I received my undergraduate education at the North West University (Mafikeng Campus), where I completed a BSc (Hons) degree in Microbiology. My honours degree project involved assessing ground water quality in the North West province, and represented my first foray into research. I absolutely enjoyed my research experience and became motivated to pursue further research experience. I then moved to the University of the Western Cape, Department of Biotechnology, for further studies, earning both an MSc (granted Cum laude, 2009) and PhD (2012).
I moved to the University of Pretoria in 2012, working briefly as a technical officer at the Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Department of Genetics. I began a postdoctoral fellowship in 2013, continuing to study the microbial ecology of desert systems with some expansion into projects focused on microbial genomics.
The focus of my research remains within the field of microbial ecology.