Meet the SAF-ADAPT Project Team

Mark New is the ACDI Director and AXA Research Chair in African Climate Risk. He is also a coordinating lead author on the IPCC 6th Assessment Report, responsible for Chapter 17 of Working Group II, Decision Making Options for Managing Risk, and an editor for Global Environmental Change and Environmental Research Letters. Mark serves on the Science Committees of the World Adaptation Science Programme and the South African Global Change Science Programme.

Dr. Nthaduleni Samuel Nethengwe is a Senior GIS Lecturer, the Head of the Department of Geography & Geo-information Sciences and the Deputy-Dean of the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Venda. Dr Nethengwe received his PhD in the field of Geography from West Virginia University in the United States of America in 2007and has been involved in the teaching and research on Geography, GIS, RS and Water resource management since 1993. His key areas of research are mainstreaming GIS and RS into flood vulnerability assessment, gully erosion extraction, green economy (energy and transport), land reform, land use change and suitability analysis, rural livelihoods and urban organization. He is an accredited Assessor and a GIS and Remote Sensing specialist trained in ArcGIS, MapObjects, Databases and GIS technical issues by ESRI and GIMS respectively.

Dr Zhou is the holder of PhD in Geography with a specialisation in Environment Science. Dr Zhou is currently the Programme Director of the Risk and Vulnerability Science Centre (RVSC) hosted in the Faculty of Science & Agriculture, at the University of Fort Hare Eastern Province, South Africa. The RVSC is a product of the Department of Science and Technology’s 10-year Global Change Grand Challenge which is also known as the Global Change Research Programme (GCRP). The RVSC’s mandate is to generate and distribute knowledge, and policy proposals through rigorous research for lasting solutions to pressing economic developing challenges related to climate change. The RVSC is advantageously placed in one of the rural poor province in South Africa. Dr Zhou’s strength on transdisciplinary approach and rapport with government officials at Provincial and National level has been heavily involved in bridging the gap between science and policy interface. Dr Zhou is also actively involved as project steering committee member for the Eastern Cape Anti-Poverty Food security Strategy. Dr Zhou has also collaborated with the Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality to conduct a study on Solid Waste Management in Alice Town that informed the Municipal Integrated Waste Management PlanTo this effect, Dr Zhou has been awarded the Vice Chancellor Excellent Community Engagement Award in 2016. Dr Zhou supervises Masters and PhD students recruited under RVSC.

Bruno Verbist is a senior researcher at the the Division Forest, Nature and Landscape at the KU Leuven (Belgium). He has a PhD in Bio-engineering (Leuven, 2008). His research focuses mainly on forest-water relationships and on above ground carbon dynamics, with most of the activities focused in the tropics. He is project leader of the KULeuven led interuniversity KLIMOS –consortium (2009-now). In South Africa he is also engaged in the yearly organisation of a living lab in Ndumo, Kwazulu Natal (https://susdev.eu/living-lab). He worked earlier > 8 years for ICRAF, the WorldAgroforestry Centre, first in Nairobi, Kenya and then Bogor, Indonesia and contributed to the multi-year international ASB-project ‘Alternatives for Slash-and-Burn’.

List of publications.

Sheona Shackleton is the Deputy Director at ACDI. She also holds an Honorary Professorship with the Department of Environmental Science at Rhodes University. Sheona has worked at the interface between rural development, livelihoods and natural resource use and management for the past 35 years. Her research and postgraduate supervision has covered a diversity of areas within this broad theme such as community conservation, rural livelihoods and vulnerability, ecosystem services and human well-being, forest product use and commercialisation, natural resource governance and climate change adaptation. Her current research focusses on livelihood and landscape (social-ecological) change, with a particular interest in climate change as a driver and how it interacts with other shocks and stressors to influence adaptation, transformation and future livelihood trajectories.

Professor Peter B. Bikam, holds a doctorate degree in urban and regional planning from the Universality of Paris IV Sorbonne, France, a BSc and Master of Science degree in the Techniques of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Tour, France. He is currently employed at the University of Venda, School of Environmental Sciences, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, in South Africa where he was the Head of Department. He lectured in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Nigeria Nsukka before his employment in South Africa. He served as a Consultant for the Development Bank of Southern Africa as an expert infrastructure planner where he advised metropolitan cities and rural municipal planners on service delivery and infrastructure planning in South Africa. He is member of several professional bodies including, South African Council of Town Planners, (SACPLAN) French Society of Town Planners (SFU), Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), International Federation for Housing and Planning (IFHP) etc. He has published several book chapters and many peer reviewed articles in journals listed in ISI and he is also external examiner to:- Coper Belt University Zambia, University of Nigeria Nsukka and University of the Free State, South Africa. He has successfully supervised many PhD and Masters degree Students from the University of Venda, South Africa. He has also undertaken several community engagement projects in South Africa.

