PEOPLE
EXPERT DATABASE
Finding experts in the field of polar and offshore marine research, within South Africa
ATTENTION: Polar & Offshore Marine Researchers
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r.mathakutha@saeon.nrf.ac.za
Prof. Ken Findlay
Specialist Consultant / Researcher
Prof. Findlay has a strong interest in polar and marine mammal sciences, particularly the population demography, distribution, migration and conservation of large whales. His work also includes comprehensive population assessments, catch histories, historical abundance and distribution, and the recovery of whale populations following severe whaling pressure.
Juan-Jacques Forgus
Biodiversity Instrument Technician
My research focuses on the operation and development of tools and instruments used to map South Africa's offshore benthic environment and invertebrate biodiversity. While I’m experienced in using traditional sampling methods such as trawling, dredging, grabs, etc. my primary interests and core duties are focused on operating our existing camera systems as well as developing new systems to be used for non-invasive, visual surveys of the benthic environment.
Prof. Sarah Fawcett
Associate Professor
Prof. Fawcett's is a chemical oceanographer and isotope geochemist whose work is largely laboratory- and field-based. Her research is focused on the cycling of biologically important elements in the marine environment, with a view to addressing questions related to ocean fertility, local and global biogeochemical cycling, ecosystem health, and past and present climate. Sarah has worked, and continues to work extensively in the Southern Ocean, the Benguela upwelling system and greater Agulhas Current region, and the open subtropical ocean. Sarah and the Marine Biogeochemistry Lab that she co-directs are additionally affiliated with BIOGRIP (the Biogeochemistry Research Infrastructure Platform; biogrip.ac.za), another SARIR initiative.
Prof. Peter le Roux
Professor
Ecologist with experience working in the sub-Antarctic, the sub-Arctic and montane grasslands. My broad research interest is community ecology, with particular attention to interspecific interactions, the impacts of global environmental change, and how the former mediates the impacts of the latter.
Dr Sandy Thomalla
Research Group Leader of the SOCCO
My current and future research has expanded into the development and application of ecosystem-appropriate, well-characterised products that translate ocean colour (and in situ bio-optical measurements) into carbon biogeochemistry (phytoplankton biomass, community structure and physiology) allowing new insight into ecosystem function. A key focus of my work is on assessing event, seasonal and inter-annual variability in ecosystem physical drivers and their biogeochemical response, in order to better understand the potential for carbon sequestration at a regional scale.
Yinhla Shihlomule
Top Predator Monitoring Coordinator
Expert in Population Genetics of Marine Mammals from Marion Island
