Economics PhD candidate awarded UKZN Doctoral Research Scholarship

BY: .

School of Accounting, Economics and Finance PhD candidate, Mr Adebayo Kutu, has won the 2016 UKZN Doctoral Research Scholarship.

The Scholarship is awarded to one PhD candidate in each College who is in the top five percent in the categories of intellectual strength, research aptitude and purposefulness as motivated by evidence.

Kutu obtained his BSc degree in Economics from the University of Ilorin-Nigeria and furthered his qualifications in 2011 by obtaining a BCom Honours degree at the University of Limpopo where he received an award for being the second best student sponsored by Economic Research Southern Africa.

Then in 2013, he graduated with his Masters of Commerce degree at UKZN.

His doctoral research supervised by Dr Harold Ngalawa focuses on the Monetary Policy Shocks and Industrial Output in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, a group of emerging market economies (EMEs) with similar interests generally referred to as BRICS.

‘This is cutting-edge research work with a strategic importance in boosting the growth of the industrial sector and employment generations,’ explained Kutu.

Kutu has presented his research in this area at several international conferences, including the recent International Journal of Arts & Sciences Conference held at Harvard University in the United States and locally at the South African Reserve Bank and the School’s postgraduate research seminars.

He has also published several journal articles while others are currently under review by ISI accredited journals.

Kutu said being awarded the scholarship would financially empower him to improve the quality of his research.

‘I am not only happy because the award comes with a number of zeroes but I am also happy that UKZN created the leverage for me to compete with my peers. I would like to advise young students to push hard in their studies, no matter how difficult things are and seize all the opportunities available to them,’ he said.

Thandiwe Jumo