Change the world
Sustainability Research Unit George Campus
Leader & Manco member
PhD (Nelson Mandela University)
Projects Supervising:
Research interests:
Social learning, participatory processes and methods, complex social ecological systems, adaptive co-management, inter and transdisciplinary research.
Contact details: bianca.currie@mandela.ac.za
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Professor Emeritus
PhD (Cape Town)
Current Projects:
Communities of practice, adaptive co-management and social-ecological transformation in the Garden Route
Vulnerability, social learning and mal-adaptations to climate change
Resilience, transformations and adaptive co-management in disorderly social-ecological systems
Contact details: christo.fabricius@mandela.ac.za
Find me on Google Scholar… or Linked In…
Research Associate, Adjunct Professor & Manco member
PhD (UJ)
Research Interests:
Conservation of freshwater ecosystems, sharing the benefits derived from their services, and the role of Protected Areas in achieving this, processes of adaptive management, cooperation and trans disciplinary learning.
Contact details: dirk.roux@sanparks.org
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Manco member, Professor for Botany Department & Director of ICMR (Institute of Coastal and Marine Research).
PhD (UPE)
Estuary habitats and response to anthropogenic impacts and climate change.
Impacts of climate change on mangroves and adaptations to their environment.
Structure and function of temporarily open/closed estuaries.
Environmental water requirements of estuaries in the Gourtiz water management area.
Water quality management of the Swartkops Estuary.
Environmental flow requirements of estuaries; response of mangroves and salt marshes to climate change; estuary health assessments, monitoring and management plans; ecophysiology of salt marsh plants
Contact Details: janine.adams@mandela.ac.za
Department of Political and Conflict Studies
DPhil (Nelson Mandela University)
Trans-disciplinary research projects that interrogate deep-rooted, intractable conflict with an emphasis on Africa.
Current research focus is the role of collective emotion, communal memory and narrative in the manifestations of violence in post-conflict societies and communities.
Conflict resolution interventions and facilitation include conflict management systems design, conflict analysis and ‘mapping’, negotiation and mediation for inter alia civil society, government and non-governmental organisations and business.
Contact Details: lyn.snodgrass@mandela.ac.za
SRU Administrative Coordinator
BA Hons Psychology (Nelson Mandela University)
Contact details: Luzanne.Visagie@mandela.ac.za
Tel: (044) 801 5127
Statistician
MSc (UNISA)
Contact details: jeanette.pauw@mandela.ac.za
Research Associate
DSc (Pretoria)
Adaptive management and adaptive governance of social-ecological systems, with particular reference to governance of wildlife conservation in South Africa; the impact of grazing on biodiversity and spatial heterogeneity.
Contact details: novellie@netactive.co.za
PhD (Rhodes)
Landscape scale appreciation of African landscapes; Monitoring & Evaluation of development initiatives & food security.
Contact details: Fincham@ukzn.ac.za
Research Associate, Adjunct Professor
PhD in Ecology (UPMC Paris)
Wildlife management; the interface between theoretical and applied sciences; social-ecological system dynamics.
Institutional websites:
Contact details: hrv.fritz@gmail.com
Find me on Research Gate and Google Scholar.
Specific place-based strategies for building resilient landscapes within risk hotspots
From National Freshwater Conservation targets to local action
Water management and policy within the fields of biodiversity, ecosystem services and human wellbeing and sustainability science.
Contact details: jnel4water@gmail.com
PhD (UCT)
Ecological Risk Assessment, Aquatic Ecology, Water Quality, Ecotoxicology, Geographical Information Systems.
Contact Details: james@confluent.co.za
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PhD Veterinary Science (Onderstepoort, University of Pretoria)
Research interest:
Freshwater ecology, aquatic food webs, eutrophication, water quality, drought, ephemeral waterbodies, biodiversity, fish kill diagnosis and fish health, mine rehabilitation.
Contact details:
Tel: 083 2563159
Email: Jackie@confluent.co.za
Website: www.confluent.co.za or find us on Facebook
Find me on LinkedIn
PhD (University of Johannesburg)
Alternative governance mechanisms to enable sustainable transformation in the socio-economic-ecological nexus; agri-cultural and agri-processing value chains, with the aim of specifically benefiting socio-economically and ecologically vulnerable communities;exploring new economic pathways and opportunities created by the rapidly growing Green Economy
Contact details: karinb@iafrica.com
PhD
Sustainable social-ecological systems; natural resource management, especially fisheries; marine policy development; biodiversity conservation. Specific topics of interest include use of historic ecological data, shifting baselines, stewardship, invasive species management, risks and opportunities in seafood value chains, and mechanisms that enable effective knowledge transfer.
