Meet us

Staff

	Professor Rudi van Aarde Chair of Conservation Ecology and Director of CERU rjvaarde@zoology.up.ac.za Professor van Aarde holds a Chair in Conservation Ecology at the Department of Zoology and Entomology, where he directs the various programmes of CERU.
	Professor Stuart Pimm Conservation Chair, Nicholas School, Duke University, USA Professor Pimm is an extraordinary professor at the University of Pretoria and has been closely involved with postgraduate training at CERU. Download The World According To Pimm – A Scientist Audits the Earth [2.08 MB]
	Lilian Scholtz Personal assistant to the Chair at CERU lilian.scholtz@zoology.up.ac.za Lilian sees to day-to-day arrangements at the various administrative levels, including liaising with partners, collaborators, funding agencies and University administration.
	Jo Fourie Research assistant jfourie@zoology.up.ac.za Logistical arrangements related to field trips as well as assistance with field work and data management are but a few of Jo's responsibilities.
	Dr Robert Guldemond Research fellow rguldemond@zoology.up.ac.za Robert studies the effects of forest fragmentation and rehabilitation on biological assemblages in dune forest in Maputaland.
	Morgan Trimble Research fellow mjtrimble@zoology.up.ac.za Morgan investigates human and elephant demography in areas indentified as potential ecological linkages and where people and elephants may co-exist.
	Camilla Nørgaard Research fellow cnorgaard@zoology.up.ac.za Camilla studies the behavioural responses of elephants and rhinoceros exposed to conservation and management actions in natural and artificial conditions.
	Dr Sam Ferreira Research collaborator SamF@sanparks.org Sam is involved in our elephant conservation program assessing population dynamics across our study sites.
	Dr Theo Wassenaar Research collaborator awr@mweb.com.na Theo is involved in our rehabilitation monitoring programme in Richards Bay.
	Thabile Khuzwayo Research assistant, Richards Bay Field Station tkhuzwayo@zoology.up.ac.za Thabile assists the restoration ecology team in monitoring and surveying birds, millipedes and trees in regenerating coastal dune forests.
	Laura Owens Research assistant, Richards Bay Field Station llowens@zoology.up.ac.za Laura is based at the field office in Richards Bay and provides field assistance and analytical support for the coastal dune forest restoration programme.

Students

	Theresia Ott PhD candidate and GIS assistant tott@zoology.up.ac.za Ground-truthing satellite imagery forms part of Theresia's PhD efforts to examine landscape changes driven by people, large mammals and natural disturbances. Theresia also manages CERU's GIS and remote sensing database, including the location database of elephants that are being monitored through satellite tracking.
	Matt Grainger PhD candidate mjgrainger@zoology.up.ac.za Matt is examining the effect of forest fragmentation on the ability of birds and plants to recolonize regenerating forest patches.
	Kim Young PhD candidate kyoung@zoology.up.ac.za Kim's work focuses on vegetation productivity as a determinant of spatial utilization patterns of elephants across southern Africa. She also works part-time as an ecologist for the New Zealand Department of Conservation.
	Cornelio Ntumi PhD candidate and Lecturer University of Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique cpntumi@teledata.mz Cornelio's research is aimed at developing a systemic approach to elephant conservation throughout Mozambique.
	Pieter Olivier MSc candidate polivier@zoology.up.ac.za Pieter is studying the applicability of metapopulation theory to large mammals. In particular, he is testing whether elephant populations in southern Africa adhere to the metapopulation criteria defined in the literature.
	Tamara Lee MSc candidate tlee@zoology.up.ac.za Tamara will be evaluating whether Resource Selection Functions can be applied to elephants. If so, she will investigate which variables influence the selection of certain resources over others.
	Alida de Flamingh BSc(hons) candidate adeflamingh@zoology.up.ac.za Alida is investigating elephant space use in changing environments. The aim of her project is to establish the influence of human induced disruptions for elephant movements and landscape utilization patterns in the Caprivi region.