'Bridging the Gap between Research and Practice’ is the theme for this year’s Annual Open Day for the Institute for Water Research on 27 January 2011.
Prof Denis Hughes, the opening speaker, will be looking at 'Water Resources Assessments as Tools for Research and Practice'. Prof Hughes is Director and Full Professor in the Institute for Water Research, and has more than 25 years’ experience in hydrological and water resource modelling. He has undertaken several research contracts with the Water Research Commission and the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry which related to developments in methodologies for determining and implementing the Ecological Water Reserve (EWR) as part of the SA National Water Act.
Prof Hughes is also the hydrological specialist for several large-scale reserve determination projects. Among his recent work has been the development of the SPATSIM (Spatial and Time Series Information Modelling) software package, a framework and database for the application of a wide range of hydrological and water resource models.
Mr Andrew Gordon will speak on 'Moving Research from being useful to being used – what is Applied Research?' Currently employed as a researcher within the Institute for Water Research, Gordon undertakes environmental water quality research for a variety of research programmes and contracts, and is SASS (South African aquatic macroinvertebrate assessment index) accredited.
The third and final speaker of the day will be Dr Bill Rowlston, Director and HR Director of Coastal & Environmental Services (CES), who will be speaking on 'Using Research Outputs in Practice: a Perspective from an Environmental Consultant'.
According to CES' website, Dr Rowlston has considerable experience in a wide range of water-related fields, especially at the more strategic and policy level. He has eleven years’ experience in the formulation and analysis of policies and strategies for water resources management, including nine years of involvement with the development and formulation of the National Water Policy, the National Water Act and the National Water Resource Strategy, which was established in South Africa at the end of 2004.
CES is one of the longest established environmental consulting firms in southern Africa, specialising in assessing the impacts of development on the natural, social and economic environment through the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process which aims to ensure that development remains sustainable.
The hour before lunch will be devoted to a discussion on the topics raised, chaired by Prof Tally Palmer who recently rejoined the staff of Rhodes as Director of the Unilever Centre for Environmental Water Quality within the Institute for Water Research.
The day's programme will run in the Environmental Education Seminar Room on the Rhodes University Campus from 10am to 13h45.