Zafeer Ravat

Zafeer is pursuing a Masters of Commerce degree in Development Economics at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa with focus on environmental policy research. His minor dissertation is aimed at investigating the optimal plastic-bag levy through hypothetical elasticity analysis applied in the South African context. He currently holds an honours Bachelor of Commerce Economics as well as a Bachelor of Commerce in Economics and Econometrics, both from the University of Johannesburg.

He is also a researcher at the Africa Centre for Evidence (ACE) and has worked on various systematic reviews related to socio-economic problems. His research interests’ lie in better understanding evidence use across Africa, the influence of knowledge translation into policy setting, behavioural economics and the role of big data within the developmental sphere.

As an incoming Queen Elizabeth Scholar at the McMaster Health Forum, Zafeer hopes to build his understanding of effective evidence use as well as gaining a better understanding of engaging with policy makers and responding to the needs of policy makers in an efficient and operative manner.