Liesl’s research interests are focused on how young people, particularly womxn, from marginalising contexts navigate their life trajectories and transitions into adulthood. The intent of this work is to contribute to building socially-just societies that make it possible for young people from diverse backgrounds to obtain the markers of adulthood. Her scholarly lens draws on decolonial perspectives and knowledges of everyday life to make sense of these trajectories.

Liesl is interested in exploring how the opportunity structure in Australia shapes how young people navigate everyday life and how this shapes their experiences of social inclusion/exclusion. The intent of this exploration is to understand the nuances associated with how opportunities might present and can be navigated in the diverse multicultural social spaces that make up contemporary Australia. These kinds of knowledges would make it possible to more strategically contribute - through policy initiatives and other interventions/tools - to how diverse young people build prosperous lives. Liesl also has an interest in developing knowledge about how the digital age and young people’s engagement online is shaping their health, well-being and development, an area that has not been well-explored or theorised within occupational therapy and occupational science.

Since work in social inclusion is inevitably complex Liesl has also focused on developing scholarship on a transdisciplinary praxis within the health sciences that attempts to formulate ways of reasoning within and across disciplines when working as a collective on issues of social justice. Within occupational therapy research and scholarship, Liesl has demonstrable expertise in developing contextually-relevant knowledge for practice. Her area of expertise within community development has contributed to her exploring the development of the Occupation-based Community Development Framework within the South African context, as well as understanding how it might be translated for application in diverse global contexts.

Liesl’s teaching focuses on developing knowledges and skills for a justice-focused practice within health sciences education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She has been involved in developing and implementing curricula for occupational therapy students that focus on community development since beginning her teaching career in 2006. She also has an interest in and experience of teaching foundational concepts of human occupation that are embedded within a socially-transformative occupational science and that can be used to ground occupational therapy practice across diverse practice areas.

Liesl also has a passion and interest in teaching research methodology, particularly approaches for qualitative data analysis. She utilises arts-based methods and decolonial pedagogies to humanise her teaching approaches, and continues to find ways to build her knowledge and skill in how to do this.

Honorary lecturer, University of Cape Town, Department of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences

International Society of Occupational Science Executive Board member

Inclusive Practices Africa, A research unit based at the University of Cape Town that focuses on exploring and removing barriers to facilitate inclusion

Co-recipient of the University of Cape Town Social Responsiveness Award, 2016.