Mr Humbulani Mudau

Chief Director, Department of Science and Technology (South Africa)

At the beginning of his career Humbulani Mudau started working as a Technical Assistant to the Environmental Advisor, Chamber of Mines of South Africa (JHB) from 1996-1997. He was responsible for advising the Chamber of Mines on environmental matters. He was also a member of the Steering Committee on Mine Rehabilitation and contributed in the consultative (CONNEP) process, that lead to the development of Environmental Act of South Africa.

Mr Mudau joined Agricultural Research Council (Pretoria) as Researcher (Remote Sensing/GIS) Institute for Soil, Climate and Water. He was responsible for spatial development in the agricultural sector, development of NOAA-AVHRR long-term database for sub Saharan Africa, developed space based applications for agriculture and natural resource management and supporting environmental international treaties, developed products for vegetation and drought monitoring using low resolution satellite date and developed Umlindi Early Warning System based on earth observation products from 1998-2003.

He then moved to Council for Scientific  and Industrial Research (CSIR) as Research Group Leader (Acting) - Earth Observation Group and National Land Cover 2000- Project Manager at the Natural Resource and the Environmental (NRE) Unit of the CSIR. He was also responsible for developing human capital and growth plans, proposal development, developed strategies and science plans aligned to the ecosystem competence area and the Unit from 2003-2006.

He then joined the Department of Science and Technology as Deputy Director for Space Science and technology (SST) programme, responsible for research and strategic planning for technological programme development including South African Earth Observation Strategy (SAEOS) implementation and development of applications and products for the first South African satellite mission, SumbandilaSat. He facilitated capacity building and awareness initiatives in the Space Science and Technology across the country. He participated in national and international committees on the SST (Group on Earth Observations (GEO), CEOS, ARM and WRC) during this period (2006-2009). He was appointed by the Minister of Rural Development and Land Restitution to the Committee on Spatial Information in 2009.

In 2009 he was appointed as Director for SST responsible for research and strategic planning, facilitation for SST products and services development and distribution. He was instrumental in the development of the National Space Strategy and its Implementation Plan, and the establishment of the South African National Space Agency. He further developed plans for centres of competence for data processing and optronics (sensors), and also involved in the human capital development programmes.

He was seconded to the GEO Secretariat as Scientific Expert in Geneva, Switzerland in 2010. He has been appointed Chief Director for SST in 2012 wherein he provides leadership for the development of the National Space Programme (space science and technology), to develop strategies to advance SST in collaboration with government, industry, academia and broader research community and also manage the national space capacity development and new satellite mission programmes. He is also responsible for facilitating and coordinating engagements with local and international stakeholders. 

Dr Jean-Paul Toutain

Attaché for Science and Technology of the Embassy of France in South Africa

Dr Jean-Paul Toutain is the Attaché for Science and Technology of the Embassy of France in South Africa. Prior to his appointment to this position in 2015 he held many high-profile positions, including Representative for ASEAN countries of Toulouse Federal University, Representative of IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement) for Indonesia and East Timor, Senior Scientist at IRD, Geophysicist and Professor at the Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, Vice-President of the French Volcanological Society and of the Physicists and Astronomers National Committee, and Scientist in charge of  Piton de la Fournaise Volcanological Observatory.

He is a geophysicist and volcanologist and has published extensively in international journals and at international conferences. He is also a reviewer for a host of international journals. Jean-Paul holds a PhD from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris 6).

Mr Simphiwe Mkwelo

Competency Area Manager, CSIR

Simphiwe Mkwelo is an electronic engineer professionally registered with ECSA, the Engineering Council of South Africa. He holds a BSc (Eng) Electronic Engineering with First Class honors and a Masters degree specializing in digital image processing, from the University of Cape Town. He currently works for the CSIR as the Competency Area Manager for the Optronics Sensor Systems Group at the Defence Peace Safety and Security (DPSS) unit. In his work career he has been fortunate enough to be exposed to various technical fields including radar systems engineering, satellite remote sensing and computer vision. Before joining the CSIR, he was program manager at Armscor's radar and EW division where he managed high profile radar technology acquisition programs. He is passionate about sensor technology and how it can positively impact positively on society and economy.

