PEOPLE
EXPERT DATABASE
We are establishing a database of South African marine and polar researchers to provide a platform where experts in the various specialisations can be found by, for example, potential collaborators, students looking for supervisors, organisers of speaking events, media reps, etc.
Finding experts in the field of polar and offshore marine research, within South Africa
ATTENTION: Polar & Offshore Marine Researchers
Want to add your details to this page? Simply follow the link below to complete the sign-up form.
SIGN UPAlternatively, contact Rabia Mathakutha for more information.
r.mathakutha@saeon.nrf.ac.za
Prof. Susanne Fietz
Associate Professor and Head of Department of Earth Sciences at Stellenbosch University
I am an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Earth Sciences at Stellenbosch University. My research focus includes past climatic changes and ecosystem responses that serve projections of the future, organic molecules tracking environmental changes and organism acclimation that support understanding responses to expected global changes, phytoplankton, microbes and biogeochemistry of the modern oceans helping understanding food webs and CO2 dynamics, atmospheric chemistry and air quality surveys improving marine coastal and human health
Prof. Alakendra Roychoudhury (Roy)
Professor
I am a Professor of Environmental Geochemistry at Stellenbosch University. My research is in the field of marine chemistry where I focus on bioactive trance metal dynamics and linkages with phytoplankton productivity in polar oceans and sea-ice.
Dr Janine Schoombie
Aerodynamicist
Janine has a passion for cross-disciplinary research, specifically using engineering tools to facilitate robust and meaningful research across conservation and environmental sciences. She has dabbled in Botany, Ornithology and climate studies on Marion Island. Her expertise lie in fluid dynamics and numerical simulations and experimentation.
Ria Olivier
Principal Investigator, Project Manager and Digital Archivist
I focus on the improvement of processes and activities, as well as the on-time delivery of outputs, and I fulfil the role of digital archivist for the Antarctic Legacy of South Africa data repository. With over 30 years of experience in Information Sciences since beginning my career in 1982, I bring extensive expertise in information management. I have in-depth knowledge of South Africa’s involvement in the Antarctic region and specialise in data management within the Antarctic environment
Riesna R. Audh
Research Coordinator: SAPRI Polar Lab Integrated Facility
My research focuses on sea ice biogeochemistry in the Antarctic Marginal Ice Zone (AMIZ) within the broader field of polar oceanography. I have a strong background in the development and implementation of protocols for sea ice sampling, processing, and analysis, ensuring high-quality data collection under challenging conditions – I am particularly skilled at sea ice coring, with over 250 sea ice cores collected during my postgraduate research.
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.
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.
