Geci Karuri-Sebina, Associate Professor at the WSG holds a Bachelors’ degree in Computer Science and Sociology (Iowa); Master's Degree in Urban Planning and Architecture from UCLA (Los Angeles); and a PhD from Wits University.

Karuri-Sebina hosts the Civic Tech Innovation Network at the School and works on issues of innovation systems, urban development policy and governance, and futures and foresight. She is also associated with the University of Cape Town’s African Centre for Cities, South African Cities Network, and Singularity University’s Global Faculty on the future of cities and governance.

She previously worked with South Africa’s National Treasury, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Human Sciences Research Council, and the UCLA's Advanced Policy Institute. She has also served on the South African Council of Planners, the Johannesburg Development Agency Board, and the national Ministerial Task Team on the Fourth Industrial Revolution. She currently serves as the Vice-Chair of AfricaLICS (the community of innovation scholars in Africa) and Regional Advisor of the Africa Innovation Summit. Karuri-Sebina is also a curator in The Emergence Network, and is involved in editorial boards or teams of: the African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation & Development (AJSTID; Taylor & Francis), Foresight Journal (Emerald), and the African Journal of Information and Communication (AJIC; Wits LINK centre).

She currently lectures on innovation systems policy for developing countries, and innovation systems for social purposes.

Innovation Ecosystems In Africa: Solving the problems we have (2023). Edited book published by Amalion. Co-edited with Olugbenga Adesida, João Resende-Santos and Mammo Muchie.

Space, people and technology: Reclaiming the narrative on cities (Forthcoming, 2023). Book Volume 2 of The Built Environment in Emerging Economies (BEinEE) series, published by  AOSIS Books. Co-edited with Prof Amira Osman (Tshwane University of Technology).

Civic Tech in Southern Africa: Alternative Democracy and Governance Futures? (2023) SAIIA Occasional Paper No 345. Co-authored with Amy Mutua.

Gentrification in South Africa’s inner cities: Dignity takings requires restoration (2023). Town and Regional Planning, No.82, pp. 4-17. Co-authored with  Frederick Beckley

The future as a public good: decolonising the future through anticipatory participatory action research (2022). Foresight. Co-authored with R. Bourgeois and K.E. Feukeu.

A Research Agenda for Transformative Urban Climate Action (2022). Journal of City Climate Policy and Economy, University of Toronto Press. Co-authored with Rachel Huxley, Mariana Mazzucato, Aromar Revi, et al.

Re-imagining the Future: City region foresight and visioning in an era of fragmented governance (Forthcoming, 2022). Regional Studies, Taylor and Francis. Guest Editor with Tim Dixon (Reading), Mark Tewdwr-Jones (UCL) & Joe Ravetz (Manchester).

Reconceptualising Foresight and its Impact: Experiences in Decolonising Futures from the global South (Forthcoming, 2023). Regional foresight journal, Emerald UK. Guest Editor with Riel Miller and Eva Kwamou Feukeu (UNESCO).

Playing in the Gap: Re-Futuring African Cities (2021). RISE Africa, ICLEI. Co-authored with Thireshen Govender.

Can innovation address Africa’s challenges? (2021). Special Issue of African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development (AJSTID), Taylor and Francis. Guest Editor with Olugbenga Adesida &  Erika Kraemer-Mbula.

Women in Property and Urban Development (June 2021). Special issue of Journal of African Real Estate Research, African Real Estate Society / University of Cape Town. Guest Editor with Karen Gibler (Georgia State University).

Urban Africa’s futures: perspectives and implications for Agenda 2063 (2019). Foresight, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 95-108, Emerald. Author.

Transforming the Future: Anticipation in the 21st Century (2018). Chapter 5 contributor for UNESCO book project published by Routledge, edited by Riel Miller (UNESCO).

Embedding Urban Innovation: Perspectives, Trends and Experiences (2018). Chapter 2 for book Urban Innovations: Researching and Documenting Innovative Responses to Urban Pressures edited by Philip Harrison and Margot Rubin (Wits). Author.

BRICS Cities: Facts and Analysis (2017). South African Cities Network and University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Project leader.

Urban Futures: Anticipating a world of cities!  (2016). Guest editor with K. Haegeman and A. Ratanawaraha for Special Issue: foresight: The journal of futures studies, strategic thinking and policy. Vol.18, No.5, 2016.

Innovation Africa: Emerging Hubs of Excellence (2016). Edited book published by Emerald Books. Co-edited with Drs Olugbenga Adesida and João Resende-Santos.

Right to the City and Public Spaces: Inner-City revitalisation In South Africa’s Capital City (2015). Chapter for book The Rights to the City for a Safe and Just World: The case of BRICS (Direito à Cidade para um mundo justo e seguro: o caso dos BRICS) edited by BRICS Policy Centre and Oxfam, Brazil. Co-authored with O. Koma.

Fictions, Factors and Futures: Reflections on Africa's ‘impressive growth’ (2012). Development, Vol.55, No. 4, pp.491–496, Palgrave. Co-authored with R. Maharajh, A. Sall and A. Segobye.