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UCT Research Report '11
60
Climate Change
Professor Bruce Hewitson heads the Climate Systems Analysis Group with foci on climate
modelling, variability, change, and regional projections. He is extensively engaged with
capacity-building in Africa and with the communication of regional climate information
supporting responses to climate change. He plays numerous roles internationally, including
co-ordinating lead author in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and
currently co-chairs both the IPCC Task Group on Data and Scenario Support for Impact and
Climate Analysis (TGICA) and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) working group
on regional climates. He is a lead co-ordinator in the WCRP global CORDEX programme to develop regional
climate projections. Professor Hewitson received his bachelor’s degree (1988) from the University of Cape Town,
and master’s (1990) and PhD (1991) from Pennsylvania State University.
Marine Ecology and Fisheries
A marine systems ecologist by qualification, Associate Professor Astrid Jarre holds the SARChI
Chair in Marine Ecology and Fisheries at the Marine Research (MA-RE) Institute. Her keen
interest in fisheries management allowed her to hold research positions at the International
Centre for Living Aquatic Resources Management in Manila, Philippines (now World Fish
Centre, Penang, Malaysia) and the Danish government laboratory for fisheries, before she
moved to South Africa. Associate Professor Jarre served on the Scientific Steering Committee
of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme/United Nations Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission (IGBP/IOC) Global Oceans Ecosystems Dynamics Programme (GLOBEC), and
was a member of its Working Group on Human Dimensions. Inspired by multi-disciplinary research into fisheries
management in Denmark and the inter-disciplinary Canadian ‘Coasts under Stress’ programme, Associate
Professor Jarre teamed up with colleagues in the humanities and social sciences to further inter-disciplinary
research into marine social-ecological systems under global change in the Benguela current.
Animal Evolution and Systematics
Professor David Jacobs holds a PhD in zoology from the University of Hawaii, where he
completed a thesis Character release in the endangered Hawaiian hoary bat, Lasiurus
cinereus semotus. He has been at the University of Cape Town since 1994, where his main
research interests are focused on all aspects of evolutionary biology.
He has conducted research all around the world, including Australia, Costa Rica, Belize, Israel,
Canada, Namibia, and Zambia. He has supervised more than 20 postgraduate degrees and
many of his students have won prestigious awards, such as the Purcell Memorial Award for the best PhD thesis,
and SA Association for the Advancement of Science – S2A3 Bronze Medal for the best master’s degree thesis.
Modelling of the Coupled Ocean-Land-Atmosphere
Phenomena Related to Climate
Professor George Philander, an expatriate South African, was recruited to this position in the
Marine Research Institute from Princeton University, in the USA. This is a joint position between
UCT and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and while Professor Philander
is hosted by UCT, he also serves as the Director of the Africa Centre for Climate and Earth
Stewardship Science.
DST/NRF SARChI
Chairs associated with this theme