2025 FLIA PhD Dissertation Award Winner
2025 FLIA PhD Dissertation Award Winner
FLIA is pleased to announce Dr Shingi Masanzu as the recipient of the 2025 FLIA PhD Dissertation Prize, recognising outstanding doctoral research that advances critical perspectives on Africa and global development.
Dr Masanzu completed her PhD at the LSE in 2024. Her award-winning dissertation examines the prominence of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the development imagination, critically engaging with the widely held assumption that private sector participation and private capital are central to achieving development outcomes.
Inspired by her professional experience in development finance, the research explores the perceived inevitability of PPPs and their practical consequences. While focused on infrastructure, the dissertation opens up broader questions about how public-private arrangements are shaping development approaches across sectors such as governance, health, and education.
Shingi Masanzu is a lawyer with over 15 years of experience in international development and private practice. She serves as Senior Counsel at the World Bank’s legal department and plans to return to private practice in early 2026. Her work covers development finance projects across energy, infrastructure, education, health, and governance sectors, spanning Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
Before joining the World Bank, she was an associate at a top New York law firm focused on mergers, acquisitions, and capital markets. Shingi earned her PhD from the London School of Economics in 2024, researching public-private partnerships in infrastructure. She also holds degrees from the University of Cape Town and New York University School of Law, where she was a Hauser Global Scholar.
Reflecting on the award, Dr Masanzu said:
“I am deeply honoured by this recognition from the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa. I am grateful to the Law School for creating the space for my research, and to my supervisors, Dr Margot Salomon and Dr Jan Kleinheisterkamp, for their guidance and intellectual generosity.”