Seminar Series hosted by IWC - Africa Water Research Node at Monash South Africa

May 2010

At the IWC seminar held at Monash South Africa, from the left: MSA MPhil students Liezl Craig and Rangarirai Gova; MSA researcher Linda Downsborough; and Karin Breytenbach, MSA MPhil student.

MPhil , Integrated Water Management, students benefited from a seminar series hosted recently by the International WaterCentre (IWC)-Africa’s, Water Research Node based at Monash South Africa. This Node is a joint venture between Monash University and the IWC.

Dr Dirk Roux, Director of the Water Research Node, said that the aim of the seminar series was to expose the students to some important concepts such as complexity, resilience, thresholds, social learning and adaptive management. Time was also devoted to mentoring and career development as well as publishing, presenting and reviewing of technical ideas and research findings.

Dr Jeanne Nel from the CSIR provided an overview of the History of Freshwater Conservation and Planning in South Africa leading up to the current concept of systematic freshwater conservation planning. She provided examples of how systematic freshwater conservation planning is being used within Integrated Water Management and highlighted some success stories in South Africa.

The concept of Adaptive Management as an effective/alternative approach to the management of natural resources in South Africa, was presented by Dr Harry Biggs, from SA National Parks.  This provided a wide platform for highly interactive discussions on complexity, resilience and learning.

Dr Dirk Roux,examined the ideas of social learning, learning organisations and the co-production of knowledge in a highly enjoyable manner.

The final day covered How to Present and Publish Research Findings. Dr Pete Ashton, from the CSIR Natural Resources and Environment, Pretoria, shared his wealth of experience on the matter and provided the students and participants with some very useful ‘tricks of the trade’. Dr 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.

Dr Roux said: “Both students and participants agreed that the seminar series was useful, enjoyable, informative and thought provoking. With such a successful platform in place, the IWC Water Research Node has plans for a bigger, more collaborative seminar series next year”.