Sefa Awaworyi Churchill holds the RMIT Distinguished Professor tile. He is Co-Director for the RMIT Centre for African Engagement and Director for the RMIT Centre for International Development. He is an internationally recognised applied economist whose research and leadership advance the sustainable development goals in various ways. His scholarship is inter-disciplinary and focuses on development economics, energy and environmental economics, health economics and behavioural economics. He is a Stanford/Elsevier top-cited researcher, ranked in the top 2% of researchers worldwide for five consecutive years (2021 to 2025), and has published over 160 academic works in prominent journals including Journal of Business Venturing, Research Policy, Journal of Economics Behavior & Organization, Energy Economics, Social Science & Medicine, and World Development, among others. In 2020 and 2021, he was named by The Australian among Australia’s top 40 young researchers and top 5 in the broad field of social science. RePEc also ranks him among the top 5 economists in Australia over the last decade.

Sefa has been the recipient of a number of prestigious academic research awards including the Australian Research Council (ARC) DECRA and an Endeavour Fellowship Award, a government scheme which allows Australia’s highest performing researchers to conduct research in alignment with the government’s strategic priorities. His research has garnered over $5.6 million in competitive funding, including grants from the ARC, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, and Plan International. His work has shaped international policy conversations and guided actionable change for marginalised communities, and he remains committed to addressing pressing social and economic challenges. He actively collaborates with academic, government, and international organisations including the United Nations, the Australian Government, Indian Government and Asian Development Bank. He is committed to promoting evidence-based policy and building lasting partnerships for sustainable and equitable development.

Sefa regularly contributes as a visiting scholar both within Australia and internationally, most recently as a Resident Fellow/Scholar at the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research. He previously worked with Princeton University as a Fung Global Fellow, contributing to policy-relevant research on sustainable futures. As an award-winning educator, Sefa brings a capacity-building ethos to his teaching and mentoring, supporting the next generation of researchers and thought leaders across diverse backgrounds.

Sefa received his doctorate in economics from Monash University. He holds masters degrees in educational leadership (Melbourne), public health (UNSW), construction management (Melbourne), health leadership and management (UNSW), business and financial economics (Greenwich, UK) and a BSc (Hons) in mathematics (KNUST, Ghana) and BPsych (Hons) (JCU). He serves as an Associate Editor for Energy Economics (ABDC A*/Q1) and Energy Research and Social Science (Q1), which are two leading field journals.