Ryan Pillay

Ryan Pillay is the Deputy Director: Arts, Culture and Heritage at Nelson Mandela University, since 2020. Pillay worked as a Researcher and Project Manager in the NRF Chair for Ocean Cultures and One OCEAN Hub. He has extensive teaching experience in both the TVET and Higher Education sector. His undergraduate and post graduate studies in Sociology and Political Science deals with areas of gender, heritage, archives, museums, memory and place. His work in Higher Education on transformation, gender, culture and language allows for the interrogation of voices to be heard.
He has designed, facilitated and documented over 100 processes in both the public and private sector. Pillay has a special interest in using visual participatory methods to allow voices to surface and a keen interest in the arts. He currently holds the position of Trustee at the South End Museum and the Gcina Mhlope Trust in South Africa.