Academic biography

Professor Hamsa Venkat holds the Naughton Family Chair in Early Years/Primary STEM Education in the School for STEM Education, Innovation and Global Studies, DCU Institute of Education. Her research focuses on primary mathematics teaching, learning, curriculum and policy, with a particular interest in interventions seeking to improve these aspects. Before joining DCU, she held the position of SA Numeracy Chair at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Hamsa began her career in mathematics education as a high school mathematics teacher in  London comprehensive schools, before completing her Masters and Doctoral  Studies at King’s College London. Her PhD thesis was awarded the 2005 BERA prize for making the most significant doctoral contribution to research in education in 2004. Hamsa started working in teacher education in London at what was then the Institute of Education, before moving to South Africa in 2005. 

Hamsa holds  Visiting Professorships at the University of the Witwatersrand and at Jönköping University in Sweden. She has published extensively across a range of international peer-reviewed journals, guest edited a number of Special Issues and has co-edited three books. She also serves as an Associate Editor for the Educational Studies in Mathematics journal. She is the immediate past President of the Southern African Association for Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education  (SAARMSTE), and has worked extensively within and across institutions on  research capacity development for doctoral students and early career staff.