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Meet the new committee members of the SAEON Graduate Student Network
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A new four-member committee has been elected by the members of the Graduate Student Network (GSN) following a call for nominations by the Network in the second half of last year.
The Interim Committee (IC) of the GSN - Dr Silvia Mecenero, Saras Mundree, Bernard Coetzee and Glynn Alard - decided early last year to recruit four student members for training so that the IC can be taken over smoothly in 2007 around the time of the first GSN International SAEON Student Symposium when the current IC term expires.
The new committee members will work closely with the IC until the Symposium to ensure the transfer of the necessary skills.
The first new committee member is Dianne Southey of
the Climate Change Group, South African National Biodiversity Institute
(SANBI). Dianne is currently doing an MSc on wildland fire modelling in
South Africa. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University
of Cape Town, with qualifications in environmental and oceanographic
sciences.
Dianne has long held a personal interest in bringing different groups
of people together and says that she is eager to apply this interest in
facilitating productive relationships between graduate students and the
scientific community.
Dirk Snyman of the Department of Conservation
Ecology & Entomology of the University of Stellenbosch, is
currently doing an MSc in Conservation Ecology. His thesis addresses
overgrazing in the Leliefontein commons of the Northern Cape Province.
His research focuses on a vegetation study that compares grazed areas
to rested areas within the commons, and a participatory appraisal that
investigates the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of the local
land-users towards grazing and resting practices.
Dirk believes that the GSN provides an invaluable platform for
networking amongst students as it gives them the opportunity to
exchange ideas and information with like-minded individuals,
strengthening links and improving the quality and quantity of research
being generated.
Musawenkosi Mlambo of the School of Biological &
Conservation Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, is currently
studying towards a BSc (Honours). His research project is entitled
Taxonomic review of the Southern African genus Stenobasipteron
(Diptera: Naemestrinidae). His main field of interest is
conservation ecology, especially of invertebrates and the ecosystem
services they offer.
Musawenkosi says that he finds the GSN very informative, useful and
supportive. He would recommend it to every graduate student to
join.
Nikki Stevens, GIS/Database Manager of the SAEON
Ndlovu Node in Phalaborwa, is planning to start and register her PhD in
the next few months. She recently completed her MSc in Ecology at the
Rijksuniversitiet Groningen in the Netherlands.
Nikki says that she will have the opportunity to be closely involved
with the GSN through her work at SAEON.
(For more information, please go to saeon.ac.za/students/
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