Science Café - Muizenberg

16/02/2024

Congratulations to Dr Katie Watson on successfully defending her PhD. She gave a fantastic talk last year at Science Café - Muizenberg and is definitely one to watch in the field of marine conservation!

Pinch me moment! Yesterday I successfully defended my PhD thesis! 🔥

Thank you so much to everyone who came to support (both in person and online from all over the world!), and for all the wonderful messages ♥️ it means so much!

It’s elementary my dear (Dr) Watson! 👩🏼‍🔬🌱✨

16/02/2024

Our first Science Café Muizenberg event of the year will be presented by Dr. Olivier Pasnin this Tuesday, 20 Feb. Olivier is a Senior Research Coordinator at Reef Conservation (Mauritius) and project coordinator for the project “Nature-based solutions for protecting the coastal zone “. He has over ten years of experience in the field of marine conservation. He dedicates his time to finding scientific approaches for developing holistic conservation plans. Olivier did his MSc at UCT and his PhD at Stellenbosch University, before returning to Mauritius where he applies his multidisciplinary skills and passion for the ocean. Hope to see you there!

14/10/2023

Join us this Wednesday evening as Dr Wendy Foden shares her journey as a scientist specialising in climate change impacts on biodiversity. She will be taking us through a mini-workshop on coping with the emotional distress climate change can bring. Dr Foden is a conservation biologist who focuses on climate change adaptation. She is based at South African National Parks where, as a Specialist Climate Change Scientist, she leads the organisation’s climate change response.  She focuses particularly on desert impacts, including through a long-term study on Quiver Trees. Dr Foden chairs the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s Climate Change Specialist Group and is an Extraordinary Associate Professor at the University of Stellenbosch. She is passionate about fostering conservation leadership, and has a great love for wild and remote places where she can frequently (not) be found.

Hope to see you there!

10/08/2023

We all know that we need African-centered solutions for African-based problems but how can we make this a reality? Documenting successful sustainability and infrastructure building projects allows these tried and tested solutions to be showcased to offer inspiration and existing frameworks for other projects but this is lacking in Africa, resulting in too many of our projects drawing inspiration from less applicable Western-based solutions. Dr Anesu Makina will be Introducing us to infrahub.africa, a website developed by UCT and Utrecht University (Netherlands) which serves as a repository for successful projects accross Africa.

19/07/2023

Don't forget Science Cafe Muizenberg tonight!

05/07/2023

Want to know more about the fantastic display of light we see in our ocean waves every few months? Did you know bioluminescence has many amazing applications in science and has led to some ridiculously cool discoveries? Professor Marc Zimmer (Connecticut College, USA) will be giving insight into this wonderful world of bioluminescence on 19 July, 7 pm at The Commons Muizenberg. He is author of eight books and will be giving a lucky audience member a copy of "A conversation on biotechnology." Don't forget, we also give two tickets to an audience member for a marine Eco-tour with African Eagle! Hope to see you there 💥

21/06/2023

Don't forget Science Cafe Muizenberg tonight! With the extreme weather conditions in Cape Town the last few days, the impacts of climate change is being experienced first hand. Katie Watson will be discussing seagrass in the context of climate change among other things. Looking forward to a captivating talk by this young scientist!

14/06/2023

Join us on Wednesday next week for a talk on seagrass conservation in South Africa by a very impressive scientist - Katie Watson - a captivating speaker with an infectious passion for this topic (sure to get you fired up about it too!). Katie is a PhD Candidate at Stellenbosch University, exploring how to restore South Africa’s endangered seagrass meadows. Her research forms part of the first seagrass restoration project in South Africa. Katie is originally from the Isle of Man, UK, where she started volunteering with the Manx Wildlife Trust at 16. From there, she has worked with NGOs and research institutes across the UK, Madagascar, Mozambique, India and Japan. Alongside her primary research she shares the marine world with her underwater photography (check out her Instagram ) and science communication work, runs her own ecological consultancy, works as a lecturer at Stellenbosch, is a member of the IUCN Seagrass Specialist Group and continues to work with the Manx Wildlife Trust on the Biodiversity Impact Committee.