As Technician at SAEON Fynbos Node my main responsibility has been managing and maintaining the Jonkershoek catchment monitoring programme and the data that emanate from it. I have gained experience with stream, meteorological and micro met instrumentation and data collection since joining SAEON in November 2010. In addition to the technical aspect of my job I have helped develop SAEON’s infrastructure for managing these types of data. I have also been involved in research on fog interception in fynbos. Other functions I perform include procurement of equipment, assisting researchers, responding to requests for SAEON data and supporting the rest of SAEON’s terrestrial technical team. Before joining SAEON I was pursuing my interest in ecosystem ecology as a Staff Research Associate in a Landscape and Urban Ecology lab at the University of California: Davis. There I assisted with projects on African savannah riparian boundary dynamics, atmospheric deposition across rural/urban gradients and linking stream water quality to land use and land cover in an urban ecosystem. I hold a B-Tech degree in Nature Conservation from Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Free time pursuits include reading on politics, economics and current affairs.

SAEON is countrywide, with “Nodes” encompassing the major terrestrial, coastal and oceanic environments. Its activities cover the entire research-development-innovation value chain ranging from collecting, processing, archiving and interpreting data; developing data products and services; and interfacing with end users that include policy makers and environmental managers. 

SAEON works in collaboration with government agencies, universities, research institutions, industrial partners and civil society.