UCT inaugural lecture for September 2025

Dear colleagues and students

The University of Cape Town (UCT) Inaugural Lecture series is a significant academic milestone. It marks the formal recognition of colleagues who have been promoted to full professor, honouring their contributions to research, teaching and public engagement.

These lectures provide more than an academic platform. They invite us into the intellectual and personal journeys of our professors, opening space to reflect on how their scholarship shapes disciplines, influences society and enriches our university community.

We will host one inaugural lecture in September, to be presented by Professor Sarah Chapman.

Albert Einstein once remarked: “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.” This spirit of inquiry and reflection resonates with our inaugural lectures, highlighting the pursuit of knowledge and its application to society and the world.

Professor Chapman will deliver her lecture, “Measuring what counts: Evaluation as inquiry, power and possibility”, on Tuesday, 2 September 2025 at 17:00 SAST in the Mafeje Room, Bremner Building on lower campus.

Professor Chapman’s lecture will trace her journey from the social and physical sciences into a career dedicated to redefining how evidence is generated, interpreted and applied for social transformation. She will examine the evolution of evaluation practice, from the rise of randomised impact evaluations to the resurgence of participatory, Africa-rooted approaches that amplify marginalised voices and knowledge systems.

Professor Chapman is an internationally recognised thought leader in evaluation theory and practice, with over 20 years of experience in Sub-Saharan Africa and globally. She is the director of UCT’s Institute for Monitoring and Evaluation, within the School of Management Studies, and the deputy dean for postgraduate studies in the Faculty of Commerce, where she co-convenes the university’s postgraduate programmes in Programme Evaluation. Her work has supported multilateral agencies, governments and non-governmental organisations, while training the next generation of evaluators to work across paradigms with rigour and reflection.

Professor Chapman’s research challenges conventional notions of evidence and highlights evaluation as a tool of justice and equity. She has published widely on participatory methods, culturally responsive evaluation and theory-based approaches that interrogate whose knowledge counts and how success is defined. Her lecture will explore how evaluation, when used reflectively and inclusively, can help address urgent global challenges such as poverty, inequality and systemic injustice.

• Register to attend the lecture.

This lecture is open to the entire UCT community and the public. I encourage you to join, listen and actively participate in this important academic occasion as we celebrate the achievement of our colleague while reflecting on the ideas and values that continue to shape our university.

Sincerely

Professor Mosa Moshabela
Vice-Chancellor

Read previous communications:

• From the UCT Executive
• Campus Announcements