Meet the SAF-ADAPT Project Team

Mark New
Research Lead
ACDI, University of Cape Town

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. 

Nthaduleni Nethengwe
Research Lead
UNIVEN

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. 

Leocadia Zhou
Research Lead
University of Fort Hare

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
Research Lead
KU Leuven

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.  

Amon Taruvinga
Co-Investigator
University of Fort Hare

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). 

Farai Dondofema
Co-Investigator
UNIVEN

Farai Dondofema is a Chief Technician at the School of Environmental Sciences, University of Venda, South Africa. His research focuses on ecosystem modelling, water resources management GIS and remote sensing. His research interest is in Alien Invasive Plant Species’ responses to climate change. My academic qualifications include a master’s degree in integrated water resources management (IWRM) from the University of Zimbabwe and an MSc. In Agriculture (Rangeland Ecology) from the University of Fort Hare, a BSc (Hons.) Applied Remote Sensing and GIS from the University of Fort Hare, a BSc. (Hons.) Agriculture (Animal Science) from the University of Zimbabwe and a Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education (PGDip-HE) from Rhodes University. I am also a PhD candidate at the University of Venda. My experience in the fields of ecology, water resource management, GIS and remote sensing enables me to consider ecological issues over broad spatiotemporal scales using appropriate tools. Mr Dondofema is affiliated with Member Society of Conservation Biology (SCB), Member Society of Conservation GIS (SCGIS), Member Geographic Information Society of Southern Africa (GISSA-Limpopo), Principal Natural Scientist: Ecological Sciences (SACNASP), International Association of Impact Assessment (IAIA) and East African Association for Impact Assessment (EAAIA)

Lavinia Perumal
SAF-ADAPT Coordinator
University of Cape Town

Lavinia has an MSc in Ecology and is a PhD candidate working on assessing the ways in which future infrastructure developments will change natural ecosystems across SSA. Besides her PhD, Lavinia has several roles and spaces within which she works. She works with several transdisciplinary organizations and teams as a project coordinator and facilitator. Lavinia is also a Design Thinking coach helping people turn their ideas into actions. She’s interested in using her skills to teach, learn and turn information into valuable knowledge that can address some of the challenges facing society.

Email: lavinia.perumal@uct.ac.za

Grace Maponya
SAF-ADAPT Project Administrator
UNIVEN

Grace joined the University of Venda (Univen) as an nGAP lecturer in 2022, where she concurrently serves as the project administrator for SAF-ADAPT. She teaches GIS and Remote Sensing, and her research revolves around spatial ecology. Specifically, Grace is dedicated to applying spatial technologies to develop solutions for spatial-ecological problems. She completed a Bachelor of Environmental Sciences degree at Univen, B.Sc. Honors in GIS at Nelson Mandela University, and M.Sc. in Geoinformatics at Stellenbosch University. Currently, she is pursuing a Ph.D. in Geoinformatics at Stellenbosch University. Grace previously worked as a junior researcher in Geoinformatics at the Agricultural Research Council and as an Agronomic researcher at Aerobotics. She contributed to the "Water Footprint as an Indicator of Sustainable Table and Wine Grape Production" project. Recently, Grace participated in a project that evaluated the relationship between Heuweltjies and saline groundwater along the West Coast of South Africa. These diverse experiences have shaped her interest in spatial technologies and their applications in addressing real-world challenges within the field of spatial ecology.

Leigh Stadler
ACDI Education Manager
University of Cape Town

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   

Michelle Shields
ACDI Communications Officer
University of Cape Town

Dr Michelle Shields joined ACDI in 2021 and runs ACDI's communications activities. Michelle completed her PhD in Conservation Biology at the University of Cape Town in 2021 after obtaining a BSc and Honours in Zoology at Rhodes University, and MSc in Conservation Biology at the University of Cape Town. Michelle has a passion for knowledge seeking and education which encouraged her to seek a role in science communication. 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.

Yonela  Arosi
ACDI Admin Assistant
University of Cape Town

Yonela Arosi, joined ACDI in November 2023 as an Administrative Assistant and is responsible for personal assistant services and financial administration. She holds a BTech in Project Management and National Diploma in Office Management and Technology both obtained at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Yonela joined UCT in October 2022 as the Front Desk Assistant in the Student Housing Department where she worked in 4 different Residences. She has administration experience in the Public and Private sector and experience in managing small to medium sized events.