About me

Martin Olivier is a professor at the Department of Computer Science in the School of Information Technology at the University of Pretoria.

His current research interest is digital forensics. Previously he worked on privacy, and database, application and system security.

He is author or co-author of more than 200 academic publications. Nine students obtained their doctorates with him as promoter. More than thirty students completed their master's degrees through research under his (co-) supervision. He also supervised a number of student mini-dissertations that formed part of a course-based master's degree.

He is a fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (Digital & Multimedia Sciences Section). From 2019 to 2022 he represented his section on the International Affairs Committee of the AAFS. Martin Olivier is a member of IFIP working group 11.9 on digital forensics, the ACM, and the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (South African Academy for Science and Art) He served two terms as treasurer of the South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists (SAICSIT). From 2005 to 2007 he served as the IT representative on the Mathematics Specialist Committee of the South African National Research Foundation (NRF), serving in 2007 as the convener of the Mathematics Specialist Committee. In 2007 to 2008 he assisted the NRF with the establishment of their Information Technology Specialist Committee, and served as its first convener in 2008.

He serves as a member of the editorial board of Data & Knowledge Engineering. Previously he served as on the editorial board of the International Journal of Information Security. He acted for several years as a section editor of the South African Computer Journal (SACJ). He regularly acts on the programme committee or as a reviewer for various academic conferences.

Prof Olivier started his career at the CSIR in Pretoria. In 1991 he joined the Department of Computer Science at the Rand Afrikaans University in Johannesburg as a lecturer. He has also lectured part-time at a number of tertiary institutions in South Africa.

From 1993 to 1996 he was responsible for presenting a weekly talk on computing on national radio. Prof Olivier has regularly participated to radio interviews about aspects of IT. He has on a few occasions participated in televised interviews.

From 1989 to 1993 he was a monthly columnist for Bit Magazine (SA).

Prof Olivier holds a BSc degree in Mathematical Sciences, BSc (Honours), MSc and PhD degrees in Computer Science, a BA degree in Humanities, a BA (Honours) degree in Philosophy and an MPhil degree in Workplace Ethics.