Glenda Cox
Dr Glenda Cox is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT) at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Her work spans teaching, supervision, academic staff development and teaching innovation in higher education. She teaches on the Postgraduate programmes in Higher Education Studies, Educational Technology, and the Postgraduate Diploma in Blended and Online Learning (BOLD), and contributes to the development of teaching innovation initiatives at UCT.
Her research, advocacy and implementation work focus on open education, with particular attention to Open Educational Resources (OER), social justice and equitable access to knowledge in higher education. She is especially interested in how open educational practices can contribute to transformation within African higher education contexts.
Dr Cox currently holds the UNESCO Chair in Open Education and Social Justice (2025–2029) and is a member of the UNITWIN Network on Open Education (2024–2028), and is also a member of the newly launched UNITWIN Network on the Futures of Education, Epistemic Justice and the Knowledge Commons (EpiNet). Dr Cox also holds a Senior Research Fellowship position at the University of Bristol (2025-2028). She serves as Vice President of the Board of Open Education Global and is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Students as Partners.
She completed her PhD in Education in 2016. Her doctoral research drew on Critical Realism to explore why academic staff choose to contribute, or not contribute, their teaching materials as Open Educational Resources.
Dr Cox currently leads the Digital Open Textbooks for Development (DOT4D) initiative at UCT. Her work continues to shape local and international conversations on open education, social justice and the future of higher education.