by Ria Olivier | Aug 9, 2023 | Commemorative Days, Important Dates, News, Research, SA Polar Research Infrastructure, SAPolarRI, SAPRI, Science, Southern Ocean, Women in Science
Prof Juliet Hermes is the Manager of the South African Polar Research Infrastructure (SAPRI), the Manager of the NRF- SAEON Egagasini Node, Honorary Professor at the Nelson Mandela University (NMU), Professor at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and heavily involved in a number of international programs and committees where she represent the fantastic work being done in South Africa and Africa as a whole (see list below). She is a passionate physical oceanographer who loves the ocean, a mom of two boys and her life is guided by the words of late Nelson Mandela:
“What counts in life is not the mere fact that you have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”
She makes a difference in her working environment through her collaborative nature and approachable demeanor.
“At the NRF- SAEON Egagasini Node I am supported by an incredible team consisting of biodiversity, modelling, observing and engagement specialists and of course administrative support. Together we advance our understanding of the marine offshore environment and our ability to detect, predict and react to global change through long term observations, modelling and research data”.
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Juliet (left) on board the S.A. Agulhas en route to Marion Island.
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Juliet and her two boys.
From Interim SAPRI Manager to SAPRI Manager
Juliet was initially involved in SAPRI as the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) institutional champion and worked closely with Dr Tammy Morris and Prof Marcello Vichi in writing the original proposal and following business plan for SAPRI. As the manager of the NRF-SAEON Egagasini Node, which hosts the SAPRI LTO-Land and LTO-Ocean integrated facilities (IFs), she was made the interim manager of SAPRI in November 2021. Following discussions with the National Research Foundation (NRF), Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) this role was then made permanent on the 1st of April 2023.
“It is a team effort with SAPRI and SAEON staff working closely together and the community also supporting us through the different user fora”.
Read more about the SAPRI IFs here.
Role of the SAPRI Manager
The role will change over time, the first 3 years will be overseeing the implementation of SAPRI – setting up the governance, employing the staff, overseeing the user fora groups, reporting to the advisory committees, the NRF and the DSI, working with DFFE, the South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAP) and the Antarctic Legacy of South Africa (ALSA) to integrate SAPRI and to maximize marine and polar sciences in South Africa. Understand the stakeholder needs and support the current community, whilst driving transformation and bringing in new stakeholders in terms of disciplines and institutes. A key aspect is also ensuring the sustainability of long term observations in the marine and polar space, and resolving long going issues between science and logistics.
Once the implementation has happened the role will be more in overseeing the operations, sourcing additional funding, driving transformation and continuing to work closely with DFFE and SANAP.
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On an exchange visit to the Bermuda long-term observing station (BIOS).
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Geo summit (2007).
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Juliet and collogues at the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) High level strategic dialogue on IORA’s 25 years.
My expectations for SAPRI are for it to fulfill its vision: “to enable balanced and transformed research growth across the multiplicity of marine and polar disciplines, and to maintain and further expand the world-class, long-term observational research infrastructure and datasets already established within the South African marine and polar research environment.”
Juliet represent South Africa (and Africa) in the following international programs and committees:
- Ocean Decade task force to implement the Africa roadmap (read more here).
- Chair of the Climate and Ocean – Variability, Predictability, and Change (CLIVAR) Indian Ocean Regional Panel.
- Chair of the Indian Ocean Rim Association Academic Group (IORAG) and the node hosts the South African chapter for this.
- Ocean Decade working groups (on capacity development and adaptation).
- Executive committee member of International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans (IAPSO).
- Vice chair on the Observation Coordination Group.
- Work closely with The Global Ocean Observing System for Africa (GOOS for AFRICA).
Read more: Second professorship for SAEON’s Juliet Hermes
Images and text supplied by Juliet Hermes.
Anche Louw, South African Polar Research Infrastructure, 09 August 2023.
by Ria Olivier | Apr 20, 2023 | Announcement, Antarctica, Prince Edward Island, Research, SA Agulhas II, SANAE IV, Science, Southern Ocean, sub-Antarctic
The NRF-SANAP Funding call is now open!
Click on the link below to access the submission portal.
