Prof. Vishanthie Sewpaul (PhD)
President, ASSWA (2020)
Professor Vishanthie Sewpaul (PhD), an awardee of three honorary doctoral degrees from Chile, Norway and Sweden, is a globally recognized social work and human rights scholar, international speaker and activist. She held leadership positions at institutional, national, regional and global levels, and visiting professorship positions at numerous international universities. Professor Sewpaul was previously President of the Association of Schools of Social Work in Africa (ASSWA); the Association of South African Social Work Education Institutions (ASASWEI); and the National Association of Social Workers, South Africa; and she was Vice-President on the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW). She chaired the following committees on behalf of the IASSW: Global Standards for SW Education and Training (2004); Global SW Definition (2014) and the Global SW Statement of Ethical Principles (2018). She is currently the world coordinator for a conference to be co-hosted by three global social work/social development organisations in 2024. She was Senior Professor at the University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa where she remains Emeritus Professor, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Stavanger, Norway. She has over 100 academic publications and has recently completed her memoir titled, The Arc of Our Paths: Growing into Wholeness.