Meet the 2022 SAF-ADAPT Summer School Participants

Abenathi was born in 1998. She lives in Willowvale, a small town located in the Eastern Cape. She completed her high school at St Christopher’s Private School, and later she completed her tertiary studies at Rhodes University. She completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science and Geography in 2019 and furthered her studies where she completed an Honours degree in Environmental Science in 2020. She has been involved in different research projects at Rhodes University. In 2019 she took part in a research project with third year students, the project focused on consumer behaviour in plastic use in Grahamstown. She also conducted a research on the adaptation strategies of smallholder farmers to drought in Southern Africa in 2020. The research focused on identifying the adaptation strategies of smallholder farmers to drought.

Anesu, a Zimbabwean national who recently got a SAF-ADAPT scholarship to undertake a PhD program at the University of Venda. He is an merging, self-driven hydrologist with skills to assess surface water resources using modelling technics to project water availability into the future. He undertook my Masters at the same university where he quantified water resources availability in the Pungwe River Basin, a transboundary river shared between Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The project was meant to enhance rural livelihoods in a changing climate. Research work that enables rural development is his area of interest with an emphasis of enabling native scientists. Coming from a region that is struck by poverty, it becomes paramount to generate local based solutions to our problems. This drives me to seek learning and working opportunities in institutions that are diverse in aspects of environmental management so that he can become a seasoned environmentalist for the benefit of my region. He is excited to start my PhD program and work within the Vhembe Biome to alleviate rural lives through sound science.

Anna Van Eyck is a 24 year old student at the KU Leuven, mastering in Sustainable Development (Ecology track) with a bachelors degree in Biology. Professionally, Anna wants to contribute to the challenge of preserving our planets ecosystems' integrity, while striving towards a conscious and inclusive society. She likes to spend her spare time by photographing the fauna and flora in her garden at home, learning the Japanese language, and in pre-covid times by dancing with friends.

Dion is a Ph.D. student under the SAF-ADAPT scholarship at the University of Venda in Limpopo. His research passion is in hydro-climatology. He has worked within the Pungwe River Basin, quantifying climate change's impacts on water resources availability in its headwaters. Water source regions are his area of study. He is currently determining environmental flows for a headwater catchment to assess the vulnerability and adaptation options of the riparian communities. He likes the outdoors, climate-water-energy research, visiting and learning from other cultures, and having a good laugh.

Ariana is an Economist currently living in Belgium, where she studies to obtain an MSc in Sustainable Development at KU Leuven. She holds a specialization in ‘Leadership, climate, and cities’ by FLACSO, Ecuador. In 2020, she worked at the Ministry of Education in Ecuador, where she promoted environmental education. As an IWA member, she was designated the YWP Coordinator for the Governing Committee in the country in 2019. She is the Vice-chair of the new IWA Young Water Professionals Chapter in Ecuador.

Research interests: Climate change adaptation, Adaptation costs and benefits, Rural Development, Community engagement, Local economic development Agricultural economics and management

Qualifications: PhD Rural Development, Masters Rural Development, Bachelor of Agricultural Science Honours in Agricultural Economics and Management

Dr. Ephias Mugari is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the SAF-ADAPT project at the University of Venda. Dr. Mugari holds a PhD in Applied Ecology where he examined the relationships among climate change, vegetation dynamics, ecosystem service fluctuations, livelihoods and human adaptations in the semi-arid Limpopo Basin part of Botswana. His research aims to advance understanding of the role of ecosystem services to livelihoods relative to other livelihood sources, the vulnerability of rural households to environmental change, and identifying adaptation strategies that can promote both biodiversity conservation and livelihood security. His research interests are in transdisciplinary research, climate change adaptation, human-nature interactions, nature-based solutions, ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, agriculture and sustainability.

