Partnerships and collaborations

I have a long-term relationship with the University of Zurich and the Kalahari Research Centre (KRC), where I am a trustee. Currently, together with Dr Sofia Forss, I am co-supervising a postdoctoral research fellow, and we have several research plans to work on small carnivores at the KRC. This collaboration arose from my PhD work on yellow mongoose and later research on bat-eared foxes at the KRC some years ago.

Together with the University of Sydney and the University of Mpumalanga, I am conducting research on scavenger communities and how they change at altitude. This is part of a continuing collaboration focused on the concept of scavenger community structure in montane environments, driven by Prof Thomas Newsome’s research group in Sydney. It dovetails nicely with my research on small carnivore adaptations to altitude and transformed landscapes.

More locally, I am working with NGOs such as the Clarens Village Conservancy and the Seriti Road Initiative to examine ecological health in a small mountain village. We are assessing how a healthy environment can contribute to sustainable growth that benefits everybody in the village of Clarens, South Africa. I also have continuing collaborations with BirdLife South Africa, EFTEON, and the Golden Gate Highlands National Park.

Two new partnerships have recently been launched – with Dr Jeanne Tarrant from Anura Africa and Prof Tanya Straka from the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences in Germany. We look forward to many years of exploring the relationship between humans and small vertebrates in the natural and transformed environment.