Blessings Masuku

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I am an environmental and human geographer who applies both spatial and environmental justice lenses to study the intersections of indigenous knowledge systems, food, environment, policy, and planning. I hold a PhD in Environment and Geography from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. I am currently a Postdoc Fellow at the University of Pretoria under a UKUDLA program funded by African German Centre for Sustainable & Resilient Food Systems & Applied Agricultural and Food Data Science. Before joining the University of Pretoria, I was a visiting Postdoc Research Associate at the School of Architecture at Princeton University from 2024-25, and Fox Fellow at the McMillan Centre for Area and International Studies at Yale University from 2023-24. My current research project explores data science, indigenous knowledge, and urban agriculture nexus, particularly how data science can be harnessed with Indigenous knowledge system to leverage and optimize local food system. As an interdisciplinary scholar, I advance cutting-edge ideas on African food system, indigenous knowledge and biodiversity on urban agriculture, social and environmental justice, food security and nutrition, and infrastructure systems that shape our food system. As a qualitative researcher I adopt a Food Imbizo Approach which is an inclusive collaborative learning network platform that brings together key stakeholders to confront the stigma of hunger, food and nutrition insecurity and other social and environmental injustices.

As a career driven learning and development specialist and researcher with 8 years’ experience in training and development, and 3 years of those in academic research and development. My mission involves helping clients in the following areas of specialization namely:
• Training Management (managing learnerships, internships, skills programs & on-the-job training, and candidate placements)
• Learning &Development (Conduct training needs analysis, Compile Workplace Skills Plans and Annual Training reports for all business units, liaise with Seta’s to identify strategic industry programs and apply for funding or grant opportunities)
• Instructional design and Content development for all L&D and Seta programs
• Research & Development (teaching, content writing, data collection, data analysis, peer review)
• Consultancy in L&D, training, registration, and compliance of training service providers

Experience

  • 2025–present
    Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Pretoria
  • 2024–2025
    Postdoctoral research associate, Princeton University
  • 2023–2024
    Research fellow, Yale University
  • 2021–2022
    Research assistant, University of Kwa Zulu Natal
  • 2016–2020
    Project lead manager , iCollege

Education

  • 2024 
    University of Cape Town, Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental & Geographic Studies
  • 2019 
    University of Fort Hare, Masters in Development Studies cum laude
  • 2017 
    University of Fort Hare , Bachelor of Commerce Hons Development Studies

Publications

  • 2025
    The Façade of “Transforming” Post-apartheid Universities in South Africa: Towards African-Centred Practices and Processes of Redress, Springer International Publishing
  • 2025
    Methodological approaches in regional analysis of Global South contexts: Prospects for South Africa and beyond, Routledge
  • 2024
    REIMAGINING SOUTH AFRICA’S URBAN FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION THROUGH THE LENS OF INFORMAL FOOD SECTOR: THE CASE OF BUFFALO CITY MUNICIPALITY, Journal of Inclusive Cities and Built Environment4 (7), 57-70
  • 2024
    Rethinking South Africa’s household energy poverty through the lens of off-grid energy transition, Development Southern Africa 41 (3), 467-489
  • 2023
    Questioning governance of urban informality: A study of township economy in Alexandra, Johannesburg, ournal of Foresight and Thought Leadership 2 (1), 20
  • 2021
    The South African informal sector’s socio-economic exclusion from basic service provisions: A critique of Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality’s approach to the informal sector, Journal of Energy in Southern Africa 32(2): 59–71

Grants and Contracts

  • 2022
    Rethinking urban nutritious food through the lens of infrastructure assemblages: The case study of street food vending in Alexandra Township, Johannesburg
    Role:
    PhD funding
    Funding Source:
    Andrew Mellon Foundation
  • 2021
    : Rethinking urban community development through the lens of urban food security: the case of township economy in Duncan Village, Eastern Cape, South Africa
    Role:
    PhD funding
    Funding Source:
    NRF Innovation Scholarship

Professional Memberships

  • Urban History Association
  • The Fox International Fellowship Alumni Network
  • South African Society of Geographers

Contact Blessings for

  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision