Being at the forefront of fashion design education in South Africa, Prof Smal follows specific schools, people and thinking in relation to sustainable praxis. She aligns to organizations such as the Union of Concerned Researchers in Fashion and actively contributes to the academic discourse of the design disciplines and subscribes to the importance of knowledge and people development. Her focus area for teaching and research is environmental sustainability in the fashion industry. She regularly contributes to national and international conferences and publishes in a discipline of fashion where the importance of research and postgraduate studies has only become important since the start of this Millennium. She actively contributes to design education and research in South Africa through the Design Education Forum of South Africa (DEFSA) where she held the position of president and is appointed as a member of the Design Working Committee, established by the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture (DSAC). The purpose of the committee is to advise on the development of Design Policy and Design Strategy for South Africa and the establishment of a Design Council for South Africa.