Mr Patrick Ndlovu

GM Denel Spaceteq

Patrick Ndlovu is an astute Aerospace Professional, with over 16 years’ experience in the aerospace sector. Mr. Ndlovu holds a Bachelor of Science in Electronic Engineering from the University of Natal, in Durban and a Master’s Degree in Satellite-Based Communication, Navigation and Surveillance from the Ecole National del’ Aeronautic Civil in Toulouse, France.  Mr Ndlovu’s Aerospace career started at ATNS where he served as a Project Officer responsible for Air Navigation Infrastructure Projects throughout the African Continent, He then moved to Armscor where he served as a Manager Technical, responsible for various projects amongst others the A400M Strategic Air lift Project where he served as the Systems Engineer responsible for Avionics Systems, Safety and Certification for the South African variants of the A400M Aircraft. In 2009 Mr Ndlovu establish his own engineering business, Infinity Integrated Solutions – an engineering and consulting firm that services the Aerospace and Defence Sectors with solutions, strategic advisory and engineering solutions. Mr Ndlovu served as the Chief Executive Officer at Infinity Integrated Solutions for a period of 5 years. In 2014 Mr Ndlovu joined Denel Dynamics as the General Manager for Denel Spaceteq, the Space division of Denel Dynamics tasked with providing Space Solutions to the market. In addition, Mr Ndlovu has also vast experience as Member of the Board of Directors, having served as a Member of the Board of Directors at the South African Civil Aviation as well as Infinity Integrated Solutions where he is the Chairman of the Board. Amongst his achievements as the director a the SACAA, while he served as the Chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee, effectively and efficiently guided the SACAA towards achieving a clean audit opinion from the Auditor General of South Africa for the first time in the existence of the SACAA. Through this performance, the SACAA was crowned an award as one of the exemplary state agencies in effective governance implementation in the country. 

Mr Linden Petzer

Chief Director, Dept. Telecommunications & Postal Services (South Africa)

Linden has over 30 years’ experience in spectrum management and regulatory affairs. He is currently the Chief Director: Radio and Satellite Communication at the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services where he is responsible for national policy that ensures the effective deployment of radio and satellite-based technologies in South Africa.  In 2010, he was appointed as Councillor in the South African Council for Space Affairs, which is responsible for the implementation of national space policy and the regulation of space affairs in South Africa, as well as ensuring that these activities are carried out in compliance with the provisions of international treaties that South Africa is party to.  He has been a member of the South African delegation to all ITU World Radiocommunication Conferences since 1995, and was the South African National rapporteur for Satellite Issues for WRC-15.

Dr Mbulelo Ncango

Human and Infrastructure Capacity Development Director, NRF

Dr Mbulelo Desmond Ncango obtained all his degrees from the University of the Free State (UFS) and majored in Microbiology. In 2011, he was a prestige postdoctoral scholar at the same university as part of vice-chancellors prestige scholar program. He was previously employed as a Plant Pathologist as well as Head of Department in the Disease management unit by the Agricultural Research Council – Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Crops (ARC-ITSC) in Nelspruit Mpumalanga. His research interest was on epidemiology, management strategies and control of subtropical and tropical disease (mostly viroids and viruses) as well as postgraduate student’s supervision. He is currently a director at the National Research Foundation (NRF) leading the next generation researcher funding instruments i.e. skills development initiative (DST-NRF internship program) as well as Postgraduate student support (Hons, Masters and Doctoral).  As a researcher, Dr Ncango has presented his research work successfully at recognised national and international conferences. He has authored and co-authored articles in international scientific journals of repute as well as co-authored an online-video lecture and a chapter in a book. In the process he achieved numerous awards. As part of his contribution to excellence in academia, he previously acted as a reviewer and assessor for the NRF and is a referee for ISI-accredited academic journals. Additionally, he is a member of numerous scientific local and international societies.

Prof Robert van Zyl

IACW Host, Director: F'SATI and ASIC at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Robert studied at the University of Stellenbosch where he obtained his Bachelor, Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Electronic Engineering. He is Head of the Focus Area in Space Science and Technology at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, where he is also appointed as Director of the French South African Institute of Technology (F'SATI) and the Africa Space Innovation Centre (ASIC). Under his direction, a postgraduate programme in satellite systems engineering was established at CPUT with funding from the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation.  The group developed TshepisoSAT (ZACUBE-1), Africa’s first nano-satellite, which was launched on 21 November 2013.  This flagship human capacity development programme has graduated more than 50 postgraduate students to date.  Through its innovation hub, ASIC, the group develops nano-satellite communications systems to the international community.  Currently, the team is involved in two satellite missions; ZACUBE-2, an advanced 3U CubeSat for maritime domain awareness applications, and ZA-Aerosat as technology partner with the Univ of Stellenbosch.   Robert remains passionate about leveraging international knowledge networks to contribute to the socio-economic development of Africa.  Overseeing a satellite programme that truly represents Africa serves as a unique platform to develop such initiatives.  He regularly participates in outreach and networking events, and as invited and keynote speaker at forums throughout Africa.  

