Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.

Ronél Ferreira is a full professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. In her research, she focuses on psychosocial support, coping and resilience, with specific reference to the effect of school/community-based participatory intervention research on the holistic well-being and functioning of children and communities in at-risk contexts. She furthermore conducts research and programme development work in promotion of the implementation of an inclusive education policy in all South African schools, more specifically in the field of visual impairment. Ronél has extensive experience as primary investigator and project leader of funded research projects, many of which involve international, interinstitutional and interdisciplinary collaborations. She has published numerous articles in national and international accredited journals, authored and edited several scholarly books and book chapters, and supervised more than 65 postgraduate students to completion of their studies. Her research accomplishments are signified, among others, by her being the recipient of the Samuel Henry Prince Best Dissertation Award of the International Sociological Association (2009), the University of Pretoria Young researcher award (2009), the Faculty of Education (University of Pretoria) best PhD dissertation award (2006 NRF postdoctoral fellowship) and the Education Association of South Africa (EASA) Young Researcher Award (2007). She is also the past chairperson of the Education Association of South Africa (2014 and 2019) and is currently the Executive Editor of the South African Journal of Education.