Halfdan Lynge is a Senior Lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Governance. He has more than 15 years of experience as an academic, public servant, and governance consultant.

Halfdan is a research fellow in the Johannesburg team of the Centre for Sustainable, Healthy and Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods, working mainly on machine learning analyses of neighbourhood formation.

Halfdan completed his doctoral degree at the University of Oxford and previously worked at the University of Cape Town. His research in comparative politics and political economy has been published in international peer-reviewed journals, including European Political Science Review and Studies in Comparative International Development.

Between 2005 and 2011 Halfdan worked as a governance and elections expert with the UN in Africa and Asia. His last post was as special assistant to the UN Resident Coordinator and head of the UN Resident Coordinator’s office in Bangladesh, where he supervised a team of advisors to the UN country team.

Halfdan is the founder and board chairman of Sauti, a Mozambican polling and public opinion research company. In addition, he has consulted for the World Bank, the European Commission, United Nations Development Programme, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, and other political foundations.