DEPARTMENT OF Chairperson: Prof Charles Okujeni Faculty: 12 academic staff members and two research chairs National chairs held: UNESCO Chair in Hydrogeology. SARChI Research Chair in Earth Observation Applications for Water Resources Assessment and Management Rated researchers: Dr Russell Bailie Research streams: Research covers, broadly, environmental water & science and applied geology. The main research areas are in petroleum geology, economic geology/exploration geochemistry, tectonic evolution, geomorphology, integrated water resource management, and groundwater studies under the UNESCO Chair. Honours students: 72 Master’s students: 72 PhD students: 12
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Dominic Mazvimavi
Prof Dominic Mazvimavi is Director of the Institute for Water Studies. In 2013, he was appointed as target leader on the Estimation and Prediction Research Theme of the International Association for Hydrological Sciences – a position he will hold until 2015. His research focuses on terrestrial components of the water cycle and understanding how they are affected by, and affect, human activities. Integral to his research and that of the Water and Environmental Sciences group is the study of the spatial and temporal dynamics of the flow and storage of freshwater on the land surface. Current projects include enhancing the capacity of UWC to deliver training and research on integrated water resources management.The project is funded by the Netherlands Initiative for Capacity Development in Higher Education, and involves collaborators from South Africa and the Netherlands, including the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education. In addition, Mazvimavi is leading a Water Research Commission-funded project on the spatial and temporary dynamics of water resources in the Heuningnes catchment. In the ACCESS Water Resources Research Theme, a project funded by the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation, Mazvimavi and collaborators from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Stellenbosch University, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and the South African Environmental Observation Network study the effects of climate change on water resources. Mazvimavi currently supervises nine master’s and two doctoral students, and serves as an editor on a number of international journals.