Have you registered on NRF Connect?
Submission deadline: 15 June 2023
Important Documents – as indicated on the NRF website
(Please click on the images below to open the various documents)
Anche Louw, South African Polar Research Infrastructure (SAPRI DPS Node), 20 April 2023
by Ria Olivier | Mar 8, 2022 | Engineering, Genomics, International Days, News, Oceanography, Research, SA Agulhas II, Southern Ocean, STEM, sub-Antarctic, Women in Science
The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is “Break the Bias”.
This year we are featuring three inspiring women within the South African National Antarctic Programme. They are leaders in their fields and represent South Africa on an international level.
Prof Annie Bekker – Stellenbosch University
Professor in Engineering, Director of the Sound & Vibration Research Group, and currently on the international Endurance 22 expedition (Antarctica).
“My job is about applying maths and science to technology… discovering and searching for new things. It is sometimes difficult, it takes long hours, breakthroughs can be incremental… and many times the belief, momentum, and enthusiasm for success have to come from within myself… Today, I love my job and the hard work to this point is absolutely worth it. I could not get here without encouragement, love, and mentorship in key moments. I cannot continue without the support of my family, the example of my colleagues, or the curiosity of my students – their excellence and hunger for their own new frontiers of discovery.
This is your life. Invest in your education. Believe in yourself, try, try again, never give up. Be hungry to learn. Sharpen your skills. Absorb all that is positive around you. Find mentors. Accept responsibility. Rebound from failure. Celebrate success. Be brave. Dream”.
Check out the Sound & Vibraton Research Group website: svrg.sun.ac.za.
Read more about Annie’s work and adventures here.
Prof Isabelle Ansorge – University of Cape Town
Head of the Oceanography Department at UCT and mastermind behind South Africa’s first class afloat – SEAmester.
Isabelle Ansorge is an observational oceanographer, Professor, and first female Head of the Oceanography Department at the University of Cape Town. Having built an observational oceanography career both nationally and internationally, Prof. Ansorge’s interests lie in Indian, Atlantic, and Southern Ocean dynamics that include Southern Ocean eddy transports of heat and salt, frontal dynamics, and variability in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and its effects on Subantarctic Islands such as Marion Island. Another passion of Isabelle’s is the shipboard training of postgraduate students from all over South Africa and she is the mastermind behind the SEAmester Floating University programme. SEAmester provides an incredible teaching and research platform for South African early-career scientists and lecturers alike. Prof. Ansorge’s list of affiliations is a testament to her extensive experience in the field including being a committee member of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), as a member of the start-up committee for the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS), as an Executive Bureau Member of the International Union for Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) and formally the vice-president of the International Association for Physical Sciences of the Oceans (IAPSO).
Check out the SEAmester website: seamester.co.za.
Read more about Isabelle here.
Prof Bettine van Vuuren – University of Johannesburg
Professor of Zoology, Director of the Centre for Ecological Genomics and Wildlife Conservation, and Chair of the South African Committee for the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SANC for SCAR).
“The first thing to say is that I believe there is nothing that any person can’t do if they apply their mind (and time) to it. We often set our own ceilings based on general beliefs that society or others impose on us, and it is crucial that we break through these (non-real) boundaries. STEM fields are a case in hand. This is especially true for women, who traditionally were seen as homemakers or child-carers. In STEM specifically, fields such as mathematics, physics, and engineering, and traditionally more field-based disciplines such as zoology, botany, or oceanography, are seen as more suited to men (either because women were not traditionally considered as analytically strong, capable to work in the field, or for that matter, be away from home for any period of time). It is critical that any person (both men and women) should carefully consider what they enjoy, what their specific strengths are (be that a STEM career for a woman, or as a childcarer/homemaker for a man), and then pursue that with all their strength and passion. Personally, I was initially directed into a field that I had no interest in (because I could not answer questions asked re where I would work if my husband lived in a small town), and from a personal perspective I strongly urge and support women that want to step out of the usual/ typical / what is expected from you by society and follow what they are passionate about”.
Follow Bettine on Twitter (Click here).
You can also visit her website: molzoolab.co.za.
