Dr Benjamin Roberts
Mr Ben Roberts is the Acting Research Director within the Develomental, Capable and Ethical State (DCES) division at the HSRC. He has a BSc in town and regional planning (cum laude) from the University of the Witwatersrand and an MSc in urban and regional planning (development) (cum laude) from the University of Natal.
Before joining the HSRC, he was research fellow in the Population and Poverty Studies Programme at the School of Development Studies at the University of Natal.
His areas of research interest include the analysis of poverty and inequality dynamics, sustainable livelihood development, poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs), and monitoring progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
He has extensive experience in the micro-econometric analysis of household surveys, with a particular emphasis on the measurement of poverty. He was one of the researchers involved with South Africa?s first large-scale panel study, the KwaZulu-Natal Income Dynamics Study (KIDS, 1998), as well as Department of Land Affairs' Quality of Life surveys. In addition, he has assisted various Southern African states in respect of PRSPs and MDG processes.
He worked with the UNDP and Government of Lesotho to help develop mechanisms to monitor poverty and evaluate the impact of poverty reduction measures. He also helped prepare that country's first Millennium Development Goals Report and recently completed a review of Lesotho's PRSP process for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
More recently, he has conducted poverty and inequality analysis for Namibia?s MDGR, run training on national poverty line specification in Zimbabwe, and participated in a scoping exercise to help inform the design of DFID's envisaged regional hunger and vulnerability programme for Southern Africa.
Part B Public Opinion Surveys on POPIA and PAIA
The purpose of the overall study is to assess the broader publics understanding of their right of access to information, the process of exercising the....
SASAS (Surplus funds)
he 2024 International Social Surveys Programme module is on work orientation and is currently being developed. South Africa, through the HSRC SASAS te....
Social Norms and Behaviour tracking: Measuring Attitudes to Corruption in SA - (GIZ)
The objective of the project is to provide credible evidence-based data that promotes a shared understanding of let drivers and enablers of corruption....
By Election Study Phase 2
Building on the work in Phase 1, the focus of this component of the research would entail working with the Electoral Commission in order to: (i) inclu....
Study 4: on promoting greater Citizen participation in Electoral Democracy in South Africa
It is widely acknowledged, not only in South Africa, but also globally, that electoral democracy is in recession, with declining voter participation d....
NRF Funded:The Citizens Environmental Awareness Index (CEAI) Development and Implementation Project
The CEAI is meant to provide a measure of the environmental literacy of the South African population which, in turn, provides a tool to measure the im....
STUDY 2: Adoption of Election Technologies
One of the strategic objectives of the Electoral Commission of South Africa is to ???provide cutting edge, stable, secure ICT environment that meets a....
STUDY 3: By-Election Research (PHASE 1)
One notable gap in relation to this series is monitoring dynamics and developing a more nuanced understanding of context in relation to municipal by-e....
STUDY 1: Public Perceptions and Knowledge of the Political Party Funding Act (PPFA)
The Commission will be able to undertake its responsibilities more effectively if there is a broader awareness and understanding of the PPFA, includin....
The 2021 Social Unrest in South Africa: Primary survey-based research
With reference to the unrest in KZN and Gauteng and its far-reaching social and economic impacts on the country, this research is to better understand....
National Health Insurance Project (NHI)
AIM: 21- 22 FY: To assess South African's public perceptions and attitudes towards NHI and the confounding effects of Covid-19. More specifically th....
UJ-HSRC Covid-19 Democracy Survey
The main aim of this UJ-HSRC COVID-19 Democracy Survey was to provide critical social data with which to understand public perceptions of the economic....
University of the Witwatersrand DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development (B Roberts)
Generation of Change South African Attitudes Towards Climate Change in Comparative Perspective. ....
New parental leave in the South Africa South Attitudes Survey - SASAS Module
To include 5 paternity leave questions in the SASAS module, analyze the 5 paternity leave questions in the SASAS module and to present the descriptiv....
Limpopo 2020: Evaluating Armed Forces Day
The main aim of this study is to determine the impact of Armed Forces Day 2020. Armed Forces Day will be held in Limpopo on 21 February 2020 and a co....
4th Industrial Revolution &Human; Development (OPP2019-4IRHD-6)
One (1) paper in press or published To produce one journal article/s for an accredited journal Submit evidence of the submission, acceptance and/or p....
Vision 2018 (IEC)
Understand the level of employee knowledge and awareness of Vision 2018 To evaluate the extent to which organisational experiences match up to the gui....
Curating, Mining and Analysing Successive Electoral Commission Surveys
To trace all datasets pertaining to elections done by the HSRC on behalf of the Electoral Commission since 1999 To create a single dataset which comb....
NRF-DST Understanding of South African attitude to Climate Change & Energy (SASAS)
Global Change Grand Challenge: Release of 35386.22 approved on grant 114618 (B Roberts) for Running Expenses....
SANDF - Armed Forces Day Project
More specifically the research will aim to determine if: (i) The event served to unite South Africans behind the SANDF; (ii) The event allowed the SA....
Constructing an Intermediate Deprivation Measure for Wards in the City of Johannesburg
HSRC and members of SASPRI have collaborated for many years on issues relating to deprivation. The first ward-level South African Index of Multiple De....
Family Cohesion, Values and Strengthening in promoting Family well-being in South Africa
The broad objective of the study is to enhance knowledge of family-related dynamics, cohesiveness, orientations and preferences (hereafter referred to....
Profiling Livelihood Assets in South Africa
The main objective of this study is to improve our understanding of the dynamics of poverty, unemployment and inequality within South Africa. This wil....
Social Cohesion: The Missing Link in overcoming Violence and Inequality
The overall purpose of the project is to deepen our knowledge of violence, and consequently our ability to respond to it in Cities in the Global South....
The Relationship between Spatial Inequality and Attitudes in South Africa
This Pathfinder Research Project has been jointly funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC, UK), National Natural Science Foundation o....
IEC Exit Poll Survey (Election Satisfaction Survey (ESS) Project
The intention of an exit poll is to determine the experiences of voters on Election Day. Experiences are fresh in the minds of the selected voters and....
South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS)
The South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS, www.hsrc.ac.za/sasas) is a nationally representative, repeated cross-sectional survey that has been ....