SANBI Masters bursary

The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) in partnership with the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the Water Research Commission (WRC) is undertaking a project aimed at supporting the objectives of the National Water Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Roadmap.

The National Water RDI Roadmap intends to bring attention to the water scarcity crisis facing South Africa on a global scale, and to execute water research that is consistent with the country’s broad policy on science and innovation as well as to facilitate partnerships and investment opportunities. The project will address the Water RDI Roadmap’s Supply Cluster 3: Improve adequacy and performance of supply infrastructure through facilitating collaboration between researchers and practitioners. The primary aim of the Living Catchments Project is to establish better-resourced communities of practice that are involved with managing the built and ecological infrastructure within important water catchments and influencing national policy to support this.

The project intends to create a more resilient, more resourced, and more relational communities with the ultimate goal to create an enabling environment for integrating built and ecological infrastructure to support water security, economic development and livelihood improvement. The project will be implemented in the uMzimvubu, Tugela, Berg-Breede, and the Olifants river catchments. All of this work is underpinned by a social learning and stakeholder facilitation practice, and learning is a key transformative outcome for the Living Catchments project as a whole.

SANBI is calling for applications for a bursary for Masters Studies to better understand and support the practice of facilitating social learning and stakeholder engagement within the project context. Only research projects in line with the Living Catchment project will be considered.  Only full-time studies, with first registration in 2021, will be considered. The Living Catchments project, implemented by SANBI, is partnering with researchers at Rhodes University for this Masters Research. The successful candidate will intend to register for full-time study at Rhodes University, either in the Department of Environmental Science, or at the Environmental Learning Research Centre.

Click here for details of the Masters project

Requirements

Candidates must be pro-active, enthusiastic, and interested in doing excellent research that can make a difference. This bursary is only available to South African citizens and will be awarded in line with national equity targets.

Students need to apply for the university programme themselves, preferably with the university departments identified together with this priority project, and the bursary is conditional upon them securing their placement in a postgraduate programme and having provisional acceptance from prospective academic supervisors, of which one should be from SANBI.

Candidates should have an interdisciplinary or social science Honours degree (or equivalent) in Environmental Science, Sustainability Science, Education, Geography, Sociology, Anthropology, Water Resources Sciences, Rural Development, or a related field.

They should have a passion for working with diverse groups, an ability to work independently and also collaboratively, and a deep curiosity about social learning processes within the context of sustainability initiatives.

They should have good writing skills and an ability to engage across a diverse range of disciplines and areas of knowledge related to water, education and sustainability. Experience in qualitative research methodologies, community engagement and in facilitating multi-stakeholder social processes will be a significant advantage.

Bursary value (to cover living expenses and university fees)

Masters: R144 000/year for two years

Project running expenses will be covered separately and will vary depending on the project.

Application procedure

Each application is to be accompanied by a standard application cover sheet – attached.

Applications are to include a letter of interest; full CV; certified copies of academic record/transcript and highest qualification; as well as ID and driver’s license; a project outline (2 pages); two letters of academic reference; a letter from prospective supervisor indicating willingness to supervise and provisional registration from the university. Send all documents to students@sanbi.org.za with “Living Catchments studentships” in the subject line.

Contact details

• Social learning facilitation: Tanya Layne (t.layne@sanbi.org.za)
• Application process: Ms René du Toit (r.dutoit@sanbi.org.za)

If no response has been received within 30 days of the closing date, candidates may assume that their applications were unsuccessful. SANBI reserves the right not to fill this  bursary.