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Email LuesL@ufs.ac.za

Bio Liezel Lues is a Full Professor in the Department of Public Administration and Management at the University of the Free State (UFS), South Africa. Her academic career spans more than 19 years, during which she has held several senior leadership positions in higher education, including Programme Director for Public Administration and Management, Head of Department, and Executive Board Member of the South African Association of Public Administration and Management (SAAPAM). She has also served as both Deputy Chairperson and Chairperson of the Association of Southern African Departments of Public Administration and Management (ASSADPAM).

At an institutional level, Prof. Lues is a Senate representative on the Research Committee of the Senate, serves as Senate representative on the UFS Council, and is a trustee of the UFS Alumni Trust.

Prof. Lues holds a PhD in Public Administration from the Central University of Technology, South Africa, where she developed a strategic leadership model for women in government leadership roles. She delivered her inaugural lecture upon her promotion to Full Professor at the UFS in May 2023, titled “Public Service Leaders: Samaritans or Levites”, focusing on advancing public sector leadership accountability. Her primary research interests include Public Leadership, Public Accountability, and Strong Democracies. Guided by the belief that it is both an obligation and a duty to explore and share knowledge on how the public sector is managed, her research interrogates leadership accountability, decision-making processes, and service delivery in the context of Brittleness, Anxiety, Non-Linearity, and Incomprehensibility (BANI) environments. She contends that traditional public leadership approaches and, more critically, conventional leadership styles, are being reshaped by the demands of the 21st century.

Prof. Lues has supervised numerous Master’s and PhD students in her areas of expertise and has published extensively in the field. She has received several prestigious research awards, including recognition as a Senior Researcher in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences.

Before entering academia, she worked in the Free State Provincial Administration in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, specialising in human resource development.

Position IASIA President (2025-2028)

Member organization University of the Free State

Institution University of the Free State, South Africa

Country South Africa

Country Diminutive ZA

Liezel Lues

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