Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Profile topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Chilizi Marwala traces path from Venda village to rector of United Nations University
Summary
Chilizi Marwala, rector of the United Nations University in Tokyo, describes growing up in Venda, his journey to a PhD in AI and his priorities at UNU, including widening access to AI literacy and carrying UN values to wider communities.
Chilizi Marwala, rector of the United Nations University in Tokyo, told interviewer Melissa that he grew up in the village of Dutuni in Venda and that early influences shaped his academic path. "I grew up in the village called Dutuni. I love the energy. I love the people," he said, describing an upbringing he characterized as "a period of transition" during apartheid-era separate development.
Marwala traced a line from family and community to his scientific career: his father served as a pioneering math teacher in the community and his grandmother taught him to listen closely to human interactions and to work with clay pots—an experience he later tied to engineering concepts. "If it rings for a long time, it's a good pot," he said, connecting that sensory judgment to signal analysis in engineering.
He described academic stops in the United States and the United Kingdom that shaped his research and worldview, including attending a science conference in Johannesburg and studying at Imperial College. Since becoming rector, he said UNU pursues three missions: to serve as a UN think tank, to be an educational institution, and to carry UN values to broader populations through its global institutes.
