Ronel Smith is a principal Technologist in the Strategic Initiatives group of the Meraka Institute of South Africa's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Her research areas include Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Agriculture, ICTs for Development (ICT4D), gender in developing communities, and the development and implementation of customised broadband connectivity in developing countries. She is responsible for the development of an ICT in Agriculture business case and action plan for South Africa.  She holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration and is busy with a PhD in Informatics on the application of a critical feminist design science approach in the co-creation of an ICT platform for a rural development context.