Institute for Well-being and Development

“Poverty is a highly differentiated experience. Even in what appear to be uniformly impoverished communities the distinctions are far greater than we’ve ever understood.

We are bringing exceptional science to the most needy and least understood social infrastructures.”

The Institute for Wellbeing and Development will study rapid and complex changes in health and development, and explore how poor, marginalised and vulnerable people can realise their potential in society.

Wits is already the hub of international research networks looking at poverty, health and disease, migration, livelihoods and the family in rural and urban settings.

The Institute will study the causes and consequences of vulnerability and resilience, and how to intervene most effectively. It will cast new light on social challenges with global dimensions, and will help governments to get the best return on their investment in health, education and related sectors.

The Institute builds on the capabilities and reputation of Wits in public health, child health and clinical medicine, social and political science including population and migration studies, policy and management sciences, molecular biosciences, computing and statistics, applied mathematics, and environmental sciences.

It is based on more than 20 years of internationally significant long-term rural and urban research at the University. The Institute’s work will build on the efforts of an array of academics and hundreds of local field staff already working with households and communities in Wits’ key rural and urban development study areas.

Scientists in these studies already enjoy close partnerships with leading universities and research groups in the US, UK and Europe, and are leaders in comparative developmental research networks in Africa, Asia, and South America.

The location of Wits’ longitudinal research and development platforms in areas of great need enables researchers to get to grips with society’s most intractable problems. They enable academics to go beyond simple descriptions and to analyse the primary causes of development failures. This evidence-based methodology is fundamental to determining where social investment has the greatest impact.

Researchers at the Wits Institute for Wellbeing and Development will play a key role in evaluating the impact of government policy on the ground, and how existing interventions benefit those at whom they are aimed. The Institute will be known for the analytical and technical competence of its research output, and its impact on all deprived people living within middle or low income settings.