Research interests:

• Community engagement
• Disability, neurodiversity & neurodivergence, autism
• Human service worker support & wellbeing
• Lived experience expertise
• Social work education

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Margaret Janse van Rensburg joins the College of Social Work as an Assistant Professor in 2025, following the completion of her Ph.D. in Social Work at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.

Most of Margaret’s research is invested in enhancing outcomes for Autistic people and their communities of care using a local and community-engaged approach. Her dissertation research investigated how human service workers support Autistic adults in overcoming barriers to their mental health in collaboration with the Ottawa Adult Autism Initiative in Ottawa, Canada.

Margaret’s scholarship is grounded in her lived experiences as a service user and service provider, and in research, she values partnering with lived experience experts. Margaret has published on autism and supervision, among other topics. She has worked with research teams with work appearing in journals such as Autism, Autism in Adulthood, Journal of Social Work Education, and Studies in Social Justice.

Margaret brings over a decade of experience in research, teaching, practice, and service, including roles as Research Coordinator, Research Assistant, Sexual Assault Resistance Education Coordinator and Facilitator, Contract Instructor, and Faculty Liaison at Carleton University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Alberta. She has collaborated with grassroots advocacy groups, mental health providers, and housing initiatives to support neuroinclusivity in both policy and practice.

Margaret believes that creating and sustaining healthy communities and contributing positively to the public good are the purpose of social work education. Her teaching is informed by universal design for learning and critical disability studies, with a focus on creating inclusive, accessible, and engaged learning environments. She is passionate about mentorship and supporting emerging researchers and social workers to build ethical, justice-oriented approaches in social work and research.