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Reconsidering origins and environme

Across the world “lockdowns,” associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, temporarily restricted human activity and removed people from many places of work and recreation. The resulting so-called ‘Anthropause’ generated media and research-interest. Please join us for the next Imagining Innovations session which asks: can we take advantage of this reset to ‘build back better’, as urged by the UN and many governments across the world, and will we ensure reduced inequality, social justice and enhanced sustainability. We draw on the expertise of three WITS linked scholar-activists, in the wake of the COP 26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.

Amanda Esterhuysen

Amanda Esterhuysen is an Associate Professor of Archaeology in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental studies, and Head of the Origins Centre. She obtained her MA (with distinction) and PhD (Science) from Wits. Her principal research focus is the recent historical past, and contemporary issues affecting the practice of archaeology. Over the last 10 years her main research focus has been on building a comprehensive understanding of the siege of 1854 based on the analysis of the physical remains excavated from Historic Cave in the Makapans Valley World Heritage Site, and of the documented and oral recollections of the event. To this end she produced a body of knowledge that has challenged historical perspectives and broadened archaeological insights.

Shivan Parusnath

Shivan Parusnath is Senior Multimedia Communications Officer for Wits University and Curios.ty Pictures Editor. He holds a Ph.D. in Biology, from the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, where he researched the population genetics of the sungazer (Smaug giganteus), a threatened lizard species. He has been working on this rare and charismatic lizard since 2011, and the findings from his master’s research on the conservation status of the sungazer have led to important changes to the national legislature on trading the species, and helped create a network of safe habitats for sungazer populations. His work on sungazers led him to research the illegal reptile trade in South Africa, and how it affects wild populations.

Celine Klinkert

Celine Klinkert holds a BSc honours in Biological Sciences from Wits university. She is completing her Masters degree In the interdisciplinary field of wetlands. In this webinar she will be speaking to her findings on South African wetlands. Since she was a university student in her first year, she has been involved in environmental activism and addressing the consequences of rapid climate change, and in bringing her passion for community development work, together with her skills as a researcher and academic. Recently she has been involved in a conference linking the work of academics and the National Research Foundation of South Africa. She has a passion for photography, for being outside in the urban landscapes of South Africa, in the many rural and urban areas of our country, in communicating her knowledge about science to people who have not had access to university learning.

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