SRU Members

Prof Hervé Fritz

Acting Director Sustainability Research Unit

PhD in Ecology (UPMC Paris)

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.

Institutional websites:

Contact details: hrv.fritz@gmail.com

Find me on Research Gate and Google Scholar.

Dr Dirk Roux

Research Associate, Adjunct Professor & Manco member

PhD (UJ)

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 

Contact details: dirk.roux@sanparks.org

Find me on Google Scholar...

Dr Chloe Guerbois

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:

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

Contact details: Chloe.Guerbois@mandela.ac.za

Prof Christo Fabricius

Professor Emeritus

PhD (Cape Town), MSc (cum laude) (Wits)

Current Projects:

 -  CARMa-Afrika: Capacity for African Resource Management (www.carma-afrika.com)

 - Community-based natural resource management in Africa

Research Interest:

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…

Dr Bianca Currie

PhD (Nelson Mandela University)

Current project involvement

  • Governance models implemented in biosphere reserves: progression towards social ecological systems for sustainability.
  • Collaborative management of the Outeniqua and Tsitsikamma Strategic Water Source Areas
  • Exploring the value stakeholders hold of the presence of free roaming elephants in the Knysna forest.

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.

Contact details: bianca.currie@mandela.ac.za

Find me on Linked In…

Dr Jean Nel

PhD (Cape Town)

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.

Contact details: jnel4water@gmail.com

Dr Virginie Rougeron

Research Associate

PhD in Ecology and evolution of pathogens

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

Websites :

Personal Site

CNRS

Google Scholar

Research Gate

Contact details :

rougeron.virignie@gmail.com and virginie.rougeron@cnrs.fr

Dr Franck Prugnolle

Research Associate

PhD in Ecology and Evolution (University of Montpellier, France)

Research interests:

Adaptation to environment; Population genomics; Pathogens of wild animals; Conservation biology.  

Dr Izak Smit

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)

PhD (University of Cambridge, UK)

Current Projects and Research Interests:

  • 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

Contact details:

izak.smit@sanparks.org

Institutional website

Google scholar profile

Researchgate profile

Dr James Sekonya

PhD (UCT)

Current Projects/Research Interests

  • Interactive forms of resource governance across scales
  • Equitable access and sustainable resource use
  • Informal commercialisation and resource-based livelihoods

Contact number

044 801 5061

james.sekonya@mandela.ac.za

gjsekonya@gmail.com

Dr Ernest Dube

School of Natural Resource Management

PhD (University of Fort Hare)

Current projects: Manageing soil-vorne diseases in conservation agriculture.

Research interests:

Conservation agriculture, Sustainable soil management and Plant production.

Contact details: Ernestd@mandela.ac.za

Dr Janine Adams

Manco member, Distinguished Professor, Deputy Director of the Institute for Coastal & Marine Research (CMR).

PhD (UPE)

Research themes and interests: 

  • Estuary conservation and management – including environmental flow requirements, ecological health, and importance indices 
  • Blue carbon ecosystems and responses to climate change – salt marsh, mangroves, seagrasses 
  • Water quality management and harmful algal blooms 

 My research successfully links science, policy and management through extensive collaboration and networking. We are implementing action research to inform the restoration of estuaries for the delivery of multiple ecosystem services.

Contact details:

Janine.Adams@mandela.ac.za

Find me on Google Scholar

Research Gate

Dr Peter Novellie

Research Associate

DSc (Pretoria)

Research interests:

Adaptive management and adaptive governance of social-ecological systems, with particular reference to governance of wildlife conservation in South Africa.

Contact details: novellie@netactive.co.za

Professor Robert Fincham

Research Associate

PhD (Rhodes)

Research interests:

Landscape scale appreciation of African landscapes; Monitoring & Evaluation of development initiatives & food security.

Contact details: Fincham@ukzn.ac.za

 

Tatenda Mapeto

Doctoral student

Title of current project:

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

Contact details: tatenda.mapeto@mandela.ac.za

Dr PC Renaud

Associate professor, Angers University (France) and Research associate SRU-IRL REHABS
PhD in Rennes (France) : feeding behaviour of red deer (Cervus Elaphus) and its impac on natural forest regeneration

Title of current project:

  • 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.

Contact details: pierre-cyril.renaud@univ-angers.fr