Prof Corli Witthuhn was appointed in her current position as Vice-Rector: Research at the University of the Free State (UFS) in April 2013. Her academic career started in the Department of Food Science at Stellenbosch University (SU) in 1999 after she completed a PhD in Microbiology at the UFS. She was Chair of the Department of Food Science at SU from 2005 until 2009 when she accepted the position of Vice-Dean of the Faculty of AgriSciences at SU. She then returned to the UFS and was appointed as Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences in 2011 before she took up the position of Vice-Rector. Her research interests include the rapid detection and identification of spoilage and pathogenic microbes in foods. She has published more than 70 international peer-reviewed scientific papers. She is a NRF rated researcher and has served as study leader for 8 doctoral and 26 masters students.