Rate My Professor Etienne Nel

Professor Etienne Nel is Professor and Head of the School of Geography at the University of Otago, where he also serves as Chief Course Adviser and Senior Arts Adviser. He holds a BA (Hons) from Rhodes University, an MA from the University of the Witwatersrand, and a PhD from Rhodes University. His career encompasses leadership in numerous funded research initiatives, including World Bank and Development Bank of Southern Africa projects on local economic development in South Africa (2004-2007, project leader), National Research Foundation studies on local economic development in Southern Africa (2004-2007, project leader), NZAID projects on urban agriculture policy in Zambia (2011-2013) and small town development in South Africa (2010-2011), University of Free State/ILO study of entrepreneurialism in South Africa (2014-2015), and University of Otago investigations of local and regional development in New Zealand (2015-2017).

Professor Nel's research specializations lie in economic and urban geography, focusing on local economic development, urban entrepreneurialism, community economic development, small towns, economic policy, marginality, regional development, and local government. Current research examines economic and urban history and development in South Africa, local development and urban agriculture in Zambia, and regional, local, and small town development in New Zealand, where he leads the National Science Challenge project 'Harnessing the Hinterland' investigating rural and small town inequalities. He has supervised over 20 PhD students and many Masters students on topics including urban agriculture, land reform, resilience, and governance across Africa, New Zealand, and beyond. Nel has authored or edited 11 books, such as Africa: Diversity and Development (2023, second edition), Planning for the Caring City (2024), COVID-19 and Marginalisation of People and Places (2022), and Responses to Geographical Marginality and Marginalization (2020); contributed over 50 book chapters; and published around 130 refereed journal articles, including 'Resilience to Economic Shocks: Reflections from Zambia's Copperbelt' (2017). He received the 2020 Distinguished New Zealand Geographer Award and Medal, served as Managing Editor of the New Zealand Geographer (2012-2018), advised organizations like the World Bank on poverty alleviation strategies, and delivered the Inaugural Professorial Lecture 'Dealing With Difference: Responses to uneven geographical development'.