Ada Jansen new chair of Department

Prof Ada Jansen stepped into the big shoes of Prof Andrie Schoombee, who retired in 2021, when she was appointed Head of Department in January 2022. She will serve a five-year term.

Prof Jansen joined the Department in July 2004. Although her initial field of interest was Environmental Economics – with her paper on 'Water demand and the urban poor in Cape Town', published with C Schulz in the South African Journal of Economics, of particular interest  – her research interest has since shifted to Public Economics with a focus on taxation. Over the last decade, prof Jansen has applied the principles of Public Economics to a broad set of research questions: from the public finances of the Dutch Cape Colony to, most recently, estimates of South Africa's personal income tax. It is for this reason that she was appointed by the Minister of Finance in 2017/2018 on the Independent Panel for the review of the list of zero-rated VAT items.

Prof Jansen also has an active interest in research on teaching, with several papers published about the factors that contribute to student success. It is this interest that inspires her to build on the legacy of her HoD forerunners. Says prof Jansen: 'My vision for the department is to continue (and improve on) delivering high-quality teaching and learning, and policy-relevant research that will prepare a diverse student body for future endeavours and contribute to the betterment of society.'

Prof Jansen is the first female and the first black scholar to head the Economics Department.