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SRU Members

Acting Director

Prof Hervé Fritz

Position:  Acting Director Sustainability Research Unit
Department:  Sustainability Research Unit
Current Projects: Coupling behavioral and community ecology to understand the role of trophic relationships in the functioning of conservation orientated socio-ecological systems
Research interests: Wildlife management; the interface between theoretical and applied sciences; social-ecological system dynamics.
Qualifications:  PhD in Ecology (UPMC Paris)
Online Profiles: Research Gate | Google Scholar

 

Dr Dirk Roux

Position:  Research Associate, Adjunct Professor & Manco member
Department:  Sustainability Research Unit
Research interests: Processes of adaptive management, adaptive governance and knowledge co-production; science for protected areas and protected areas for science; conservation of freshwater ecosystems 
Qualifications:  PhD (UJ)
Online Profiles: Google Scholar

 

Dr Chloe Guerbois

Position:  Post-doctoral fellow
Department:  Sustainability Research Unit
Current Projects: My current projects focus on theoretical and applied interdisciplinary research on the dynamics of social-ecological systems including protected areas in Southern Africa:
  • Social-ecological sustainability in coastal areas, MAGIC project
  • Indigenous biodiversity indicators of environmental change, PIAF project
  • Effects of climate change on a biodiversity dependent savanna socio-ecological system, SAVARID project
Host: Prof Christo Fabricius
Research interests: Complex systems, protected areas, natural resources, biodiversity conservation, human-wildlife coexistence, vulnerability transfers, indigenous knowledge, ecosystem services, value systems, connectedness.
Study areas: Garden Route, Hwange National Park, Niassa Game Reserve
Qualifications:  PhD in Ecology (MNHN Paris)

 

Prof Christo Fabricius

Position:  Professor Emeritus
Department:  Sustainability Research Unit
Current Projects:  CARMa-Afrika: Capacity for African Resource Management (www.carma-afrika.com). Community-based natural resource management in Africa
Research interests: Resilience, transformations and adaptive co-management in disorderly social-ecological systems
Qualifications:  PhD (Cape Town), MSc (cum laude) (Wits)
Online Profiles: LinkedIn | Google Scholar

 

Dr Bianca Currie

Department:  Sustainability Research Unit
Current Projects: The Transdisciplinary Education Collaboration for Transformations in Sustainability | FUTURE21 - strengthening the capacity of South African Higher Education Institutions to advance sustainable socio-ecological systems through interdisciplinary education, capacity building and collaboration.  | Science education in biosphere reserves.
Research interests: Social ecological systems, social learning, public participation and stakeholder engagement, adaptive co-management, eco-system services, biosphere reserves, landscape level conservation initiative, trans-disciplinary research.
Qualifications:  PhD (Nelson Mandela University)
Online Profiles: LinkedIn | Research Gate

 

Dr Jean Nel

Department:  Sustainability Research Unit
Current Projects: Co-productive agility and four collaborative pathways to sustainability transformations. | From global and national targets to local action
Research interests: Social-ecological systems, transformative change, knowledge co-production, biodiversity and ecosystem services, and sustainability science.
Qualifications:  PhD (Cape Town)

 

Dr Virginie Rougeron

Position:  Research Associate
Department:  Sustainability Research Unit
Current Projects: Chacma baboon's evolutionary adaptation. | Pathogen's evolutionary history  and adaptation: a focus on malarial agents. | Genomic adaptation of wildlife to aridity as a tool for conservation
Research interests: Evolutionary history, adaptation to new environments, population genomic and genetic tools, wildlife management
Qualifications:  PhD in Ecology and evolution of pathogens

 

Dr Franck Prugnolle

Position:  Research Associate
Department:  Sustainability Research Unit
Research interests: Adaptation to environment; Population genomics; Pathogens of wild animals; Conservation biology.  
Qualifications:  PhD in Ecology and Evolution (University of Montpellier, France)

 

Dr Izak Smit

Position:  Senior Scientist, South African National Parks | Research Associate, Nelson Mandela University (Sustainability Research Unit) | Extraordinary Lecturer, University of Pretoria (Department of Zoology and Entomology) | Senior Research Fellow, University of the Witwatersrand (School for Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences)
Department:  Sustainability Research Unit
Current Projects: Protected area management and conservation science |Applied conservation ecology, with a focus on savanna ecosystems | Applying remote sensing and GIS techniques to explore spatio-temporal ecological patterns and drivers thereof | Social-ecological systems | Human-nature connectedness | Translating management concerns into research frameworks/questions and translating research results into management implications and actions
Qualifications:  PhD (University of Cambridge, UK)
Online Profiles: Research Gate | Google Scholar | SAN Parks

