PROF SANDRA LIEBENBERG
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What is your field of specialty, and could you please give a brief explanation of it?
My general field of research is human rights law, but I specialise in socio-economic rights as fundamental human. Socio-economic rights are the rights such as rights to adequate housing, food, water, health care, social security, and education. These rights are recognised and protected as human rights because they are essential for people to live with human dignity and to participate equally in society. My research focuses on how these rights can be more effectively implemented, monitored, and enforced both in South Africa and internationally.
How would you say does your research contribute to the concept of “research for impact”?
Throughout my career I have been involved in a range of activities that aim to promote the practical realisation of socio-economic rights. These include educational initiatives; supporting government institutions in drafting laws and policies that will help realise these rights; advising civil society organisations in campaigns and litigation aimed at protecting and advancing socio-economic rights; and serving on the boards of various organisations specialising in these rights.
A highlight of my career was being elected a member of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2017 – 2021). I also served for 2 years as Vice-Chair of this Committee. In this capacity, I could also help advance the protection of these rights in the international arena.
I have always found a strong mutual synergy between my practical engagements to advance socio-economic rights and my research. These engagements have shaped my research and helped it to be relevant and responsive to contemporary challenges. At the same time, I have been able to apply my research to help make a difference in how the law impacts on the lives of disadvantaged and marginalised communities.
What does attaining an A-rating mean to you professionally, and personally?
For many years my research has felt like an uphill struggle to get socio-economic rights recognised as fully-fledged human rights, particularly against the background of South Africa’s generally conservative legal culture. In the early days, specialising in socio-economic rights was not accepted by many in the mainstream legal community as a legitimate area of research. But I had a very strong ethical and political commitment to persist based on my understanding of the socio-economic ravages of colonialism and apartheid, and my critique of the way contemporary neoliberal capitalism undermines human dignity and creates deep patterns of inequality.
Receiving this A1 Rating feels like a vindication of my decades of work in this area, and an indication that my field of speciality has now come of age as a field of research both in South Africa and internationally. This is now a flourishing area with many young scholars taking the field in new and exciting directions.
What do you enjoy most about your job and what are the aspects that you find challenging?
I very much enjoy research, but over the years have found it particularly challenging to carve out sufficient time to devote to the reading and writing that is required to produce quality research. The demands of teaching, administration and evaluation have increased over the years, and put pressure on research time for both older and younger academics. I also find postgraduate supervision very rewarding. It complements my research and enables me to mentor younger scholars branching out into new areas. It is gratifying seeing many of them evolve into leading researchers or practitioners and making an impact on law and policy.
What is the biggest piece of advice that you would give early-career researchers and those who are aspiring to become leaders in their respective research fields?
It is very important for early-career researchers to do their best to carve out sufficient time for research and to negotiate this as much as possible within their environments. They should also tap into all the sources of support, training, and mentorship available to them. It is also important to believe in oneself, and not to be afraid to branch into new areas of research. However, don’t take short-cuts and do the necessary rigorous groundwork to ensure that your research has a broad and long-term impact. Don’t compromise on quality!
What do you do for fun (apart from research!)?
Spending time with my husband (who has been an enormous support to me over many years); walks in nature, birdwatching, reading, yoga, and vegetable gardening.
Prof Sandra Liebenberg is Distinguished Professor and HF Oppenheimer Chair in Human Rights Law in the Faculty of Law, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. She previously served as Chair of the Technical Committee advising the South African Constitutional Assembly on the drafting of the Bill of Rights in the post-apartheid Constitution. She is a former member and Vice-Chair of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. She has published widely in the field of socio-economic rights, and has been involved public interest litigation, community education and advocacy in this field over several years. She is currently Chair of the Maastricht IV Drafting Committee, a project to prepare Principles and Guidelines on the Human Rights of Future Generations. In 2022 she was recognised by the National Research Foundation as a leading international scholar in her field, receiving its highest rating, an A1.