SALDRU has entered into an exciting three-year collaboration with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) to support the next generation of African researchers working at the intersection of education and demography.
This project, titled Human Capital for Sustainable Development: A Focus on Africa and Coastal Regions, builds on decades of scientific work coming out of IIASA’s Population and Just Societies Program, in partnership with the Vienna Institute of Demography of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Department of Demography at the University of Vienna (as part of the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital), which has led the development of multidimensional demography and placed education at the core of population dynamics and sustainable development. Led by 2024 Yidan Prize laureate Wolfgang Lutz, the project aims to apply these methods to demonstrate to policymakers the long-term benefits of near-term investments in quality education in Africa.
The project aims to strengthen research capacity, inform policy, and enhance education data systems. These efforts aim to position education at the heart of development planning – particularly in regions facing both demographic shifts and environmental challenges.
The initiative brings together six early career scholars – three PhD candidates and three postdoctoral fellows – who were carefully selected from a pool of more than 150 applicants across the continent. The inaugural cohort includes PhD students Joana Kwewa (Ghana), Relebohile Mariti (Lesotho), and Chantelle Ngwenya (Zimbabwe), alongside postdoctoral fellows Cynthia Fonta (Cameroon), Tatenda Mugwendere (Zimbabwe), and Emma Whitelaw (South Africa). They will be enrolled at UCT and mentored by a team led by Nicola Branson, with Brendan Moughan-Brown, Tom Moultrie, Murray Leibbrandt, Muna Shifa, and Emma Whitelaw serving as mentors and supervisors. Nicola Branson is the SALDRU PI on this project.
SALDRU’s scholars will be trained in demographic modelling, while contributing to the generation of country-specific policy scenarios, and organizing and participating in policy workshops. A major output will be a publication on Africa’s future human capital, outlining alternative education trajectories for sub-Saharan African countries. The project also aims to build a sustainable foundation for ongoing research through partnerships.