I am Rudolf du Plessis, from Johannesburg, South Africa. I am a foreign and economic policy analyst by training. I am experienced in climate change, urbanisation and infrastructure development projects from both the development bank and research perspectives. I have published and consulted on topics such as Multilateral Development Banks and Development Finance Institutions (such as the World Bank, New Development Bank and the KfW Development Bank); and on issues such as urban development, infrastructure finance, urban food security, climate change  and China-Africa relations. Prior to joining MESCI, I worked in the consulting and research spaces. This includes 2 years as an Economic Diplomacy researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) in Johannesburg and over 3 years  studying and working in the management consulting space in China. From April to October 2018, I had to opportunity to work at the KfW Development Bank in Germany. I joined MESCI and Mundus Urbano because of the multi-disciplinarity of the course and in hope to approach urban development from multiple aspects of economics, politics, development finance as well as urban design. As a citizen of South Africa, I feel that if I am not aiding in finding ways to sustainably mitigate the negative impacts of rapid urbanisation and climate change in the developing world, I am contributing to them. It is in this regard that the MESCI programme is a career-changing opportunity that will bring me closer to my goal of working for a multilateral organisation. Most importantly, I am looking forward to new challenges and new friends!