Speakers

Anna Taylor
Senior Research Fellow
ACDI, University of Cape Town

Dr Anna Taylor is a Research Fellow with the University of Cape Town’s African Climate and Development Institute. Trained in geography and environmental science, her work focuses on adapting to climate risks in relation to how public planning and policy making happens, especially in African urban contexts. She engages transdisciplinary approaches to foster diversity and inclusivity in learning and knowledge co-production processes to shape decisions and actions that have a bearing on climate risks and resilience.

Anna has 16 years’ experience working on research and consulting projects related to climate risks and adaptation. She is currently leading projects on governing groundwater flows at the city regional scale (funded by the Water Research Commission) and co-developing a climate resilient development pathways approach with South Africa’s Presidential Climate Commission. Anna’s PhD and post-doctoral work focused on processes of climate adaptation decision-making in southern African city governments, working as one of a cohort of ‘embedded researchers’ within municipal departments. Prior to joining UCT in 2011, Anna worked for the Stockholm Environment Institute, based in Oxford, UK. Before that, Anna worked for SouthSouthNorth on technology transfer, and coordinated projects in Ghana for Madventurer, after finishing her BSc Honours in Environmental and Geographical Science at UCT in 2004.

Brenda Cooper

Prof Brenda Cooper was for many years the Director of the Centre for African Studies at the University of Cape Town, where she is an Emeritus Professor. She held a joint appointment at UCT as a Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature. She obtained her Ph.D. degree in African Literature from the University of Sussex in the UK and in 2001 she was awarded a Fellowship at the University of Cape Town in recognition of her research excellence. She has published five academic books, five books of materials for use in schools and many journal articles and book chapters on African and Diasporic fiction, literary theory and African Studies. The books are To Lay These Secrets Open, (1992); Magical Realism in West African Fiction (1998); Weary Sons of Conrad (2002); A New Generation of African Writers (2008) and a co-edited a book with Rob Morrell, entitled Africa-Centred Knowledges: Crossing Fields and Worlds (2014). She published a cross-genre book that is a mixture of life writing, Diasporic African art and literary studies (2016). It is entitled Floating in an Anti-bubble from South Africa to Salford: A mosaic of pictures and stories.

In 2009 she moved to Salford in the UK where she was an Honorary Research Associate at the University of Manchester and started an academic-writing consultancy called BURNISH. She returned to live in Cape Town in 2015 where she continues to run BURNISH and is currently researching a book entitled But is it academic? Playing with strategies of scholarly writing. More information about BURNISH and a full CV is available on her website www.burnishwriting.org

Bruce Hewitson
Director of the Climate System Analysis Group
University of Cape Town

Bruce Hewitson is the director of the Climate System Analysis Group (CSAG) at the University of Cape Town. Research interests span a range of issues on regional climate change, including climate modeling, downscaling, the interface of climate science and society, and capacity building of young scientists and for decision makers. A special interest is around individual and institutional ethics and values in responding to climate change in the context of the global north-south dynamic. Bruce was the SA Research Chair in climate change from 2008-2022 and filled a range of international responsibilities including as coordinating lead author in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Assessment Reports, and currently co-chairs the World Climate Research Program’s core project on Regional Information for Society. He has led a wide range of projects focused on new analytical methods, climate change and cities, regional climate change projections, seasonal forecasting, climate uncertainty, and the intersection of climate information and ethics. Bruce is currently developing a new Community of Practice on Climate Change and Society, focusing on bringing society into the science through bottom-up collaboration, and exploring new ways to enhance the usability of regional climate information for decision makers in contrasting contexts

Caroline Southey

Darlington Sibanda
Postdoc Research Fellow
ACDI, University of Cape Town

Darlington Sibanda is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the African Climate & Development Initiative (ACDI); University of Cape Town. He is currently part of a team of researchers working on a UKRI-funded project titled Transforming Social Inequalities Through Inclusive Climate Action (TSITICA). Some of his responsibilities include developing a database for climate change projects in South Africa; conducting in-depth interviews; transcribing; coding analysis; report-writing; publications and presentations. Darlington recently joined a project funded by Gates Foundation, focussing on meso-level organisations’ role climate change adaptation, focussing on small scale producers in Africa. He is a Co-Chair of Adaptation Network of South Africa’s Policy and Climate Finance Committee. Darlington also remains an active member Alumni of the Africa Centres of Excellence funded by DAAD. Previously, he worked at the Institute for Poverty Land& Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) on Water Research Commission-funded Projects. Darlington has a PHD in Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies from the University of the Western Cape. His research interests include: the nexus between climate change, sustainable livelihoods and multidimensional poverty and inequality; Equitable climate change resilience; Land tenure governance; Water Services; Poverty& Inequality. 

