Doctor Motlalepule Ruth Mampane is a senior lecturer in the Department of Educational Psychology. Her teaching interests in both under- and postgraduate programmes include learning diversity, inclusive education, and qualitative research methodology. She was awarded the University of Michigan African Presidential Scholarship (UMAPS) in 2010 to 2011, and was in the 2005 cohort of the Research Capacity building initiative (RCI) scholarship programme, of the South African Netherlands research Programme on Alternative Development (SANPAD). Doctor Mampane’s doctoral research was conducted in demographically segregated and predominantly black township schools of Gauteng, Pretoria East, where she examined the relationship between resilience and the school context.

Her current research interests centre around contextual influences on child development more specifically the adolescent phase, resilience, assets, racial identity, school culture and its influence on resilience, academic motivation and commitment, family resilience, and families affected or infected by HIV/AIDS. Current research activities include validation of R-MATS (a resilience measure she developed for her PhD), impact of adversity on youth’s development and family resilience. Doctor Mampane is project leader in a joint research project (NRF Thuthuka grant) where she collaborates with Professor Christopher Niemic from the University of Rochester (USA) and Professor Salomé Human-Vogel, focusing on the relationship between resilience, academic commitment and motivation.