Herrie Schalekamp holds a PhD degree in civil engineering and a Master of Philosophy degree specializing in transport studies from the University of Cape Town (UCT). His work focuses on public transport reform and related institutional and academic capacities in Sub-Saharan African cities.
He is a research associate at the Laboratoire Ville Mobilité Transport at École des Ponts ParisTech and an adjunct senior lecturer at the Centre for Transport Studies (CfTS) at the University of Cape Town. Prior to this he held a research officer position at UCT, from 2009 to 2021.
From 2008 to 2013 he was closely involved in the setup and management of the African Centre of Excellence in Transport, a VREF-funded international partnership between 3 African universities, to create a hub of expertise on public and non-motorized transport in Africa.
Since 2014 he has worked as an independent consultant with global and regional organisations, including the World Bank, the Africa Transport Policy Programme, the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations (VREF), Codatu, and the South African National Treasury.
Herrie has been closely involved in developing and presenting several degree-purpose modules, professional development courses and knowledge-sharing workshops in public transport and paratransit improvement. He also played a key role as convenor and lead training facilitator on a 3-year paratransit capacity building programme in Cape Town.
He has been the co-ordinator and co-facilitator of an online course for young academics in Sub-Saharan Africa, which ran in 2022 and 2023, was hosted by Senghor university, designed by Mtracs and funded by the VREF. This course will take the form of an open access interactive online handbook that will be available by early 2025.
He has published widely and is a frequent participant in industry and academic events.