Dr savo heleta

I am a researcher, internationalisation scholar and practitioner, educator, analyst and author with more than ten years' experience in higher education, academic research, curriculum development, teaching, research supervision and internationalisation. I have worked at Nelson Mandela University and Durban University of Technology in South Africa. 

I also have more than eight years' experience in project planning, development and implementation, capacity building and leadership development, youth leadership development, peace-building and work in the NGO sector. I have worked on post-war peace-building and youth leadership development in Bosnia and Herzegovina and post-war capacity building and leadership development in South Sudan.

My research interests range from decolonisation of knowledge; higher education internationalisation; international research collaboration; higher education in post-war settings; foreign aid to higher education; conflict analysis; climate justice; post-war reconstruction and peace-building; to social justice advocacy and activism. 

I have published peer-reviewed papers in The Journal of Development Studies, Globalisation, Societies and Education, Development Studies Research, Journal of Studies in International Education, Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, Higher Education, Journal of Global Higher Education, Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies, Journal of International Students, Education as Change, Perspectives in Education, African Security Review, Transformation in Higher Education, Africa Insight, Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa, Commonwealth Youth and Development, and Journal for Development and Leadership. I have also published numerous book chapters. See the academic research section of the website for my papers and chapters, and my Google Scholar page.

I have given keynotes, presented my research and spoken at numerous international academic and professional conferences (click here for more info). I have developed and taught courses in conflict management, negotiation, mediation, transition from apartheid to democracy in South Africa, post-conflict reconstruction and global studies. I have also successfully supervised more than twenty Masters students since 2012.

I've written for The Conversation, Africa is a Country, UntoldMag, Mail & Guardian, Bhekisisa, The Palestine Chronicle, Sunday Times, The Cairo Review of Global Affairs, Business Day, Daily Maverick, University World News, Pambazuka News, Sudan Tribune and other publications. You can read my articles here. You can also read what others have written about me and my work here.

I'm originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Survivor of the Bosnian war, I'm the author of Not My Turn to Die: Memoirs of a Broken Childhood in Bosnia (AMACOM Books, 2008). Find out more about the book here.

I am a member of the international advisory board for the online Masters programme in Human Rights Practice at the University of Arizona, United States (2017-2025); member of the editorial board of the journal Transformation in Higher Education (2023-2026); member of the academic advisory board of the Climate Action Network for International Educators (CANIE) (2023-2025); and a member of the council of the International Education Association of South Africa (IEASA) (2021-2025). I was also a board member of the Lost Boys Center for Leadership and Development based in Arizona, United States and Juba, South Sudan (2014-2016); and a member of the CANIE climate justice workgroup (2023).

I hold a DPhil in Development Studies (2013) and MPhil in Conflict Transformation and Management (2009) from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and BA in History and Business Management (2006) from St. John's University, Minnesota, United States.

My portfolio of skills includes critical and analytical thinking; strategic, innovative and creative thinking; active learning; problem-solving; research, editing and writing; qualitative research; bibliometric analysis; analysis of aid flows data; policy review; interpersonal skills; communication skills; public speaking; intercultural competence. 

Over the past two decades, I have lived and worked on four continents. I currently live in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.