Kate is currently working on the Compact programme.

From 2015 to 2018 she was part of the Practices of the State in Urban Governance (PSUG) research programme at Wits, which looked at state practices and urban change from the perspective of the global South. She has worked for a number of non-governmental organisations over the years, including the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) and the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI), and has conducted research on housing, water services, informal settlements, local government, urban governance, and law and social change in South Africa. Her interests lie in participation in the local state, in terms of practice, policy and institutional change. She has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in History from Rhodes University and an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge.