Stellenbosch University signs accession agreement with SAEON

The University of Stellenbosch (US) is the first institution to have signed an Accession Agreement with SAEON. In terms of the agreement the University’s students and researchers will be invited, or may propose to do research at the respective SAEON nodes

By signing the agreement, US staff, students, visiting scientists and contractors gained official participant’s status of all the SAEON nodes. They may thus participate in any relevant research project as part of the activities of a node and will make their data available to SAEON at regular intervals. The ultimate aim is to promote the use and integration of data generated by this research for the public good.

According to Prof Albert van Jaarsveld, Chairman of the SAEON Advisory Board and Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at US, their researchers in biodiversity and environmental science are particularly keen to get involved in the proposed SAEON Fynbos Node, which is expected to attract other high-level partners such as the South African National Biodiversity Institute, CapeNature and the Universities of Cape Town and the Western Cape.

In addition to US, the University of the Witwatersrand and the Agricultural Research Council have also indicated that they are keen to sign the agreement. Other institutions are presently reviewing the agreement.

In terms of the agreement, all participants will enjoy unrestricted access to the data and information generated, coordinated, analysed and published by SAEON. The data may be used freely for research, management advice, policy making or science education, with due acknowledgement to SAEON.

A node liaison committee will be established at each node to facilitate the interaction between participants.

Brokering partnerships

Johan Pauw, Head of SAEON, sees it as critical to broker and partner long-term data. "Nodes must ensure that long-term observation data for their respective geographical areas are generated, collected, captured, interpreted and made available in collaboration with these partners," he says.

"Significantly," he says, "the Accession Agreement formalise arrangements with regards to participation under the auspices of a node. As each node has specific requirements due to its specific circumstances, this Agreement is a high-level document covering all of the nodes, but it also does away with the need for numerous individual contracts. Node management is a shared responsibility between the Node Manager and the participants, and the Node Liaison Committee the instrument by which participants make their contributions."

Although SAEON nodes are designed to provide an infrastructure for ecosystem research that will mainly be used by visiting local and international researchers, a node is much more than the equipment it has. Nodes will provide coordinating and service staff and will be linked through an IT network. They will provide the field stations or observatories necessary for ecosystem research. "These observatories are the laboratories of ecosystem research," says Johan. "Because the systems ecologist’s laboratory is the field, this is an important innovation to incrementally enhance research progress by the sharing of research sites, infrastructure, equipment and datasets," he explains.

Johan argues that nodes will become "Centres of Gravity" and attract more resources and intellectual capacity than provided for by the core support by SAEON. They will also be supported by in-kind contributions by partner organisations.