Oppenheimer Chair for Emerging African Scientists in Non-invasive Wildlife Research
Professor André Ganswindt holds the Oppenheimer Chair for Emerging African Scientists in Non-invasive Wildlife Research. The Chair provides postgraduate opportunities for young African scientists within the Mammal Research Institute. Research focuses on devising scientific methods for conducting physiological research without affecting animal health, and using these methods to determine how human stressors affect animals, thus ensuring improved management policies for wildlife conservation, tourism and captive breeding facilities. Read more about the work being done under this chair here.
Students and Projects
Dr Andrea Webster is a postdoctoral researcher with the Mammal Research Institute. In 2021 she completed her PhD in eco-toxicology and a short post-doctoral study which evaluated drivers of springbok and red hartebeest decline at Tswalu Kalahari Reserve in the Northern Cape. Her current research aims to identify the role of scavenging carnivores on herbivore recruitment rates in the Kalahari using stable isotope analysis. Her research is co-funded by the University of Pretoria's Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme and the BRO Trust - Oppenheimer Chair for Emerging African Scientists in Non-invasive Wildlife Research.
Mr Bruce Crossey - a scholarship student - is funded by the Mammal Research Institute, in collaboration with the BRO Trust - Oppenheimer Chair for Emerging African Scientists in Non-invasive Wildlife Research. Bruce is in his second year of his PhD and is investigating the impact of safari-wildlife tourism activities on animal welfare, tourist perceptions and expectations of safari-wildlife operators, as well as the psycho-physiological impact of game viewing on guests engaging in game drives.
