Meet our new 2017 bursars

Introducing Marco, Diyani and Paul

Marco Machona
PhD 足球竞彩app排名

Marco graduated from the University of Zimbabwe with a BSc in Agricultural Economics (Honours) and an MBA from Southeastern Louisiana University (USA). He is currently housed at the GCI under the DEVIL project pursuing a PhD. Besides being a farmer, his topic is "Developing Intermediate Complexity Models (ICM) for Neglected Crops in Sub Saharan Africa", which seek to further understand crop diversification and indigenous crops to mitigate farming risks, address food insecurity and resilience under climate change. He seek to develop and test generic ICM which can be easily adapted to new orphan crops, using only the most of basic of data regarding their current geographical distribution and yield levels.

Dyani Jeram
Masters 足球竞彩app排名

Dyani’s Masters dissertation involves trying to make sense of water stress in the City of Johannesburg. This involves assessing how drought situations, with a focus on how water restrictions were managed in the past, how long after the crisis they were put in place, what the conditions for different water restrictions are and who they are set by. She will then attempt to fill in the gaps by hearing the stories of community members, business owners, industries and the City in order to piece together the technical, social, economic and political narratives of the challenges and opportunities linked to water security. 

Paul Mvulane
Masters 足球竞彩app排名

Paul’s Masters title is currently “Poverty and Disaster: A cost analysis of 2016 flash flooding in Johannesburg - a case study of Stjwetla settlement in Alexadra”.  

It is expected that by 2020 about more than half of the world populations will be living in urban areas (Beall and Fox, 2009). In 2005, about 70% of the Sub-Saharan Africa urban population was living in Slums (Beall and Fox, 2009). Slums and informal settlements are expected to be sparked by poverty, exclusion and inequality as many cities will be unable to cope with growing populations. An understanding of the urban political ecology and socio-economic context will provide insights on what opportunities and resources exist, that can stimulate urban adaptation capacity under climate change and climate related stresses (Pelling and High, 2005).Under climate change, it is expected that the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events is going to change with the changing climate (IPCC, 2007). Such changes have been observed South Africa, like the 2016/17 Johannesburg flash floods . Such events resulted in significant socio-economic and environmental cost. They weaken  the resilient capacity of social, economic and environmental systems (O’Brien et al, 2008).Identifying and profiling vulnerability hot spots in urban and city spaces, is a first step in initiating the adaptation and mitigation process. This identification  will enable meaningful intervention and  disaster response, since circumstances that put people at risk are identified and profiled.