The INR employs a total of 23 staff members, of which professional staff comprise the following:
Dr. Chris Dickens (PhD, HDE, Dip.Proj.Man., Pr. Sci. Nat) – Chief Scientist
Chris Dickens has a PhD in Botany/Plant Physiology with 21 years of experience in environmental science, in particular aquatic ecology and the management of water resources. He has published 56 peer reviewed papers and reports and presented papers at numerous conferences including being an invited panel member at the World Water Forum in The Hague in 2000, European Commission (Directorate Research) in Brussels in 2003, the International Water Week in Stockholm in 2006 and the first CAIWA conference on IWRM held in Switzerland in 2007. He has also recently been made an Honorary Associate Professor of the prestigious School of Bioresources Engineering and Environmental Hydrology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. His particular interests are in the field of aquatic ecology and the management of water resources. In this line, he is experienced in river health assessments and river monitoring (having developed methods for doing this such as the land-mark SASS Version 5 method for invertebrate monitoring and the procedures for quality assurance used for river health monitoring in South Africa), and has a deep fascination for environmental flow allocations and river ecoregions. He also spent 15 years monitoring and interpreting the phytoplankton of lakes in relation to catchments, water quality and water treatment and has worked extensively on the impacts of eutrophication and pollution. This knowledge has been effectively used in the assessment of impacts on water resources as part of EIAs and other investigations. Latterly he has been involved in the development of IWRM for catchments, with a major focus on including adaptive management. In this line he drafted the core of the guideline for wetlands and catchment management now being used by Ramsar.
Fonda Lewis (M EnDev) – Chief Scientist
Fonda has a background in both the social and natural sciences. She has a Masters Degree in Environment and Development, with a Social Science undergraduate degree (majoring in economics and geography) and a National Diploma in Nature Conservation. She has 22 years working experience, and has been with the INR since 1999. Fonda’s key field of expertise is the livelihoods-ecosystem interface, focusing on action research and innovation in: Resilience and adaptation, including community based and ecosystems based adaptation; Local economic development and rights based approaches to development; Economic tools and incentives for improved environmental management; Promoting the participation of people in the management of the natural environment and benefit sharing; Integrated environmental management, monitoring, auditing and reporting; and, Socio-economic assessments and surveys. Fonda is a member of the IUCN Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group (SULi), and the Ecosystem Services Partnership.
David Cox (M EnDev) – Principal Scientist
David has a Masters degree in Environment and Development and is responsible for the IEM Programme at the INR where he holds the position of Principal Scientist and has worked since 1999. The focus of David’s experience has been in the application of a wide range of IEM tools from strategic planning and assessment through to project level assessment and implementation. He has also been responsible for various projects concerned with improved environmental governance through better alignment of the institutional and legislative processes and actors associated with IEM. He subsequently has a good understanding of the various components of the environment, the associated issues, the governing legal framework, and the consideration of stakeholder participation in the process or environmental assessment and management. David’s involvement in IEM is supplemented by experience in natural resource management including projects focusing in INRM and IWRM, biodiversity offsets and a specific focus on wetland conservation and management. David is current chairman of the KwaZulu-Natal Branch of IAIAsa.
Brigid Letty (MSc Agric) – Principal Scientist
Brigid is an agricultural specialist. She completed a BSc.Agric, majoring in Animal Science, in 1993, and then went on to obtain an MSc.Agric through the Department of Range and Forage Resources at the University of Natal in 1997. Brigid’s main interest is in developing agriculture, which involves providing support to subsistence and emerging farmers. Since 2005 she has coordinated an international NGO-led network called PROLINNOVA. The name of the network is derived from the phrase “Promoting Local Innovation” and its aim is to institutionalise participatory approaches to research and development that are based on farmers’ ideas and motivations. Brigid has been involved in managing a variety of projects of an agricultural nature, that range from developing strategies for Municipalities to developing business plans for agri-businesses and even writing chapters for school textbooks.
Gordon O’Brien (PhD; Pr.Sci.Nat) – Principal Scientist
Gordon is an established freshwater and estuarine ichthyologist and risk ecologist. His extensive scientific profile includes the use of fish as ecological indicators throughout southern and central Africa, fish life cycle biology and ecology including aquaculture, and in the development and use of regional scale ecological risk assessments for surface aquatic ecosystems in southern Africa. For over 10 years Gordon has carried out evaluations of the impacts associated with dams/barriers, hydro-electric schemes and other major constructions on large rivers in Africa (Zambezi – Botswana/Zambia), Thukela and Vaal (South Africa), Senqu (Lesotho) and Nzoro and Kibali Rivers (DRC) for example). Gordon has also evaluated the environmental performance of major industries (pulp and paper industries, mining industries for example), the impacts of alien invasive species on indigenous species (Letsibogo Man-Made Lake in Botswana) and multiple stressors to a broad range of ecological and socio-economic endpoints on various catchments (Limpopo, Vaal and Umvoti catchments). Gordon has also provided fish life-cycle biology and ecology services including aquaculture services to clients throughout southern Africa. Gordon is also the primary author responsible for the development of a regional scale ecological risk assessment tool for surface aquatic ecosystems in South Africa and collaborates with international scientists on various international projects. The collaborations Gordon is a part of includes a Regional Scale Risk Assessment collaboration established between the INR, the North West University (representation: Professor Victor Wepener) and Western Washington University (representation: Professor Wayne Landis), and a fish behavioural ecology collaboration formed between the INR and the Hull International Fisheries Institute (representation: Dr. Jonathan Bolland).
