Phakama Ntshongwana is a Professor in the Department of History and Political Studies and holds a DPhil in Comparative Social Policy. Her research interests include social policy in developing countries; social citizenship and identity.  Her Social Security research has had a gender focus, in particular experiences of women in receipt of the Child Support Grant in relation to their children, the labour market and their communities. She is developing this research further by investigating the role of government’s emergency economic and social relief measures to alleviate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on low income families.