Dr Montagu Murray holds the following five degrees from the University of Pretoria, all with distinction: BA, BA Honours, BD, MDiv and DD. His academic studies included pre-graduate studies in Wabasha, Minnesota in the USA and post graduate research at the Universities of Utrecht and Leiden in the Netherlands. Since 1999 he has been involved in research projects for the Centre for the Study for AIDS, ISWEN at the University of Pretoria, the Dutch Reformed Church and the Witness Forum of Mamelodi / Lusaka and an extensive number of projects for NOVA Institute on contract for industries, developmental institutions, universities, and government.

Dr Murray has distinguished himself as researcher. He has published several articles in peer reviewed journals, lectured at the University of Pretoria and he has presented his research on various occasions on a national and international level. He is a core member of the Functional Household Programme Team who won the THRIP EXCELLENCE AWARD from the South African minister of Trade and Industry in 2005 in the category Social Development as well as the team that won the Leadership in Air Quality Award from the National Association for Clean Air (NACA) in 2018. Dr Murray’s has more than 20 years’ experience in developing quality-of-life solutions for low-income households in the Southern African contexts.

He is currently the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nova Institute. His work experience includes participation in the development of the Nova Institute from a small to a medium scale organisation. In addition to management skills, Dr Murray renders expertise and leadership in research and development assignments, often in multi- and transdisciplinary projects that include qualitative and quantitative methods directed at the quality-of-life improvement of low-income households. Dr Murray is a Director of the NOVA Institute. He is married to Dr Carien Murray. They have two daughters Renée, and Marita.