Penny Govender is the Director of Research Capacity Development and Acting Senior Director of the Postgraduate School at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). She joined UJ in 2002 as an academic in the Faculty of Science and served as Head of Department (2016–2019). As a Professor of Computational Chemistry, her research spans energy, water, materials science and diseases. She holds a PhD in Chemistry and has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in high-impact journals, authored a book, and contributed to 11 book chapters. Professor Govender has supervised more than 20 Master’s and PhD students and eight postdoctoral fellows. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and has received several awards, including UJ’s Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Award for Most Promising Young Researcher. She actively contributes to the scientific community through peer review, editorial roles, and grant evaluations for institutions such as the NRF, ESF and Oréal-UNESCO.