Bio
Gerard Boyce is a micro-economist who holds a PhD in the area of Behavioral Economics. He read for his degree through the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He harbours a wide variety of professional interests, ranging from the effect of psychosocial variables such as hope and perceptions of racial hierarchy on economic attitudes to the inter-relationship between environmental factors and outlook/future orientation.
Before joining the School of Development Studies, he worked as a social science researcher and health economist at the Health Economics and HIV and AIDS Research Division (HEARD) and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). During this time he gained extensive experience in undertaking primary and secondary research through his involvement in a range of projects that were commissioned by provincial and national government departments and several multilateral organisations. In particular, he was engaged in projects which sought to estimate the costs and evaluate the cost effectiveness of a range of social interventions.
He firmly believes that applied social science research, and academic enterprise and the tools of academic inquiry in general, can be used to gain insights which could inform policies and interventions which are better able to foster sustainable development and have a meaningful societal impact. Based on this conviction, he has begun collaborating with several local civil society organisations in an attempt to partner with them to effect social change.
Courses
- Economics for Development I and II, Quantitative Research Methods. He looks forward to supervising his first Masters and PhD students this year.
Publications
- Boyce, G. forthcoming. Hope levels in South Africa. World Encyclopedia of Hope.
- Boyce, G. 2014. Hope Scale. In: Michalos AC (ed.). Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer, 2925 – 2926.
- Boyce, G. 2010. Youth voices in South Africa: Echoes in the Age of Hope. In Benjamin Roberts, Mbithi wa Kivilu and Yul Davids (eds.), South African Social Attitudes: The 2nd Report Reflections on the Age of Hope. HSRC Press, Cape Town.
- Desmond, C and Boyce, G. 2006. A healthy attitude? In Udesh Pillay, Benjamin Roberts and Stephen Rule (eds.), South African Social Attitudes: Changing Times Diverse Voices. HSRC Press, Cape Town.
- Boyce, G. forthcoming. Nuclear endgame: The geopolitical calculus behind South Africa’s nuclear energy programme. Alternation.
- Boyce, G and Harris, G. 2012. Hope the beloved country: Hope levels in the new South Africa. Social Indicators Research. doi: 10.1007/s11205-012-0112-y
- Boyce, G and Harris, G. 2011. A closer look at racial differences in the reporting of self-assessed health status and related concepts in South Africa. Health SA Gesondheid, 16 (1): Art. #559, 9 pages. doi:10.4102/hsag. v16i1.559
- Lund, C., Boyce, G., Flisher, A., Kafaar, Z and Dawes, A. 2009. Scaling up child and adolescent mental health services in South Africa: human resource requirements and costs. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50(9):1121 – 1130.
- Desmond, C., Bland, R., Boyce, G., Coovadia, H., Coutsoudis, A., Rollins, N. and Newell, M. 2008. Scaling-Up Exclusive Breastfeeding Support Programmes: The Example of KwaZulu-Natal. PLoS ONE, 3(6): e2454. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002454
- Boyce, G. 2006. Potential Gender Dimensions of a Kidney Trafficking Market in South Africa. Agenda, 70(1): 58 – 66.