Meet the SANC for SCAR committee here.
Read more about Bettine here.
Image of Prof Bekker supplied by: James-John Matthee.
Anche Louw, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, 08 March 2022
by Ria Olivier | Jun 16, 2021 | International Days, SANAP, SANAP Student
Today 16 June 2021 on South African Youth Day we congratulate the students within SANAP community that have graduated during the past year.
“The lack of a real graduation ceremony made it less sensational, and we risk to forget that we should celebrate our students’ achievements” – Marcello Vichi
Left: Liezel Rudolph received her PhD certificate (all the way from Fort Hare University) during takeover to Marion Island on the S.A. Agulhas II with supervisors Werner Nel and David Hedding. Right: Brendon Nickerson with his supervisor Annie Bekker at PhD graduation ceremony at Stellenbosch University wearing masks.
| Graduate | Degree | Institution | Supervisor |
| Elizabeth Rudolph | PhD | FH - Geography and Environmental Sciences | Werner Nel, David Hedding |
| Towards an improved understanding of the Southern Ocean’s biological pump: Phytoplankton group-specific contributions to nitrogen and carbon cycling across the Subantarctic Indian Ocean |
| Mapuka Nomsa | MSc | FH - Geography and Environmental Sciences | Werner Nel |
| The characteristics and trends of rainfall on sub-Antarctic Marion Island and associated air circulation patterns |
| Tegan Carpenter-Kling | PhD | NMU - Zoology (MAPRU) | Pierre Pistorius |
| Foraging in a dynamic environment: Movement and stable isotope ecology of marine top predators breeding at the Prince Edward Archipelago’ |
| Heather Forrer | MSc | UCT - Oceanography (Fawcett Lab) | Sarah Fawcett |
| Towards an improved understanding of the Southern Ocean’s biological pump: Phytoplankton group-specific contributions to nitrogen and carbon cycling across the Subantarctic Indian Ocean |
| Mark Hague | PhD | UCT - Oceanography (MARIS) | Marcello Vichi |
| The implications of ice - ocean - atmosphere interactions for phytoplankton phenology in the Southern Ocean |
| Ashleigh Womack | MSc | UCT - Oceanography (MARIS) | Marcello Vichi |
| Atmospheric drivers of ice drift in the Antarctic marginal ice zone |
| Jamie Jacobson | MSc | UCT - Oceanography (MARIS) | Marcello Vichi, A Mishra,R Verrinder |
| Development of Antarctic ice-tethered buoys |
| Ayanda Mpalweni | MSc | UCT - Oceanography (MARIS) | Marcello Vichi, Sarah Nicholson |
| Characterising the seasonal response of the mixed layer and the transitional layer to the passage of storms in the Sub-Antarctic Zone |
| Siobhan Johnson | MSc | UCT - Oceanography (MARIS) | Tokoloho Rampai, Marcello Vichi |
| Evaluation of the changes in the crystal structure of Antarctic sea ice from the marginal ice zone during winter and spring |
| Alexis Osborne | MSc | UCT - Zoology (Fitzpatrick Institute) | Peter Ryan |
| Understanding moult patterns in albatrosses and petrels breeding on Marion and Gough Islands |
| Mancha Mabaso | MSc | UP - Natural & Agricultural Sciences (GRI) | Thulane Makhalanyane |
| Elucidating the effects of physicochemical variables on the structure, composition and functionality of microbiomes in the Prince Edward Islands |
| Sunette Vos | MSc | UP - Natural & Agricultural Sciences (GRI) | Thulane Makhalanyane, Suzanne Fietz |
| Viral-host dynamics in marine environments |
| Liezl Pretorius | MSc | UP - Zoology and Entomology | Greg Hofmeyr, Marthán Bester, Maëlle Connan |
| Effect of sex and ontogeny on the trophic ecology of Southern Ocean fur seals |
| Kyle Lloyd | PhD | UP - Zoology (MIMMP) | Nico de Bruyn, Chris Oosthuizen |
| Individual variation in male southern elephant seal demography |
| Rowan Jordaan | PhD | UP - Zoology (MIMMP) | Nico de Bruyn, Chris Oosthuizen, Ryan Reisinger |
| Demographics of Marion Island killer whales |
