Dr Nimrod Zalk is Chief Research Officer: Climate and Development at the University of Cape Town’s Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance.

Dr Zalk is a development economist focused on green industrialization and development finance in Africa. He has over 20 years’ experience in trade and industrial development research; policy formulation and implementation; and development finance. Until July 2023 he served as Deputy Director-General: Sectors in the South African Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) and as non-executive Director of the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) of South Africa.

He holds an MSc and a PhD in Economics from the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies. He has authored a number of policy documents (notably South Africa’s National Industrial Policy Framework); academic publications; and opinion pieces, including on the role of development banks in African green industrialization. He is co-founder of the annual African Programme on Rethinking Development Economics (APORDE).