Current position: Lecturer at the Department of Earth Science, University of the Western Cape
NRF rating: Y2 (2021-2026)
Scopus h-index: 12 (approx. 353 citations by 206 documents)
Scopus author identifier: 56435772100
ORCID: 0000-0002-3221-3444
Publons profile: https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/J-8451-2017
In 2010, I graduated with distinction from the Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Geology (integrated MSc degree) and Faculty of Pedagogy (MEd degree). MSU is in the top 100 universities in the world. From 2010 to 2011, I worked as a research engineer at the Institute of Experimental Mineralogy, Russian Academy of Sciences (IEM RAS), Chernogolovka, Russia. In early 2012, I was enrolled in the Doctoral School “DOGMA” (“Deformation of Geological Materials”) at the University of Vienna, Austria, where I received a Doctorate in 2015. From my Ph.D. project, I published 9 peer-reviewed papers.
I completed two Postdoctoral fellowships (2015-2019) at the Geology Department, University of the Free State, and then served as a Senior Lecturer in Practical and Optical Mineralogy (2nd year), and Plate Tectonics (Hons) in the same Department (2019-2020). In early 2021, I took a lectureship position at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa, where I presently teach Structural Geology (2nd year), Geotectonics (3rd year), and Advanced Structural Geology (4th year/Honours). I organize and lead Honours field trips focussed on geological mapping, sampling, and structural geology.
I supervise and mentor postgraduate students at all levels, from Honours to Postdocs. All of my graduates are successful in industry or academia. For example, my former Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Clark is a Senior Lecturer at the UFS and a holder of a multi-million Hans Merensky Foundation grant. One of my MSc students (Mr. Floyd Mautle), graduated with Magna Cum Laude (2022) and is presently working on his Ph.D. thesis at the University of Ontario, Canada. Ms. Sarafina Mandevhu has submitted her MSc thesis and is employed at the Rosh Pinah mine, in Namibia. Mr. Bayley, whose Honours thesis I supervised in 2022, is employed by MinRom mining consulting company in the Western Cape; and Mr. Mphilo whose Honours thesis I supervised in 2019, is a mine geologist at Barberton Mines Limited.
I am an author of 37 peer-reviewed publications in accredited international journals. I received multiple national and international awards and grants, including the Freestanding Postdoctoral Fellowship from the NRF, the Alexander von Humboldt scholarship for experienced researchers at the GFZ-Potsdam (Germany), and the NRF rating in the Y category. In the last 4 years, I sourced external funding and in-kind support through national and international funding agencies and organizations, which exceeds a total of 3 million Rands.