| Nico L ü bcker | PhD | UP - Zoology (MIMMP) | Nico de Bruyn, RP Millar |
| Trophic influences, nutritional status, endocrine response on amino acid metabolism and reproduction of mammals |
| Yinhla Shilomule | MSc | UP - Zoology (MIMMP) | Nico de Bruyn, Ar Hoezel, Chris Oosthuizen |
| Hybridization and genetic variation of fur seals at Marion Island |
| Itai Mukutyu | MSc | UP - Zoology (MIMMP) | Nico de Bruyn, Mia Wege |
| Isotopic niche partitioning in sympatric fur seals from Marion Island |
| Caitlin van der Merwe | BSc Honns | UP - Zoology (MIMMP) | Nico de Bruyn, Cheryl Tosh |
| Oceanographic indicators of southern elephant foraging area avoidance |
| Leandri de Kock | BSc Honns | UP - Zoology (MIMMP) | Nico de Bruyn, Chris Oosthuizen |
| Phenology of southern elephant seal moult |
| Brendon Nickerson | PhD | US - Engineering (SVRG) | Annie Bekker |
| Inverse models for ice induced propeller moments on a polar vessel |
| Gerhard Durandt | M.Eng | US - Engineering (SVRG) | Annie Bekker |
| Data driven Regression Models for Voyage Cost Optimization Based on the Operating Conditions of the SA Agulhas II |
| Jesslyn Bossau | M.Eng | US - Engineering (SVRG) | Annie Bekker |
| The Detection and Quantification of Wave slamming from Full Scale Measurements on a Polar Vessel |
| Armand van Zuydam | M.Eng | US - Engineering (SVRG) | Annie Bekker |
| An investigation of the seakeeping behaviour of a polar vessel in waves |
| Nicole Taylor | M.Eng | US - Engineering (SVRG) | Annie Bekker |
| A Human Cyber Physical System Implementation for Seafarers. (Upgraded to PhD) |
| Martnique Engelbrecht | M.Eng | US - Engineering (SVRG) | Annie Bekker |
| Human response to wave induced motion, slamming and whipping. (Upgraded to PhD – awaiting faculty approval) |
| Jean Loock | PhD | US - Geology & Earth Sciences | Alakendra Roychoudhury |
| Austral Summer and Winter Trace Metal Distributions in the Southern Ocean and Antarctic Seasonal Sea Ice |
| Ryan Cloete | PhD | US - Geology & Earth Sciences | Alakendra Roychoudhury |
| The distribution and biogeochemical cycling of bioactive trace metals in the Southern Ocean |
| Tahlia Henry | MSc | Plymouth University - School of Biological and Marine Sciences | Alex Nimmo-Smith |
| Critical analysis of physical drivers of sediment movement at the mouth of the Erme Estuary. |
by Ria Olivier | Mar 8, 2021 | Announcement, Current Event, International Days, SANAP
Today on International Women’s Day we are celebrating all those women involved within the South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAP). International Women’s Day is celebrated on 8 March of each year. 2021 Theme: “IWD 2021 campaign theme: #ChooseToChallenge; A challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we are all responsible for our own thoughts and actions – all day, every day. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively we can help create an inclusive world. From challenge comes change, so let’s all choose to challenge.”
Within SANAP, women take on many roles. Throughout SANAP we find women in leadership positions which we celebrate; the Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Minister Babara Creecy, the Director at Knowledge Advancement and Support (KAS) of the National Research Foundation Tracy Klarenbeek, Deputy Directors Kusi Ngxabani and Chuma Phamoli. (Above l-r: Min Creecy, Tracy Klarenbeek, ChumaPhamoli, Kusi Ngxabani)
In the science environment there are many Principal Investigators and the chair for the National Committee of SCAR, Bettine van Vuuren(left). The Champion for the Antarctic Youth Coalition for Antarctic Gateway Cities is Rudzani Silima(right). There have been several students and other women over the past years within SANAP. See slideshow on ALSA Archive and Womens day 2020 on www.sanap.ac.za
Cover Image : Tahlia Henry