Deshen Moodley
Associate Professor
University of Cape Town

Deshen Moodley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at UCT and co-director and co-founder of SA’s national Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research (CAIR). His research lab, the Adaptive and Cognitive Systems Lab, explores different artificial intelligence techniques to create cognitive and adaptive systems in diverse domains, including the health, energy, finance and earth observation domains. He is currently investigating architectures and methods for combining logic-based software agents with probabilistic and machine learning techniques in real world decision-making systems.  In 2021, he was selected as one of the 19 fellows for the 4th Intercontinental Academia (ICA) on Intelligence and AI. He is the only ICA fellow based on the African continent. 

Jiska De Groot
Senior Researcher
ACDI, University of Cape Town

Jiska de Groot is an Energy and Development Geographer with a keen interest in providing access to energy in a sustainable and equitable manner. Jiska joined the University of Cape Town in 2015 after completing a PhD in Human Geography at Plymouth University. She is currently employed at the Energy Research Centre, where she leads the Energy, Poverty and Development research group. She further holds an AXA Future Research Leader Fellowship on Energy Transitions and a Joint Senior Research Fellowship in the ACDI Chair Programme on the inequalities of climate change mitigation, sustainable energy and poverty. Her work focuses on the social processes surrounding changes in energy use, access to clean and reliable energy technologies and energy transitions, as well as considerations of fairness and justice in energy systems. Jiska has experience with the design, management, implementation and dissemination of a range of Sub Saharan African research projects, including as team leader for South Africa on the UK’s ESRC/NRF’s Newton Fund Programme on Urban Transformation, and the British Academy project on Energy Innovation in Low Income Housing in Cape Town and Bangalore. She further leads the South African team at UCT for a research project within the UK DfID’s Energy and Gender research programme, which investigates gender and energy for productive uses, and delivers training and assistance to countries under UNFCCC’s Technology Needs Assessment. She currently is component lead for Skills and Expertise Development in Sub Saharan Africa under DfID’s Transforming Energy Access, and also functions as research uptake manager for this same region. Jiska regularly publishes in acclaimed academic journals, presents at (international) academic conferences and has contributed to several edited books in the field of energy and development. 

Megan Blacker
Careers Development Consultant
Careers Service, University of Cape Town

Megan Blacker is a careers development consultant at the Careers Service department under Centre Higher Education Development for just over 3 years. Prior to this she was a clinical educator at the Faculty of Health Sciences and is currently completing her Research Masters. Before working at the University of Cape Town, she practiced as a dietitian both in South Africa and abroad. Her interest is translating scientific information into practical application via the student development journey and beyond.

Michelle Shields
Communications Officer
ACDI, University of Cape Town

With a PhD in Conservation Biology, Dr. Michelle Shields 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. 

Sanjin Muftic
Film Editor

Sanjin Muftić is a Bosnian-born Canadian digital scholar and film editor based in Cape Town. He completed his theatre PhD at UCT focusing on the Planetary, Bricolage and Theatrical Images and is currently working for UCT Libraries as a Digital Scholarship Specialist. His tasks include implementing and maintaining the university digital collections site (Omeka S), developing advocacy towards practicing research data management, and helping researchers manage and showcase their digital scholarship projects and collections. He has presented at international conferences of the Federation for Theatre Research, the Society for Intermedial Studies, CREATIVATE Digital Arts Festival, Open Repositories and the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations. 

Shehnaaz Moosa
Director at SouthSouthNorth, the CEO of the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) programme 

Shehnaaz is a Director at SouthSouthNorth, the CEO of the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) programme and the SSN Project Director and Steering Committee member of the Voices for Just Climate Action (VCA) program. VCA aims to amplify local voices for locally-led climate action. Shehnaaz also oversees SSN’s Southern Africa Climate Finance Partnership (SACFP). She has deep theoretical and practical expertise in delivering complex programmes addressing climate change within the African and majority world context. She previously consulted on a range of projects for the South African public sector. Prior to joining SSN, Shehnaaz was a researcher and lecturer in the department of Chemical Engineering at University of Cape Town. As the first female of colour to obtain a PhD in Engineering in South Africa she has a lived experience of navigating and working with complex systems.

Tali Hoffman
Science Communicator
Honeyguide Science Communication

Tali has experience as both a scientist and science communicator, and her multifaceted skill set enables her to bridge the gaps between science, policy, and practice. With a PhD in Zoology, Tali is able to understand and interpret the technical complexity of a wide range of scientific disciplines. Core attributes Tali brings to her work include:

• Expertise developing impactful communication strategies for multi-partner research initiatives.

• Expertise developing effective communication outputs that tell new stories and link to broader programme narratives.

• Expertise as a science communication training programme designer and facilitator, having trained over 200 people to more strategically and effectively communicate with non-specialist with the aim of driving positive changes in policy, practice, and behaviour.

• Experience working with international teams and broad knowledge of international development issues.