Auleria Wakudumo 

Academic Irja Nelago Indongo has been appointed as executive director of the Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL). 

Her appointment is effective on 1 June 2025. 

A media statement from SASSCAL on Tuesday indicated that Indongo will lead the organisation from the SASSCAL Regional Secretariat in Windhoek, overseeing the planning, implementation and strategic direction of programmes across the five SASSCAL member countries namely: Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia. 

“She brings over 13 years of senior management experience from the University of Namibia, where she held several key roles including Acting Pro Vice Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Development,” it read. Indongo succeeds Jane Olwoch, who led the centre for the past seven years. 

She holds a DPhil in Sociology from the University of Pretoria, Masters and Honours degrees from the University of Southampton and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Namibia. 

She began her academic career at Unam as a staff development fellow, eventually rising to the rank of Associate Professor, with numerous publications in peer-reviewed national and international journals, and successful supervision of many postgraduate students. 

She has also played instrumental roles in regional climate change curriculum development and governance, serving on the Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA) Climate Change Steering Committee, and holding governance positions with the Namibia Statistics Agency. 

-wakudumoauleria@gmail. com