Ronelle is a professor at Stellenbosch University’s Economics Department and part of the department’s Research on Socioeconomic Policy Group (RESEP). Her interest is in poverty and exclusion in African countries, with a focus on the role of health inequalities. Her research is closely aligned to policy processes, aiming to inform and support initiatives to address problems with health care delivery. Her research projects tend to be interdisciplinary, and involve many stakeholders, including government, local communities and international researchers.

The research is funded by  the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Bank amongst others. She is appointed as a research fellow at the Centre for Development and International Trade at Nottingham University, Partnership for Economic Policy and the Pan-African Scientific Research Council. She is an associate editor for Health Economics and Development Southern Africa and serves on the board of the Journal of Development Studies.  She has completed sabbatical visits at the Centre for Health Policy at Imperial College London and the Institute for Policy Studies at Johns Hopkins