The following positions are available on the sub-Antarctic, Marion Island for the overwintering period (April 2023 to May 2024)
Applications close between 7 November and 14 November 2022.
Click here: View the positions
Anche Louw, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, 31 October 2022.
This is the first announcement for the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Biology Symposium 2023 in New Zealand.
Will you be attending/presenting a paper? Let ALSA know!
In a new publication, An open access geospatial database for the sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands, by Elizabeth Rudolph, David William Hedding, Nico de Bruyn, and Werner Nel, open access is given to a geospatial database for both Marion Island and Prince Edward Island.
Click here to view the full suite of data: Prince Edward Islands Geospatial Database
This paper was presented at the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research Open Science Conference 2022, in a poster format. Click here to view the poster.
Anche Louw, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, 06 October 2022
Applications are now open to join the national committee of APECS-SA, the South African National Committee of APECS (Association of Polar Early Career Scientists).
APECS-SA is looking for early career scientists, enthusiasts, naturalists, and good storytellers passionate about Polar Research, to join the team.
As polar researchers, we are responsible for communicating the value of polar research, and APECS-SA needs your help!
If you are not an APECS member yet, join APECS-SA today and apply to be on the National Committee.
Application deadline: 31 October 2022
“SCAR’s mission is to advance Antarctic research, including observations from Antarctica, and to promote scientific knowledge, understanding and education on any aspect of the Antarctic region. To this end, SCAR is charged with the initiation and international co-ordination of Antarctic and Southern Ocean research beneficial to global society. One of the most effective ways to do this is to bring researchers together to share their latest results, discuss new ideas, and provide opportunities to develop new projects” – www.scar.org
SCAR expanded its biennial business meetings to include an Open Science Conference (OSC). This year’s open science conference was held from 1 – 10 August 2022, hosted by India. It made it possible for participants and attendees to discuss current results and develop future projects. The conference included plenary, parallel and satellite events, as well as workshops. Business meetings of the science groups were held before the open science conference.
South Africans participated and attended various sessions during the conference (see details below):
Presentations delivered:
E-Posters:
Antarctic Legacy of South Africa communicated South Africa’s participation and conference-related announcements on Twitter (47 Tweets). A highlight was the session on the discovery of Shackleton’s Endurance, where South Africa was frequently mentioned during the talk.
Goosebumps!! If you're missing this mini-symposium, make sure to watch the recording.
John Shears, Expedition Leader of #Endurance22 just shared a great video of the expedition and now talking more about the brave explorer, Sir #ErnestShackleton and his men of the #Endurance. pic.twitter.com/kZpH7aGtVg
— antarcticlegacy@sun.ac.za (@Antarcticlegacy) August 4, 2022
What is to come:
All posters and presentations can be found on the ALSA digital archive.
The conference virtual site is still available – if you have missed out on any sessions you can listen to the recordings, and all abstracts and posters can still be downloaded.
Ria Olivier, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, 17 August 2022.
Nishendra (Nish) Devanunthan (right) has been appointed as the Operations Coordinator for the South African Polar Research Infrastructure (SAPRI) of the Logistics Node. He will work directly with Dr Juliet Hermies (left), the acting director of SAPRI.
The operations coordinator will be based at SAEON Egagasini Node, in Cape Town, and will be responsible for the day-to-day operational and logistical management of SAPRI. The main responsibilities will be to support effective communication and coordination between SAPRI stakeholders, coordinate Supply Chain Management activities at SAPRI to meet organizational objectives, and support the promotion of transformation within polar science. Nish Devanunthan brings to SAPRI a wealth of knowledge in engineering, logistics, operations, and project management. His understanding of navigating the public administration landscape, public procurement, stakeholder engagement, planning and execution of logistics are very relevant to his appointment as operations coordinator.
Nish hails from a small town in KwaZulu-Natal on the North Coast and completed his MBA in 2017. His previous appointment was the Director of Southern Oceans & Antarctic Support in the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE): Oceans & Coasts since 2013. His activities and responsibilities as director at DFFE, such as planning, forecasting, and overseeing execution of projects as well as financial and contract management will be very relevant to his appointment as operations coordinator. Read more.
He has been to SANAE IV, Marion Island, and Gough Island and was South Africa’s representative at the Council for Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP), and has attended the past Antarctic Treaty consultative meeting (ATCM).
Read more about Nish Devanunthan in the mid-month series on the SANAP website.
Cover photo: Andrew McDonnell
Ria Olivier, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, 12 August 2022.
East Pier Shed, East Pier Lane,
V&A Waterfront, Cape Town,
South Africa
