Research Units

Development Policy Research Unit

http://www.commerce.uct.ac.za/dpru/

While our primary activity is to undertake long-term research projects, a number of other activities play a key role in our mission. These include:

South African Labour and Development Research Unit

http://www.saldru.uct.ac.za/

The Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) was established in 1975 in the Research Division of the School of Economics at the University of Cape Town.

It was set up to stimulate research, to communicate this research to people in general and policy makers in particular, to act as a consultancy in its specialised fields, to operate a resource centre, and to play a role in training students and researchers in the basic skills of the Social Sciences.

Environmental Policy Research Unit (EPRU)

http://www.saldru.uct.ac.za/evironment&poverty.html

The Environmental Policy Research Unit (EPRU) is a research group which seeks to enhance environmental policy-making in South Africa through rigorous policy research and extension in order to attain sustainable development and poverty reduction! EPRU is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) through the Environment for Development (EfD) initiative managed by the Environmental Economics Unit at Gteborg University. Operationally, EPRU is hosted by one of the existing research units in the School of Economics, namely the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) as a project on the Environment and Poverty. With time, EPRU will stand as a fully fledged research unit in the School of Economics after undergoing a status review by the University Research Committee.

AIDS and Society Research Unit

http://www.cssr.uct.ac.za/asru

The AIDS and Society Research Unit is a unit within the Centre for Social Science Research and supports research into the social and economic dimensions of AIDS in South and Southern Africa.Special emphasis is placed on exploring the qualitative and quantitative research. Focus areas include AIDS policy in South Africa, AIDS stigma, the social and economic factors driving HIV infection , global health citizenship and leadership and the impact of providing antiretroviral treatment on individuals and households. The Director of ASRU is Prof Nicoli Nattrass Professor Nicoli Nattrass, who is also a professor in the School of Economics.

Policy Research in International Services and Manufacturing (PRISM)

http://cssr.uct.ac.za/asru

Policy Research in International Services and Manufacturing (PRISM) is a research and policy ‘unit' located in the School of Economics and is affiliated to the Centre for Social Science Research (CSSR) . PRISM provides a lens to focus research and policy work on issues of globalization and industrialization in Sub Saharan Africa. The CSSR provides management, administrative and financial services, as well as assisting in realising its wide research remit - to interface between economics and other relevant disciplines. PRISM provides a home to a number of independent research activities, projects and programmes. The broad focus of the research activities undertaken are all concerned with issues of globalization, global value chains, industrialization paths, the role of knowledge intensive services, international competitiveness. PRISM is managed by a Steering Committee consisting of Prof Mike Morris (Director), Prof David Kaplan and Prof Anthony Black

Economic Research Southern Africa (ERSA)

http://www.econrsa.org

Economic Research Southern Africa is a research programme which is being funded by the National Treasury of South Africa and is hosted at the University of Cape Town in the School of Economics.

The primary objectives of this research programme are:

1. To provide for the management of a research programme focussed on growth, employment and broadening participation in the South African economy
2. To create a network of economic researchers based in South African universities and to deepen economic research capacity in Southern Africa
3. To expand and broaden economic research capacity in Southern Africa, train and mentor young economists and create a supportive network to link Southern African economic researchers.
4. To draw a broad and representative range of South African economists into a programme of policy-oriented research, and to encourage independent and expert economic research.

ERSA explicitly funds economic or policy related research, subject to peer reviewed assessment of proposals.

For more informationon ERSA you can contact:

Halland, Gloria Email: Gloria.Halland@uct.ac.za Phone: (+27 21) 650 5239 Office: Room 6.49, Leslie Social Science