Prof Irvy (Igle) Gledhill is Visiting Adjunct Professor in Flow Physics at the University of the Witwatersrand. She did her post-doctoral work at the University of California, Los Angeles, on thermonuclear fusion, and at Stanford on Space Shuttle physics.

For 30 years, she specialised in transonic computational fluid dynamics at the CSIR. She also contributed within multidisciplinary collaborations including rational drug design, ocean engineering, and mine safety.

She is a Past President of the South African Institute of Physics, and chaired the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics Working Group 5 on Women in Physics. She has a strong commitment to improving the work environment for all scientists, and served on the executive of the Gender Gap project funded by the International Science Council. She is Vice-President for International Relations and Scientific Affairs of the Network of African Science Academies, a member of Council of the Academy of Science of South Africa, and a member of the American Physical Society Committee on International Scientific Affairs. She serves on the SA-UNESCO Science Sector Committee.

Recently, she led the South African government Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) Expert Working Group on the science strategy for the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences, NITheCS. 

Her present interest is in the fluid dynamics of bodies undergoing significant acceleration.