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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MASTERS OPPORTUNITY:  Exploring sustainable and just food pathways for future Southern African resilience 

Closing date for applications: Monday 7 September 2020  Project background  All countries have to make decisions about how to manage their natural resources, develop the economy, improve the quality and quantity of food, as well as meet greenhouse emissions goals, among many other policy targets. In southern Africa, these issues are exacerbated by legacies of colonialism, shifting demographics, and changing climates and associated increases in natural hazards (e.g. droughts, floods and storm surges). Increased understanding and evidence of how social-ecological systems behave suggests that a lot of these challenges and policy targets are interlinked and often cannot be solved in [...]

2020-08-27T12:49:14+02:00August 27th, 2020|position, Related News & Events, SAPECS News|
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POSTDOC OPPORTUNITY: Forecasting Climate Change Risks to Wild Food Plants

ACDI Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Forecasting Climate Change Risks to Wild Food Plants Application Deadline: 31 August 2020 or until position is filled Call for Applications A research team from the African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI) at the University of Cape Town is seeking a Postdoctoral Research Fellow (PDRF) to join a project forecasting climate change risks to wild food plants and the nutritional consequences for the communities that depend on them. The PDRF will be motivated to work as part of a diverse research team, engage with decision-makers in food systems and conservation, and generate peer-reviewed publications. Additionally, there is the opportunity to [...]

2020-08-19T11:26:51+02:00August 19th, 2020|Cape Town Metropolitan Area, position, SAPECS News|
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Future Earth capacity building workshop

Future Earth is pleased to launch a call for applications for the virtual capacity building workshop on 9&10 September 2020, which will support Early Career Researchers (ECRs) from Africa to join consortium proposals for the Belmont Forum Collaborative Research Action (CRA) on Transdisciplinary Research for Pathways to Sustainability. The event is organized by Future Earth in collaboration with the Future Earth Office for Southern Africa (FEROSA), the Program for Early-stage Grants Advancing Sustainability Science (PEGASuS), the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF), the African Future Earth Committee (AFEC), and the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD). For more [...]

2020-07-29T11:18:38+02:00July 29th, 2020|Related News & Events, SAPECS News|
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CALL FOR DST/NRF SARChI-funded PhD APPLICATIONS

We seek motivated individuals interested to pursue a PhD linked to two projects, namely the Seeds of Good Anthropocenes initiative and the Social‐ecological regime shifts in the Anthropocene project. Applicants should have a keen interest in sustainability and sustainability transitions, an interest and ability to integrate across the social and natural sciences, and enjoy collaboration and working in teams. Interested individuals should have a strong academic track‐record, participate in the events and activities of the CST, and be interested in developing a career around topics such as social‐ecological systems, resilience and risk, complexity thinking, social innovation and sustainability transformations. For more information on the following PhD bursaries [...]

2020-06-19T09:34:17+02:00June 19th, 2020|Multiple Areas, position, Related News & Events, SAPECS News|
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SAVE THE DATE: WEBINAR ON DEAGRARIANIZATION

Deagrarianisation: What are the underlying reasons and effects with focus on livelihoods, poverty reduction and climate change According to a newly released FAO report, food insecurity is increasing in the world. An alarming reversal of a previous opposite trend. Planting your own food might be an important adaptation strategy in face of climate change. At the same time, across Africa, and in other parts of the world, many farmers stop farming. This webinar unites researchers working on the broad theme of deagrarianisation across contexts in Africa and Europe. We will present and discuss research and build new networks – forging [...]

2020-04-07T06:21:18+02:00April 7th, 2020|SAPECS News, Working Groups|
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The GRIN Meeting: A ‘third place’ for managers and scholars of social-ecological systems

The Garden Route Interface and Networking (GRIN) meeting, which SAPECS co-hosts, was initiated in 2017 with the aim of creating a third place for dialogue on, and advancement of, research and practice dealing with the interactions between natural and social systems, and with how those interactions affect the challenge of sustainability. Dirk Roux and colleagues have written an article on the role of the GRIN meeting as a third place, in the latest volume of the South African Journal of Science, which can be accessed here. The next GRIN meeting is set to take place from 6 - 8 October [...]

2020-04-02T07:23:24+02:00April 2nd, 2020|SAPECS News|
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First announcement and call for abstracts: 4th Garden Route Interface and Networking (GRIN) meeting

4th Garden Route Interface and Networking (GRIN) meeting A symposium-style meeting for dialogue on, and advancement of, research and practice dealing with the interactions between people and nature, and with how those interactions affect the challenge of sustainability. Date: 6-8 October 2020 Venue: Pine Lake Marina, Garden Route, South Africa Aim: Providing a space for co-learning about the study and management of social-ecological systems and their complex interactions and feedbacks. Deadline for submitting abstracts: 30 June 2020 - Both managers and scientists are invited to share their latest approaches, challenges, insights and findings. More information and online registration Also incorporating [...]

2020-03-11T06:43:05+02:00March 11th, 2020|SAPECS News|
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Masters/PhD project: Value chain analyses of the southern Cape line fishery

 The group around the DSI/NRF South African Research Chair in Marine Ecology and Fisheries is a dynamic team at the University of Cape Town, conducting research into systems approaches to managing human activities in the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem. Our “Southern Cape Interdisciplinary Fisheries Research (SCIFR)” project focusses on the region between Witsands and Mossel Bay and seeks to understand (i) how natural and social changes in the southern Cape shape and interact with the marine social-ecological system at its doorstep, (ii) how selected natural resource users in the area respond to global change, and how they are shaping [...]

2020-02-25T08:43:26+02:00February 25th, 2020|position, SAPECS News|
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ACDI Opportunity: Junior Research Fellow (lecturer level)

The African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI) invites applications for the post of Junior Research Fellow. The ACDI is a University Research Institute at UCT that coordinates and enhances research and teaching on climate change and development across faculties, academic departments and research groupings. The Junior Research Fellowship is an academic position that aims to support an emerging researcher with post-doctoral experience to build and establish an independent research career within one of ACDI’s thematic focus areas. The Junior Research Fellow will be mentored by senior researchers within ACDI, with support from the Director and Deputy Director, and will also [...]

2020-02-25T08:34:57+02:00February 25th, 2020|position, SAPECS News|
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