. Wasamba is the current Chairman, the University of Nairobi Professors’ Association (UoNPA). Wasamba has been involved in the PANGeA activities since its formation in 2010. He represented the University of Nairobi in PANGeA from 2010 to 2019. He took a break from PANGeA activities at the end of his Deanship in 2019 but continued advising the Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences on PANGeA activities. Wasamba was reappointed to be the University of Nairobi representative to PANGeA Board in November 2023. He is an experienced researcher with several publications in peer reviewed journals and a grounded researcher with strong international networks. He is consultant in higher education management and international collaboration. Importantly, Wasamba is passionate about mentoring students and young academics, and continues to open opportunities for doctoral training, research, and student/ staff exchanges at various universities worldwide.

the rank of Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor, and Professor ranks in 2013, 2016, and 2020 respectively. She was appointed Head of the Department of Social Work from 2014 to 2021, Director of the Centre for Ageing Studies from 2021 to 2023, and is currently Dean of the School of Social Sciences. She has received numerous research grants and has over fifty peer-reviewed academic publications to her credit. Professor Mavis Dako-Gyeke has contributed significantly to the academic life and growth of the University of Ghana through teaching, research, mentorship, and extension services. She serves on several boards and committees within and outside University of Ghana.

context as well as social issues on gender. As a community psychologist, she takes an interest in working closely with vulnerable and marginalized groups to promote social justice and social change in their communities. Professor Akotia has published widely in several local and international journals. She has also presented papers at conferences worldwide, including keynote addresses. She is currently the National Representative for the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) in Ghana and a Co-Chair of the National Representatives, IASP.

Faculty of Humanities at UNIMA. Regarding his academic profession, he is a literary and cultural critic and Associate Professor in the Department of Literary Studies (UNIMA) where he teaches (African) literature and popular arts. In 2018, he was Fulbright Scholar in the Comparative Literature Department at New York University, New York, USA. His research interests include the African Novel and 21st Century Migration, African/Malawian Popular Arts in the Digital Age and Refugees Creative Arts in Malawi.

oral literature and disability; humour and folklore; children’s literature, youth studies, and African life writing. Lipenga is the author of Rap Music and the Youth in Malawi: Reppin’ the Flames (2023). He has also published various journal articles and book chapters on different genres of African literature.

capitalist imagination and the interrogation of art, design and media as conduits of capitalism but also mechanisms for radical resistance. She is currently researching the ways in which feminism is still useful as a theoretical lens, both in the creation and interpretation of art and media. Her research maps the ways feminism might be evolving. Is is currently Vice-Dean of Research in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch University.

Scaling these ranks in just 8 years was not a small achievement, given the bureaucratic delays entailed in moving from one rank to another at my institution, Makerere University, Uganda.

Since April 2014, I have written more than 20 papers in reputable journals and more than 10 chapters in edited, peer-rebiewed books. I have also co-edited two special issues of journals – Postcolonial Text (2021) and African and Asian Studies (2020); a volume of edited essays – Discourse and Identities: Writing and Contemporary Eastern African Peripheral Subjectivities (2019); and five anthologies of creative writing – Striding to Triumph: Poems from Kasese Secondary School (2023); I Promise This Song Is Not About Politics: A Poetry Anthology (2022); A Word or Two Before We Part: Poetry from Immaculate Heart Girls’ School-Nyakibale (2021); As I Stood Dead Before the World: Creative Writing from Luziira Prison (2018); and Fire on the Mountain: Creative Work on the Obuhikira (2018).

Besides, I have been active in the civil society, where I have served as President, Ugandan Pen (2014-2021) and Board Member, PEN International (2019-2022). This work has taken me to myriad spaces, including the Human Rights Council (Geneva, Switzerland), the Pan-African Parliament (Midrand, South Africa), and several world capitals, where I have advocated for artistic freedom and human rights.

their Master Degree dissertations. I also have presented in major conferences, “An ethically relevant concept of democracy” and “Is death the worst thing that could happen to anyone?”

