Associate Professor Gina Ziervogel

Expertise: Climate change vulnerability and adaptation; urban governance; Southern African development; participatory research

Gina Ziervogel is Director of the African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI) and an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, both at the University of Cape Town. She is responsible for the strategic operational management of ACDI in its role as a hub that facilitates interdisciplinary research and teaching on problems at the intersection of climate change and development. Gina is a geographer by training, with 15 years of experience in the field of adaptation and vulnerability to global environmental change. Gina completed her PhD in Geography at the University of Oxford in 2002 after obtaining a BSc at the University of Cape Town and her Honours in Environmental Water Management at Rhodes University. She is a P-rated researcher by SA’s National Research Foundation (Prestigious award for young researchers), and winner of the Department of Science and Technology’s Young Women in Science Award in 2015 (humanities and social science). She was also the lead author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) SREX report – Special report on extreme events and disasters. Broadly speaking, Gina’s research considers vulnerability and adaptation to climate change; integrating climate information into planning; Southern African development under climate change; and urban environmental governance. Gina’s research under the AXA Chair sets out to acknowledge and understand the diverse perspectives on urban resilience, from academics and practitioners to residents, in the South African city of Cape Town. Her ultimate objective is to inform current and future responses on how urban resilience might be better addressed. Read more.