Lesley Wood
National President, South Africa, Global University for Lifelong Learning
Dr Lesley Wood is a Research Professor, Faculty of Education Sciences, North-West University, South Africa and Director of Research, Global University for Lifelong Learning. Previously a social worker, Lesley is committed to helping educational stakeholders address the social disadvantages they face within contexts of poverty. She founded and led the Action Research Unit at her previous institution, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, raising awareness that sustainable change depends on the active participation of communities. She has a special interest in HIV and AIDS in education and has developed curriculum and edited the book Dealing with HIV and AIDS in the Classroom to help teachers to cope with the challenges presented by the pandemic. Lesley has more than 50 accredited publications and is rated by the National Research Foundation (NRF). She is an Editor of the journal, Educational Research for Social Change (www.ersc.nmmu.ac.za) and currently holds an NRF community engagement grant to conduct research on how tertiary researchers can better work with communities to generate knowledge that is mutually beneficial and will lead to contextualised and relevant social change.
