Event: Francis Wilson Memorial Lecture 2025
Topic: Hearts on fire and heads on ice: SALDRU’s first and next 50 years
Speaker: Professor Murray Leibbrandt
Professor Leibbrandt holds the UCT Research Chair in Poverty and Inequality Research in SALDRU at the University of Cape Town. He served as Pro-Vice Chancellor for Poverty and Inequality and was Director of SALDRU from 2002 until July 2023. He currently directs the African Centre of Excellence for Inequality Research under the African Universities Alliance. In addition, he is a Visiting Professor at Yale University, a Non-Resident Senior Research Fellow at UNU-WIDER, and serves on the Council of the Academy of Science of South Africa.
From 2008 to 2022, Professor Leibbrandt held the DSI/NRF National Research Chair for Poverty and Inequality Research, and he served on the Executive Committee of the International Economic Association (2017–2023). He has also been President of the African Econometric Society (2006–2007) and the Economic Society of South Africa (2007–2010).
As a founding principal investigator of South Africa’s National Income Dynamics Study (2007–2019), he played a central role in shaping the country’s empirical research landscape. He is also a principal investigator for Health and Aging in Africa: Longitudinal Studies in South Africa. His research focuses on the use of survey data, particularly longitudinal studies, to explore poverty, inequality, and labour market dynamics in South Africa and across Africa.
Professor Leibbrandt has contributed to several national policy processes, including serving on President Mandela’s Labour Market Commission (1995–1996) and the National Minimum Wage Panel for Deputy President Ramaphosa (2016–2017). In 2021, he was part of the Expert Group advising on Basic Income Support and served on the Ministerial Task Team reviewing student funding for the Department of Higher Education and Training (2021–2022).
Francis Wilson, founding Director of SALDRU and DataFirst, was one of South Africa’s leading economic researchers. His work, driven by a strong social conscience, highlighted the hardship and poverty created by the migrant labour system and the mining industry. He spearheaded the first nationally representative survey of South Africa and was a committed advocate for open data.