Head of Law
Qualifications
Research interests
Biography
Melisa Chawaremera is a legal academic and researcher whose scholarship is grounded in Afrocentric, decolonial, and inclusionary epistemologies. She holds an LLB and an LLM and is currently pursuing a PhD in Law at the University of Witwatersrand. Across all her research, she adopts a critical approach that interrogates Eurocentric legal frameworks and centres African lived realities, Indigenous knowledge systems, and historically marginalised voices within law, governance, and education.
She has extensive academic and professional experience, having worked both in legal practice and higher education. Prior to her academic career, she served as a Commercial Law Firm’s Forensics Division Manager, gaining practical experience in corporate investigations and regulatory compliance.
Melisa currently serves as the Head of the Law Faculty, where she plays an active leadership role in academic governance and supervision. She has presented at national and international conferences and has published in peer-reviewed journals.
Central to her work is a commitment to inclusion and epistemic justice in both legal scholarship and pedagogy.
Areas of teaching and research include Legal Education, Corporate Law, Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, all approached through Afrocentric, decolonial, and socially responsive frameworks that seek to reimagine law as a tool for justice rather than exclusion.
Head of Law
Qualifications
Research interests
Biography
Melisa Chawaremera is a legal academic and researcher whose scholarship is grounded in Afrocentric, decolonial, and inclusionary epistemologies. She holds an LLB and an LLM and is currently pursuing a PhD in Law at the University of Witwatersrand. Across all her research, she adopts a critical approach that interrogates Eurocentric legal frameworks and centres African lived realities, Indigenous knowledge systems, and historically marginalised voices within law, governance, and education.
She has extensive academic and professional experience, having worked both in legal practice and higher education. Prior to her academic career, she served as a Commercial Law Firm’s Forensics Division Manager, gaining practical experience in corporate investigations and regulatory compliance.
Melisa currently serves as the Head of the Law Faculty, where she plays an active leadership role in academic governance and supervision. She has presented at national and international conferences and has published in peer-reviewed journals.
Central to her work is a commitment to inclusion and epistemic justice in both legal scholarship and pedagogy.
Areas of teaching and research include Legal Education, Corporate Law, Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, all approached through Afrocentric, decolonial, and socially responsive frameworks that seek to reimagine law as a tool for justice rather than exclusion.
An educational brand of The Independent Institute of Education
Formed by the strategic evolution of The IIE's Varsity College, IIE MSA, Vega and
the School of Hospitality and Service Management, uniting under the Emeris name.
Emeris is an educational brand of The Independent Institute of Education (Pty) Ltd which is registered with the Department of Higher Education and Training as a private higher education institution under the Higher Education Act, 1997 (reg. no. 2007/HE07/002). Company registration number: 1987/004754/07. View certificate here.
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