Fifth Annual UP-SU PhD Workshop in Economics Held

This year's annual Pretoria-Stellenbosch PhD Workshop in Economics was hosted by Stellenbosch University and took place on Wednesday, November 5th, 2025. This is the fifth time the workshop has been held, continuing the tradition of collaboration between the two departments to support junior researchers.

The workshop accepted six papers by PhD students from universities across South Africa, covering topics ranging from health economics and innovation to monetary policy and labor markets. The presentations were held in the Van der Sterr Building in Stellenbosch.

Siza Muyedzwa (University of Pretoria) opened the student sessions with a paper titled “Behavioural Barriers to Preventative Healthcare Investment: Evidence from South Africa”. Other student presenters included Gameli Adika and Raynold Runganga (University of Cape Town), Jan Hendrik Pretorius (Stellenbosch University), and Mphatso Elias Ackim and Blessings Nkuna (University of Pretoria).

International discussants from prestigious institutions - including the University of New South Wales, Monash University, the London School of Economics, the International Monetary Fund, Yale University, and the University of Chicago - provided detailed comments and critical feedback to the participants. This engagement with senior academics from the international research frontier offered students valuable exposure to new perspectives on their work.

The workshop featured two invited talks by distinguished international scholars. Emily Aiken (University of California, San Diego) delivered the first talk on “Moving Targets: The Role of Model and Data Recency in Proxy Means Test Accuracy”. Later in the afternoon, Caterina Chiopris (Columbia University) gave the second invited talk, presenting her work on “The Diffusion of Ideas”.

Practicing economists and researchers from the public and private sectors attended the workshop, offering students the opportunity to network with potential future employers.

The event concluded with a dinner at De Warenmarkt in Stellenbosch, attended by economists and researchers from Statistics South Africa, Nova Economics, and XA Global Trade Advisors.

Photo: Back row: Matthew Olckers (SU), Caterina Chiopris (Columbia), Ben Davis (TRENDS Research and Advisory), Lawrence Edwards (UCT). Third row: Daniel Opolot (UP), Jan Pretorius (SU), Roy Havemann (BER), Euan Phimister (SU), Donald MacKay (XA Global Trade Advisors), Waleed Jacobs (Stats SA), Blessings Nkuna (UP), Martine Mariotti (ANU). Second row: Raynold Runganga (UCT), Evashnie Govender (Stats SA), Mahier Hattas (Stats SA), Jesse Naidoo (SU), Tsepang Khumalo (SU), Siza Muyedzwa (UP). Front row: Gameli Adika (UCT), Mphatso Elias Akim (UP), Marisa von Fintel (SU).

(This article was written by Dr. Jesse Naidoo)