CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: PhD bursaries for 2022 (DEADLINE 12 JUNE)

The Centre for Sustainability Transitions builds on a strong history of transdisciplinary research and complexity studies at Stellenbosch University, providing a vibrant hub for solution-oriented sustainability science that hosts leading scientists and students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds in a state-of-the-art research centre. The primary objective of the CST is to provide transformational knowledge on the dynamics of multi-scale social-ecological change, and strategic insights into the new modes of research and governance that can bring about a just transition to a more equitable and sustainable society, in southern Africa and globally.  We seek motivated individuals interested to pursue a PhD on the [...]

2021-06-03T17:46:30+02:00May 19th, 2021|Related News & Events, SAPECS News|

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: Masters bursaries for 2022

The Centre for Sustainability Transitions builds on a strong history of transdisciplinary research and complexity studies at Stellenbosch University, providing a vibrant hub for solution-oriented sustainability science that hosts leading scientists and students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds in a state-of-the-art research centre. The primary objective of the CST is to provide transformational knowledge on the dynamics of multi-scale social-ecological change, and strategic insights into the new modes of research and governance that can bring about a just transition to a more equitable and sustainable society, in southern Africa and globally.  We seek motivated individuals interested to pursue a Masters on the [...]

POSITION OFFERED: Research Assistant for AFRICANFUTURES

The Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC) is a leading international centre in sustainability science for biosphere stewardship, at the Stockholm University. Project description for AFRICANFUTURES: Seeding transformative futures for people and nature in Africa AFRICANFUTURES is a 4 years Formas funded project led by the Stockholm Resilience Centre with the aim to co-produce scenarios of how transformative change could lead to more sustainable futures for people and nature in Africa. The failure to meet global sustainability goals, most notably for biodiversity, highlights the need to develop transformative strategies to restore the planet. Scenarios are powerful tools to examine how different choices [...]

2021-05-10T10:19:00+02:00May 10th, 2021|People, position, SAPECS News|

Bob Scholes: Remembering a scientific giant, a colleague and a friend

A few years back, an invitation went out to SAPECS researchers to write a short profile on themselves for our website. Bob sent through the following: “Profile: Professor of Systems Ecology, expert on ecosystem dynamics, particularly in savannas. Leader of scientific assessments. Teacher of systems theory and sustainability. A remarkably succinct and understated summation of a globally renowned, A-rated scientist who was in the top one per cent of environmental scientists worldwide based on citation frequency, and one of the world’s leading scientists on climate change. Since his unexpected passing last week whilst hiking in Namibia, Bob has been [...]

2021-08-10T10:28:36+02:00May 4th, 2021|People, SAPECS News|

Two interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowships in marine social-ecological research

Two postdoctoral research fellowships are available to be filled as soon as possible in the group around the South African Research Chair in Marine Ecology and Fisheries at the University of Cape Town. The group offers a vibrant research environment, producing research that is kept in high regard nationally, regionally, and globally. Our research focusses on three themes, (i) modelling in marine social-ecological systems for management strategy evaluation, (ii) indicators for marine social-ecological systems at the science-policy interface, and (iii) transdisciplinary research into marine social-ecological systems under global change.  Several of our research projects collaboratively create methodology for Integrated Ecosystem [...]

2021-05-17T11:53:18+02:00May 3rd, 2021|position, SAPECS News|

MASTERS OPPORTUNITY: Exploring stakeholder experiences of power relations in collaborative water resources governance

Join a diverse team committed to excellence, engagement and social justice, working across Africa to address some of the most challenging questions confronting sustainability science and practice. Background to the project: ‘Unlocking Resilient Benefits from African Water Resources’ (RESBEN) Sustainable water resource development remains elusive because development has largely externalized costs to the environment and vulnerable people. Novel research theory, methodologies and practice are needed to meet, for example, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In response, the RESBEN project team has developed the innovative Adaptive Systemic Approach (ASA) . The ASA provides a coherent framework drawing on core concepts, with associated methods: complex social-ecological systems, transdisciplinarity, epistemic justice, and [...]

2021-02-15T14:49:51+02:00February 15th, 2021|position, SAPECS News|

Prof Oonsie Biggs secures EMS Faculty’s first NRF A-rating

Prof Reinette (Oonsie) Biggs, the incumbent of the DST/NRF Research Chair in Social-ecological Systems and Resilience, recently received an A-rating from the National Research Foundation (NRF), a first for the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. An A-rating is awarded to researchers who are unequivocally recognised by their peers as leading international scholars in their field for the high quality and impact of their recent research outputs. The rating is primarily based on Biggs’ research outputs over the past eight years and took into consideration the evaluation made by local and international peers. Biggs previously also received a P-rating from [...]

2021-02-15T10:01:04+02:00February 15th, 2021|People, SAPECS News|

POSTDOC OPPORTUNITIES: Nature-based Solutions in Southern Africa’s Water Towers, ACDI, University of Cape Town

VACANCY 1: POST DOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW – SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL CONSTRAINTS OF NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS (Closing Date: 31 January 2021) The African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI) based at the University of Cape Town (UCT) wishes to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to support the social, economic and political research component of the TES-NbS (Towards Equitable and Sustainable Nature-based Solutions in Southern Africa’s Water Towers) project. The successful candidate will unpack the social, economic and political processes and trade-offs that shape which Nature-based Solutions are adopted and who benefits in the region. There will be a focus on landscape restoration [...]

2021-01-13T14:34:10+02:00January 13th, 2021|Cape Town Metropolitan Area, position, SAPECS News|

Resource portal launched for resilience practice in southern Africa

The Resilience Hub, an online portal for resilience in practice, launched today. This central information gateway offers users easy access to a variety of resources including webinar recordings, training materials, podcasts, publications and more, aimed at promoting resilience building in the southern African region. “Until now resources like these have been scattered across the internet,” explains Maike Hamann, one of the creators of the portal. “We wanted to create a central platform where resilience practitioners, researchers, and other stakeholders could easily and freely access a diversity of resources catered to the southern African context.” “We wanted to ensure that it [...]

2020-09-21T12:47:41+02:00September 21st, 2020|Related News & Events, SAPECS News|

MASTERS OPPORTUNITY: Exploring community-based approaches for maintaining rural water supply infrastructure in Namibia

Opportunity for Masters student  Closing date for applications: Monday 7 September 2020  Project background  Around 275 million people in Africa do not have reliable access to drinking water. Many communities in rural areas depend on handpumps to access groundwater, but at any given time, one in four of those handpumps is broken. Mechanics are often unaware of failures, leaving pumps out of action for weeks or even months, which can drive people to use other distant, dirty, or expensive water sources.  The FundiFix model is one response to Africa’s rural water challenge. Led by local entrepreneurs in Kenya and powered [...]

2020-08-27T12:55:51+02:00August 27th, 2020|position, Related News & Events, SAPECS News|
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