Economists from the University of Pretoria’s Department of Economics in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, Dr Eleni Yitbarek and Prof Roula Inglesi-Lotz, participated in the recent World Science Forum (WSF) 2022, which took place in Cape Town from 6 to 9 December 2022.

The WSF, which has been in existence since 2003, focuses on the social and economic relevance, influence and responsibilities of science. It brings together civil society, policy-makers, industry leaders, government, scientists and academics from across the world to collectively find responses to global challenges. The WSF’s purpose is to foster and maintain a dialogue between the scientific community, society, policy-makers, and industry.

The theme for this year’s forum was ‘Science for social justice’. Prof Inglesi-Lotz was a panel speaker in the plenary session, themed ‘Science for human dignity – What role for science in fighting poverty, unemployment, inequality, and exclusion?’. In her talk, she stressed the importance of science in engaging with communities, listening, being inclusive and multidisciplinary. She also represented the Global Young Academy (GYA) and was a member of the WSF Steering and Organising Committees.

Dr Eleni Yitbarek presented her work on climate smart agriculture (CSA) and welfare in Africa at a session organised by the African Academy of Science. In her presentation, Dr Yitbarek highlighted the importance of localisation in promoting CSA to build the resilience of subsistence farmers from the deleterious effect of climate change. She warned that, “if African countries do not adopt climate-friendly policies to mitigate the long-term impact of climate change on children, climate change could reverse years of progress in lowering children’s malnutrition”.

Prof Inglesi-Lotz and Dr Yitbarek were recently both honoured for their research excellence in economics at the 2022 EMS Awards.