Lucie Cluver is a Professor of Child and Family Social Work, in the Department of Social Policy and Intervention, and an Honorary Professor in Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town since 2009. She is a Professorial Fellow at Nuffield College.

She works closely with the South African government, UNICEF, UNDP, USAID-PEPFAR, UNODC, the World Health Organisation and other international agencies, to provide evidence that can improve the lives of children and adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa.

Professor Cluver has an exceptional track record of impact, and in recent years has been selected as a winner of: the European Research Council Public Engagement with Research Award 2024; Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences 2023; the University of Oxford Vice Chancellor’s Innovation Award 2022; the International AIDS Society Excellence in Research with Children Award 2022; the UK Research and Innovation International Impact Award 2021; UKRI Women in Science (2021); the European Union Horizon 2020 Impact Award. In 2019, she was recognised as one of UKRI’s 15 Women with Impact in Research, and in 2025 she was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the King’s Birthday Honours for her services to children’s wellbeing and to global public health.

Lucie is lucky to work with an incredible and dedicated team of PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and colleagues. Together, they lead large-scale longitudinal surveys and randomised controlled trials of interventions, combined with participatory research with adolescents and young people.

Lucie was the Principal Investigator for the UKRI GCRF Accelerating Achievement for Africa's Adolescents Hub from 2019-2024, and from 2022 Co-PI of the Global Parenting Initiative. As an example, during COVID-19, Lucie and Professor Jamie Lachman led the COVID-19 Emergency Parenting Response, working with WHO, UNICEF, UNODC, CDC, and USAID to develop evidence-based open-source resources for lockdowns and school closures. These reached over 210 million people in 198 countries and territories, and were used by 34 governments in their national COVID responses.