Tshilidzi Marwala

Tshilidzi Marwala is the Rector of the United Nations (UN) University and UN Under-Secretary-General. He was Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Johannesburg. Marwala is a scholar and thought leader with multi-disciplinary research interests that include the theory and application of artificial intelligence to engineering, computer science, finance, social science, and medicine. He is committed to leveraging technology and global connectedness towards the pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals. Marwala's previous appointments include serving as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Internationalization and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at the University of Johannesburg; and as the Carl and Emily Fuchs Chair of Systems and Control Engineering as well as the SARChI Chair of Systems Engineering at the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand. He is a fellow of the World Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Science of South Africa, the African Academy of Sciences and the South African Academy of Engineering. Marwala holds a doctorate specializing in Artificial Intelligence and Engineering from the University of Cambridge and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University.