Patricia Solís

[Washington, D.C., 18 November 2012] — The Association of American Geographers (AAG) is pleased to announce that Natalie Ellis and Roddy Fox from Rhodes University have been selected to participate in the MyCOE / SERVIR Initiative in East Africa for a 10-month fellowship program to conduct research that addresses themes of Climate Change, Agriculture or Food Security using geographic technologies. A total of 18 undergraduate and graduate students and their mentors were competitively selected from among nearly 200 applications for the program based on the feasibility and quality of the proposed research/education activity. In all, 35 participants will directly benefit from the MyCOE / SERVIR Initiative in East Africa.

The MyCOE / SERVIR Initiative is a partnership between the AAG’s MyCOE program and the NASA SERVIR program to help university students living and studying in developing regions conduct long-term research or educational activities in response to sustainable development needs in their countries. Participants in the MyCOE / SERVIR Initiative will receive a modest stipend and mentoring. They also will receive geographic data and SERVIR resources to help them conduct their three- to six-month long projects. Over the life of the fellowship, fellows will have the opportunity to interact and exchange ideas with approximately 60 other teams from around the world that will be selected through MyCOE / SERVIR global initiatives.

The East Africa fellowships have begun with online networking among the participant cohort, which includes students from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. The group will meet from 9-19 December 2012 with a multi-day capacity building and GIS training workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. A three- to six-month research period will follow with support from fellows’ own mentors and expertise provided by the program. Natalie Kate Ellis’ proposed project is entitled: Adaptation to Climate Change and Resource Availability Through Livelihoods and Land Uses: The Case of Changing Use of Arable Land in the Transkei Region of South Africa. In 2013, fellows will prepare and conduct a local public diplomacy or outreach activity to share their results with stakeholders in their community over a course of four months.

MyCOE (My Community Our Earth: Geographic Learning for Sustainable Development) is a U.S. Type II Public-Private Partnership established in 2001 in conjunction with the United Nations World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. It provides geographic perspectives, learning resources, and technological tools to encourage youth to engage with their local communities around global sustainability themes. [Additional information is available at www.mycoe.org.]

SERVIR, the Regional Visualization and Monitoring System, is a collaborative venture among the NASA Earth Science Division Applied Sciences Program, USAID, and worldwide partner institutions. It helps governments and other stakeholders use Earth observation and geospatial technologies to make decisions about disasters, ecosystems, biodiversity, weather, water, climate, health, and agriculture. [Visit www.servirglobal.net for more information].

The Association of American Geographers is a scientific and educational society with a current membership of over 11,000 individuals from more than 60 countries. Its members are geographers and related professionals who work in the public, private, and academic sectors to advance the theory, methods, and practice of geography. The AAG is a founding partner of MyCOE and has served as secretariat since its inception. Go to www.aag.org to learn more.

For more information about MyCOE / SERVIR, see www.aag.org/mycoe.servir or contact the Project Director Patricia Solís at psolis [at] aag.org.

Ian Meiklejohn

A team of four Rhodes Academics and Students will be sailing off for the Antarctic continent on 6 December 2012 to conduct research in a project titled Landscape Processes in Antarctic Ecosystems. The project follows on earlier research investigating Geomorphology and Climate Change. The team will be led by Principle Investigator, Prof Ian Meiklejohn (Department of Geography) on the new South African polar research and supply ship, the SA Agulhas II on her maiden Antarctic voyage. Ian will be accompanied by Dr Gwynneth Matcher (Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Biotechnology), as well as Rosie Dwight, and David Scott, both from the Department of Geography, who will be undertaking research for their MSc degrees. Collaborators on the project are Prof Rosemary Dorrington (Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Biotechnology), Prof Werner Nel (University of Fort Hare) and Dr Jennifer Lee (University of Stellenbosch). The undertaking additionally has components in the Sub-Antarctic on Marion Island where Christel Hansen (Department of Geography) will be spending a year from April 2013 as part for her PhD research. Christel spent the last two summers in the Antarctic. Prof Meiklejohn has had ten previous visits to either the Antarctic or Sub-Antarctic.

Research that will be conducted includes investigating active layer (the thin layer of ground that melts in summer) thermal and moisture regimes and the impact that these have on geomorphic processes, the development landforms, and the distribution of biota. Only recently has the role of geomorphology in the creation of microhabitats, and how this is coupled to the establishment, distribution and survival of biota been identified in the Antarctic. The planned research will allow the creation of baseline data that can contribute to understanding how changing climate may affect landscape processes and how this in turn may affect biodiversity.

After 76 days away from home, the team will return to South African shores and commence the arduous task of analysing their data and undertaking laboratory analyses on the samples they bring back. Hopefully the findings of their research will result in a large number of well cited and groud-breaking academic articles.

