​​​​Prof Fiona Tregenna from the University of Johannesburg has been awarded a prestigious national research chair. This is a South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) Chair, in Industrial Development, awarded and funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF) under the Department of Science and Technology. The award funds a major new research programme in the field of industrial development, for an initial five years renewable for up to fifteen years. The award was announced by the Minister of Science and Technology, Ms. Naledi Pandor.

This is the only SARChI Chair awarded in economics in South Africa this year (2015); in fact, it is the only one awarded nationwide across all the commerce fields this year. The Chair was awarded at Tier 1 level (the highest level at which a Chair can be awarded), after a highly competitive process in which universities bid for Chairs based on applications across disciplines.

Says Prof Tregenna: “I am delighted and honoured to have been awarded a SARChI Chair. I look forward to building up a research hub of students and researchers working on issues related to industrial development”.

What will the Chair do?

The Chair will drive a national research programme on industrial development, contributing to policy-relevant knowledge creation. Research is likely to include topics such as: industrial policy, deindustrialisation, industrial development and income distribution, employment creation through industrial development, the services sector, and industrialisation in the Southern African region.

The Chair is a multi-million rand per year initiative that will finance a major new research programme. It will fund a number of masters and doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers, all working on topics related to industrial development, thus also contributing to capacity-building and developing the next generation of researchers. While focusing on producing high-impact publications in prominent international journals, the Chair will also engage with policy debates both in South Africa and internationally.

The importance of industrial development

Industrial development is now widely recognised as crucial to countries’ growth and development, especially for low- and middle-income countries. As Nobel Prize Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and his co-authors (including then-Chief Economist of the World Bank, Justin Lin, and South African Minister of Economic Development, Ebrahim Patel) recently argued, “After long suffering from benign neglect if not outright contempt, industrial policy is almost fashionable again” (Stiglitz et al, 2013). Industrial development is central to sustainable growth and employment creation in South Africa. The research led by the Chair is expected to have important implications for industrial policy.

About Prof Tregenna

Prof Tregenna has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Cambridge. She holds a B rating (‘Internationally acclaimed researcher’) from the NRF. Remarkably, the award of the SARChI Chair comes just six years after she completed her Ph.D. and entered academia. She is recognised internationally as a leading expert in her field, in particular on the topic of deindustrialisation. Prof Tregenna’s research encompasses theoretical work as well as empirical research, engaging with questions of growth and development in South Africa and internationally. She has developed new methodologies for answering existing questions, conceptualised original theoretical approaches, and produced empirical contributions to knowledge.

Prof. Tregenna also serves on a number of boards and advisory panels, and sits as a part-time Member of the Competition Tribunal where she adjudicates competition cases. She reviews for many prominent international academic journals.

Research at UJ

The awarding of the Chair entrenches UJ’s position as the leading centre in South Africa for research and teaching in the field of industrial development. The Chair will work closely with the Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development (CCRED) at UJ, led by Prof Simon Roberts. CCRED conducts research and capacity-building in competition and regulatory economics and regional industrial development. UJ is also introducing a new master’s programme in Industrial Policy, jointly with the United Nations agency the African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (UN-IDEP). The new SARChI Chair will thus lead the growing hub of pioneering research at UJ in industrial development and industrial policy, which is making an impact nationally and internationally.

This Chair is one of five awarded to the University of Johannesburg, which constitute a major boost to its fast growing research and innovation efforts. The other four Chairs are:

• Laser Applications in Health: Prof Heidi Abrahamse (Faculty of Health Sciences); South African Art and Visual Culture: Prof Brenda Schmahmann (Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture);
• Welfare and Social Development: Prof Leila Patel (Faculty of Humanities); and
• Integrated Studies of Learning Language, Mathematics and Science in the Primary School: Prof Elizabeth Henning (Faculty of Education).

The awarding of the new distinguished research chairs take the number of chairs that UJ now holds to 12 and will with no doubt further elevate the University’s research capabilities, output and global impact. The five new chairs augment the following chairs at UJ:

• African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy: Prof Chris Landsberg (Faculty of Humanities);
• Education and Care in Childhood: Prof Jace Pillay (Faculty of Education);
• Geometallurgy: Prof Fanus Viljoen (Faculty of Science);
• Indigenous Plant Use: Prof Ben Erik van Wyk (Faculty of Science);
• International Law: Prof Hennie Strydom (Faculty of Law);
• Social Change: Prof Peter Alexander (Faculty of Humanities);
• Nanotechnology for Water: Prof Vinod Gupta (Faculty of Science).

These research chairs provide a meaningful learning experience to the nation’s brightest young minds, and it will contribute significantly to UJ’s own efforts to nurture next generation scholars.