Fortunate attained her Master of Science degree in Geography from the University of Fort Hare where she also obtained her Bachelor of Science in Geography and GIS, and BSc Honours in Geography. From 2017 to 2020, Fortunate has been part of the group of students whose research focused on the Sub-Antarctic Marion Island. As a result, both her Honours and Masters research projects focused on rainfall and climate change on the Sub-Antarctic Marion Island, with specific focus on the trends, distribution, characteristics, associated air circulation patterns and the implications of climate change on rainfall. She has worked as an implementing agent for the Risk & Vulnerability Science Centre at the University if Fort Hare raising climate change awareness in communities. Fortunate is currently based at the University of Fort Hare where she is working on pursuing a PhD in Climate Adaptation under the SAF-ADAPT in 2021.

Hazel was born in 1999 in a small village called Nhombelani in the small town of Malamulele, Limpopo Province. Growing up, she was surrounded by nature and this shaped her love and passion for nature and the environment. In 2017, she enrolled with the University of Venda, studying Environmental Science with majors in Ecology and Resource Management and Geography. She completed her qualification in 2020 and thereafter, registered for an Honours Degree, majoring in Ecology and Resource Management. She has always been fascinated with Alien Invasive Plants and Climate change. For her Honours research, she decided to focus on Invasive Alien Plants, Pinus patula species (Pine trees) to be exact. She has worked as a tutor since 2019, assisting first year students. In past years she has also worked as a field assistant with a few postgraduate students while she was still doing her undergraduate. She recently worked as a research assistant at the Musina Makhado Special Economic Zone where her duties included doing research on the effects of coal mining on climate and local communities. Her passion for nature is her main drive and her goal is to be able to do research on climate change and adaptability because she feels like it will allow her to understand how changes in the climate affect people’s daily lives and development on the environment.

Dr. Hesekia Garekae is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the SAF-ADAPT project at the University of Cape Town. Dr. Garekae holds a PhD in Environmental Science from Rhodes University. His PhD thesis focused on the potential of urban green infrastructure in promoting liveable cities and enhanced livelihood resilience in South Africa. Dr. Garekae is an emerging scholar, who has published over 10 papers in peer-reviewed journals of reputable standing and also presented his work in several scientific conferences across the world. Dr. Garekae research interests intersect forests, urban green infrastructure, human-nature interactions, livelihoods and conservation. Of recent, he broadened his research scope to understand how ecosystem services could be harnessed to adapt to climate change. At ACDI, Dr. Garekae research focuses on social equity in nature based solutions. Besides academic, Dr. Garekae is an avid traveller, with Serengeti National Park on his bucket list.

A graduate of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology from the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. Research interests are around global change issues, building and maintaining sustainable ecosystems their biodiversity and services for sustainable development. Trained as a geologist at undergraduate, then quaternary science at honours, environmental and water sciences at masters, and then ecohydrology. Has also been part-time lecturer of GIS and hydrology in more than one University. Skilled in species distribution modelling, GIS, hydrological modelling and water quality management.

Jonas Simons is a 22 years old master student studying Bioscience Engineering at the KU Leuven in Belgium. Jonas travelled to Stellenbosch, South Africa to conduct his fieldwork for his thesis titled “The impact of drought stress in the fynbos ecosystem”.

Jutta Meylemans, is a 22-year-old Belgian student currently in the second year of the master Water Resources Engineering at KU Leuven and VUB. For her bachelor she studied Geography at KU Leuven. Jutta's thesis is on the mitigating effect of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems on the Urban Heat Island Effect in Cape Town, together with her promoter Boud Verbeiren at VUB and John Okedi at UCT. She will travel to Cape Town for the month of February to do research and install some temperature sensors around UCT campus for an in-depth case study.

Khothatso holds a Masters degree in Energy and Sustainable Development from the University of Cape Town (UCT). Prior to it, with a focus on Risk and Foreign Direct Investment flows in South Africa, she completed a Masters degree from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in Political Sciences. Her PhD focusses on the water-energy-food nexus by improving understanding of the nexus interactions in South Africa and further highlight the viability of the application of chosen adaptation programs. She enjoys research that studies humans as economic agents and the implication of their interactions with their surrounding natural environment. Khothatso is in an avid golfer, she loves taking nature walks, and enjoys contemporary dance.

