Professor Imraan Valodia, an economist, is Pro Vice-Chancellor for Climate, Sustainability and Inequality, and Director of the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Wits).

His research interests include inequality, competition policy, employment, the informal economy, gender and economic policy, and industrial development. Imraan has played a central role in establishing and leading the SCIS. He is recognised nationally and internationally for his research expertise in economic development.

Julia Taylor is a Researcher on Climate and Inequality at the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies. Previously, she was Researcher and Climate Policy Lead at the Institute for Economic Justice where she worked with labour unions on a vision for a Just Transition. Julia has previously worked at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator on impact and research, sustainability consulting, and eco-education. She holds a BCom from the University of Cape Town, a PGD in Sustainable Development from Stellenbosch University, and an MSc in Environment and Development from Edinburgh University. Julia recently completed a Master’s in Applied Development Economics at Wits University.

Research Assistant at the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, where he works on the G20, climate change, and inequality. An Emancipatory Futures Studies scholar, he earned an MA in International Relations from Wits, producing decolonial research on the impact of war on the environment in Gaza. His research interests include decolonial thought, the entangled impacts of war on human health and the environment, and research integrating qualitative analysis with remote-sensing methods (NDVI and SAR). As an activist, he has promoted food sovereignty at Wits through the Climate Justice Charter Move. ORCID

Sonia Phalatse is an economist with experience in the private and public sectors. Previously, she worked as the Economic Justice Lead for the largest women’s rights organisation in Africa, the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET). Prior to that, she worked as a researcher concurrently in the Climate, Energy and Infrastructure and Feminist Economics programmes. She has a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Witwatersrand and received both her Bachelors and Honours degree in Economics from the University of Cape Town. Her research interests are in feminist economics, feminist political ecology, energy economics and the role of the state in development.

Sally Archibald works on understanding the dynamics and biogeography of savanna ecosystems. She is a Professor at the School of Animal Plant and Environmental Sciences at Wits University. As PI of the Future Ecosystems for Africa program, she drives research to identify restoration and conservation interventions in Africa that align with social, biodiversity, and development needs. Sally is on the advisory board of the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment, and Society. 

Chevonne Reynolds is currently a lecturer in the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, where she also completed her MSc degree in resource conservation biology. However, before returning to her alma mater in 2018, Chevonne spent many productive and valuable years at the FitzPatrick Institute where she completed her PhD under the supervision of Prof. Graeme Cumming and undertook a short post-doc with Prof. Claire Spottiswoode. Chevonne also co-ordinates and teaches on the landscape ecology module of the Fitztitute’s Conservation Biology MSc course.

Dr Anthony Ngugi is a Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health with 18 years of experience in health research in Africa. He is currently the Chair, Department of Population Health and Associate Dean for Research at the Medical College, Aga Khan University – East Africa. His interests range from healthy ageing in LMICs, epidemiology of epilepsy, community health information systems, and application of data sciences to population health challenges. He trains and mentors students and faculty of research methods, application of principles of epidemiology in research and epidemiological analyses. Dr. Ngugi is a MPI of the NIH funded study to establish a Longitudinal Study of Health and Ageing in Kenya (LOSHAK) as a platform for long-term population-based cohort studies of health trajectories and their determinants in a rapidly ageing population in a LMIC context. He is also a Kenya CO-PI of the MRC (UK) funded Multi-National Implementation of Multimodal Strategies to promote Healthy Brain Ageing in Sub-Saharan Africa (The AFRICA-FINGERS Project). He is also a key member of the NIH/NIA and HCAP- International Network supported efforts to establish a HCAP-Africa Network. Dr. Ngugi also has a key focus on strengthening local health systems by providing technical data solutions in low resource settings. He is the architect and PI of the Kaloleni-Rabai Health and Demographic Surveillance System (KRHDSS) in the coast of Kenya, a demographic and health data infrastructure and 100k plus cohort that supports the local health system in data generation and use while also serving as a population health research platform. His interests also include the application of data science approaches to predict population health outcomes, improving the allocative efficiency of health interventions and developing and testing precision public health tools useful to community and local public health officials.

Dr Rosebella Iseme-Ondiek is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Population Health at Aga Khan University. She holds a PhD in Clinical Epidemiology and Community Medicine, a Master of Public Health (Distinction), and a Bachelor of Biomedical Science. Her research spans food systems, nutrition, non-communicable diseases, and health systems, with a strong emphasis on capacity building and applied, policy-relevant research in low- and middle-income settings.

Dr Iseme-Ondiek’s work is grounded in community-driven approaches that harness local knowledge and resources to address complex global health challenges, including those arising at the intersection of climate change, dietary practices and other health behaviours, and care systems. She has led and contributed to multi-institutional and interdisciplinary collaborations across Africa and beyond, strengthening health research, and surveillance.

She currently leads the Kaloleni–Rabai Health and Demographic Surveillance System (KRHDSS), a population-based platform in Kilifi County on the Kenyan coast, established to strengthen the capacity of the local Department of Health in the systematic collection, processing, and use of population-level health and vital events data for planning and decision-making, while simultaneously supporting population health research.

Dr Jackim Nyamari is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Population Health at Aga Khan University. He holds a Ph.D., a Master of Philosophy, and a Bachelor of Science, all in Environmental Health. Dr Nyamari has extensive experience in research and capacity building, with scholarly expertise spanning climate change and health, occupational health and safety, injury prevention, and food and water sanitation. He has been actively involved in various multidisciplinary and collaborative research projects, working with partners both within and beyond Africa. Dr Nyamari brings to this team a strong methodological expertise and a demonstrated ability to engage meaningfully with local communities, co-designing contextually relevant and sustainable approaches to addressing complex local and global health challenges.