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Calling all graduate students
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Calling all graduate students ... All graduate students in South Africa currently involved in environmental Masters, Doctoral or Post-Doctoral research projects, either part-time or full-time, are invited to join the SAEON Graduate Student Network specifically created for them to network with each other and with International Long-Term Ecological Research (ILTER) students. The SAEON Graduate Student Network is aimed at promoting interaction among graduate students and between students and senior scientists, within the realm of long-term environmental research. It will provide a platform from where graduate students can feel comfortable to share ideas, collaborate with one another, and gain a broader understanding of environmental research with an expanded context in which to view their own research. In equipping graduate students to become more knowledgeable about SAEON, the network will encourage students to align their research with SAEON’s long-term environmental research programmes. Graduate students will also be informed of SAEON and LTER career opportunities as they become available.
The idea of the network was born when three graduate students, ambassadors of South Africa’s LTER Programme – SAEON, attended the First International LTER Graduate Student Collaborative Research Symposium in Oregon, USA in April this year. The symposium succeeded in bringing together and networking just over 60 graduate students from 34 different LTER sites across the globe, among them eight International Long-Term Environmental Research (ILTER) sites. The students, Silvia Mecenero of UCT, Saras Mundree of CSIR-Environmentek and Glynn Alard of SANParks, were highly impressed with the idea of the network, which is actively sustained through a special website created for graduate students. They became enthused by the idea of setting up a similar network for graduate students in South Africa, and approached SAEON for assistance. SAEON approved the concept of a special website – linked to the SAEON website – to serve as the main platform for student interactions. The scope of the website will be similar to that of the graduate student LTER website set up for the graduate students in the USA. The South African network is to be organised and monitored by a student committee. Activities will start with an international student symposium to educate students about SAEON, ELTOSA (the regional LTER network) and ILTER programmes, share research results, and initiate collaborative research efforts, nationally and internationally. These will include research site presentations from national and international LTER graduates. Training workshops, which will be held concurrently, will include presentations by scientists associated with SAEON and ELTOSA, and SAEON managers. The workshops will build on skills that are essential to graduate students in their development as observation scientists, such as information and data management, and collaborative or interdisciplinary research.
The website will be updated regularly to keep students at the forefront of national SAEON and international Earth observation activities, including workshops, symposia and career opportunities. Working closely with Sibongile Mokoena, SAEON’s Education and Communication officer, the network also aims to educate the South African community, and school-going children in particular, on the exciting field of environmental and Earth observation. Graduate students within the network will be encouraged to write short articles in their local newspapers and even school newsletters about SAEON and its implications to local communities. Local schools will be encouraged to take learners for educational tours of regional SAEON research nodes, and/or graduate students will give short presentations to students and teachers. “With SAEON as a platform we can do so much,” said Silvia Mecenero, SAEON post-doctoral student in long-term environmental data sets and environmental information systems. She added, “At the graduate student LTER symposium in the USA we truly felt the welcoming arms of international acceptance. It was no doubt an historic moment in South Africa when SAEON was established to keep in line with the international trend of doing Long-Term Ecological Research. “As young graduate researchers, we would like to ensure that there is always an influx of LTER scientists into SAEON, generation after generation. We believe that setting up a South African Graduate Student Network will ensure that influx, and we hope to gain the support of all SA students concerned. “The graduate students of today will no doubt become the LTER scientists of tomorrow, “ Silvia said in conclusion, “and, by having their research integrated, aligned and coordinated, and their data captured by a central management body like SAEON, they can be secure in the knowledge that their efforts will pave the way to better management policies and protection of our environment for future generations.” Graduate students interested in participating, should contact one of the following members of the interim student committee: Dr Silvia Mecenero, SAEON Post Doctoral Fellowship, Tel (021)
650-3648 Ms Saras Mundree, CSIR-Environmentek ( KwaZulu-Natal ), Tel (031)
242-2364 Mr Glynn Alard, Scientific Services, Skukuza, SANParks, Tel (013)
735-5487 Mr Bernard Coetzee, Honours student, Dept Zoology and Entomology
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