Prof Margaret Chitiga-Mabugu has been appointed as Director and Head of the School of Public Management and Administration (SPMA) with effect from 1 September 2014.

Prof Chitiga-Mabugu obtained her PhD in Economics at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden with the research focus on the economy-wide impacts of public policies on income distribution. Her research interests are in tracing and analysing the effects of government policies on households, and on the broader economy. She has applied various modelling approaches to answering questions on environmental policies, trade policies and various socio-economic policies, amongst others. She has also conducted research for various government departments and other organisations such as the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Transport, the Department of Social Development, the Department of Science and Technology, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, the National Development Agency and the United Nations Children's Fund.

She has published both locally and internationally in journals such as Environment and Development Economics, Economic Modelling, Journal of Development Studies, Journal of African Economies, South African Journal of Economics, South African Journal of Economics and Management Sciences and Agrekon, among others. In addition, she has contributed to several book chapters, co-authored and co-edited books. She is NRF rated. She has also co-authored more than 20 client reports, for such clients as the City of Johannesburg, UNICEF, the Financial and Fiscal Commission, the National Development Agency, South African Women in Dialogue, the Department of Home Affairs, Limpopo Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (LEDET), the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport, the Department of Science and Technology and many more.

Prof Chitiga-Mabugu was previously professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Pretoria, where she taught microeconomics, public sector economics, development economics, economic modelling and mathematics for economists; and has supervised over a dozen PhD and MSc students. She has also been involved in intensive teaching at the Joint Facility for Electives at the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) teaching public finance, and at the Collaborative MSc in Agricultural and Applied Economics teaching economic modelling. She was previously the Executive Director of the Economic Performance and Development research unit at the Human Sciences Research Council.