Manager | Process, Energy & Environmental Technology Station: Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Johannesburg
Nickey started her career as an academic at the University of Johannesburg in 2008 after completing her master’s degree with distinction in Mechanical Engineering at North-West University. She has been involved in several initiatives driving technology and social innovation at UJ, from building and racing solar powered vehicles across Africa, to establishing online urban farms in the Inner City, and developing technology that supports youth employment and massive data collection projects for the Gauteng Province.
She has published more than 42 accredited journal papers, conference proceedings and book chapters on topics in renewable energy applications, appropriate technology design, and sustainable socio-technical systems, which has allowed her to direct the resources at UJ to respond to the sustainable development goals. Her works is based on transformative knowledge creation and a theory of change that assumes that the introduction of green technologies to support access to energy and water, smarter mobility, linked to opportunities for stakeholder engagement with the right skills training, enable innovation and the creation and development of existing enterprises amongst entrepreneurs in the communities she work in.
In 2017 she became manager of the Process, Energy and Environment Technology Station at UJ (UJ-PEETS), with the mandate to support small and medium enterprises through technology innovation and knowledge transfer that supports technological development in the green economy. The Technology Station Program is an initiative of the Department of Science and Innovation implemented by the Technology Innovation Agency which enables triple-helix partnerships that can sustainably support technology innovation which drives social and economic development.
In 2019 UJ-PEETS received the prestigious National Science and Technology Forum Green Economy Award for their work in supporting more than 1000 SMEs in the green economy since 2010, when the station was established.
Nickey Janse van Rensburg
Manager | Process, Energy & Environmental Technology Station: Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Johannesburg
Nickey started her career as an academic at the University of Johannesburg in 2008 after completing her master’s degree with distinction in Mechanical Engineering at North-West University. She has been involved in several initiatives driving technology and social innovation at UJ, from building and racing solar powered vehicles across Africa, to establishing online urban farms in the Inner City, and developing technology that supports youth employment and massive data collection projects for the Gauteng Province.
She has published more than 42 accredited journal papers, conference proceedings and book chapters on topics in renewable energy applications, appropriate technology design, and sustainable socio-technical systems, which has allowed her to direct the resources at UJ to respond to the sustainable development goals. Her works is based on transformative knowledge creation and a theory of change that assumes that the introduction of green technologies to support access to energy and water, smarter mobility, linked to opportunities for stakeholder engagement with the right skills training, enable innovation and the creation and development of existing enterprises amongst entrepreneurs in the communities she work in.
In 2017 she became manager of the Process, Energy and Environment Technology Station at UJ (UJ-PEETS), with the mandate to support small and medium enterprises through technology innovation and knowledge transfer that supports technological development in the green economy. The Technology Station Program is an initiative of the Department of Science and Innovation implemented by the Technology Innovation Agency which enables triple-helix partnerships that can sustainably support technology innovation which drives social and economic development.
In 2019 UJ-PEETS received the prestigious National Science and Technology Forum Green Economy Award for their work in supporting more than 1000 SMEs in the green economy since 2010, when the station was established.