Climate, Oceanography

Prof. Sarah Fawcett, Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town

Sarah Fawcett is an Associate Professor of Oceanography and co-director of the Marine Biogeochemistry Lab (uct-mbl.co.za) at the University of Cape Town (UCT). She is currently also the Deputy Dean for Transformation in the Science Faculty at UCT.

She holds a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Harvard University, and Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Geosciences from Princeton University. Sarah has published over 70 journal articles and has received numerous awards including the SANCOR Young Researcher award, a Royal Society Future Leaders – African Independent Research Fellowship, a National Research Foundation Presidential Rating, a World Economic Forum Young Scientist designation, and recently, a European Research Council Synergy grant and Schmidt Sciences Ocean Biogeochemistry Virtual Institute award.

More about Prof. Fawcett’s research focus

Prof. Fawcett 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 South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap (SARIR) initiative.