IWC Water Research Node Annual Seminar Series

In conjunction with the Master of Philosophy in Integrated Water Management

You are invited to join the IWC Water Research Node at Monash South Africa for any one or more of the one-day interactive seminars listed below:

Monday 19 April: Jeanne Nel
Freshwater conservation planning

Tuesday 20 April: Dirk Roux
Transdisciplinary research and learning

Wednesday 21 April: Harry Biggs
Complexity and adaptive management

Thursday 22 April: Peter Ashton
Publishing and presenting your research results

Jeanne Nel

Monday 19 April 2010
Jeanne Nel – Council for Scientific and Industrial Research - Natural Resources and Environment

Jeanne has 18 years of experience in conservation biology and in using GIS as an application tool in the field of biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services and natural resource management. She has a Masters in Conservation Biology and a PhD in Freshwater Conservation Planning. Her recent research and practise has focussed on freshwater ecosystem conservation and policy, and she has been involved in a number of collaborative projects and programmes aimed at identifying freshwater ecosystem priority areas, as well as developing appropriate region-specific mechanisms for their conservation. She is currently employed by the South Africa’s scientific council, the CSIR, in its Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Research Group.

Topic:

Jeanne’s talk will cover the early history of freshwater conservation planning in South Africa, the eventual alignment of freshwater approaches to systematic conservation planning, the basic principles of systematic conservation planning. She will then examine the use of systematic conservation planning within Integrated Water Management, drawing on examples from South Africa and around the world. The final part of her presentation will focus on where research and practice in the field should be heading in the short to medium term.

Dirk Roux

Tuesday 20 April 2010
Dirk Roux - Water Research Node Director at Monash South Africa

Dirk has over fifteen years of experience in studies and contract research related to the assessment and management of freshwater ecosystems, spanning the fields of limnology, aquatic toxicology, environmental monitoring and reporting, systematic conservation planning, policy and strategy development, and institutional learning and knowledge processes. Before joining Monash Dirk worked for the CSIR where he was a Principal Researcher and Fellow of the Natural Resources and Environment Unit.

Topic:

In response to the increasingly complex social-ecological issues facing society, there is a growing trend to conduct environmental research in large collaborative programmes. This approach is described as transdisciplinary research as it transcends formal disciplinary boundaries, explicitly acknowledges that many different perspectives are relevant to the resolution of complex problems, and actively involves the users of research.

Practitioners of transdisciplinary research must take into consideration the different expectations, values, culture, language and reward structures of the participating groups. We will reflect on the importance of early investment in processes, behaviors and relationships that foster mutual learning and the co-production of knowledge to ensure relevance; while maintaining emphasis in the traditional areas of formally testing evidence and mentoring young researchers to ensure rigor and build confidence and capacity in transdisciplinary approaches.

Harry Biggs

Wednesday 21 April 2010
Harry Biggs – South African National Parks

Harry spends most of his time working on and attempting to influence adaptive governance and management issues, especially concerning the natural capital in ecosystems. His post at South African National Parks allows him considerable freedom to think about how conservation agencies should see their role in biodiversity and ecosystem services, but in a wide societal context. He is expected to network, convene appropriate fora, and expose decision-makers in different spheres of government and society to possible alternative mindsets. He is also a keen mentor, facilitator and writer. Prior to this he spent roughly ten-year sequential blocks of his career working as a veterinarian and epidemiologist, then as a datametrician/biometrist/modeller, then as an ecologist cum science programme manager. He has been in his current post for four years, and is the Chair of IUCN’s Freshwater Task Force internationally.

Topic:

In the world of moral pluralism and widely-varying contexts that we live, there is no single solution or ‘right answer’ to so-called 'wicked problems' such as the elephant management issue. Dr Biggs led the synthesis chapter of the recent authoritative government-sponsored assessment of elephant management. He will give an outline of the framework derived in this initiative, which enables the particular set of stakeholders involved in an area to develop their specific current solution. The talk will illustrate principles of multi-party decision-making and adaptive approaches when faced with an uncertain future in which systems, knowledge and values change over time and space.

Peter Ashton

Thursday 22 April 2010
Peter Ashton - Council for Scientific and Industrial Research - Natural Resources and Environment

Peter Ashton is an aquatic ecologist with a special interest in water quality and river basin management issues and has over 39 years of experience. He obtained his PhD in Aquatic Ecology at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, and he has worked at the CSIR since January 1975 – first in the then National Institute for Water Research and now in the Natural Resources and Environment business unit. His scientific experience (in both research and consulting) covers the fields of limnology, water quality, aquatic ecology, environmental monitoring and reporting, aquatic biodiversity assessment, transboundary river systems and integrated water resource management. He has visited 43 of the 48 mainland African countries and has extensive experience in deploying, leading and managing multi-disciplinary project teams in diverse specialist areas. He has had a lifelong passion for water research, with a special interest in the role of social and aquatic ecological issues in decision-making processes for conflict prevention and the management of water resources in Africa’s shared river basins.

Peter Ashton has published over 150 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals and books, produced over 90 contract reports for external clients, and delivered over 80 invited presentations and addresses at local and internal conferences. Since 2000, Peter Ashton has been an Extraordinary (Honorary) Professor of Water Resources Management at Pretoria University.

Topic:

The process of undertaking research can be extremely exciting and yet once you have the data, the write up is extremely daunting. Peter will share his wealth of knowledge on research and publishing research findings in leading academic and scholarly journals.