Rirhandzu Novela joined Nova Institute in 2023 under the information unit and incubation unit. She has an academic background in environmental science, data analysis and machine learning. She has worked in the air quality offsets programme for large industry clients, including Sasol, Anglo American Platinum, and Northam Platinum, focused on monitoring and evaluation of air quality offset programmes. In addition, she has worked on internal project focussed on the planning, development, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of fruit tree planting programmes.