Anél du Plessis joined the Faculty of Law at the University of Stellenbosch from 1 July 2023, tasked with establishing a new Chair in Urban Law and Sustainability Governance. She is an established researcher in the intersecting area of law, urban development, cities, human rights and environmental sustainability and served as the first incumbent of the NRF SARChI Chair in Cities, Law and Environmental Sustainability (CLES) at the North-West University (20182023). In 2022, this Chair was awarded the NWU Institutional Community Engagement Award for “Engaged Research”. To date, Prof du Plessis successfully supervised and co-supervised more than 50 postgraduate students and post-doctoral fellows, including the NWU’s youngest ever PhD student in law (2021). She is an alumna of the scholarship programmes of the DAAD, Fulbright, Max Planck Association and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. She was part of the first cohort of selected members of the South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS). She served as member of the Executive Committee of the Environmental Law Association of South Africa (ELA) from 2006-2021 and serves on the Teaching Committee of the international IUCN Academy of Environmental Law since 2017. She is an appointed member of the NRF Rating and Specialist Committee for Law from 2022-2024. Over the years, Prof du Plessis has developed and lectured a number of law modules, including climate change law and governance, local government law, environmental law, legal research methodology, administrative law, international transport law, and legal pluralism. She received two NASPERS Rapport prizes (2010 and 2011) and an international IUCN Academy of Environmental Law award for teaching excellence (2013). She served as assistant editor of the Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal for ten years, and she has since established a special series in the journal devoted to urban law and governance. Since 2022 she is a Co-Rapporteur of the International Law Association’s Study Group on the Role of Cities in International Law.