Speaker

Prof Jimi Adesina
Professor & DSI/NRF SARChI Chair in Social Policy
UNISA

Closing address/ Conference reflections

Biography

Jimi Adesina is Professor and the DSI/NRF SARChI Chair in Social Policy at the College of Graduate Studies, University of South Africa in South Africa. Educated at the University of Ibadan (Nigeria) and Warwick University (UK), Prof Adesina taught at the University of Ibadan (Nigeria), was Professor of Sociology at Rhodes University (South Africa), and Professor and Head of Department at the University of the Western Cape (South Africa). He has held visiting appointments at Ulster University, Derry (Northern Ireland), University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa), Oxford University (UK), Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala University (Sweden), UNECA (Addis Ababa), and the UN Research Institute for Social Development (Geneva).

A past President of the South African Sociological Association (2004-2006), Professor Adesina was elected to the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) in 2005. He served on the Board of the UN Research Institute for Social Development, Geneva (2013 – 2019) and the Board of RC19 of the International Sociological Association (2014 to 2018). His research interests include Sociology, Social Policy, and the Political Economy of Africa’s Development. He has published widely in these areas.

Prof Antoinette Lombard
Department of Social Work & Criminology
University of Pretoria

Closing address/ Conference reflections

Biography

Antoinette Lombard is professor in Social Work and head of the Department of Social Work and Criminology at the University of Pretoria. She has published widely in social development and developmental social work. She represents the International Association for Schools of Social Work (IASSW) on the tripartite (IASSW; IFSW and ICSW) Taskforce of the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development, and coordinates the Global Agenda in the Africa region. Among her awards is the James Billups International Social Development Leadership Award of the International Consortium for Social Development, and a national award from the Minister of Science and Technology as the second runner up for the 2015 Distinguished Women in Science Award (WISA) in the category Humanities and Social Sciences. She is a rated researcher at the National Research Foundation in South Africa and a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAF).

Prof Manohar Pawar
Professor of Social Work, President
ICSD

Closing

Prof Leila Patel
SARCHI (Chair)
University of Johannesburg

Closing address/ Conference reflections

Biography

Leila Patel is professor of Social Development Studies and holds the South African Research Chair in Welfare and Social Development, University of Johannesburg. Leila is the founding director of the Centre for Social Development in Africa (CSDA) from 2004 -2018. She has published widely on issues of social development in South Africa and internationally and is the recipient of both national and international awards. In 2020, she received the National Research Foundation’s Science for Society Gold Medal Award (2020) and Katherine Kendell Memorial Award (2020) for distinguished scholarship and for her contribution to social work education and social development. Her research interests include social welfare policy, poverty and hunger, social protection, gender, care, the social services and children, youth and families. She has wide experience in academia, research, teaching and fulfilled various roles in government, civil society and private sector social involvement initiatives. She was South Africa’s first director general of social welfare after apartheid and has played a leading role in the development of welfare policy in South Africa. Her forthcoming edited volume will be published by Edward Elgar titled Social Protection and Social Development in the Global South.

Prof Lauren Graham
Director – CSDA
University of Johannesburg

Closing