Liezl graduated with BSc, BSc (Hons) and MSc degrees in Geoinformatics at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, under a scholarship from the South African Space Agency (SANSA). Her Masters research focused on developing a web application that allows farmers to estimate grazing capacity, sustainable productivity levels, overgrazing etc. using satellite imagery, dynamic ecosystem modelling and the Google Earth Engine cloud geoprocessing platform. The project aimed to promote more sustainable, robust and climate-smart rangeland management systems for the livestock industry in southern Africa. After completion of her Masters, she worked as a Remote Sensing and GIS Research Analyst on the TerraClim project at the Centre for Geographical Analysis (Stellenbosch University). This work focused on modelling the impacts of climate change on the South African winelands using satellite remote sensing, machine learning and regionalisation. Liezl also participates extensively in Google Earth Engine activities, including summits and workshops, and serves as a member of the Google Earth Outreach Trainer Network. Liezl has a keen interest in the intersection between geography, ecology, programming and data science and has a passion for transforming theoretical research into practical, community-orientated solutions. More specifically, she hopes to pursue a research career exploring the effects of climate change on various aspects of the environment and community and how remote sensing, big data and machine learning can be used to identify, predict and potentially address these effects.

Munzhedzi Lily is a qualified environmental scientist from Thohoyandou, Limpopo province, South Africa. She graduated with a BSc in Environmental sciences in 2018 and with an honour of Environmental Sciences in 2020, both from the University of Venda. She worked as a research assistant for Rhodes University in 2019 in the department of Environmental sciences, she also worked as a field research assistant for the Inkawu Vervet Project at Mawana private reserve in 2020, all this experience of working with natural scientists, academics and researchers helped her realize that there is a gap in research with regards to climate change, therefore she decided to be part of the solution and fill in that gap. She is passionate about the environment and climate change and wants to help people adapt to or overcome the challenges brought about by climate change, and doing a masters in Environmental sciences with a research focusing on climate change is the perfect way for her to reach that goal.

Martin is a Research Assistant at the Risk & Vulnerability Science Centre at University of Fort Hare. His research interests include application of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing to global change investigations.

Dr Mhlangabezi Slayi is a Postdoctoral fellow at Risk and Vulnerability Science Center based at University of Fort Hare. He hold at PhD in Agriculture with special interest in Livestock Science. Dr Slayi is a published scholar with strong research interest in community-based intervention models to climate change mitigation and adaptation in communal livestock production. His academic work has been published in various academic platforms including conferences and DHET accredited journals. Currently he is involved in two research projects: 1) Reintroducing indigenous cattle breeds as a climate-resilient model to improve welfare, performance and coping capacity of communal herds; and 2) Establishing the feedlot cooperative systems as a climate smart approach to greenhouse gas reduction and its contribution to improved welfare and production efficiency in communal owned cattle.

Ntandokazi Masimula is part of the SAF-ADAPT team as a PhD student. She is currently enrolled for a PhD with KU Leuven in Belgium in collaboration with the University of Cape Town. Ntandokazi research encompasses climate change adaptation within the South African context. The research builds on her interests on earth observation technology, global environmental/vegetation change and climate change. She holds a Masters in Atmosphere, Climate and Ecosystems from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden under the Swedish Institute Scholarship. Her masters focused on cropland and tree cover estimation in the Burkina Faso agroforestry parklands. She has worked as an intern with the Earth Observation unit at the Department of Science and Innovation as well as a research assistant with the Land Matrix Initiative on global large-scale land acquisitions. She aims to passionately contribute to the growing knowledge and development of climate change adaptation strategies in South Africa.

Ntsonkota Thobela Xolani is a self-confident, adaptable and organised masters student from the University of Fort Hare. Ntsonkota completed his Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics (Honours) at a University of Fort Hare from 2016 to 2019 and is currently is his second year of MSc in Agricultural Economics supported by SAF-ADAPT. Ntsonkota is a karate instructor with two Dojos (Karate club) and with 17 years of experience in karate.

Patrick Nyambo is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the University of Fort Hares’ Risk and Vulnerability Science Centre, working on a project entitled Water-Energy-Food communities in South Africa: multi-actor nexus governance for social justice? He holds a PhD in Agronomy. His research interests are climate smart agriculture, climate change. Water - Food - Energy Nexus and food security issue.

