Victoria Delbridge

South Africa

Economics for Development (MSc), 2018
St Cross College, Oxford

Funding: Louis Dreyfus-Weidenfeld and Hoffmann

Victoria dedicated most of her academic studies to understanding the economics of food security as a means to achieving poverty alleviation in her home country South Africa. Her passion for research in this regard is clear, with one paper selected for presentation at the Agricultural Economists Association of South Africa, and another awarded as the top economics thesis focussing on development in Southern Africa. During her undergraduate years, Victoria was a founding project leader of two innovative community food gardening projects backed by Engineers Without Borders. She was also part of a volunteer team working on the rehabilitation of deforested areas in Zambia. 

After graduating, Victoria worked as an economic researcher for the Department of Economic Development in Cape Town, focussing on directing policy towards sustainable and inclusive development solutions.  She is now Head of Cities and Work fro the International Growth Centre. Victoria is passionate about the interplay between sustainability, social agency and female empowerment in Africa, and see’s food security at the heart of this nexus.