Philippa Irvine

A group of 14 Honours, Masters and PhD Students and Professors of the Department of Geography attended the Biennial Southern African Association of Geomorphologists in the Gobabeb in Namibia from 8th to 12th September 2012. They were joined by visiting professors, Jan Boelhouwers (Uppsalla University, Sweden) and Ian Foster (University of Northampton, UK), as well as Mikael Jonssan, a PhD student from Uppsalla University in Sweden. The Conference coincided with 50 Years of Namib Desert Research at Gobabeb. The Conference covered a vast number of topics in the geomorphological field and the small size and informal setting of the conference created an atmosphere for meaningful interaction and discussions with people in the field.

Having driven to the conference, the group was able to experience the geomorphological variability in the Namibian landscape. This included visiting a cascade tufa and participation in dune survey techniques including DGPS, GPR and OSL.

PhD Student, Rebecca Joubert, won the Best Student Oral Presentation Award and PhD student Bennie van de Waal received a special mention in this category. Honours Student, Rosie Dwight, won the Best Student Poster Presentation Award and Daniel Schroeder (also an Honours Student) received a special mention. Christel Hansen and Nandipha Mabuza received travel grants to attend the conference from the IAG (International Association of Geomorphologists).

Philippa Irvine

Prof Keith Beavon celebrated his 50th consecutive year lecturing a first year course as a guest lecturer at Rhodes University. Prof Beavon started his lecturing career at Rhodes University in 1963 and so this visit meant the completion of a full circle in his career. Beavon is an icon of urban geography in South Africa and has held positions as Professor of Human Geography at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and Professor of Geography and Head of Department at the University of Pretoria. He presented a course on ‘The Historical Geography of 19th Century Paris’ as part of the Geography 102 course, ‘Introduction to Global Development’.

Philippa Irvine

PhD Student, Philippa Irvine, recently attended the IGC in Cologne, Germany. The Congress was hosted by the University of Cologne and ran from 26 to 30 August. Philippa presented a paper based on her Masters’ Research from 2011, ‘Post-Apartheid Racial Integration in Grahamstown: a time-geographical perspective’, within the ‘Urban Utopias and Heterotopias: Theorising, Analysing and Evaluating Urban Spaces’ session. Philippa was awarded an IGU Travel Grant, which enabled her to attend the conference.

Philippa Irvine

On August 2nd, a group of students and staff of the Department of Geography went to Port Elizabeth to visit the SA Agulhas II, which was docked at the harbour. The ship had an open day and the students got a tour of its amazing facilities. It was an exciting experience for Rosie Dwight and Dave Scott (Honours Students) who will be travelling on the ship to Antarctica as part of a South African National Antarctic Programme project.

The Agulhas II, dedicated to Miriam Makeba, is South Africa’s first custom-built research vessel. The ship has great potential to enable researchers to further scientific knowledge.

Philippa Irvine

The Geography Department hosted a Geography Pub Quiz on 1 August at the Student Union. Geographers and others from the IWR (Institute for Water Research) and the Department of Environmental Science participated. Three categories, including: World Geography, South African Geography and Frivolity, were tackled by teams of four. ‘Josh and the Souldiers of Love’, a team of geographers made up of Dr Josh Kirshner, Sarita Pillay, Karabo Chadzingwa and Conrad Swart, came out tops.

Christel Hansen and Rosie Dwight

The 2nd year geography students participated in a field trip to Woody Cape and the Alexandria Dune Fields from the 24th till 26th of August. It was a very educational yet fun experience for all, set in a beautiful area of the Eastern Cape. Students made profiles of the dunes and collected ground temperature regimes using iButton thermochrons. This was done under the tutelage of Prof Ian Meiklejohn and Prof Kate Rowntree. Their honours demonstrators Rosie and Chadz were also on hand to assist. Each day of work on the dunes was followed by a braai, some bonding around the fire or playing ‘Bananagrams’.

The last day was also jam-packed with more academic pursuits. The morning was spent visiting a neighbouring dairy farm, where students learnt all about the fluvial and hydrological dynamics of the area. On the journey home, students visited the Bushman’s River estuary at Boesmansriviermond. Here they learnt about the river estuary and were exposed to the soil augur and its uses..

Philippa Irvine

The Department's Honours students attended the SSAG Students’ Conference in June accompanied by GIS lecturer, Gillian McGregor.

Two of the Honours students won prizes for their presentations at the conference. Philippa Kleyn won the prize for the best GIS presentation for her paper: ‘Mapping and Predicting Fossil Fields in the Karoo: a study of the fossil fields in the area surrounding Petersburg, Eastern Cape’. She is pictured here with GIS lecturer, Gillian Mcgregor. Sarita Pillay won the prize for the best Human Geography presentation for her paper: ‘Behind the corrugated mass: A Grahamstown informal settlement from the eyes of its residents’.