Email: jaco.barendse@gmail.com
Find me on ResearchGate or Google Scholar or ORCID
Post-doctoral fellow
PhD in Ecology (MNHN Paris)
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
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
Contact details: Chloe.Guerbois@mandela.ac.za
Doctoral student
Title of current project:
Measuring and modelling water use in tree production systems: Perspectives from regulated and wild invasion plant communities.
Study area: Southern Cape region
Promoters: Prof Jos Louw, Prof Christo Fabricius and Dr Mark Gush
Contact details: tatenda.mapeto@mandela.ac.za
Title of research project: Development of a regional alien and invasive species management plan for Eden district and GIS Decision Support System (DSS)
Study area: Eden District
Promotor: Prof Christo Fabricius and Dr Anton de Wit
Title: Promoting systemic and adaptive governance in conservation: a national protected area expansion project
Study area: Associated G.E.F 5 projects in Western Cape, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape
Promotors: Peter Novellie, Dirk Roux and Bianca Currie
Contact details: Samantha.mcculloch@mandela.ac.za
Social-ecological systems approaches to integrated water management: The Swartkops Estuary as a laboratory
Aims and Objectives:
Study Area: Swartkops Estuary, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape
Duration of project: 2017
Promoters: Prof Christo Fabricius and Dr Gavin Snow
Contact details: s197486860@mandela.ac.za
Small-scale organic farming and the use of the Participatory Guarantee System(PGS) in rural and peri- urban South Africa: case studies of farmers in Garden Route Western Cape and Giyani.
Study Area: Giyani (Limpopo) and the Garden Route ( Western cape)
Promoters: Prof Raymond Auerbach & Prof Robert Fincham
Contact details: JamaM@mandela.ac.za
Msc Nature Conservation
Identifying the relationship between baboon raiding deterrent methods and crop height in George, Western Cape, South Africa.
Study Area:
George and surrounding areas.
Promoters: Dr Brandi Wren and Dr Bianca Currie
Contact details: s212247158@mandela.ac.za
Msc Forestry
Assessing community engagement programmes to mitigate uncontrolled fires in forest plantation-community interface, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa.
Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa
Promoters: Prof Coert Geldenhuys and Dr Bianca Currie
Contact details: nontethelelor@mandela.ac.za
Participative mapping and comparison of cultural ecosystem services (CES) that flow from a neighboring national park and protected environment.
Mountain Zebra National Park & Mountain Zebra-Camdeboo Protected Environment.
Promoters: Prof Dirk Roux and Dr Bianca Currie
Contact details: pertuniampapane@gmail.com
SRU/NRF Interm
BSocSci Honors in Environmental and Geographical Studies (University of Cape Town)
Environmental policy and governance, complex human-ecological systems, human-environmental interactions
Supervisors: Dr Bianca Currie and Prof Herve Fritz
Contact details: lindasekhoto@gmail.com
Doctoral Student
Migration patterns, behaviour and ecology of male elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the Hwange-Shangani corridor: Implications for elephant conservation.
Study area: Shangani ranch, Hwange National Park, Corridor (Ngamo, Sikumi, Gwaai, Bembesi, Umgusa, Lake Alice and Gwampa forests)-Zimbabwe
Promotors: Prof Hervé Fritz and Dr Jan Venter
Biodiversity conservation especially in human dominated landscapes, human-wildlife coexistence, wildlife behaviour, ecosystem function and resilience.
Contact details: pmakumbe7@gmail.com
Phd in Animal, Plant and Environmental Science (University of the Witwatersrand)
Biodiversity and conservation in human dominated landscapes, natural resource use and rural livelihoods, and Savanna ecology
Contact details: mambiba@gmail.com
Msc Ethology and Ecology
Current project:
Baboon plasticity and how they adapt to their new environment changed by the fire. I am currently working on the impact of the fire on their home range and on the daily activity of 10 individuals. I am following baboons from sunrise to sunset and studying their behaviour. The aim of this study is to have a better understanding of their ecology to find solution for a better cohabitation on campus.
Nelson Mandela University, George Campus and surrounding area
Interactions between human and wildlife, preservation of the environment and wildlife, cohabitation of human and wildlife.
Promoters: Dr Chloé Guerbois and Prof Hervé Fritz
Contact details: maud.czerwinski@gmail.com