Shaakira Karolia is a first-year PGR student at King's College, studying towards an MPhil/PhD in Development Studies. She is a senior policy adviser with over 15 years of experience spanning economic development, public policy, infrastructure finance, financial markets and government.

She currently serves as Ministerial Adviser in South Africa's Department of Electricity and Energy. In this capacity, Shaakira leads the country's Independent Transmission Projects Programme, a pioneering initiative to mobilise private investment in transmission infrastructure. Her work encompasses electricity market reform, infrastructure investment, institutional governance and international development partnerships.

Prior to her current appointment, Shaakira held senior positions across South Africa's public sector, including Head of Infrastructure Finance and Investment at Infrastructure South Africa and Chief Economist and Economic Adviser to the Executive Mayor of South Africa’s capital city. Her earlier career included experience in financial markets at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and academia as a junior lecturer of Economics at the University of Pretoria.

Her research interests lie at the intersection of political economy, infrastructure governance, state capacity and development, with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa.

Shaakira holds an MBA from the University of Oxford (with distinction) and a Master's in Econometrics from the University of Pretoria (cum laude).

Research

Thesis Title: Wires of Influence: Power, Reform and the Political Economy of Transmission in Sub-Saharan Africa

My research examines the political economy of private sector participation in electricity transmission infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa, investigating why reform efforts have frequently stalled despite the sector’s critical importance for economic development, energy security and energy transitions.

Moving beyond conventional technical and financial explanations, the study explores how political settlements, institutional legacies, ideological contestation and competing interests shape infrastructure investment and reform outcomes. Drawing on political settlements theory and energy justice frameworks, it interrogates the relationship between state authority, political power and the distribution of economic opportunity.

Through a comparative qualitative analysis centred on South Africa and a second Sub-Saharan African country, the research seeks to explain how differing political and institutional configurations shape transmission reform trajectories. It aims to contribute to broader scholarly debates on infrastructure governance, state capacity and the political economy of development, while informing more equitable and politically viable energy transitions across Africa.

PhD Supervision 

Principal Supervisor: Dr Barnaby Dye

Secondary Supervisor: Dr Matthew Tyce