DTP Chair Holders

The DTP Chair Holders

Five faculties host a Desmond Tutu chair for an initial period of five years starting in December 2008: the Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS), the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (FEWEB), the Faculty of Human Movement Sciences (FBW), the Faculty of Theology (FGG), and the Faculty of Medicine at VU Medical Centre.

Chris Elbers

Professor Chris Elbers is the Desmond Tutu Chair Holder of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration. He studied econometrics and mathematical economics at the University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands and obtained his doctoral degree from VU University Amsterdam. From 1984, he is a member of the Development Research Group in the Economics department at the VU University and as of 1994, he has been associate professor at the same university. The Development Research Group focuses on applied microeconomic research in developing countries, in particular countries in Sub-Sahara Africa. Chris Elbers is fellow of the  European Union Development Network (EUDN), the Tinbergen Institute, and the Amsterdam Institute for International Development (AIID). His main research activities are in the fields of poverty measurement and impact evaluation.

The research programme within the Desmond Tutu Programme focuses on poverty and anti-poverty programs at the micro level of individuals and households, with a special emphasis on opportunities for youth.  Examples of research topics range from contributions to measurement of poverty and inequality to evaluation of the impact of anti-poverty programs. Examples are: studying regional differences of poverty incidence, analysing the national poverty line currently under development and comparing it to other poverty lines, and assessing anti-poverty programmes aimed at South African youth such as fee-free education and the school nutrition programme.

Prof. Chris Elbers held his inaugural address on October 14th, 2009.
To contact Prof. Chris Elbers: celbers@feweb.vu.nl

Prof. Chris Elbers in the media:
WK 2010: De kans van Zuid-Afrika

Stephen Ellis

Professor Stephen Ellis is the Desmond Tutu Chair Holder for the Faculty of Social Sciences. He is a historian by profession who obtained his PhD at the University of Oxford. His specialization is contemporary African history. He is also a senior researcher at the Afrika Studie Centrum in Leiden where he has taught in the Research Master course of African Studies. He has published several books and over a hundred articles on aspects of history and politics in South Africa, West Africa and Madagascar. He was formerly coeditor of the journal African Affairs and sits on the editorial boards of several journals.
His research focuses on conflict, violence and security in South Africa, on how and why actors turn to violence, how political violence can be distinguished from criminal violence, and what are causes of structural violence on both macro and micro levels.

Prof. Stephen Ellis held his inaugural address on September 23rd, 2009.
To contact Prof. Stephen Ellis: ellis@fsw.vu.nl

Prof. Stephen Ellis in the media:
On the ANC
Zuid-Afrika en het WK
Seasons of Rain: Africa in the World : Launch in England 
 
 

Geert Savelsbergh

Professor Geert Savelsbergh is the Desmond Tutu Chair Holder of the Faculty of Human Movement Sciences. He studied Human Movement Sciences at VU University Amsterdam and also obtained his PhD at this university. His major interest lies in the role of visual information in the guidance and regulation of movement. His research group, entitled “Perceptual-motor control: development, learning and performance”, is part of MOVE, the Faculty’s main research programme and is very internationally oriented. The research group examines these aspects with infants, children (with and without special needs) and with athletes in peak performance. With respect to peak performance, special attention will be given, in the years to come, to talent and talent development. Professor Savelsbergh is also editor of Infant Behaviour and Development, associate editor of International Journal of Sports Psychology and is part-time professor and programme leader of ‘Perceptual-Motor Control’ at the Manchester Metropolitan University (United Kingdom).

The research for the Desmond Tutu Programme will focus on decision-making skills of young football players. Successful actions in play require a high degree of proficiency in both perceptual and motor skills and an effective combination of the two. Studies have shown that experienced players are better in anticipative information processing than novice players. The mechanisms involved will be studied in a group of young talented South African football players, who are not very experienced yet, in one project focusing on the individual level, and in another project on the team level. An aim of this research is to identify parameters for talent identification.

