Farewell to Sheona

Sheona Shackleton
Sheona Shackleton

This month marks the end of Sheona Shackleton’s formal career at Rhodes University. Sheona has been associated with the Department of Environmental Science since 2000, taking up a permanent position in the Department in June 2008. During this time she progressed from lecturer to full Professor, which she obtained in 2013. She has been head of department for the last four years.  Rhodes University is also Sheona’s alma mater. Due to these long-term connections, and because she is still supervising postgrads in the Department, she has been granted an associate position by the University (of Honorary Professor).  Sheona fully intends to continue working with staff and students from the Department, and to link them with colleagues and projects in her new position. The opportunities for further work in the Eastern Cape are huge, and Sheona is keen to build on the local research she has done while at Rhodes. So expect to see her around.

So, where is she going? Sheona will be moving to Cape Town in January 2018 to become the Deputy Director of the African Climate and Development Initiative at UCT for a period of five years (http://acdi.uct.ac.za/). The ACDI  is a university-wide initiative which supports transdisciplinary, collaborative research and training in climate change and development. The position offers an exciting opportunity to undertake more focussed work in the area of climate change adaptation, to interact and learn from a large group of colleagues working on a range of innovative projects across the region, and to play a role in guiding the strategic direction of the ACDI and climate change work in South Africa.  All exciting, new and stimulating stuff!!

Farewell Sheona, we wish you all the best for this last chapter of your working life.