Jon McCosh (M EnDev) – Senior Scientist
Jon is a Senior Scientist at the INR with fifteen years’ experience. He holds a National Diploma in Agriculture, a B.Sc (Soil Science and Hydrology) and has completed a Master of Environment and Development degree, which examined the role of social learning and systems thinking in the advancement of organic farming systems. His interests lie at the interface between agriculture, the environment and livelihoods. He has worked on a range of projects that focus on investigating and demonstrating how better land management can strengthen rural livelihoods, contribute to the sustainable use of natural resources and reverse land degradation, particularly in the face of climate change. He has managed a range of agriculture and livelihoods development and support initiatives and has experience and skills in policy and strategy development, field-based participatory research, enterprise planning and development and implementation of rural development projects. He is involved, among others, with a climate change adaptation project in the Lesotho Highlands, focusing on building livelihoods resilience through better agricultural practices and is leading a Water Research Commission funded project investigating micro-catchment rainwater harvesting and conservation in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
Kate Pringle (MSc) – Senior Scientist
Kate is an environmental scientist, holding degrees in Wildlife Science (Honors) and Environmental Law (Masters). She has also completed training on the Rivers Database, Resource Directed Management of Water Quality, and the EcoStatus process including the Fish Response Assessment Index (FRAI) and Riparian Vegetation Response Assessment Index (VEGRAI) models. She has been involved in a range of water-related projects including a review of the EcoStatus methods as part of the River Health Programme and an analysis of the legal requirements for the release of water from Albert Falls dam. Kate was also part of a team which assessed local government and integrated water resource management (IWRM) in the Orange Basin under an EU funded project – LoGo Water (Local Governments and Integrated Water Resources Management in Southern Africa) and co-authored an Advocacy Awareness document which highlighted the benefits of local government in applying IWRM principles. She was also involved in another EU funded project, NeWater (New approaches to adaptive water management under uncertainty) which used seven basins across Europe, Africa and Central Asia, including the Orange/Senqu in Southern Africa, as case studies for the development of future scenarios and generalized approaches for integrated water resource management. Within this project she co-authored a paper on practices and lessons learned in coping with climatic hazards at river basin scale. She is currently involved in setting resource quality objectives for South Africa.
Leo Quayle (MSc) – Senior Scientist
Leo Quayle has a BSc in chemistry and geography from the University of KwaZulu-Natal with an honours degree in GIS and geomorphology. He has also completed a Masters degree in environmental management at UCT. He has 6 years experience in GIS mostly in the fields of forestry and local government, and 2 years experience in Integrated Environmental Management and research. He has worked in the United Kingdom and Ghana in addition to South Africa. At the INR, he has been involved with a number of projects with the main emphasis being disease vectors in regulated rivers and investigations into detergent phosphorus impacts in rivers and dams in South Africa. Leo is also responsible for the development of an Environmental Information Management System as part of an Environmental Management Framework for uMshwathi Municipality, and is involved with the basic assessment and implementation of an environmental management plan for the construction of local access roads in the uThukela district municipality.
Ian Peter Bredin (MSc, Pr.Sci.Nat) – Senior Scientist
Ian holds a Master of Science degree from the University of Pretoria and is a a registered Professional Natural Scientist in the fields of Ecology and Zoology. Ian has been practising as an Environmental Scientist and Ecologist for eight years, and has extensive project management experience, which includes writing technical and financial proposals, managing staff and sub-consultants, liaising with clients and relevant stakeholders, and managing financial and time constraints. Ian’s strengths are his sound scientific grounding and his wetland assessment and biodiversity assessment experience.
Nontuthuzelo Pearl Gola (MSc) – Scientist
Pearl has a strong background in aquatic ecology and has a particular interest in water resource management. She has worked as a researcher at the Institute for Water Research (Rhodes University), and has been involved in projects to manage environmental water quality, freshwater aquatic toxicology and water resource management. Her specific tasks included: laboratory culture maintenance; toxicity testing (micro-algae and macro-invertebrates), physicochemical analysis, data analysis, and application of Toxicity data in species sensitivity distributions and derivation of water quality guidelines; and; biomonitoring with a focus on macro-invertebrates (SASS5) and diatoms. She has been part of consultancy project teams dealing with applied environmental water quality for industries such as Sasol, Eskom and Richards Bay Minerals. She has participated in intermediate and comprehensive Reserve Determinations, as a water quality specialist trainee. With a good knowledge of the Water Laws, she is in the process of completing her PhD thesis on “the value of using indigenous freshwater micro-algae in toxicity testing for water resource management”. Pearl has worked at the National Research Foundation as a Professional Officer at the Infrastructure Unit of the Human and Infrastructure Capacity Development Directorate, where her main responsibility was to monitor and evaluate, as well as co-ordinate activities across several sub-programmes. Her specific tasks included analysing data, interacting with the funded researchers in the form of visiting higher education institutions, organising workshops, and participating in reviewing grant applications.