Prof. Geert Savelsbergh held his inaugural address on September 30th, 2009.
To contact Prof. Geert Savelsbergh: gsavelsbergh@fbw.vu.nl

Prof. Geert Savelsbergh in the media:
On his inaugural lecture (Dutch)
Also on the inaugural lecture (Dutch)

Eddy Van der Borght

Professor Eddy Van der Borght is the Desmond Tutu Chair Holder of the Faculty of Theology. He studied German Philology in Louvain, Belgium, and Protestant Theology in Brussels, Belgium, and obtained his PhD degree at the Leiden University.From 2002, he has been working at the VU University Faculty of Theology and his research focuses on aspects of systematic theology and ecumenical research. He has published on theology of ministry, ecclesiological topics and the relation between faith communities and ethnicity and is the editor of Studies in Reformed Theology and of the Journal of Reformed Theology. He coordinates theological activities of the United Protestant Church in Belgium. He is currently Research Fellow at the Faculties of Theology of the University of Stellenbosch and of the University of the Free State.

 The programme of the Desmond Tutu Chair at the theological faculty of VU University Amsterdam focuses on the identity of religious communities in relation to their potential for reconciliation and conflict in South Africa. Sometimes religious communities play an important role in uniting society, while in other cases religious communities act as shelter for people who feel estranged from the dominant political and/or social culture, offering a home they lack in the public domain. At other occasions, religions refuse to define their relevance in terms of public welfare, and claim to be a religion without ulterior motive.

Consequently, the concrete theological self-understanding of religious communities and religious organizations differs and changes over time according to the identity markers and the chosen roles, in reaction to changing contexts. And as a consequence, the reconciliation potential of religions is not self-evident either and can become part of the problem. Religious communities in South Africa offer a challenging opportunity for case studies on the theme of religious communities, identity and reconciliation, and their role before, during and after Apartheid.

Currently one South African PhD student is working on a contextual theology of embodiment that gives support to the development of a more holistic theology of reconciliation in South Africa. Another South African PhD student starts work on the various interpretations of the symbol of reconciliation in theological literature emanating from the South African context between 1968 and 2010. A third South African PhD student will soon start research on the theology of reconciliation of archbishop Desmond Tutu as it has been developed in the context of Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Prof. Eddy Van der Borght held his inaugural address on October 7th, 2009.
To contact Prof. Eddy Van der Borght: eajg.van_der_borght@th.vu.nl

Prof. Eddy Van der Borght in the media:
On his inaugural lecture (Dutch)

Marceline van Furth

Professor Marceline van Furth is the Desmond Tutu Chair Holder of the Faculty of Medicine. She studied Medicine at VU University Amsterdam and did her specialisation at the Juliana Children’s Hospital in The Hague. She obtained her PhD at Leiden University Medical Center.

As part of the Children’s Infectious Diseases Diagnostics Centre at VUmc (KIDS in Dutch), she runs a project in the Western Cape, South Africa, the Tuberculous Meningitis Township Project. The aim of this project is to provide children infected with tuberculous meningitis (TBM) with home treatment in stead of admitting them to hospital for a long time.
The project is a collaboration with Prof. dr. Johan Schoeman of the Desmond Tutu Tuberculosis Centre in Cape Town. Since the initiation of the project, Prof. Marceline van Furth and Dr. Johan Schoeman have constantly been improving the public health infrastructure making the home treatment possible. At the moment, the rate of children who finish the home treatment is 85%. An important aim of the project is to be able to provide home treatment for TBM for the whole of the Western Cape.
More about the Tuberculous Meningitis Township Project on this website, the website of the Children’s Infectious Diseases Diagnostics Centre at VUmc or the Project’s website: http://www.thetownshipsproject.org.

Prof. Marceline van Furth held her inaugural address on January 28th, 2010.
To contact Prof. Marceline van Furth: am.vfurth@vumc.nl