Professional background and experience:

A Conflict Dynamics and Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) accredited and International Mediation Institute (IMI) qualified mediator, Alan is a Professor Emeritus, a former Head of Department, union chairperson and national executive member at Rhodes University (previously at the University of Venda). Retiring at the end of 2023 after more than 35 years of university teaching experience, he continues supervising postgraduates, researching, publishing and limited teaching. He has served as an executive member of academic professional bodies and on the editorial board of journals. Alan is a keen karateka.

Alan obtained his Masters (with Distinction) and PhD Degrees from the University of Cape Town. He is registered with the South African Qualifications Authority as an assessor (design, develop and conduct outcomes-based education) and has completed courses in commercial mediation and workplace mediation.

Mediation experience and style:

Alan has considerable experience in mediation, negotiation and other forms of conflict management and dispute resolution. He is accredited by Conflict Dynamics, CEDR and IMI, specialising in educational settings and in the field of arts and culture. Alan has considerable experience in workplace, community, neighbourhood, education, family, intergenerational, sport, and workplace mediation. He has extensive experience working with translators. He has handled a wide-ranging array of disputes including misuse of power, sexual harassment, professional jealousy, workplace tensions, witchcraft accusations and more. Having specialised in environmental history, he is well-equipped to deal with environmental issues and is a supporter and signatory of the World Mediators Alliance on Climate Change (WoMACC) Green Pledge.

Alan’s mediation style is relaxed, yet professional. He focuses on building rapport with and between parties, whilst maintaining impartiality, confidentiality and a calm-under-pressure demeanour. Due to the nature of his work, and his life philosophy, he is firmly committed to the promotion of diversity, transformation and human rights and prioritises the protection of the dignity and well-being of parties above all. He has been consistently commended for the care to which he approaches cases, extensively researching background material and taking time to explain mediation before starting any cases.  

Comments from clients:

“Thank you for the fair way in which you interacted with us both and treated us with dignity. You were really impartial and fair. I had been worried about this as they are in a much more powerful position than me.”

“You put a lot of work into making certain that you understood all the issues involved and explaining the process before we even started the mediation. This meant that we could focus on working towards resolving our problem. It also helped our panel to trust you.”

“I thank you for the way that you defused the situation when we both lost our tempers. I thought that we were going to fail because of this but you managed to calm us down and redirect us to look at the issues constructively.”

“I had not really expected us to reach a settlement. Thank you for the huge effort that you put into helping us to get there. I found your saying that it was our dispute and the settlement would be ours - you were only there to facilitate the process of us getting there – very helpful. I had been worried that you would impose a settlement on us – I never felt that you were trying to do this.”