Mark Swilling is a Professor in the Centre for Sustainability Transitions, Stellenbosch University, where he holds the South African Research Chair in Mainstreaming Gender for Energy Security in Poor Urban Environments. He has been a member of the United Nations-affiliated International Resource Panel since 2007 and is appointed by the South African President as a Commissioner on the National Planning Commission. Over the past four decades he has published widely on urban social movements, governance, state capture, African development challenges, just energy transitions, long-wave theory, finance, infrastructure and sustainability transitions.