Koenraad Van Meerbeek is Assistant Professor at the Division Forest, Nature and Landscape at the KU Leuven (Belgium). In 2015, he obtained his PhD with a dissertation on the link between bioenergy production and biodiversity conservation, for which he received the Rudi Verheyen prize from the University of Antwerp. In 2017, he moved to Aarhus University in Denmark as a postdoctoral researcher at the Biochange Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World, led by Prof. Dr. Jens-Christian Svenning. Koenraad is currently heading the sGlobe research group, consisting of 5 PhD students and 1 postdoc. With his research, Koenraad aims at developing global change-robust solutions for the biodiversity crisis, one of the biggest challenges in the Anthropocene. Based on fieldwork, long-term research platforms, big data and computational modelling, the sGlobe team studies the effects of climate change and biological invasions on biodiversity and the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. They further focus on developing future biodiversity conservation strategies. Koenraad is also teaching several bachelor and master courses on ecology, biodiversity conservation and ecological statistics.

Ben Somers is an associate professor at the KU Leuven Division of Forest, Nature & Landscape. With his team he focusses on studying the role, vitality and stability of plant species and their communities in (sub)urban and semi-natural environments. The most recent developments in remote sensing technology are exploited to quantify vegetation structure and functioning at various temporal and spatial scales. He and his team have a proven track record in the development of image processing algorithms and the application of optical remote sensing including imaging spectroscopy, LiDAR processing, and satellite image time series analysis. Central in the team’s approach is the concept of “nature-based solutions” which refers to the use, conservation or restoration of nature in tackling today’s environmental challenges such as climate change, environmental pollution, food security, water resources management, natural disaster risk management, etc.

List of project: Click here

Full publication list: Click here

Ahmed Mukalazi Kalumba is a senior lecturer in the Department of Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Fort Hare. He has a PhD in Environment and Society from the University of Pretoria with a keen interest in Geography (Environmental Science/Management), Environmental Sustainability, Environmental Remote Sensing and Climate Change under the realm of ecological sustainability to offer solutions to the current environmental meltdown. This informs his philosophy of sustainable knowledge creation through holistic student mentorship for a better tomorrow and offering case specific solutions to environmental challenges. He also adopted an open door policy for academic engagements and collaboration, and can be contacted at AKalumba@ufh.ac.za

Amon Taruvinga was born in Zimbabwe. He got his B.Sc. (Hons) degree in agricultural economics from University of Zimbabwe and he received his PhD in agricultural economics from University of Fort Hare, South Africa. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension at the University of Fort Hare, South Africa and a CIRCLE visiting fellow (CVF). He is also the platform chair and co-founder of Southern Africa Climate Change & Biodiversity Research Platform (SACC&BRP). Prof Taruvinga specializes in environmental economics; focusing on sustainable human wildlife interactions, welfare economics, climate change and smallholder agriculture. He is interested in promoting sustainable harvesting of natural resources. Post Doc Research Fellowship (UCT, ACU, AAS, UFH) PhD, MSc, BSc (Hons) Agricultural Economics (UFH), BSc (Hons) Agricultural Economics (UZ), Diploma in Agriculture (Rio Tinto).

Nondumiso studied Journalism and Media Studies and Anthropology at Rhodes University, a Postgraduate Diploma in Tertiary Education, from UNISA. In 2016 she did a Foundation course in Design Thinking offered by the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design Thinking at UCT. For four semesters she has coached four groups of postgraduate students at UCT in Design Thinking. She is currently finishing her Masters in Adult Education. Her broad interests are Design Thinking as a tool for social change and Professionalization of Adult Educators in South Africa.

Leigh is the Manager of the Education & Capacity Development Portfolio at ACDI at UCT. She holds an MSc in Environmental Science and is pursuing a PhD in Education. Leigh's role entails overseeing the existing program of formal and professional courses, student programs, supporting new curriculum development, helping to conceptualise and develop new programs, and building ACDI’s understanding of best practice in climate change education in Africa. During her four years at ACDI, she has worked on or developed over a dozen projects in these areas, including a scientific capacity development study to inform capacity development in the Future Climate for Africa (FCFA) project, and the development of an innovative Masters curriculum in Climate Change and Sustainable Development for Southern Africa. In the ARUA-CD, Leigh is leading the Curriculum Working Group in 2019.

Email: leigh.cobban@uct.ac.za

With a PhD in Conservation Biology, Dr. Michelle Blanckenberg has the ability to understand and communicate the technical complexities of scientific research across a range of disciplines. Michelle’s passion for knowledge seeking and education encouraged her to seek a role in science communication where she could help make science accessible and relatable to a wide audience. Michelle works to communicate scientific findings through accessible content using a range of quality, audience appropriate outputs. It is Michelle’s goal to contribute to the improvement of the environmental status of South Africa as well as the greater African continent through research, education and engagement.

For the past 29 years, Adiela has been using her excellent organizational and communications skills to enhance daily operations at firms and businesses. She is a passionate person, and thrives to work in an energetic and challenging environment. Her attention to detail and business acumen allows her to function professionally, with the ability to work under pressure while demonstrating effectiveness and reliability as an administrative support. She is a team player but is able to work independently when required. Adiela's extensive work experience not only reflects her desire to always learn and grow, but has provided her with a host of key competencies to support her in her role at the ACDI.