John J Williams | University of the Western Cape (original) (raw)

My academic qualifications include: Doctor of Philosophy [PhD) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA , is based on Transdisciplinary Research: Urban and Regional Planning, Geography, Philosophy, Educational Policy Analysis, Political Studies, Sociology [with distinctions in all coursework] and MUP [Master of Urban Planning] from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, an M.A (completed at UCT, conferred by UWC), HED (Cum Laude), BAHONS and BA . I have been the Chair of Research & Study Leave Committee of the Economic and Management Sciences, UWC, 2004-2010. In 2005, immediately upon assuming a full-time academic career, I was amongst the top 8% of all South African scientists (National Research Foundation-rated) and was ranked, in 2007, through an independent survey as the most productive researcher in the Faculty of Economic & Management Sciences, UWC. My research and professional career focus on the whole array of societal issues, such as: Local Government such Local Government Management, Policy Analysis in Local Government, Social Change and Policy Implementation, Comparative Development Planning, Development Policy Planning, Gender and Development, Local Government Economics and Finance, International Relations and the Political Economy of citizenship and democratic rights.
Since the birth of democratic South I have been engaged in various capacity building and training programmes throughout the country, facilitating workshops in areas such as: institutional development, project management, policy evaluation, financial management, policy implementation, performance management systems, change management, geographical information systems, South African local, provincial and national government legislation, intergovernmental relations, powers and functions of local government, institutional structuring and support, employment equity, skills enhancement and training, media, communication and culture, team leadership and ethics.I worked in municipalities such as Upington, Kimberley, East London, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Caledon, Pietersburg (Polokwane), Nelspruit and Bisho. These local government training programmes have been offered in association with and or on behalf of the Department of Provincial Local Government, the Joint Universities Management Educational Trust [JUPMET], the South African Local Government Association [SALGA] and the National Department of Housing. It should also be noted that I have completed research on Community Development Workers for the Department of Provincial and Local Government in 2009. I provided SAQA approved training programmes to the National Union of Mineworkers [NUM] in 2012

More importantly, perhaps, I have acted, since 2005, as, a Research Methodology expert for the Council for the Development of Social Science in Africa [CODESRIA]; Research methodology expert for South African / Netherlands Programme for Alternatives in Development [SANPAD]; Member of and post-graduate expert for the Organization of Social Science in Eastern and Southern Africa [OSSREA]. Furthermore, I have participatory research links with, inter alia: University of Sussex, Institute of Development Studies [IDS], UK, The Truman School of Public Affairs, University of Missouri, USA; the Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Fort Hare [UFH], South Africa and the Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany My research articles thus far appeared, amongst others, in Australian, US and UK scholarly journals such as Cities, Public Policy, IDS Bulletin and Visual Anthropology and South African journals such as Development Southern Africa, Critical Arts, South African Labour Bulletin, Ecquid Novi. Some of his articles also appeared in peer-reviewed Zed Books series on Citizenship and Rights, and they have been translated into Spanish and Portuguese (as indicated in his attached publication list, here below).My current research interests include: Mixed Methods Research (MMR), Performance Management, Service Delivery, International Relations and the Political Economy of citizenship and democratic rights, social change, democratic governance, public policy analysis, community participation and development planning in local government.
Supervisors: Prof James D Anderson, College of Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA; Prof Ralph Page, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, Prof Wiliam G Martin, Binghamton, USA.

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