Atlehang Bokaba is an Assistant Researcher in the Director’s Office within the Directorate for International Partnerships and Relations at the University of the Free State, South Africa. She has served as a Research Assistant for the "Female Voices in the Third Space" project, led by Coventry University with global partners, which examines how Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) promotes equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) for women in Higher Education. She holds a Bachelor of Social Science degree, majoring in Political Science and History, from the University of the Free State and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts Honours in History. During her undergraduate studies, she served as President of the Golden Key International Honour Society UFS chapter, as Prime and Deputy Prime of the Residence Committee, and as Chairperson of the Student Representative Council (SRC) in the Faculty of Humanities. Passionate about community development, she is actively involved in nonprofit initiatives focused on women’s empowerment, mental health awareness, and addressing drug and alcohol abuse in her community. Atlehang is a UNESCO Intercultural Competence Conference participant.

Namatai Kwekweza is a Pan-African feminist, human rights activist, and advocate for constitutionalism, youth empowerment, and women’s rights. She is the founder of WELEAD Africa, a youth-led leadership and advocacy organization operating across Southern Africa. Through her work, she promotes democratic governance, civic participation, and constitutional integrity, especially among youth and women in marginalized communities. Her approach combines grassroots mobilization, policy advocacy, leadership development, constitutional rights education, and digital activism. Namatai has impacted thousands of young Africans by equipping them with tools and platforms for civic engagement and leadership. Her work has also influenced regional and international policy conversations on democracy and human rights. She is the recipient of several honors, including the 2025 German Africa Prize, the inaugural Kofi Annan NextGen Democracy Prize (2023), and the Walkabout Prize under the Next Generation Foresight Practitioners Awards (2020).

Kgadi Mathabathe serves as the Director of Student Affairs at the University of Pretoria, where she is dedicated to fostering a supportive, inclusive, and engaging environment for all students. With over 15 years of experience in higher education, Kgadi has served as institutional lead for numerous initiatives aimed at enhancing student success, including the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation Scholarship Program, Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program, Ikusasa Student Financial Aid Program, to name a few. Under her leadership, UP has managed to raise funds to broaden access and success to academically talented young people from low socio-economic backgrounds and facilitate a smooth transition from basic to higher education. Kgadi, an NRF rated researcher, holds a PhD in Science Education (UP), where she focused on innovative teaching and learning strategies that promote self- and socially regulated learning as well as the development of student and educator metacognition. Her commitment to creating an enabling environment is driven by a belief in the transformative power of education and the importance of providing every student with the opportunity to succeed. Beyond her professional endeavors, Kgadi is an advocate for broadened access and success into STEM for students from low socio-economic backgrounds, demonstrating a deep commitment to building educational spaces that are accessible, welcoming, and empowering for all.

Lwandisile Mhlanga is a Masters student in Industrial Engineering at Stellenbosch University, specialising in Logistics and Supply Chain Systems. He is an intern at the University’s Development and Alumni Relations (DAR) division and serves as the Vice-Chairperson for the Senior Prim Committee and the Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert (FVZS) Student Leadership Ambassador. Across five terms of student leadership, Lwandisile has helped shape day-to-day life in residence communities that are multilingual and multicultural, giving him practical insight into how intercultural competence is built beyond policy through routines, peer accountability, and shared spaces. He is a Ripples of Hope Fellow, a Nedbank Mike Brown Scholar and a 2025 Rector’s Award recipient for Excellence in Leadership. He is also part of the core steering committee for the UNESCO Conference on Intercultural Competence for the Africa Youth Summit programme.

Dr Heidi October serves on Stellenbosch University's Student Affairs management team. Her role entails the oversight and co-design of student leadership programmes for academic transcript recognition. She has extensive international higher education stakeholder relations experience at more than 25 international universities. As a student leader she has been actively involved in student leadership since the 1990s and has been awarded with Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for excellent achievement as student leader and as a staff member, and academic honorary colours from the University of Pretoria where she obtained her PhD in Leadership Studies. She has also been awarded honorary membership of the international Golden Key Society for her contribution to leadership and serves on the NASPA global division board. 

Heidi is passionate about co-creating platforms for global participation on student leadership initiatives to engage critically as active citizen-leaders. The FVZS Institute’s partnerships, local and abroad with more than 1500+ students participating annually in academic recognised leadership programmes, allow her to continue her research on the “born-free student leaders’ identity formation in post-apartheid South Africa”. These global engagements include, having served on the steering committee for the Stellenbosch University & KU Leuven Think Tank for academic top achievers; Co-convenor for the 2024 Nobel Symposia in Africa & International Youth Think Tank; guest lecturing at the Association of Commonwealth Universities’ summer school; a series of guest lectures at MCI Business School in Innsbruck, Austria and KU Leuven, Belgium; transcultural leadership workshop for the Leadership Excellence Institute, Zeppelin University, Germany; and scholarly papers at international conferences. Apart from her research focus area on student leadership identity formation in post-apartheid South Africa, she enjoys long-distance walking and solo traveling with more than 45 countries explored to date.

Maria del Pilar Murguia was born in Bolivia and raised across Italy and Colombia! Her multicultural life experience allowed her to learn firsthand the challenges that living in different countries entails!  With a business background, Pilar started working in International Higher education since June 2003 at John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. The focus of her work at JCU was and is to establish and maintain an environment that supports learning, encourages a strong sense of community, and promotes student development through active engagement in university life. 

Pilar currently directly supervises the areas of Athletics, Outdoor Education Programs, Performing Arts, Student Activities and Trips, and Student Leadership Programs (OL, OSA, Student Clubs). She is part of the board of the Crisis Management Team of her University, as well as the University strategic planning committee.

Pilar is a certified Student Leadership Challenge practitioner, and her continued interest in intercultural leadership makes her curious about all new trends in the field. She is an active member AACUPI, NASPA, EUCA among other associations.