Dr Nicky Wolmarans

Nicky Wolmarans is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Town in the Department of Civil Engineering. She holds a BSc and MSc in mechanical engineering and a PhD in engineering education. After a short time in industry she took up a lecturing post in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Over the past 17 years she has taught across the civil and mechanical engineering programmes, in design and engineering science courses. 

She also contributes to a postgraduate course in knowledge and curriculum in a Higher Education Studies programme and will be convening a new PhD programme specialising in engineering education commencing in 2019. Her current position is that of ‘Academic Development Lecturer’ in the Department of Civil Engineering, a somewhat contested position introduced in 2008 in an effort to improve the educational experience of students with the hope that it would improve success rates. 

With a PhD in engineering education, Dr Wolmarans’ research interests lie in understanding impediments to student progression that disciplinary knowledge introduces and in so doing, broadening access to knowledge that makes a difference.