Fynbos walk and discussion in Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens
In the afternoon, the delegates went for a walk through the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens. This walk was led by Dr Jasper Slingsby, a scientist at the SAEON-Fynbos node. He was accompanied by Dr Lloyd Nackley, a post-doc at SANBI. Dr Slingsby talked about some of the long-term monitoring projects the Fynbos Node is involved in, and some ecological and evolutionary adaptations in Fynbos in the context of global change monitoring. Dr Nackley talked about his work on carbon dioxide and plant physiology.
Meeting leading researchers
During the Indibano, there was a diversity of guest speakers in terms of their fields of specialty to cater for the diverse fields of interests among the delegates. One of the highlights for the delegates was meeting these leading researchers. They enjoyed meeting them in an informal setting. The guest speakers were:
Dr Silvia Mecenero, a founding member of the GSN committee, who now holds the SAEON-GSN alumnus status, who is currently a post doc at SANBI. She presented an inspiring talk on her journey as a GSN member and how that experience has helped her career.
Professor Guy Midgley, Chief Director of the Climate Change and Bioadaptation Division at SANBI. He gave a vibrant presentation on climate change, how the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere is giving trees a competitive advantage in the savannas.
Mr Mduduzi “Mdu” Seakamela, Marine Mammal Scientist with the national Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) and 50|50 field presenter. He gave a motivational presentation about his career path, his research project on Cape fur seals with the University of Cape Town (UCT) and encouraged students to continue with their postgraduate degrees.
Professor Edmund February (UCT) gave an inspirational talk on his experiences during his career path. Prof February took us on a journey of climbing the most challenging mountains in South Africa, USA and France. While showing his pictures of his many climbing experiences he stressed how important it is to have fun with whatever you do in life.
Launch of the new SAEON-GSN logo and website
At the GSN Committee’s first planning meeting in April 2013 (Cape Town), the committee decided to give the GSN a new look and feel – considering the increasing interest in the GSN as a networking platform and the growth the committee and the GSN has undergone. We incorporated this energy to create a new GSN logo and website. The graphics of the logo portrays the connectivity between researchers (students and established researchers) across various disciplines across the globe, which is why the round shape was chosen. The colours of the logo were particularly chosen as blue and green are standard colours associated with nature – sea and (vegetation) land. Along with this, SAEON’s mandate states long-term environmental monitoring on both marine and terrestrial, and the colours were chosen based on this.
The new GSN website is now running - it is more interactive and user-friendly for GSN members to connect with each other in similar fields/disciplines. Additions to the website include an attractive new look, discussion forum page and joining page (as opposed to the traditional excel sheet that had to be filled out). Go togsn.saeon.ac.za
SAEON GSN’s new logo and website was officially launched on the evening of the third day of Indibano by GSN Committee members, Emma Gray and Tanja van de Ven, at the UCT Club. The launch was well-received amongst the delegates.