Saul is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Risk and Vulnerability Science Centre at the University of Fort Hare, South Africa. The Centre specialises in global and climate change issues. He holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics, MSc in Agricultural Economics and MBA. Saul has 3 year research experience on aspects of agricultural economics, climate change and rural development. He has authored numerous articles in peer reviewed journals, book chapters and technical reports.

Takalani holds a Bachelor of Earth Sciences (Hons) in Hydrology and Water Resources obtained from the University of Venda, Postgraduate Diploma in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) from the University of the Western Cape and Postgraduate Diploma in Environmental Management from Stellenbosch University. She completed her internship Programme at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) secondment to BBI Solutions Company to undertake Industrial Energy Efficiency (IEE) and Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production (RECP) Assessment. During this internship she managed to identify and quantify resource conservation opportunities for energy and water. She is extremely passionate about climate change and development research that is why she decided to join the African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI) to pursue Master’s degree specialising in Climate Change and Sustainable Development programme at the University of Cape Town. Takalani expectation is to gain knowledge, skills and understanding about this programme. Her study focuses on testing the climate change sensitivity of Voëlvlei dam in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. The expected outcome of her study will show the gaps that need to be filled in order to incorporate sustainable strategies to help mitigate and adapt to climate change in South Africa.

Thulani Ningi, Research assistant in the Risk and Vulnerability Science Centre, University of Fort Hare born in Keis Kammahoek (Qoboqobo) in the Eastern Cape Province South Africa. He attended high school at Phakamisani Senior Secondary School, in Keiskammahoek. In 2016, he obtained his first degree in Agriculture: Agricultural Economics at the University of Fort Hare. In 2017 he obtained his Honours degree in Agriculture: Agricultural Economics. In 2020 he obtained his Master’s degree in Agriculture: Agricultural Economics. Thulani is currently studying toward a PhD degree with an interest on social justice and the water-energy-food nexus in rural South Africa. Working on a project which is a collaboration between the University of Fort Hare (RSVC), North West University on the water-energy-food communities in South Africa.

Tshilidzi Manyanya is a doctoral researcher in the Arenberg Doctoral School of the KU Leuven under the Forests, Nature and Landscapes division. His research focus is applications of multispectral remote sensing techniques in hydrological studies with a special focus on the role of landscape change in influencing the dynamics green and blue water balance. Tshilidzi joined the ReSider Project in 2019 and later the SAF-ADAPT project through the University of Venda where he obtained his Honours and Master of Environmental Science with a focus on remote sensing and agro-ecology. He has served as a GIS technician in asset management with the Limpopo Department of Public Works as a consultant after serving as an environmental studies facilitator with the UIGC in Thohoyandou and project assistant with the City of Tshwane Municipality in Pretoria. Tshilidzi Started his higher education at the University of Cape Town where he graduated with a degree in Ocean and Atmosphere Science.

For as long as he could remembers Zolisanani Mpanyaro has always loved science and nature. His interest was further peaked when they started on topics of issues relating to threats and impacts of climate change, environmental degradation and disasters management and prevention. This is why he did not waiver when choosing a degree to pursue in varsity. As a student at the University of Fort Hare, Zolisanani Mpanyaro completed the Bachelor of Science degree, then went on to pursue his honours (in Bachelor of Science, Honours Geography) which he obtained in 2019. During his time in varsity, he had associated himself with a few outstanding organizations, namely ENACTUS UFH, Junior Chamber International (JCI), Sunrise UFH and HPW habitable planet 22 as well as UFH cleaning and greening. He was elected as the local financial officer of ENACTUS UFH, He was elected as the local PRO of Junior Chamber International (JCI). He also obtained certificates from HPW habitable planet 22. After the completion of his honours degree he went on to be hired as an environmental facilitator until that contract expired. He plans on pursuing his master’s degree. He aspires to pursue a career applicable to both the degree he has obtained and to relevant the fourth industrial revolution.