Prof William Edmonson

National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) S.P. Langley Professor

William W. Edmonson received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from NC State University in 1990. He is currently the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) S.P. Langley Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, NC A&T State University. He is also Director of the Small Satellite Systems Research Center at NIA whose research focuses on advancing the capabilities, functionality, and scope of mission for pico, nano, and micro-class satellites, particularly in the areas of inter-satellite communication and verifiable systems engineering. The objective is to enable these satellites to operate reliably and autonomously for earth observations or deep-space missions with little to no human interaction. Research thrusts at the Center are two-fold: to develop satellite systems and subsystems, and to develop a systems engineering methodology, processes and tools that is optimized for flexible and reconfigurable space systems with the goal of providing a reduced design, build, and launch life cycle for reliable small satellites.  Additional research interest is in the area of global optimization for digital signal processing/controls applications using interval analysis, computational intelligence and stochastic approximation optimization methods. He is a member of the IEEE P1788 Standards Committee on Interval Arithmetic. From 2008-09 was on an IPA assignment with NASA-LaRC as lead systems engineers for GPS radio occultation instrument. Presently, he is collaborating with universities in France, England, Ethiopia, Ghana, South Africa, Spain, Mexico, and Peru on human capacity development and research on small satellites development.

Prof Herman Steyn

IACW Co-host, Head of Satellite Engineering and Control Systems at Stellenbosch University

Professor Herman Steyn is head of Satellite Engineering and Control Systems at Stellenbosch University (SU).  He holds a  Masters Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from SU, a Masters Degree in Satellite Engineering from the University of Surrey in the UK, as well as a PhD from SU.  Prof. Steyn’s space experience started with the development of Africa’s first fully indigenous satellite called SUNSAT during the late 90’s.  He then had a four-year stint as Principal Engineer and Team Leader for satellite control systems at Surrey Satellite Technology Limited, where he participated in many European Space Missions.  When he returned to South Africa in 2002, as Head of Product Development and Executive Director at SunSpace Information Systems (SA’s first satellite engineering company), where he helped to develop, build and commission earth observation satellites for international customers and SumbandilaSAT for the SA government.  In 2005 he joined SU full time and established a satellite engineering group in the Electronic Research Laboratory to develop low cost nanosatellites.  He establised a spin-off venture from the university with some of his graduate engineers called CubeSpace, supplying ADCS components and systems for CubeSats and other nanostallites.  Under his leadership CubeSpace have already supplied 15 ADCS units for the QB50 mission and is currently developing the ZA-Aerosat satellite as Africa’s only contribution to this European mission.

Prof Moutaman Mirghani

Director of the Institute of Space Research and Aerospace (ISRA), Sudan

Moutaman Mirghani Daffalla is an Associate Professor at the National Center for Research (NCR) and the director of the Institute of Space Research and Aerospace (ISRA) in Sudan. He was born in 1965, married and has four sons and a daughter. Moutaman was graduated from the University of Khartoum and obtained a BSc degree in Electrical Engineering in 1989. Later, he earned degrees of MSc in 1989 and PhD in 2009, both from the same university.  He started his career as electrical engineer in engineering companies. Then, he worked as a researcher and system engineer at the Sudanese Military Industry Corporation and Vega Avionics Company. Afterwards, he moved to academia for more than a decade, where he stepped forward to Associate Professor at Karary University. He taught several subjects in the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and supervised many theses and research projects. In 2013, he became the director of ISRA, which is a research institute that is active in the fields of space science and aerospace engineering. Moutaman wrote two text books in radar theory and signal processing and published several scientific papers and articles on local and international journals.

Ms Carla de Klerk

Space Programme Manager, MEDO

Starting out as a journalist after two degrees in Media Studies from the University of Cape Town, Carla de Klerk is now a full-time tech lover. Having joined MEDO (the Meta Economic Development Organisation) two years ago as media manager, she quickly changed her area of focus to more hands-on projects that directly influence people’s lives. Now working as the Space Programme Manager for MEDO’s Women in STEM programme that will see the launch of Africa’s first privately owned satellite, she is closer than ever to fulfil a lifelong dream of eventually becoming an astronaut.