PhD Physiotherapy, UFS

School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences
University of the Free State, South Africa

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1557-5256

Dr. Anke van der Merwe, a registered Physiotherapist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa, has been with the University of the Free State (UFS) since June 2014. She lectured in the Department of Physiotherapy from 2014 to 2021, where she supervised and examined postgraduate students and trained future physiotherapists both through coursework and clinical work. Since 2021, she fulfils the role of Undergraduate Programme Lead in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences where she coordinates four interprofessional skills modules. She completed her doctoral studies in 2021, producing a framework for integrating simulation in South African undergraduate physiotherapy education. Her work focuses on creating transformational spaces for healthcare and healthcare education notably through digitalisation, and curriculum development. She is a member of the Southern African Association of Health Educationalists, has published several research papers both nationally and internationally, is a reviewer for both national and international scholarly journals, has been the recipient of research funding and is involved in various collaborative research projects. In recognition of her contributions to healthcare education, she currently holds a Teaching and Learning Fellowship at the University of the Free State. Additionally, she was awarded Runner-up in the “Research in Learning and Teaching: Beginner” category at the University of the Free State Learning and Teaching Conference in 2021.