Prof. Alan Hirsch
Alan Hirsch is Senior Research Fellow at the New South Institute. He is also Emeritus Professor at UCT. He has been a member of President Ramaphosa’s Economic Advisory Council since 2019 and is a member of Finance Minister Godongwana’s G20 Africa Expert Panel. He managed economic policy in the South African Presidency 2002-2012, represented South African Presidents in G20 negotiations, and co-chaired the G20 Development Working Group. After an early career in academia and a longer career in the South African government ending as Deputy Director General of the Presidency, Hirsch established and directed the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance at UCT. He was Research Director for the International Growth Centre 2010-2015. Since 2019 he has conducted and led research, mostly on migration governance reform in Africa. Publications include: Season of Hope – Economic Reform under Mandela and Mbeki; The Oxford Companion to South African Economics; and South Africa: When Strong Institutions and Massive Inequalities Collide. His current research program is at https://nsi.org.za/projects/migration-governance-reform/ He studied at UCT, Wits and Columbia.
Razia Saleh
Razia Saleh is the Head of Archive and Research at the Nelson Mandela Foundation, where she leads the preservation, development and interpretation of archival and research resources relating to the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela. With more than three decades of experience in archives, heritage and social justice documentation, she has played a significant role in preserving South Africa’s liberation history.
Before joining the Foundation, Razia coordinated the ANC Archives Project overseeing the arrangement and description of archival records from the movement’s years in exile. She was also a founding staff member of the South African History Archive, where she helped preserve the records of the anti-apartheid movement. A former anti-apartheid and community activist, she worked for the United Democratic Front and the Transvaal Indian Congress.
Razia serves on several national and international advisory bodies, including the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, contributing to archival preservation, historical research, and social justice initiatives.
Dr. Luyanda Mpahlwa
Luyanda Mpahlwa is a Cape Town based award winning Architect & Urban Design practitioner, pursuing socially relevant architecture with a focus on the transformation of urban environments, in particular reimagining our cities as inclusive, affordable and liveable environments. He is a graduate of the Technical University of Berlin, Germany, where he obtained a Masters’ degree in Architecture. His education in South Africa was interrupted due to his activism against Apartheid, in 1981 he was incarcerated for 5years on Robben Island and after release in 1986, he left South Africa for Germany where he spent 15 years in exile. He relocated back to SA in 2000. In 2010 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Walter Sisulu University in Science and Technology. He is SAIA Past President and currently, an Adjunct Professor at the UCT, African Centre for Cities.
Luyanda received various design Awards, including SAIA/Corobrik Award of Excellence in 2006 for the South African Embassy building in Berlin, Germany. He was the recipient of USA based Curry Stone Design Prize in 2008 for the Design Indaba Sandbag Low-Cost House in Mitchells Plein, Cape Town. He was part of the technical team of advisors and oversight for the construction of the 2010 World Cup Stadia in South Africa. He has served on various Boards & Councils, including the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA), the National Heritage Council (NHC), including the Robben Island Museum Council.
Tosin Oshinowo
Tosin Oshinowo is a Lagos-based Nigerian architect and the principal and founder of Oshinowo Studio, established in 2013. Her work is renowned for its socially responsive approach to architecture, design, and urbanism. In 2019, she co-curated the Lagos Biennial, and in 2023, she was curator of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial. Her research project, ‘Alternative Urbanism: Self-organising Lagos Markets’, received a special mention award at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale. She is a 2025 Loeb Fellow at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and a 2026 Honorary Fellow of the College of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.
Fanuel Motsepe
Fanuel JC Chaane Motsepe is an acclaimed South African Architect, Urban Designer, and researcher. Since 2000, he has championed a culture-adequate design philosophy rooted in Botho/Ubuntu and the “Bana Pele” (Children First) framework, aiming to empower marginalized communities and enhance Pan-African lifestyles. He leads Motsepe Architects Research Unit and Practice Unit Learning Apprenticeship (MARU a PULA), directing its advanced research teams, model-making studio, and literature library.
Motsepe’s portfolio spans significant inner-city rejuvenation projects in Johannesburg and Tshwane, alongside charity initiatives in rural villages and historically disadvantaged townships. A respected educator, he lectured at the University of the Witwatersrand from 2000 to 2004. He holds prominent leadership roles across major industry bodies, serving as a Former President both of the South African Institute of Architects (SAIA) and the African Union of Architect (AUA) South Region, having held influential board or council positions at SACAP, AUA, CSCC, BBCBE, CETA, PHRA-G and SAHRA.
Prof. Rahul Mehrotra
Rahul Mehrotra is a practicing architect, urban designer, and the John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. His Mumbai-based firm, RMA Architects, was founded in 1990 and has designed and executed projects including government and private institutions, corporate workplaces, private homes, and unsolicited projects driven by the firm’s commitment to advocacy in the city of Mumbai. Mehrotra’s most recent books are titled Working in Mumbai (2020) and The Kinetic City and other essays (2021). The former a reflection on his practice evolved through its association with the city of Bombay/Mumbai. The second book presents Mehrotra’s writings over the last thirty years and illustrates his long-term engagement with and analysis of urbanism in India. This work has given rise to a new conceptualization of the city which Mehrotra calls the Kinetic City.
Malcolm Campbell
Malcolm Campbell holds a B.Arch degree from UCT and a Masters in Economics in Urban Development Planning from the University College of London. Professionally, he has worked across the built environment fields of architecture, urban design, landscape architecture and development planning. He is a Principal in a practice at ACG Architects, which has been in existence for over 30 years and has been the recipient of multiple local and international awards. He has also been responsible for two significant memorialisation projects in Cape Town, both the outcome of successful competition entries.
Malcolm has been closely involved with architectural education, having practised as an academic, as well as served on the Commonwealth Association of Architecture Validation Panels of architectural programmes in Kenya & Ghana.
He currently serves on the Council of the University of Cape Town and chairs it’s Building and Development Committee which oversees a real estate portfolio with an estimated market value of R36 billion. He has a strong social justice orientation, and is a Director of the Human Rights Media Centre, an NPO based in Cape Town.