The rigorous training and research culture at Stellenbosch – enabled by the well-resourced library facilities – allowed me to mature as a researcher and get recognition as an expert in climate change and sustainable livelihoods, through the publication of several articles in high impact journals. After graduating, I secured a tenure track opportunity to teach at the University of Nairobi. I am grateful to Stellenbosch University and the PANGeA network for giving me intellectual wings to fly.

multilingualism and multilingual acquisition, foreign language education and language contact

various undergraduate literary courses, namely, Theory and Practice of Publishing, Modern Literary Theory, Poetry, Introduction to Literary Devises and many more.

I have also published several articles and submitted several to various journals and calls for book chapters and special issues. Some of these include: Spemba, S. E (2022). Agentive Intertextual Insertions: (Re)presentation of Albinism in Nwelezelanga: The Star Child’s Subtext. Journal of Education Humanities & and Social Science (JHSS), 11(1). Spemba, S. E. (2023). Altruism and Agency: Fictional Representations of Albino Vulnerability in Elias Mutani’s Human Poachers. Eastern African Literary and Cultural Studies. org/10.1080/23277408.2023.2174113 Spemba, S. E. and Mung’aya, Y. (2023) Intertextuality and Narrativization of Multiple Perspectives: Covid-19 Pandemic in Tanzanian Popular Music. Journal of Education, Humanities & Science (JEHS). Spemba, S. (2023). Sociality and Agency in Mandisi Bongelo’s “I am a Human Being – Flesh and Spirit.” UMMA, Volume 10 (2), 2023: 219–241

My forthcoming Book Chapter is Spemba, S. E. Intertextuality, Historical and Contemporary Perspectives Regarding Albinism in Gappah’s The Book Of Memory. In (Editors) Charlotte Baker (Lancaster University, UK), Elvis Imafidon (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK), Kobus Moolman (University of the Western Cape, South Africa), Emelda Ngufor Samba (University of Yaoundé 1, Cameroon). Using Arts to Understand Disability in Africa: Inclusive Explanations

My current research is Hehe legends, and the research gears at another project of writing a drama to narrativise the story of Mkwawa, Mkwavinyika, as the Hehe would have named him, their then chief. I have offered public service and consultancies to the Tanzania Ministry of Education on various issues concerning literary studies at various levels of education.

education, classroom interactions and linguistic landscape. You can find some of his works here: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5… and https://scholar.google.co.za/…

he holds an academic position as a lecturer at South Eastern Kenya University (SEKU) in Kenya where he has taught literature since his appointment in September 2017. In this position, Yenjela has mentored a number of undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Literary studies is an area Dr Yenjela is very passionate about as evidenced in his prolific research output: articles, book chapters, workshops and conferences. In his pursuit for a PhD degree at Stellenbosch University, Yenjela was mentored by seminal scholars in literary studies to write a thesis on the fusion of novelistic representations and various histories in Kenya. It is in the area of the nexus of history and literature that Yenjela carved a research niche for himself in the scholarly world. The passion to explore new ideas and penetrate new frontiers manifests in his research output.

Teye-Kwadjo’s research interests focus on health behaviour theory, psychometrics, HIV and sexual health.

His other research agenda address road traffic injury prevention and community mental health. Prof Teye-Kwadjo received the prestigious Pittu Laungani Best Paper Award for the best paper published in 2019 in International Journal of Health Promotion and Education (2019). The award was conferred on Prof Teye-Kwadjo by the Institute of Health Promotion and Education for Teye-Kwadjo (2019). Risky driving behaviour in urban Ghana: The contributions of fatalistic beliefs, risk perception, and risk-taking attitude. Prof Teye-Kwadjo is active researcher and has authored more than 30 journal articles and book chapters. He has served as an adhoc manuscript reviewer for more than 45 internationally recognised scientific journals. Prof Teye-Kwadjo was a member of the Committee that developed the University of Ghana Internship Policy and Strategy. As an engaged academic, Prof Teye-Kwadjo has supervised and continues to supervise several graduate and postgraduate students.

mobile communication, digital inequality, online/distance learning, digital literacy, human resource development, women and Informal economy. Yvette has attended and presented papers at several international conferences and has published journals in her areas of interest. She has been a visiting scholar/post-doctoral fellow at University of South Florida, USA.