Dr. Adelia Jansen van Rensburg was appointed as the WTO–WCP Chair of South Africa in November 2024. She is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Economic Sciences at North-West University, South Africa, where she teaches economic and trade-focused subjects, including International Trade Relations. Her involvement with the WTO Chairs Programme dates to 2017, when she joined TRADE as a postdoctoral research fellow and contributed to the Programme’s research, curriculum development, and outreach initiatives.
Before entering academia, Dr. Jansen van Rensburg worked as a diplomat in the Directorate: Trade Policy Development and Research at the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Secretariat, supporting SACU’s trade negotiations work programme.
She has authored several publications aimed at strengthening trade policy development. Her research interests include the evolving global trade landscape, the design of trade policies for diverse national and regional contexts, and the tensions between the WTO’s multilateral approach and the growth of bilateral, regional, and continental preferential trade agreements. She is also interested in how shifting geopolitics shapes trade and policy.
Dr. Jansen van Rensburg holds a PhD in International Trade and is a trade economist with extensive expertise in global and regional trade governance, trade agreements, and negotiation processes. Throughout her career, she has collaborated widely across government, academia, and the private sector. She has a longstanding collaboration with South Africa’s Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC), beginning in 2007 when the NWU-TRADE Export Promotion Research Group supported government in identifying viable export opportunities. She contributed to the National Strategic Framework for Promoting South Africa’s Services Exports in 2018/2019 and continues to support DTIC through research, including a recent study on reforming the WTO Dispute Settlement System to enhance accessibility and inclusivity for developing countries.
As WCP Chair, Dr. Jansen van Rensburg envisions the team playing an increasingly influential role in supporting government to design trade strategies that advance South Africa’s and Africa's long-term trade and development objectives. She is equally committed to empowering researchers, students, and policymakers to deepen their understanding of the international trading system and leverage trade policy as a catalyst for economic growth and development.