Bongani Ncube is a water and agricultural scientist with more than 25 years of experience in research, academic and non-profit organisations. She started in the public sector in 1995, before joining the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in 2000. She left in 2000 after obtaining a PhD from Wageningen University, The Netherlands. She then joined WaterNet, where she led the multidisciplinary Limpopo Basin Challenge Program on Water and Food Project 17 until 2009. She migrated to the United Kingdom and worked for non-profits for about 3 years. She came to South Africa in 2013 where she is pursuing research on water allocation, water governance, drought impacts on agriculture, indigenous knowledge, and water resource management. Since April 2022, she is leading the Research Chair in Governance and Economics of Water and Sanitation Sector Institutions, with broad objectives covering water security, governance, equity, and financial and economic viability of water sector institutions. She is also the Acting Director of the Centre for Water and Sanitation Research where she facilitates other interdisciplinary projects, including partnership building and postgraduate opportunities. She has produced more than 80 publications. She is a National Research Foundation-rated researcher. She reviews for several journals and is an adviser for the Water Research Commission projects. She is also an Editorial Board Member of the WaterSA Journal.