 

Dr James Sekonya

Position:  Acting Director Sustainability Research Unit
Department:  Sustainability Research Unit
Research interests: Interactive forms of resource governance across scales | Equitable access and sustainable resource use | Informal commercialisation and resource-based livelihoods
Phone: 044 801 5061
Qualifications:  PhD (UCT)

 

Dr Ernst Dube

Department:  Sustainability Research Unit
Current Projects: Manageing soil-vorne diseases in conservation agriculture.
Research interests: Sustainable soil fertility management, Conservation and regenerative agriculture, Soil organic carbon sequestration and soil health, Wheat agronomy and cultivar performance, Climate-smart agriculture, Sustainable cropping systems in Africa
Phone: 044 801 5017
Qualifications:  PhD (University of Fort Hare)

 

Dr Peter Novellie

Position:  Research Associate
Department:  Sustainability Research Unit
Research interests: Adaptive management and adaptive governance of social-ecological systems, with particular reference to governance of wildlife conservation in South Africa.
Qualifications:  DSc (Pretoria)

 

Professor Robert Fincham

Position:  Research Associate
Department:  Sustainability Research Unit
Research interests: Landscape scale appreciation of African landscapes; Monitoring & Evaluation of development initiatives & food security.
Qualifications:  PhD (Rhodes)

 

Tatenda Mapeto

Position:  Doctoral student
Department:  Sustainability Research Unit
Current Projects: Mater balance processes in indigenous and introduced tree production systems. | Study area: Southern Cape region. | Promoters: Prof Jos Louw, Dr Mark Gush and Dr Richard Bugan

 

Dr PC Renaud

Position:  Associate professor, Angers University (France) and Research associate SRU-IRL REHABS
Department:  Sustainability Research Unit
Current Projects: CASEST : Antropogenic Constraints on Tropical Socio-ecosystems. | Afrobiodrivers : Dynamics of African biodiversity: interactions between ecological processes and conservation actions
Research Interests: Agriculture/Protected area interfaces, spatial ecology, Protected areas management, Human/Nature corexistence.
Qualifications: PhD in Rennes (France) : feeding behaviour of red deer (Cervus Elaphus) and its impac on natural forest regeneration

 

Dr Samantha McCulloch-Jones

Position:  Researcher with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) - Water Center| Research Associate Nelson Mandela University
Department:  Sustainability Research Unit
Current Projects: Situational analysis of alternative drinking water supplies in South Africa | Implementation readiness and monitoring framework for community spring water development schemes in Vhembe District | Groundwater resource assessment, governance and sustainability for rural water supply in Vhembe District villages | Governance, health risk, and resilience in rural and peri-urban communities in South Africa | Nature-Based Solutions for wastewater management.
Qualifications: PhD (Nelson Mandela University)
Online Profiles: LinkedIn | Research Gate
Professional Registration: SACNASP Pr. Sci. Nat 154109

 

Dr Marion Valeix

Position: Research Director at the French CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research) | Director of the Hwange ‘Zone Atelier’ (LTSER)
Department: Sustainability Research Unit
Current Projects: Understanding the impacts of climate change on predator-prey interactions in African mammal communities; understanding the role of elephant carcasses in predator-prey interactions.
Research interests: Behavioural ecology of interspecific interactions.
Institutional websites: cefe.cnrs.fr | za-hwange.cnrs.fr
Qualifications: PhD in Ecology (Paris)

 

Dr Shashi Cullinan Cook

Position: Research Associate
Department: Sustainability Research Unit
Current Projects: Many Worlds, Shared Futures: Exploring pluriversal approaches to sustainability education; Beyond Siloes: sustainable heritage futures; Moon Fika: reflections on/for nature connection.
Research interests: Pluriversality and 'many worlds' approaches to sustainability education; creative sustainability practice; relational rituals for nature connection and regeneration; knowledge co-production; relationship between social-ecological research and heritage; transformative education.
Institutional websites: ORCID
Qualifications: PhD in Higher Education (University of Johannesburg), Masters in Art History & Visual Culture; BFA Fine Art (Rhodes University)
Online profiles: GoogleScholar | LinkedIn | ResearchGate

 

 






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