The conference, arguably the oldest running conference of its sort in the country, has been hosted annually by students for students for over 40 years, and, is a great opportunity for everyone to find out what their peers nationwide are doing and to create networks between the different universities. This year the students of UCT hosted the conference at the Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences.

Our Department's Honours students presented their on-going research and are congratulated on their brilliant work and presentations.

In the picture (from left): Back: Gillian Mcgregor, Philippa Irvine, Christel Hansen, Thandeka Ndlovu, Asiphe Sahula, Talitha Mpando, Nandipha Mabuza Front: Dan Schroeder, Dave Scott, Rosie Dwight, Karabo Chadzingwa, Sarita Pillay, Conrad Swart, Philippa Kleyn

Philippa Irvine

While in Cape Town in June 2012 the students of the Department of Geography attended two field trips. Philippa Irvine and Karabo Chadzingwa attended the ‘Exploration of the Historical Morphology of Central Cape Town’ excursion led by Emeritus Professor Ron Davies who is one of the foremost urban geographers in the country and a former Rhodes University student. The trip included visits to the Company Gardens, the Parliamentary district, the reclaimed area of the CBD, De Waterkant, District 6, the waterfront development and ICC, and the Fringe in Cape Town’s Design and Innovation District. "It was a fantastic field trip that transcended the usual tourist experience of Cape Town and really dealt with how the history of a city and its historical morphology is imprinted in its character and shape." says Philippa

The rest of the students, including those who took the GIS honours course, accompanied Gillian Mcgregor to the National Geo-spatial Information (NGI) offices and mapping centre where they toured five sections of the NGI learning about the processes that they go through to produce a 1: 50 000 map. The NGI was incredibly helpful and accommodating and the students received a gift pack including a map of South Africa and one of Grahamstown. The visit gave students insight into the creation of GIS databases and maps.

Philippa Irvine

Staff and postgraduate students of the Department of Geography attended the Society of South African Geographers (SSAG) ‘Critical Conversations in Geography’ Conference from 20 to 22 June hosted by the Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences at the University of Cape Town.

At the conference dinner Brigitte Melly, now a PhD Candidate at NMMU, received the Society’s Bronze Medal Award for her Masters’ dissertation, which she had completed at Rhodes University under the supervision of Gillian McGregor.

In the picture are those who attended the conference from the Department of Geography at Rhodes University.

From left: Prof Ian Meiklejohn, Dr Josh Kirshner, Brigitte Melly, Gillian McGregor, Philippa Irvine, Faye Hirshfield (UNBC), Shannon Kirshner, Christel Hansen.

Phillipa Kleyn

Professor Ian Meiklejohn gave his inaugural lecture on Wednesday 23 May to an audience of his peers, colleagues, students, friends and family. The lecture was titled ‘Landscapes, Spaces and Time: From the Arctic to the Antarctic and Places In-Between’. It covered his research in the Swedish Arctic, Drankensburg rock art, Marrion Island and Antarctic geomorphology. The staff and students of the Geography department wish to congratulate him on reaching this important milestone in his career.

Phillipa Kleyn

Two Rhodes honours students (Philippa Kleyn, Rosie Dwight), four University of Pretoria students, 10 University of British Columbia students, two PhD students (Philippa Irvine - Rhodes) and 4 professors all met at the Johannesburg station to begin an amazing journey around South Africa.

A trip on the Shosholoza Premier Class train from Johannesburg to Cape Town was a perfect beginning as we watched the landscapes passing us by. We explored Cape Town from the Waterfront to the winelands and the Cape peninsula sampling fantastic food and wine along the way. We then moved on to the Klein Karoo traversing the Swartburg pass. There we visited the Cango caves and took in the Karoo architecture in Oudtshoorn. We moved on to Knysna where we took part in human and physical mapping exercises as well as savouring the wonderful seafood and local beer. From there we travelled to Grahamstown where we showed the Canadians around our historic town and campus. Daytrips to Addo Elephant Park, the Keiskamma Trust in Hamberg and The Walf Street Brewery in Port Alfred added to the Eastern Cape experience. Finally we travelled to the Great Karroo to conduct field work on Ganora farm neqr the town of Nieu Bethesda. The trip was a wonderful learning experience with opportunities to engage with students in the same field but from very different universities and continents. The practical learning experiences that enriched our formal honours education and the new friendships made the trip one to remember.

Written by Christel Hansen

Christel Hansen, a new student in the Rhodes Geography Department recently retruned from a three month research trip to the South African Antarctic Base (SANAE IV) where she was part of the summer take-over voyage for 2011/2012.

