Research Groups

Neil Pearce is Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and Director of the Centre for Global Non-communicable Disease, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in the UK. During 2000-2010 he was Director of the Centre for Public Health Research in the Research School of Public Health on the Massey University Wellington Campus. He continues to work in a broad range of epidemiological NCD research areas, including epidemiological methods, respiratory disease, neurological disease, cancer, diabetes, indigenous health, and occupational and environmental health research.

Dr Ross Harvey is a Director of Research and Programmes at Good Governance Africa (GGA). He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Cape Town. From 2010 to 2011, Ross lectured political economy at UCT. The following year he worked as a parliamentary researcher. In mid-2013, he became a senior researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs, where he worked until 2019, joining GGA in 2020.

Nancy Cartwright is a Professor of Philosophy at Durham University and a Distinguished Professor at the University of California in the United States (US). At Durham, she is also co-Director of the Centre for Humanities engaging Science and Society. Her research interests include philosophy and the history of science (especially physics and economics). Professor Cartwright has worked extensively in modelling, causal inference, causal powers, and objectivity, evidence, especially for evidence-based policy (EBP) and the philosophy of social technology. For the project 'Knowledge for Use' (K4U), her current work investigates how to use scientific research results for better policies. She has worked with others on projects in education, child protection and international development.

Caitlin Rybko is a Research Assistant at the Institute for the Future of Knowledge. She received her master's degree in philosophy from Rhodes University. Her thesis was titled The Nature and Value of Understanding. Her research interests are epistemology, the internet and our relationship with knowledge. Ms Rybko is completing her doctorate in philosophy, and her thesis is on the epistemology of Google's knowledge panels.

Professor Brett Bennett is Director of the Green Futures Research Group, at the IFK, and Associate Professor of History at the University of Johannesburg and University of Western Sydney. His research uses historical methods to investigate how the interaction of human actions and natural processes created contemporary ecosystems, scientific ideas, and conservation policies. He is the author of Plantations and protected areas: a global history of forest management (MIT Press, 2015), co-author with Frederick J. Kruger of Forestry and water conservation in South Africa: history, science, policy ( ANU Press, 2015), and co-author with Gregory Barton on the book Saving the world the first time: ideas of climate change before global warming, under contract with Reaktion Press. He works with historians, geographers, ecologists, heritage experts and local communities to explore the legacy and meanings of human-plant, human-animal, and human-climate relations.

Dr Oluwaseun Tella is Director of the Future of Diplomacy Research Group at the IFK. He is a specialist on soft power, diplomacy, and migration. He has published over 25 articles and his forthcoming monograph, which will be published by Routledge, is titled Africa's Soft Power: Philosophies, Political Values, Foreign Policies and Cultural Exports. He has also edited three books entitled Nigeria-South Africa Relations and Regional Hegemonic Competence (Springer, 2019), From Ivory Towers to Ebony Towers: Transforming Humanities Curricula in South Africa, Africa and African-American Studies (Jacana, 2020), and A Sleeping Giant? Nigeria's Domestic and International Politics in the Twenty-First Century (Springer, 2021).

Professor Alex Broadbent is the founding Director of the IFK and Professor of Philosophy of Science at Durham University, England. His research is in the philosophy of epidemiology, medicine, and causation, and he is Editor in Chief of the journal Philosophy of Medicine. Outside university life, he engages in consultancy, advocacy and policy work related to public health and uses of science in legal contexts, and writes opinion pieces on topics such as the fourth industrial revolution and public health issues. He is an Associate Member of the Centre for Humanities Engaging Science and Society at Durham University and of Millennium Chambers, The Barrister Network, London.