This inaugural Postgraduate Diploma in Sustainability Learning is the first of its kind in Southern Africa. This exciting inter-disciplinary programme is designed for professionals who work in any area of social-ecological sustainability. The aim is to support these professionals to understand, critique, plan and implement socially-engaged learning processes that may help society transition to sustainability.
Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences The Centre for Sustainability Transitions (CST) Communications Manager Ref. EBW13/309/1022 Continuation of the position is subject to the availability of funding. The Centre for Sustainability Transitions (CST) is a research flagship initiative at Stellenbosch University (SU) that brings together research on transdisciplinary, complexity, sustainability, and social-ecological resilience to inform pressing national, continental and global sustainability and development challenges. CST hosts leading scientists and students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, and fosters collaborations with a variety of departments across the University, nationally and globally, providing a vibrant hub for solution-oriented, transdisciplinary sustainability [...]
Background Herding 4 Health (H4H), a Partnership Programme between Conservation International and Peace Parks Foundation, is a community development-oriented rangeland health and conservation initiative that works with communities on what is central to their livelihoods: the production of cattle and other livestock. Much of this production occurs where wildlife exists. H4H adopts the One Health framework within landscapes that encompass large socio-ecological systems. H4H focuses interventions on four core spheres: policy & governance, animal management (wild and domestic), people, and their livelihoods, and rangelands. Over the past five years H4H has expanded to include 18 sites across 6 countries in [...]
The Social-Ecological Interactions Group at University of Göttingen and University of Kassel / Germany (Head: Prof. Tobias Plieninger) is dedicated to advancing sustainability science, with a commitment to inter- and transdisciplinary research at the social-ecological interface. In particular, we study rural landscape change, ecosystem services, and sustainability transformations. Within the Henriette Hertz Programme of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, we seek to attract an outstanding early-career researcher from abroad who has completed a PhD within the last four years. Applicants should demonstrate experience and enthusiasm to carry out social-ecological research that combines scientific originality with real-world relevance. Details on the fellowship [...]
Understanding the social and environmental impacts of multiple drivers of global and local change in Africa requires systemic and longitudinal place-based research. Landscapes provide the ‘ideal’ unit for this purpose, as well as for applying sustainable solutions that tackle complex—sometimes wicked—development and environmental challenges. Through a landscape approach, it is possible to explore the interaction between multiple sustainable development goals (SDGs), enabling understanding of the impacts of change and risk on biodiversity, ecosystem services, and livelihoods, as well as the implementation of locally appropriate and integrated response options. Indeed, landscape approaches have been widely promoted by government agencies, NGOs, and [...]
Last month, the Centre for Complex Systems in Transition (CST) and Southern African Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (SAPECS) hosted an introductory course on social-ecological systems for Masters and PhD students doing research at the interface of ecosystems and society. Twenty eight students from around Africa gathered to start their learning journey away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life at the Sustainability Institute, an international living and learning centre which provides learning experiences in ecology, community and spirit, in Stellenbosch, South Africa. The goal of the SAPECS Winter School were to provide new scholars involved in, or [...]
Together with their partner, Commonland, Living Lands is motivated to develop and employ a relevant monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) approach. Their aim is to improve the means of measuring the real impact of the work being done on the landscapes. The Baviaanskloof and Langkloof catchments will be the study sites for this first iteration. The current MEL approach which is used by Commonland and Living Lands, aims to measure 4 Returns (social capital, financial capital, natural capital and inspiration) in 3 landscape zones over 20 years. The PhD opportunity will be integrated with Living Lands’ activities on [...]
The Southern African Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (SAPECS) held its first colloquium on the ‘Frontiers of Social-Ecological Research’ in Cape Town, South Africa, on the 15th and 16th of April this year. The SAPECS colloquium brought together almost 100 researchers, students, and practitioners interested in the study and management of social-ecological systems and ecosystem services in southern Africa. Set in the beautiful Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, the colloquium was organized around the following six SAPECS research themes: Links between ecosystem services and human well-being, with an emphasis on poverty and inequality; How governance and management institutions and practices affect [...]