Christel comments on the trip : "My purpose on the trip was to collect data and conduct research for my MSc in Geography which will focus on investigating the processes acting on a blockfield in the Antarctic and the blockfield located on the Northern Buttress of Vesleskarvet, the location for the SANAE IV research base. This is the ideal study site being only a few hundred meters away from the base and other data such as climate data has been collected there for many years as well."

As usual the SA Agulhas would be our taxi. She is the faithful South African research vessel that for decades has made the voyage not only to the Antarctic but also to Gough and Marion Islands, taking scientists, take-over and overwintering personnel to these research stations from her home port of Cape Town. This time the voyage down South would be especially unique and melancholic as this would be her last voyage to the Antarctic. The new South African research vessel, the SA Agulhas II, is currently undergoing sea trials and will sail on her maiden voyage to the Antarctic in December.

It was an interesting voyage - getting stuck in sea ice on numerous occasions, having braais on the heli-deck whilst being observed curiously by leopard seals, Albatross, Skuas, Petrels, Adelie penguins and even an Emperor penguin; being investigated by a variety of whales during the voyage (one pod numbered more than 10); stunning sunrises and sunsets at sea; the glorious stars of the midnight skies; failing to expose her passengers to a storm, the "Roaring Forties" (these proved themselves yet again to be the "Boring Forties"); icebergs, growlers, pack ice and then finally the ever-imposing ice shelf.

At the ice shelf offloading of cargo commenced in a bustle, the crane lifted containers, vehicles and even people up onto the (in places) 30m high shelf, the first passenger flights started and the take-over party was off to SANAE IV, perched on Vesleskarvet in Droning Maud Land. Here we were greeted by unexpectedly glorious weather. In the Antarctic if the weather is good you work and work and work. The sun doesn't set at this time of year so workdays start at app. 7 AM and last until you are too exhausted to continue, the only reprieve being mealtimes. Weekends don't exist either so you literally work seven days a week for weeks on end (if the weather allows it). So my colleague and I commenced with our work as Geomorphologists: we flew to Troll, the Norwegian base, and Flarjuven, a nunatak not too far from SANAE, to collect data on permafrost and active layer dynamics. We investigated Valterkulten, another nunatak, and collected data on rock hardness as well as the presence of lichen and other organisms. Yes, life does exist in the Antarctic and it can be found in the most uncanny of places. And days on end were spent on the Northern Buttress of Vesleskarvet, collecting the data required for my MSc.

This spell of good weather lasted for three weeks when it was broken (to the relief of all persons at the base) by our first storm (or Whiteout), which lasted for five days, two of which were spent sleeping and resting. But the earlier good weather turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we never really had good weather again. Storms kept coming in, bringing with them the expected poor visibility and contrast, wind chill of -30 degrees Celsius and high winds that shook the base. At the ice shelf the Agulhas was not faring any better. The season had turned and we heard that she could no longer reach the shelf, seriously endangering the backloading operations of all cargo. Persons were flown back to the Agulhas in a flurry, additional personnel were sent back to the shelf on the CAT Train (Caterpillars or Challengers drag all cargo to SANAE on sleds) and the wait began. The journey back to Cape Town generally lasts a mere ten days once you are back on the ship. This year, unfortunately the weather was not playing along and some of us were on the ship for four weeks on the return journey. The oceanographers who for the entire three months of the voyage don't actually get to leave the ship were on the ship (for the return voyage at least) for six weeks. Cabin fever, you might ask? In fact the outstanding crew of the Agulhas ensured that all passengers were comfortable and well-cared for at all times and eventually everyone did make it back onto the Agulhas in – the weather cleared long enough for all passengers at least to be flown to the ship.

Saying good-bye to the Antarctic is extremely difficult. It is by far the most beautiful place I have ever had the privilege to visit and having been there you never want to leave. It is a place to meet wonderful people, to marvel at the engineering ingenuity of the countries that manage to keep all-year bases on the continent. (An example worth mentioning is Neumeyer III, the German base, which is built on stilts so it can be lifted above the ice as required.) And, of course, to conduct some of the most exiting science and research on the planet. Antarctic access is not restricted to scientists - journalists, DEA and NDPW personnel, engineers, historians, adventurers and even travelling dignitaries have been there and the interest in the great white desert of the South is sure to continue.

Written by Phillipa Irvine

Some of the staff and students of the Geography Department ran the Green Fund Run on the 18th of March. The run is a relay race organised by the Rhodes University Environmental Committee and aims to raise funds for the university's Green Fund, to support initiatives that promote sustainability. All teams received a special "Spekkie Baton", seen in the pictures, which could be taken home and planted after the race.