Zoology, Cetaceans

Prof. Els Vermeulen, Associate Professor and Chief Scientist, MRI Whale Unit, University of Pretoria

Prof Els Vermeulen is an Associate Professor and Chief Scientist at the Mammal Research Institute (MRI) Whale Unit within the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. With over 20 years of experience in research on whales and dolphins, her main interest and expertise lie in population biology, ecology, and associated conservation management.

As the Chief Scientist at the MRI Whale Unit, she is responsible for the continuous project development and execution, administration, fundraising, student supervision, and community and policy engagement. Due to her interest and expertise, the Whale Unit’s research projects range across a broad national and international geographic and institutional spectrum and align mainly with the role of large baleen whales in the Southern Hemisphere Ocean Ecosystems.

Based on her expertise, she is a member of the South African National Committee for the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SANC for SCAR), the IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group, the IUCN Red List Authority and Co-Convenor of the Conservation Management Plans (CMP) Subcommittee at the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). She is also appointed vice-chair of the IWC – Southern Ocean Research Partnership.

In addition to her research expertise, Prof. Vermeulen has a solid capacity to bring together diverse experts across various fields to advance overarching global goals in cetacean research, as evidenced in her leadership in the IWC-SORP research themes on southern right whales and humpback whales, the Southern Right Whale Consortium (SRWC), the South African Humpback Dolphin Consortium (SouSA), and the Indian Ocean Humpback Dolphin Network (HuDONET).

MRI Whale Unit

The MRI Whale Unit possesses a wealth of expertise, intellectual property, and well-established knowledge resource bases. It has current national and international collaborations with over 30 organisations, is the lead in various research consortia and is actively involved in the work of the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission (the intergovernmental body responsible for the management of whale populations) as well as the related Southern Ocean Research Partnership.

Multidisciplinary activities range across a broad national and international geographic and institutional spectrum and align within these themes:

• Recovering Whales – The role of large whales in Southern Hemisphere Ocean Ecosystems
• Large migratory whale population abundance and trends, and the related impacts of climate change
• Large whale feeding ecology and migratory behaviour
• Cetaceans of the South African EEZ – Assessment of seasonal distribution and relative abundance of cetacean species in South African waters
• Capacity building – Building marine mammal research capacity in Africa
• Management and policy – Application of science-based knowledge for the creation of national and international Conservation Management Plans