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Research fellow, Stellenbosch University

Cyrill Walters is research fellow in higher education studies at Stellenbosch University. She also teaches on the MBA and PGDip Business Administration programmes at the University’s Business School. She is currently working on projects examining the decolonisation of knowledge in South African universities, the impact of COVID-19 on the academic work of women scholars, and the application of complexity theory in decision-making and higher education leadership.

Cyrill started her career in the performing arts, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from the University of Cape Town (UCT), and was a visiting scholar at the University of Michigan—Ann Arbor for her master’s in music in 2002-2003. She graduated with an MBA from the USB in 2012 and completed her doctoral coursework at the Goizueta Business School at Emory University in 2015-2016, before graduating with a PhD from the Graduate School of Business at UCT.

Recent publications and presentations include:

Ronnie, L., Bam, A. & Walters, C. 2022. Emotional wellbeing: The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on women academics in South Africa. Frontiers in Education 7:770447 https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.770447

Walters, C. & Jansen, J. 2022. A Troubled Body of Knowledge: The Durability of Racial Science in Human Anatomy Research in South Africa. Comparative Education Review 66:1 https://doi.org/10.1086/717451

Walters, C., Mehl,G., Piraino, P., Jansen, J. & Kriger, S. 2021. The impact of the pandemic-enforced lockdown on the scholarly productivity of women academics in South Africa. Research Policy 51:1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2021.104403

Walters, C, Ronnie, L, Jansen, J & Kriger, S. 2021. “Academic guilt”: The impact of the pandemic-enforced lockdown on women’s academic work. Women's Studies International Forum 88C,102522. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2021.102522

Walters, C. 2020. “The Complexity of Leadership in South African Universities.” Higher Education Research & Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2020.1811644

Jansen, J. & Walters, C. (Eds.). 2020. Fault Lines: A Primer on Race, Science and Society. Stellenbosch: African SUN Media.

Jansen, J. & Walters, C. 2019. “The Recent Crisis in South African Universities.” International Higher Education 96. https://doi.org/10.6017/ihe.2019.96.10780.

Walters, C. & Jansen, J. D. “Decolonizing the Curriculum? The Institutionalization of Radical Reforms in South African Universities.” Roundtable session at the AERA Annual Meeting San Francisco, CA, 17-21 April 2020 [conference cancelled]. http://tinyurl.com/rgoxvpr.

Walters, C & Jansen, J. D “Radical Curriculum Change and Institutional Theory: The Case of Decolonization in South African Universities.” Paper presentation at the Comparative & International Education Society (CIES) Conference, San Francisco, 14-18 April 2019.

Reviews:

Saul Dubow, Saul. 2020. “Fault Lines: A Primer on Race, Science and Society” [Review]. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa 75 (3): 307. DOI: 10.1080/0035919X.2020.1789239.

Msimang, Phila. 2002. “Lessons in Our Faults: Fault Lines on Race and Research Ethics.” South African Journal of Science 116 (9/10). https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2020/8449.

Experience

  • –present
    Postdoctoral fellow , Stellenbosch University