Hello everyone 

I am Associate Professor Caitlin Blaser Mapitsa, the Research Director at WSG. Welcome to our Research page. 

We are a research led School, and the change we hope to create is by bringing practitioners into a facilitated space of sharing ideas, and through case-based peer learning, build contextually relevant theory that can contribute to excellence in governance. We strive to create a culture of innovative research and support students and academics to co-create knowledge, with thought leaders across the continent who support our research agenda as fellows and visiting scholars.

The School has identified three core research pillars, and themes within them, that represent both our unique contribution to knowledge, and also the most pressing governance challenges facing Africa today. We hope to strengthen communities of practice and cultivate research outputs across the areas below.

• Planning for transformative futures
  • Just transitions, adaptation and climate governance
  • Digital governance
  • Shifting borders, boundaries, and tipping points in governance systems and institutions
• Understanding the African State
  • State capabilities
  • Ethical governance and leadership
  • People power, protection, and engagement – building democratic citizenship
  • Policy making, evidence and power
  • State discourse
• Reimagining development
  • Paradigms and norms for evaluating development outcomes
  • Decoloniality and shifting global power relations
  • Contextually relevant methods and measures

Explore this page and learn about our projects, publications and look out for research opportunities that will be posted as they come up.

Associate Professor Caitlin Blaser Mapitsa

Research Director