An Evening with Templeton Prize Laureate Prof. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela

Prof. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela has spent a storied career understanding the human possibility for forgiveness and reconciliation in the aftermath of historic traumas. Her concept of “the reparative quest” has become a powerful framework for healing in societies grappling with legacies of violence.

At The Conduit, in collaboration with Stellenbosch University, the 2024 Templeton Prize Laureate reflects on her life’s work with The Conduit’s co-founder and CEO, Paul van Zyl. From insights from her time on South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), to research on the psychology of trauma and forgiveness, we will explore her ground-breaking work on reconciliation.

Join us as we celebrate Prof. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela’s remarkable achievement as the 2024 Templeton Prize Laureate – a prestigious global honour with former laureates including Desmond Tutu, Jane Goodall and the Dalai Lama – recognising her contributions to the pursuit of social healing, justice, and human dignity.

Event Schedule

6:00pm: Pre-event socialising and networking

A cash bar will be available for refreshments.

6:15pm: Event begins

7:30pm: Event ends

Schedule:

Prof. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela is the South African National Research Foundation’s Chair in Violent Histories and Transgenerational Trauma and the Director of the Centre for the Study of the Afterlife of Violence and the Reparative Quest at Stellenbosch University. She is a former commissioner on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Human Rights Violations Committee, and author of the internationally acclaimed A Human Being Died That Night. Accolades for her work include the Alan Paton Award and the Christopher Award, the Claude Ake Visiting Chair in the Peace and Conflict Research Department at Uppsala University, Sweden; Distinguished African Scholar at Cornell University’s Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies; The Walter Jackson Bate Fellowship at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute and the Eleanor Roosevelt Award. In 2024 Prof. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela was named as the Templeton Prize Laureate – a distinguished honour awarded to those who harness the power of the sciences to explore the deepest questions of the universe and human existence.