Personal Details

Dr Wendy Stone

Languages: English, Afrikaans

Birth Date: 05-07-1986

Professional Experience: 10+ Years

Please feel free to reach out to me with the following details:

Phone: +27 (63) 348 5727

Email: wstone@sun.ac.za

Address: 107 Prinspark, 28 Dr Malan Road, Stellenbosch, 7600, South Africa

Fields of Interest

Waste Remediation

Soil and Water Quality

Conservation

Ecology in Agricultural and Urban Development

Governance and Management

Central Concept: Health

I am drawn to commit to a career that explores the slow and consistent work of health, currently focusing on 

• Communal health

• Relational health

• Soil, Water and Environmental health 

I am interested in the concepts of commitment and place, and the longevity of science and teaching endeavours. I have had the privilege of sitting at the feet of leaders who have created spaces of health, which gave me every opportunity to grow. Here, I have shifted from the pursuit of a career to the pursuit of long-term, mutually honouring relationships within a place and a community. I am increasingly convinced of the extraordinary amount of time and the small, incremental relational shifts that are necessary to truly steward our society well, and generate research that more accurately reflects the rhythms of nature. These thoughts were planted when I co-authored a book chapter reflecting on the slowness of the microbial metabolic rates that I was studying in extreme environments during my PhD. I am slowly learning the need to listen to society, to generate research that meets the needs in our local context. I have become aware of the tension in my own research, trying to do work in 3-year bursts, dictated by funding and leaping between projects. 

Thus, I work with a focus on relationships: 

1. between faculties — I  have worked deep within the fields of engineering, soil science, sustainability, agriculture, policy and law (see Projects and References), from the foundation of water quality, waste management and microbiology,

2. between organisations, including governance, business and academia — I have worked closely with municipal, national and city governance (Agricultural Research Council, Water Research Council, City of Cape Town, Stellenbosch Municipality), as well as in a consultancy, and in multiple academic organisations, both local and international. It has been my priority to maintain these relationships, irrespective of my next career move,

3. between demographics —  I am interested in the perspectives brought to research from outside academia, between age groups, demographic and cultural groups, and between those who have access to resources and those who don't, and

4. between funders and those executing the work — I am interested in creating long-term footprints with funded projects, and doing so in partnership with those offering funding, as many of my previous experiences were limited by the jarring effect of short-term projects.

SKills Snapshot

LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT

Project Management (Academic and Corporate Consultancy)

Collaborative Governance

Mobilising Finance

Project Development

Financial Planning

Teaching (Undergraduate, Postgraduate)

Business Development

TECHNICAL

Molecular Biology and Microscopy

PCR (qPCR, RT-PCR, nested PCR)

DNA Sequencing (Submission and Interpreting)

Whole-Sample Microbial Diversity: BIOLOG, ARISA, PLFA, FISH

Soil and Water Quality

Standards (SANS241, WRC Guidelines for Soil Quality and Waste Remediation)

Standard Culturing Techniques (MPN, Selective and Differential culturing)

Standardised Commercial Applications (Colilert Testing via DST)

Chemistry

Water: pH, EC, COD, N, P, K, Hardness, and Other Standard Parameters

Soil: N, P, K, pH, EC, and Other Standard Parameters

Carbon Sequestration Measurements

Pharmaceuticals and Persistent Organic Pollutants: LCMS, GCMS, Microplastics

Ecotoxicity assays: Vibrio fischerii, Algae, Daphnia, Seed Germination, and Collaborative Cancer Assays with Physiological Experts