Vuyelwa Qobo

Member, Open AIR Emerging Researchers Group

920987@students.wits.ac.za

Vuyelwa Qobo is currently studying towards her Wits Master of Arts in ICT Policy and Regulation. Her Master's research is on ¡°Digital Health Interventions for Marginalised Transgender Communities in South Africa¡±. The purpose of her study is to investigate the lived experiences of and barriers faced by the transgender community when accessing public healthcare services for sexual, reproductive, and other medical issues; how digital interventions can address the identified barriers; how digital interventions can enable the collection and analysis of data from the transgender community and contribute towards improving long-term planning and service delivery; and the measures required to protect the data collected and prevent breaches in data security.

Qobo is a member of the New and Emerging Researchers Group (NERG) of the innternational Open African Innovation Research partnership (Open AIR), a project for which LINK's Luci Abrahams and Chris Armstrong serve on the South African research team. She is based in Johannesburg, and works in the financial services industry as a Brand Marketing Specialist for an asset management company, where she is responsible for all brand-related marketing and communication work internally and externally. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and an Honours degree in Political Studies, both from North-West University. She has completed and received certificates in Financial Markets and Instruments from NoviaOne Hedge Fund Academy, Mastering Online Advertising from Red and Yellow Creative School of Business, Digital Brand Strategy from VEGA, and Customer Relationship Building from WITS Digital Campus.