Sian Oosthuizen (BSoc Sci Hons) – Scientist
Sian Oosthuizen is a gaming specialist with a Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) degree in Geography and Environmental Management. She is currently in the final stages of her Master of Science degree in Geography. Sian’s current research is entitled “Assessing the Effectiveness of a Role Playing Game for Meso-Scale Integrated Natural Resource Management” which is based on her internship for the EU funded Project, Afromaison. Sian has 2 years of working experience that have involved game designing and strategy development in the field of Integrated Natural Resource Management. During this time, she has also been involved in an IUCN review on an Ecosystem Approach to IWRM (in Lesotho) for the Orange-Senqu River Commission as well as a WRC review on moving from IWRM to INRM. Sian is currently involved in a Lesotho Meteorological Services project that focuses on vulnerability mapping to integrate Climate Change into development plans.
Kabir Peerbhay (MSc) – Intern
Kabir Peerbhay has an MSc in applied environmental science from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and is currently reading for a PhD specialising in remote sensing and geographic information systems involving identifying and locating alien invasive plants in commercial forestry. He has 3 years working on several projects conducting predominantly GIS and remote sensing work. Most recently at the INR, Kabir has been involved in an ongoing GEF funded climate change vulnerability mapping project for several community councils in Lesotho. His role, as the principal technician, was to capture land use data from satellite imagery, define the spatial extent of the potential impact of climate change related hazards by analysing existing spatial climate data and projected climate change data, and generating new spatial outputs based on the vulnerability of different land use sectors. This information is currently being used to inform climate change planning and to inform the development of mitigation measures to increase the resilience of the agricultural, forestry and other vulnerable sectors in Lesotho. Kabir has also been involved in two catchment management related projects, principally undertaking catchment delineation using digital elevation models and the mapping of soil erosion potential for the spatial determination of ecosystem service delivery.
Nokulunga Gasa (B. Agric (Hons)) – Intern
Nokulunga has completed a B.Agric (Hons) degree in Agricultural Extension and Rural Resource Management at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Her principal research interests lie in the field of agricultural development in rural communal tenure areas for enhanced rural capacity and food security. Nokulunga’s key areas of expertise are: human and social development facilitation, public participation, field research, desktop research and data capture and analysis. Since joining the INR as an intern she has been actively involved in conducting field research in a variety of agricultural research projects focussed on small scale rural farmers. These include two Water Research Commission funded projects, one of which is investigating rainwater harvesting and conservation for increased water use productivity in crop and livestock production systems. The other involves researching value chains in smallholder crop and livestock enterprises. In addition to this, Nokulunga is working on researching the effect of the introduction of supplemental winter feeding for improved livestock conditions and is conducting socio-economic research surveys with small-scale sugar cane growers.
Manqoba Zungu (BSc (Hons)) – Intern
Manqoba holds a BSc Honours Degree in Ecology, which he obtained from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is currently working towards his MSc in Ecology. His main interests are plant-animal interactions and how understanding these can inform conservation management, and the use of ecological theory in the rehabilitation of degraded areas. He is currently an Intern at the INR where he is gaining experience working on a range of integrated environmental projects. Of particular mention is his contribution to the development of national buffer guidelines for determining appropriate buffer zones for wetlands, rivers and estuaries. In addition, Manqoba has played an active role in developing wetland offset recommendations for the recently constructed Spring Grove Dam.
Staff Compliment
| Management | ||
| Jennifer Mitchell | Executive Director | MSc |
| Belinda Murray | Financial Director | BCom (Hons) CA (SA) |
| Professionals | ||
| Chris Dickens | Chief Scientist | PhD; Pr.Sci.Nat |
| Fonda Lewis | Chief Scientist | M Env Dev |
| David Cox | Principal Scientist | M Env Dev |
| Brigid Letty | Principal Scientist | MSc |
| Gordon O’Brien | Principal Scientist | PhD; Pr.Sci.Nat |
| Jon McCosh | Senior Scientist | M Env Dev & Dip Agric |
| Kate Pringle | Senior Scientist | BSc Agric; LLM (Env Law) |
| Leo Quayle | Senior Scientist | MPhil |
| Ian Bredin | Senior Scientist | MSc; Pr.Sci.Nat |
| Pearl Gola | Scientist | MSc; Pr.Sci.Nat |
| Sian Oosthuizen | Scientist | BSocSci (Hons) |
| Interns | ||
| Kabir Peerbhay | Intern | MSc |
| Nokulunga Gasa | Intern | B.Agric (Hons) |
| Manqoba Zungu | Intern | BSc (Hons) |
| Administration | ||
| Nisha Rabiduth | Programmes Manager | |
| Jackie Robinson | Office Manager | |
| Sindiswa Ngubane | Office Assistant | |
| Mandisa Ngubane | Office Assistant | |
| Londiwe Mnikathi | Receptionist and Switchboard Operator | |
Institute of Natural Resources NPC 