Prof Runette Kruger is the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Design at the Durban University of Technology. She obtained her PhD in Visual Studies at the University of Pretoria. Her research focuses on the underlying dynamics shaping our societies and the various ways in which visual artists have responded to these dynamics. Relevant frameworks addressed in her research include time/space philosophy, Afrofuturism, agency, dissent, critical engagement with the concept of the Other, and utopias in which these concepts are foregrounded. She has obtained faculty awards for research as well as for teaching and learning and is serving as a National Vice Chair of SANAVA, on the DHET sub-field review panel for artistic creative output in the visual arts, and as a CHE doctoral review panellist. She furthermore serves on the Advisory Council of the Pretoria Arts Association. She is one of the contributing scholars to the Exploring Visual Cultures project in which international scholars contribute to transnational dialogue around cultural artefacts and phenomena.