Marianne S. Ulriksen

Marianne S. Ulriksen is Associate Professor at the Danish Centre for Welfare Studies (DaWS), Department of Political Science and Public Management, University of Southern Denmark. She specialises in welfare studies in the Global South, primarily Africa, and has published extensively on social protection development, social and redistributive justice, comparative politics, taxation and resource mobilisation, and poverty and inequality. She has edited several special issues and edited volumes, serves as editor for Global Social Policy, and is an editor on the Palgrave Macmillan book series Global Dynamics of Social Policy. She is affiliated with the Centre for Social Development in Africa (CSDA), University of Johannesburg, as a Senior Research Fellow. Marianne S. Ulriksen is PI of the COM-PRES project.

Jacob holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University (1995) and brings over 25 years of experience as a practitioner working across a wide spectrum of development issues in 30 countries. His career includes 15 years in Africa, where he managed companies, teams, and programs, many of which focused on renewable energy initiatives.

In 2000, Jacob transitioned into academia, and in 2024 he completed a PhD on the scaling of social cash transfers.

Jeremy Seekings is Professor of Political Studies and Sociology and Acting Director of the Institute for Democracy, Citizenship and Public Policy in Africa at the University of Cape Town. Since 2020 he has been a Visiting Professor in the School for Public and International Affairs at Princeton. He was Director (or Acting Director) of the Centre for Social Science Research at the University of Cape Town for thirteen years. Between 1999 and 2019 he was a Visiting Professor at Yale. His PhD (at Oxford) examined urban political organisation and protest in South Africa leading up to the township revolt of the mid-1980s. His published work ranges across history, political science, sociology, and economics. His books include The UDF (2000), Class, Race and Inequality in South Africa (2005/2006, co-authored with Nicoli Nattrass), Growing Up in the New South Africa (2010), Policy, Politics and Poverty in South Africa (2015/2016), and Inclusive Dualism: Labour-Intensive Development, Decent Work, and Surplus Labour in Southern Africa (2019). He has edited or co-edited sixteen books or journal special issues. His current research focuses on party politics and voting behaviour in Southern Africa, the politics of welfare policy reform, and public opinion in Southern Africa — the latter of which led to his participation in COM-PRES.

Caitlin Rickerts is a PhD candidate investigating the socio-economic dimensions of South Africa's renewable energy transition. Building on her MA research in Sutherland, which explored how IPP SED funding intersects with child and youth development, her doctoral work shifts towards broader questions of distributive justice. As part of a collaborative research project, she contributes to a group-led, mixed-methods data collection process that investigates who community members believe should benefit from REIPPPP and why.

Carla Grahl is a Master's student in the Sociology department at the University of Cape Town and a member of Work Package 2 in the COM-PRES project. She has previously conducted research on local participation in development projects, including the power relations shaping development cooperation between the Global South and North. She has also worked with an international development organisation on initiatives aimed at strengthening community empowerment in local contexts. She believes the research conducted by COM-PRES is particularly valuable in highlighting how large-scale development and energy projects are experienced at the local level.

Carmen Botes is a PhD candidate in the Sociology department at the University of Cape Town, working on Work Package 2 of the COM-PRES project. Her PhD research builds on her MPhil in Environmental and Geographic Sciences, which examined local imaginaries of the energy transition in Saldanha Bay Municipality, Western Cape, with a focus on energy justice and the just energy transition. Using a mixed methods approach, her PhD research involves two South African communities located close to private renewable energy projects, exploring how local preferences around benefit-sharing arrangements shape the energy transition.

Dr Anthony Kaziboni (he/him) is a Senior Researcher at the University of Johannesburg's Centre for Social Development in Africa (CSDA), where he leads the Social, Economic and Environmental Justice thematic area. A political and critical sociologist working at the intersection of environmental sociology and political ecology, his research examines the power dynamics shaping hydropolitics, migration, and energy governance. His work seeks to inform policy and contribute to more equitable and participatory approaches to environmental governance and sustainable development. Dr Kaziboni has published in journals, edited volumes, and public media, and his expert commentary has featured on major local and international platforms, including SABC, eNCA, eTV News, Newzroom Afrika, BBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera.

Prof Lauren Graham is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Johannesburg and the DSTI/NRF South African Research Chair in Welfare and Social Development. A development sociologist by training, her research focuses on the challenges faced by marginalised and excluded groups, including unemployed youth, precarious workers, people with disabilities, and children in adverse circumstances. Her research bridges theory and practice, using evidence to design innovative policies and programmes that improve social development outcomes. Formerly Director of the Centre for Social Development in Africa, she has led major applied research initiatives shaping welfare and inclusion debates nationally and internationally. An NRF C-rated scholar and Newton Advanced Fellow, Prof Graham is recognised for her contributions to advancing equity and social justice.

Anda Mtshintsho is a sustainable development practitioner with an environmental science background. He currently works in the civil society sector, focusing on renewable energy and the just transition in South Africa. With expertise in socio-ecological systems, social justice, and conservation, he combines research, stakeholder engagement, and facilitation to support equitable and sustainable development initiatives. Anda's work spans project management, capacity-building, and community development, collaborating with civil society organisations, communities, and renewable energy developers to ensure projects deliver meaningful social and environmental impact. He is passionate about bridging environmental sustainability and social equity to foster inclusive, long-term renewable energy transitions.

Kelly Baloyi's doctoral research within Work Package 4 addresses a critical gap in South Africa's just energy transition: the exclusion of marginalised communities from REIPPPP decision-making processes. Based at the National Department of Electricity and Energy, her work explores participatory methodologies that empower local stakeholders to shape renewable energy projects' socio-economic development outcomes. Grounded in her master's research on financial inclusion in Kannaland Municipality and extensive community engagement experience across provinces, Kelly seeks to investigate how intergovernmental coordination can transform REIPPPP initiatives from elite-driven projects into truly community-centred endeavours that deliver tangible benefits.

Gabrielle is an energy lawyer working in-house for one of South Africa's largest renewable energy independent power producers. She has a background in activist lawyering, specifically representing communities and non-profit organisations against fossil fuel projects and the health and environmental right violations they pose. She seeks to combine her current work experience and professional background toward an improved community benefit regime in renewable energy development in South Africa.